A history of the city, in pictures

By: set | July 19th, 2008

Bordeaux is not just a name on a jersey, it’s also a beautiful city in southwestern France, home of 200,000 people and the center of the Fifth biggest urban area in the country. Today, we will look at the city through the ages. If you want more information, you can look at a nice little amateur website called Wikipedia.

The Origins

We can trace Bordeaux’s history back to 300 B.C. The city, called Burdigala at the time, was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called the Bituriges Vivisci.

But there was no UN at the time, and keeping a city in such a good location was a difficult feat. Romans took control of it in 60 B.C., and while commerce started to enrich the town, they had to endure four different sacks by the Vandals, the Visigoths and Franks, in 279, 409, 414 and 498. During the 8th century, as the city was starting to reemerge from all this plundering, the Andalusian Muslims did it again, in 732 to be precise.

Bordeaux drinking tea and watching cricket

The city was left in flames every time, and it took time and resources for it to rebuild. In the 12th century, The Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor, married a man who later became King Henry II of England and .. Bordeaux became English! The whole region around Bordeaux became English, actually, and it stayed like this for 3 centuries. It only ended in 1453, when the French won a decisive victory in the Hundred Years’ War, during the battle of Castillon.

Difficult start under French reign

The French domination over the city meant deep changes in its organization and brought social tensions and economic fragility. Wine commerce with England, the biggest source of income for the town, dropped considerably, and the inhabitants lost some of the freedom they had enjoyed during the English years (So much so that 2,000 people left Bordeaux to England). At the same time, new religious ideas were starting to emerge. This caused the 16th century to be an agitated one, with battles between the people and the power, then between Protestants and Catholics.

The Golden Age

In the 18th century, Bordeaux became the main port for the whole kingdom. The city trades wine, of course, but also sugar, cocoa, coffee and.. slaves. The Bordelais became very rich thanks to all the trades going on and it is during this period that all nice buildings you can see today in Bordeaux were built. The Baron Haussman was the main architect of Bordeaux’s reconstruction and he succeeded so well that he was hired to do the same in Paris. That’s why Bordeaux’s architecture is so close to what you can see in Paris, in smaller though.

Modern history

The First World War sees Bordeaux becoming the capital city of France. The government is forced to retreat because German troops are threatening Paris. The city didn’t suffer from the war thanks to its location, and was the French entry point for the U.S. troops. The Second World War, on the other hand, meant a lot of trouble for the Bordelais. While the government fled to the city again, giving it its name of “Tragical Capital”, Bordeaux fell under Nazi control. The port became a strategical asset for them, and they built a big submarine base, that still exists, in part, today. The Germans left in 1944, and Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a general of the Resistance, became mayor. He stayed mayor until 1995 (yes, that’s 50 years!), industrializing the city by making the aeronautic and space industries build factories and research centers in the area.

Today

Alain Juppé, an ex-prime minister, is now the mayor since 1995. Since then, we got a brand new tram, improving downtown traffic and making many streets pedestrian-only. Buildings and streets have been under restoration and I’m quite proud of what the city looks like today, especially compared to what it was in the 90’s. Here is a comparison of both, thanks to the magic of youtube:

I hope you liked this little history and didn’t fall asleep while reading. Sure, it doesn’t have much to do with Football, but maybe some of you were not familiar at all with Bordeaux. Hopefully, it will open your curiosity about the different cities we hear so much about on The Offside!