Radelange (german: Radelingen/Redel; lb, Réidel) is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

in the municipality of

Martelange Martelange (; german: Martelingen; lb, Maartel ; wa, Måtlindje) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 29.67 km2, had 1,584 inhabitants, giving a pop ...

, located in the

province of Luxembourg Luxembourg (french: Luxembourg ; nl, Luxemburg ; german: Luxemburg ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; wa, Lussimbork), also called Belgian Luxembourg, is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the country of Luxembourg to the ea ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The village history goes back to at least 1636, when it was completely destroyed during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

by Croatian mercenaries. Until the late 19th century, the village was considered poor and the inhabitants lived off agriculture and the keeping of

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

. In the 1870s, the opening of nearby quarries created more jobs. The village lies at a bend in the river Sûre. The village church dates from 1860 to 1862. There are two war memorials in the village, one commemorating the Belgian ''

Chasseurs Ardennais The ''Bataillon de Chasseurs Ardennais'' (, or more figuratively, 'Ardennes Light Infantry') is an infantry formation in the Land Component of the Belgian Armed Forces. Originally formed in 1933 to ensure the defense of Belgium's Luxembourg Pro ...

'', and another in memory of the first French soldiers to die on Belgian soil here during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, on 7 August 1914.

References

External links

* Populated places in Luxembourg (Belgium) {{LuxembourgBE-geo-stub