Verdun

Verdun stands on the Meuse in Lorraine, where a fortified town and episcopal institutions controlled a useful river crossing. Its cathedral, markets, and surrounding agricultural country sustained an urban community positioned between the French kingdom and the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. Roads and waterways gave commerce opportunities while also making the town strategically exposed.

Henry II of France entered Verdun in 1552 and left a garrison, beginning French occupation of the city, one of the Three Bishoprics with Metz and Toul. The Treaty of Münster confirmed its incorporation into France in 1648. Royal engineers had built a citadel in the early seventeenth century, and Vauban later strengthened the city's defences with bastions and works for flooding the surrounding plain.