The cities winning from war
Armaments manufacturing revives a trio of towns in Europe
The cobbled town of Bourges lies in France’s “empty diagonal”: the central swathe of farmland that city folk zoom past on their way to somewhere else. In 1860 Napoleon III decided to build a cannon foundry and arsenal there, a place safely remote from France’s fragile eastern borders. Home to just 64,000 people, Bourges was until recently bleeding jobs as its modern weapons-makers lost orders. “There was a long period of depression,” recalls Serge Richard, head of the local chamber of commerce.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Bombshell boomtowns”
Europe
June 14th 2025
From the June 14th 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Ukraine’s political infighting gets nasty
As Trump starves it of arms, there is turmoil inside the government
Turkey’s strongman is becoming Donald Trump’s point man
But renewed war with Iran would put the honeymoon with Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the test
Germany’s Bundestag bars AfD MPs from its football team
Could the sporting ban precede a political one?
An infestation of ticks menaces Istanbul
And mosquitos are a growing problem too
The sleeping policeman at the heart of Europe
Enforcement of EU law has become an afterthought
A pragmatic amnesty for separatists benefits Catalonia
But it carries costs for the rule of law