Editing Cheb (section)

==History==
[[File:Cheb hrad 4.jpg|thumb|Cheb Castle with the Black Tower]]
[[File:Ermordung-wallensteins-in-eger-anonymer-kupferstich 1-640x370.jpg|thumb|Killing of [[Albrecht von Wallenstein]]]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-004055, Eger, Besuch Adolf Hitlers.jpg|thumb|150px|Adolf Hitler driving through the crowd in Cheb on 3 October 1938]]
The earliest settlement in the area was a [[Slavs|Slavic]] [[Gord (archaeology)|gord]] at what is now known as the Cheb Castle complex, north of the town centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=Slovanské pohřebiště|url=https://www.hrad-cheb.cz/cz/slovanske-pohrebiste|publisher=Cheb Castle|language=cs|access-date=2022-06-07}}</ref> In 807 the district of today's Cheb was included in the new [[margraviate]] of [[East Franconia]], which belonged at first to the [[Babenberg]]s, but from 906 to the margraves (marquis) of [[Vohburg]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Eger (Austria)|display=Eger|volume=9|page=12}}</ref>

The first written mention of Cheb is from 1061.<ref name=history>{{cite web |title=Generel veřejného osvětlení|url=https://www.cheb.cz/assets/File.ashx?id_org=5091&id_dokumenty=984167|publisher=Město Cheb|page=9|language=cs|date=September 2019|access-date=2023-03-23}}</ref><ref name=osa>{{cite web |title=Časová osa|url=http://encyklopedie.cheb.cz/cz/casova-osa|work=Encyklopedie města Cheb|language=cs|access-date=2023-03-23}}</ref> [[Děpolt II]] founded the castle on the site of the gord around 1125.<ref name=castle>{{cite web |title=Příběh Chebského hradu|url=https://www.hrad-cheb.cz/cz/pribeh-chebskeho-hradu|publisher=Cheb Castle|language=cs|access-date=2023-03-23}}</ref> In 1149, Cheb was described as a fortified marketplace. Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]] acquired Cheb in 1167. In 1203, it was first referred to as a town. It became the centre of a historical region called ''[[Egerland]]''.<ref name=history/><ref name=osa/>

From 1266 to 1276, the town was property of King [[Ottokar II of Bohemia]]. The historic town centre was established after the fire in 1270. King [[Wenceslaus II of Bohemia]] held the town in 1291–1304, then [[Albert I of Germany]] acquired the region. It wasn't until 1322 that Cheb became a permanent part of the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]], when King [[John of Bohemia]] acquired it from Emperor [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis IV]]. <ref name=history/><ref name=castle/> The later local history was marked by continued resistance against incorporation into Bohemia.<ref name=Prinz>{{cite book|language=de|title=Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas: Böhmen und Mähren|editor=Friedrich Prinz|publisher=Siedler|year=1993|pages=241}}</ref>

On 5 May 1389, during a [[Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)|Reichstag]] between King [[Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia|Wenceslaus IV]] and a group of Imperial Free Cities of [[southwest Germany]], the [[Treaty of Eger]] was agreed upon, after Wenceslaus had failed to secure his interests in the town.<ref name=osa/> In the 15th century, Cheb was one of the largest and wealthiest towns of [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] with 7,300 inhabitants.<ref name=history/>

The town suffered severely during the [[Hussite Wars]], during the [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] invasion in the [[Thirty Years' War]] in 1631 and 1647, and in the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] in 1742.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, [[Albrecht von Wallenstein]] was killed here. In 1723, Cheb became a [[Royal free city|free royal town]]. The northern part of the old town was devastated by a large fire in 1809, and many middle-age buildings were destroyed.<ref name=osa/>

In 1757, the town's financial self-government was abolished for the sake of Austrian centralization. In 1848, the citizen's council demanded separation from Bohemia and reconstitution of its [[Landtag]].<ref name=Prinz/>

The terms of the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] triggered civil unrest between the [[Sudeten Germans|Sudeten German]] population and the new [[First Czechoslovak Republic]], just as in the rest of the [[Sudetenland]]. In the interwar period, many ethnic Czechs came to the town with the boom of industry.<ref name=history/>

During the [[Munich Agreement|Sudeten Crisis]], the town was occupied by the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]]-sponsored ''[[Sudetendeutsches Freikorps]]'' paramilitary group.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bouverie|first=Tim|year=2019|title=Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War|edition=1st|location=New York|publisher=[[Tim Duggan Books]]|page=260|isbn=978-0-451-49984-4|oclc=1042099346}}</ref> On 3 October 1938, the town was visited by [[Adolf Hitler]]; shortly afterward [[Wehrmacht]] troops marched into the Sudetenland and seized control. From 1938 until 1945, the town was annexed to Germany and was administered as part of the [[Reichsgau Sudetenland]]. The [[Gestapo]] and ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]'' operated a prison in Cheb, whose prisoners were subjected to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=959|title=Gestapogefängnis Eger|website=Bundesarchiv.de|language=de|access-date=2023-11-07}}</ref> Cheb was liberated by the [[97th Infantry Division (United States)|97th Infantry Division]] of the [[United States Army]] on 25 April 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.97thdivision.com/historyp1.html|title=Welcome to the 97th Infantry Division|website=97thdivision.com}}</ref>

After the end of [[World War II]] the region was returned to Czechoslovakia. Under the [[Beneš decrees]] and [[Potsdam Agreement]] of the same year, the German-speaking majority was [[Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia|expelled]].