In late imperial times, the city was taken without much resistance by the Dutch during a mock siege. At the end of Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was decided that the city was to be occupied by Russian troops for three years. Relations between Quercitains and Russians are friendly to the point that many marriages are between Russian officers and the local ladies. This relationship, although one officer left his wife to return Russia, between the town and empire of the Tsars, is also recalled when the Franco-Russian accord became the cornerstone of the alliance system of Third Republic on the eve of the Great War.