Heusden (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦøːzdə(n)] ^ⓘ) is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with Drunen and Vlijmen in 1997, giving the municipality its current form.

The middle part of national park the Loonse en Drunense Duinen is located in the municipality of Heusden.

Before 1997, Heusden was a municipality in itself, that included the communities of Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden.

The settlement of Heusden on the river Maas (Meuse) started with the construction of Heusden Castle, which replaced an earlier castle destroyed by Henry I, Duke of Brabant in 1202. This fortification was quickly expanded with water works and a donjon (castle keep). The city of Heusden received city rights in 1318. Heusden's castle had belonged to successive dukes of Brabant; in 1357 it passed into the hands of the counts of Holland. Ramparts and moats were constructed, bringing the castle within the city's fortifications and resulting in the loss of its function as a stronghold. The donjon was then used as a munition depot. On 24 July 1680, a terrible thunderstorm hit Heusden, and lightning struck the donjon. Sixty thousand pounds of gunpowder and other ammunition exploded, destroying the castle. It took seven weeks to clear the rubble and debris. The castle was never fully rebuilt. However, outlines of the main features were restored in 1987.

At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), Heusden was occupied by the Spanish. In 1577, however, following the Pacification of Ghent, the people of Heusden allied with William, Prince of Orange. William consolidated the town's strategic position near the river Meuse, and ordered fortification works to be constructed. Work started in 1579 with the digging of moats and the construction of bastions, walls, and ravelins, and was completed in 1597.

By the early nineteenth century, the defence works fell into disrepair and were dismantled. In 1968, however, extensive restoration works started, and fortifications were carefully rebuilt, based on and inspired by a 1649 map of the city of Heusden by Johannes Blaeu, son of the famous Dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu. In 1980, the city of Heusden received the European Urbes Nostrae restoration prize. Heusden currently draws over 350 thousand tourists every year who visit the historic town centre and walk the walls that once made it a formidable stronghold.

In October 1944, towards the end of World War II, the cities of Tilburg and 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) were liberated by the Allied forces. The bridge across the river Meuse made Heusden, then still occupied by the Germans, strategically significant. The cellars of the old town hall, built in 1588, were a shelter for civilians during artillery fire. The German Wehrmacht used the building as a communication centre and hospital.

A few weeks after Operation Market Garden, the allied Operation Pheasant started on 20 October 1944. The First Canadian Army (advancing from Belgium) and the 2nd British Army (advancing from the east) fought to liberate central and western North Brabant. On Saturday 4 November, under heavy artillery fire, two Scottish Highlander regiments advanced, and 170 civilians sought shelter in the town hall cellars. In the early morning of 5 November, three German army engineers detonated explosive charges they had placed earlier in the 40-metre tower. It collapsed, killing 134 people. Heusden was decimated. One tenth of the town's population died that night in the town hall cellars. Seventy-four victims, i.e. more than half of the total number, were children aged 16 or younger. Only hours later, the 5th battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from the 51st Highland Division liberated Heusden.