Rhineland

TheRhineland(‹See Tfd›German:Rheinland;Dutch:Rijnland;Kölsch:Rhingland;Latin:Rhenania) is a loosely defined area ofWestern Germanyalong theRhine,chieflyits middle section,it is also the main industrial heartland of Germany because its many factories and historic ties to theHoly Roman Empire,Prussia,German Empireand etc.

Term

The Rhine Province (green) as of 1830 superimposed on modern borders.

Historically, the term "Rhinelands"^[1]refers (physically speaking) to a loosely defined region embracing the land on the banks of the Rhine, which were settled byRipuarianandSalian Franksand became part of FrankishAustrasia.In theHigh Middle Ages,numerousImperial Statesalong the river emerged from the formerstem duchyofLotharingia,without developing any common political or cultural identity.

A "Rhineland" conceptualization can be traced to the period of theHoly Roman Empirefrom the sixteenth until the eighteenth centuries when the Empire'sImperial Estates(territories) were grouped into regional districts in charge of defence and judicial execution, known asImperial Circles.Three of the ten circles through which the Rhine flowed referred to the river in their names: theUpper Rhenish Circle,theElectoral Rhenish Circleand theLower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle(very roughly equivalent to the present-day German federal state ofNorth Rhine Westphalia). In the twilight period of the Empire, after theWar of the First Coalition,a short-livedCisrhenian Republicwas established (1797–1802). The term covered the whole French conquered territory west of the Rhine (German:Linkes Rheinufer), but also including a small portion of the bridgeheads on the eastern banks. After the collapse of theFrench empire,the regions ofJülich-Cleves-BergandLower Rhinewere annexed to theKingdom of Prussia.In 1822 the Prussian administration reorganized the territory as theRhine Province(Rheinprovinz,also known as Rhenish Prussia), a tradition that continued in the naming of the currentGerman statesofRhineland-PalatinateandNorth Rhine-Westphalia.

In the early 1800s,Rhinelanderssettled theMissouri Rhineland,a German cultural region and wine producing area in the U.S.State of Missouri,and named it after noticing similarities in soil and topography to the Rhineland inEurope.By 1860, nearly half of all settlers in Missouri Rhineland came fromKoblenz,capital of theRhine Province.^[2]^[3]

The western part of theRhineland was occupiedbyEntenteforces from the end of theFirst World Waruntil 1930. Under the 1919Treaty of Versailles,German military presence in the region was banned, a restriction which the government ofWeimar Germanypledged to honor in the 1925Locarno Treaties.Nazi Germanyremilitarized the territoryin 1936 as part of a diplomatic test of will three years before the outbreak of theSecond World War.

Geography

To the west the area stretches to the borders withLuxembourg,Belgiumand theNetherlands;on the eastern side it encompasses the towns and cities along the river and theBergisches Landarea up to theWestphalian(Siegerland) andHessianregions. Stretching down to theNorth Palatine Uplandsin the south, this area, except for theSaarland,more or less corresponds with the modern use of the term.

The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country (Westerwald,Hunsrück,Siebengebirge,TaunusandEifel), cut by river valleys, principally theMiddle Rhineup toBingen(or very rarely between the confluence with theNeckarandCologne^[4]) and itsAhr,MoselleandNahetributaries. The border of theNorth German plainis marked by the lowerRuhr.In the south, the river cuts theRhenish Massif.

The area encompasses the western part of theRuhrindustrial region and theCologne Lowland.Some of the larger cities in the Rhineland areAachen,Bonn,Cologne,Duisburg,Düsseldorf,Essen,Koblenz,Krefeld,Leverkusen,Mainz,Mönchengladbach,Mülheim an der Ruhr,Oberhausen,Remscheid,Solingen,TrierandWuppertal.

Toponymsas well as localfamily namesoften trace back to the Frankish heritage. The lands on the western shore of the Rhine are strongly characterized byRomaninfluence, includingviticulture.In the core territories, large parts of the population are members of theCatholic Church.

History

Pre-Roman

At the earliest historical period, the territories between theArdennesand the Rhine were occupied by theTreveri,theEburonesand otherCeltic tribes,who, however, were all more or less modified and influenced by their Germanic neighbors. On the East bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn, were the settlements of theMattiaci,a branch of the GermanicChatti,while farther to the north were theUsipetesandTencteri.^[5]

Romans and Franks

Roman and barbarian parts of the Rhineland

Julius Caesarconquered the Celtic tribes on the West bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine, but the Romans never succeeded in gaining a firm footing on the East bank. As the power of the Roman empire declined theFrankspushed forward along both banks of the Rhine, and by the end of the 5th century had conquered all the lands that had formerly been under Roman influence. By the 8th century, the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germania and northern Gaul.

On the division of theCarolingian Empireat theTreaty of Verdunthe part of the province to the east of the river fell toEast Francia,while that to the west remained with the kingdom ofLotharingia.^[5]

Holy Roman Empire

Attack by theSwedish armyon the Spanish troops inBacharachduring theThirty Years' War

By the time of EmperorOtto I(d. 973) both banks of the Rhine had become part of theHoly Roman Empire,and in 959 the Rhenish territory was divided between the duchies ofUpper Lorraine,on the Mosel, andLower Lorraineon the Meuse.

As the central power of theHoly Roman Emperorweakened, the Rhineland disintegrated into numerous small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes and special chronicles. The old Lotharingian divisions became obsolete, and while the Lower Lorraine lands were referred to as theLow Countries,the name ofLorrainebecame restricted to the region on theupper Mosellethat still bears it. After theImperial Reformof 1500/12, the territory was part of theLower Rhenish–Westphalian,Upper Rhenish,andElectoral Rhenish Circles.Notable RhenishImperial Statesincluded:

the ecclesiasticalelectoratesofCologne(withoutWestphalianpossessions) andTrier
the duchies ofJülich,Cleves,andBerg,forming theUnited Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Bergfrom 1521
theCounty of Sponheimand numerous furtherImperial Counties
theFree Imperial CitiesofAachenandCologne.

In spite of its dismembered condition and the sufferings it underwent at the hands of its French neighbors in various periods of warfare, the Rhenish territory prospered greatly and stood in the foremost rank of German culture and progress. Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine played a large role in German history.^[5]

French Revolution

At thePeace of Baselin 1795, the whole of the left bank of the Rhine was taken by France. The population was about 1.6 million in numerous small states. In 1806, the Rhenish princes all joined theConfederation of the Rhine,a puppet of Napoleon. France took direct control of the Rhineland until 1814 and radically and permanently liberalized the government, society and economy. The Coalition of France's enemies made repeated efforts to retake the region, but France repelled all the attempts.^[6]

The French swept away centuries worth of outmoded restrictions and introduced unprecedented levels of efficiency.^[7]The chaos and barriers in a land divided and subdivided among many different petty principalities gave way to a rational, simplified, centralized system controlled by Paris and run by Napoleon's relatives. The most important impact came from the abolition of all feudal privileges and historic taxes, the introduction of legal reforms of theNapoleonic Code,and the reorganization of the judicial and local administrative systems. The economic integration of the Rhineland with France increased prosperity, especially in industrial production, while business accelerated with the new efficiency and lowered trade barriers. The Jews were liberated from the ghetto. There was limited resistance; most Germans welcomed the new regime, especially the urban elites, but one sour point was the hostility of the French officials toward the Roman Catholic Church, the choice of most of the residents.^[8]The reforms were permanent. Decades later workers and peasants in the Rhineland often appealed to Jacobinism to oppose unpopular government programs, while the intelligentsia demanded the maintenance of the Napoleonic Code (which stayed in effect for a century).^[9]^[10]

Prussian influence

A Prussian influence began on a small scale in 1609 by the occupation of theDuchy of Cleves.A century later,Upper GueldersandMoersalso became Prussian. TheCongress of Viennaexpelled the French and assigned the whole of the lower Rhenish districts to Prussia, who left them in undisturbed possession of the liberal institutions to which they had become accustomed under the French.^[5]The Rhine Province remained part of Prussia afterGermany was unified in 1871.^[11]

1918–1945

The occupation of the Rhineland took place following theArmistice with Germanyof 11 November 1918. The occupying armies consisted ofAmerican,Belgian,BritishandFrenchforces. Under theTreaty of Versailles,German troops were banned from all territory west of the Rhine and within 50 kilometers east of the Rhine.

In 1920, under massive French pressure, theSaarwas separated from the Rhine Province and administered by theLeague of Nationsuntil a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to Germany. At the same time, in 1920, the districts ofEupenandMalmedywere transferred toBelgium(seeGerman-Speaking Community of Belgium).

In January 1923, in response to Germany's failure to meet itsreparations obligations,French and Belgian troopsoccupied the Ruhrdistrict, strictly controlling all important industrial areas. The Germans responded with passive resistance, which led tohyperinflation,^[12]and the French gained very little of the reparations they wanted. French troops left the Ruhr in August 1925.

The occupation of the remainder of the Rhineland ended on 30 June 1930.^[13]

On 7 March 1936, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, German troops marched into the Rhineland and other regions along the Rhine. German territory west of the Rhine had been off-limits to the German military.

In 1945, the Rhineland was the scene ofmajor fightingas the Allied forces overwhelmed the German defenders.^[14]

Post-1946

In 1946, the Rhineland was divided into the newly founded states ofHesse,North Rhine-Westphalia,andRhineland-Palatinate.North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the prime German industrial areas, containing significant mineral deposits (coal,lead,lignite,magnesium,oil,anduranium) and water transport. In Rhineland-Palatinate agriculture is more important, including the vineyards in theAhr,Mittelrhein,andMoselregions.

References

^Dickinson, Robert E. (1964).Germany: A regional and economic geography(2nd ed.). London: Methuen. pp. 357f.ASIN B000IOFSEQ.
^Robyn Burnett; Ken Luebbering (2005).Immigrant Women in the Settlement of Missouri.University of Missouri Press. p. 111.
^Walter D. Kamphoefner (2014).The Westfalians: From Germany to Missouri.Princeton University Press. p. 103.
^Marsden, Walter (1973).The Rhineland.New York: Hastings House.ISBN 0-8038-6324-1.
^^a ^b ^c ^d"Rhine Province".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 23 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 242–243.
^Blanning, T. C. W. (15 December 1983).The French Revolution in Germany: Occupation and Resistance in the Rhineland 1792-1802.ISBN 978-0198225645.
^source?
^Hajo Holborn,A History of Modern Germany, 1648-1840(1964) pp 386-87
^Michael Rowe, "Between Empire and Home Town: Napoleonic Rule on the Rhine, 1799-1814",Historical Journal(1999) 42#2 pp. 643-674in JSTOR
^Michael Rowe,From Reich to state: the Rhineland in the revolutionary age, 1780-1830(2003)
^Muirhead, James Fullarton(1886)."Prussia, Rhenish".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. XX (9th ed.).
^"Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr".The Holocaust Explained.Retrieved27 November2023.
^"Erster Weltkrieg und Besatzung 1918–1930 in Rheinland-Pfalz: 9. Der Abzug der Besatzungstruppen am 30. Juni 1930"[The First World War and the Occupation 1918–1930 in Rhineland-Palatinate: 9. The withdrawal of the occupying troops on 30 June 1930].regionalgeschichte.net(in German).Retrieved21 November2023.
^Ken Ford,The Rhineland 1945: The Last Killing Ground in the West(Osprey, 2000)

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