Vue sur l'étang des Forges (Belfort - Offemont)

The Belfort Gap ( ) or Burgundian Gate ( ) is the area of relatively flat terrain in Eastern France between the

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

to the north and the Jura Mountains to the south. It marks the watershed between the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s of the River Rhine to the east and the River Rhône to the west, part of the European Watershed between the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. It is also the boundary between the historic regions of Burgundy to the west and

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

to the east, and as such has marked the Franco-German border for long periods of its history.

Geography

The Belfort Gap ( ) or Burgundian Gate ( ) is the area of relatively flat terrain in France between the

to the north and the Jura Mountains to the south, connecting Franche-Comté in the West and Alsace in the east. It marks the watershed between the

s of the River Rhône to the west and the River Rhine to the east. It is thus part of the European Watershed between the

and the

. Its elevation varies between its lowest level in the Doubs valley at in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

, and Mont Salbert . The roughly wide terrain or according to others the 20 km wide corridor of the Belfort gap connects the French ''département'' of

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

, south of the ''région''

and the

Territoire de Belfort The Territoire de Belfort () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.Franche-Comté and borders the departments of Haute-Saône, and Doubs. The passage allows warm

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

air flows to advect northeastwards into the Upper Rhine Plain and the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

Valley. Lines of communication that traverse the Belfort Gap include the French Route nationale 83 and the A36 autoroute, the railway line from

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and the LGV Rhin-Rhône high-speed railway, as well as the Rhône-Rhine Canal.

History

The Belfort Gap is first recorded as playing a military role in 58 BC, when

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

marched his army through it to confront the Germanic chieftain Ariovistus, whom he defeated at the Battle of the Vosges probably fought in the vicinity of modern

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

. Over the following decades the area west of the Rhine was incorporated into the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. When the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

collapsed in the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni settled in the area immediately east of the Belfort Gap during the ensuing Migration Period, while the Burgundians passed through it and established the

Kingdom of the Burgundians The Kingdom of the Burgundians or First Kingdom of Burgundy was established by Germanic Burgundians in the Rhineland and then in eastern Gaul in the 5th century. History Background The Burgundians, a Germanic tribe, may have migrated from the ...

to the west. In the early 6th century, both Burgundy and Alemannia were conquered by the

Kingdom of Francia Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks duri ...

, but the Belfort Gap remained the

linguistic border A language border or language boundary is the line separating two language areas. The term is generally meant to imply a lack of mutual intelligibility between the two languages. If two adjacent languages or dialects are mutually intelligible, no ...

between Germanic and

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. Francia grew to become the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the ...

until it fell apart in the late ninth century, whereupon the Belfort Gap again became a border, this time between East Francia (later the

Kingdom of Germany The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( la, regnum Teutonicorum "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especi ...

) to the east and the

Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles The Kingdom of Burgundy, known from the 12th century as the Kingdom of Arles, also referred to in various context as Arelat, the Kingdom of Arles and Vienne, or Kingdom of Burgundy-Provence, was a realm established in 933 by the merger of the king ...

to the west. By 1033 both kingdoms had been incorporated into the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

. Thereafter local subdivisions started to become more important, which on the ''Arlésien'' side meant the

County of Burgundy The Free County of Burgundy or Franche-Comté (french: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; german: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, predecessor to the modern region of Franche-Comté. The name ' ...

, and from 1042 also the County of Montbéliard (german: Grafschaft Mömpelgard); the territory on the German side was initially part of the stem duchy of Swabia, later the Alsatian Sundgau ("the southern Gau"). During the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

, in 1324 the Austrian

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

acquired first the Sundgau and in 1493 the

(more usually known in this period as the ''Franche-Comté''). Under the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, the Habsburgs were obliged to cede the Sundgau to the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...

and the Belfort Gap therefore became the border between French Alsace and Habsburg Franche-Comté, but not for long: under the 1678 Treaties of Nijmegen France acquired Franche-Comté too.

The Belfort Gap acquired renewed significance in the series of Franco-German wars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian army invaded

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

via the Wissembourg Gap and then swept down the length of Alsace and laid siege to Belfort, hoping to seize the city and then rush on through the Belfort Gap into central France. The siege ended up dragging on for months, and an armistice was signed before it could be brought to a decisive conclusion. The wider war had delivered a conclusive result, however, and under the resulting Treaty of Versailles (1871) Alsace and

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

were ceded by

to the newly-established German Empire. In 1871, the language border was used to determine the demarcation line between Alsace and Burgundy, and France was thereby able to retain Belfort. It had however become a border town again, and a series of fortifications was therefore thrown up to protect it from any future German attack.

20th century

At the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, French troops invaded Germany through the Belfort Gap, leading to the bloody Battles of the Frontiers. The most recent military advance through the Belfort Gap was that of the French I Corps in November 1944, under General De Lattre.''Riviera to the Rhine'' (U.S. Army in World War II Series), pp. 412-432. Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert Ross Smith. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1993.

References

{{Coord, 47, 33, 55, N, 06, 45, 15, E, type:pass_region:FR, display=title Plateaus of Metropolitan France Landforms of Grand Est Landforms of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté