Rhin-et-Moselle (; ) was a department of the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted u ...

and

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

in present-day

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was named after the rivers

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

. It was formed in 1797, when the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Until the French occupation, its territory was divided between the Archbishopric of Cologne, the

Archbishopric of Trier The Diocese of Trier (), in English historically also known as ''Treves'' () from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...

. Its territory is now part of the German states of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Its capital was

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. After

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

was defeated in 1814, the department became part of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

History

The Département de Rhin-et-Moselle was established by the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted un ...

in 1798 in the territories of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

conquered after the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...

in 1794, after the failure of the creation of an independent Cisrhenian Republic. The annexation was legalized under international law by the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary do ...

on February 9, 1801. Since the French had to evacuate the right bank territories according to the peace treaty, they blew up before the old fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. Following the inauguration of the administrative division, the cities and municipalities of the département received civil administration for the first time. From 1802 all the religious foundations and monasteries in the department were secularized. In the Concordat of 1801 the state guaranteed religious tolerance to the churches. With the dissolution of the ecclesiastical rule and the change of ownership, a new social order emerged. With the adoption of the Code civil from 1804, a modern legal system was introduced, based on individual liberties, equality before the law, the rule of law, the protection of property, and the strict separation of church and state. In the areas of the left bank of the Rhine, it continued even after the French period until the introduction of the

Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch The ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany, codifying most generally-applicably private law. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbr ...

in 1900. The new legal system replaced the previous secret inquisition processes and replaced them with public prosecution and jury trials. Furthermore, the male population of the conquered territories was subject to draft into the French army and thus had to participate in the French wars of conquest, including the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

, where many of the soldiers were killed. The French legacy of administration and justice, which was maintained during the Prussian period, allowed much greater scope for liberal aspirations. The Hambach Festival of 1832 and the

German revolutions of 1848–49 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

would have been unimaginable without this legacy. The Département de Rhin-et-Moselle existed until 1814. On New Year's Eve in 1814, Russian troops together with Blücher's Silesian army crossed the Rhine near Koblenz, Kaub and Mannheim. The French evacuated the département and left it to the Russians and Prussians without a fight. Thereafter, it was administered for a short time as part of the ''General Government of the Middle Rhine'' and was finally assigned to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1815 at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

. Prussia formed the short-lived province of the Grand Duchy of Lower Rhine, the southern forerunner of the

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

, from the areas that it had acquired.

Prefects

The prefects of the department were: * Philippe Joseph Boucqueau (1800-1803) * Mouchard de Chaban (1803-1805) * Alexandre de Lameth (1805-1806) * Adrien de Lezay-Marnésia (1806-1810) * Jean Marie Thérèse Doazan (1810-1814)

Administrative units

The department was subdivided into the following

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

s and

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

(situation in 1812):Almanach Impérial an bissextil MDCCCXII
p. 456-457, accessed in Gallica 26 July 2013 *

, cantons:

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the ''Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing village ...

, Boppard, Cochem, Kaisersesch, Lutzerath,

Mayen Mayen () is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, ...

, Münstermaifeld, Polch, Rübenach, Treis and Zell. *

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, cantons:

(2 cantons), Adenau, Ahrweiler,

Remagen Remagen () is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler (district), Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West Germany, West German seat of government. It i ...

Rheinbach Rheinbach () is a town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district ( Landkreis), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It belongs to the administrative district (Regierungsbezirk) of Cologne. Geography Situated south-west of Bonn and south of Cologne, Rhein ...

, Ulmen, Virneburg and Wehr. * Simmern, cantons: Simmern, Bacharach, Kastellaun, Kirchberg,

Kirn Kirn () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a Central place theory, middle centre serving an area ...

, Kreuznach, Sankt Goar, Sobernheim, Stromberg and Trarbach. Its population in 1812 was 269,700, and its area was 588,419 hectares.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhin-Et-Moselle Former departments of France in Germany History of the Rhineland 1798 establishments in France