Meuse () is a
department in northeast
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, named after the
River Meuse. Meuse is part of the current
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
of
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
and is landlocked and borders by the French departments of
Ardennes,
Marne,
Haute-Marne,
Vosges,
Meurthe-et-Moselle, and
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
to the north. Parts of Meuse belong to
Parc naturel régional de Lorraine. It had a population of 184,083 in 2019.
[Populations légales 2019: 55 Meuse]
INSEE Front lines in
trench warfare
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from a ...
during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
ran varying courses through the department and it hosted an important battle/offensive in 1916 in and around
Verdun
Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
In 843, the Treaty of V ...
.
History
Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the
French Revolution on 4 March 1790, by order of the
National Constituent Assembly. The new departments were to be uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in size and population. The department was created from the former
provinces
A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
of
Barrois (area of
Bar-le-Duc) and
Three Bishoprics (area of
Verdun
Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
In 843, the Treaty of V ...
).
From about 500 AD, the
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
controlled this part of northeastern France, and the
Carolingian Empire
The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...
was the last stage of their rule. The Carolingian territories were divided into three sections in 843 at the
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun (; ), agreed to on 10 August 843, ended the Carolingian civil war and divided the Carolingian Empire between Lothair I, Louis the German, Louis II and Charles the Bald, Charles II, the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the ...
, and the area that is now the department of Meuse became part of
Middle Francia
Middle Francia () was a short-lived Frankish kingdom which was created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun after an intermittent civil war between the grandsons of Charlemagne resulted in division of the united empire. Middle Francia was allocated ...
. The new ruler was
Lothair I
Lothair I (9th. C. Frankish: ''Ludher'' and Medieval Latin: ''Lodharius''; Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German: ''Lothar''; French: ''Lothaire''; Italian: ''Lotario''; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century emperor of the ...
, and on his death in 855, his territory north of the Alps was passed to his second son
Lothair II, after whom the hitherto nameless territory was called Lotharingia, which name eventually evolved into the modern Lorraine. Lothair II died without legitimate heirs and Lotharingia was divided into east and west parts. The king of
East Francia,
Louis the German
Louis the German (German language, German: ''Ludwig der Deutsche''; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German language, German: ''Ludwig II. von Deutschland''), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 8 ...
, received the eastern part and
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a series of civil wars during t ...
, king of
West Francia
In medieval historiography, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () constitutes the initial stage of the Kingdom of France and extends from the year 843, from the Treaty of Verdun, to 987, the beginning of the Capet ...
, received the western part, which included Meuse, thus effectively establishing the medieval Kingdoms of
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 ...
and
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
The
Battle of Sedan was fought in the western part of the department during the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
in 1870. It resulted in the capture of the
Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and effectively decided the war in favour 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, ...
and its allies. The area was again a battleground in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
when the
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...
was fought in 1916. In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
it again saw action in
another battle when the Germans sought to establish a base from which to capture the Meuse bridges and cross the river.
Geography
Meuse is a department in northeastern France and is part of the region of
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
. The capital and largest town in the department is
Bar-le-Duc, and other large towns are
Commercy and
Verdun
Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
In 843, the Treaty of V ...
. The northern edge of the department is on the border with Belgium, to the east lies the department of
Meurthe-et-Moselle, to the south lies
Vosges, to the southwest lies
Haute-Marne, to the west lies
Marne and to the northwest,
Ardennes. The main rivers flowing through the department are the
River Meuse, the
Aire and the
Chiers. A ridge running from south to north separates the watersheds of the
Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
and the
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 ...
. These hills are called the
Argonne and are clothed in oak forests. The area of the department is .
The total land area of the department is , and of this, are cultivated for arable crops, are grassland, are woods and forests and are cultivated for the production of grapes.
The principal crops grown are wheat, barley and oats, potatoes, oilseed rape, vegetables and fruit. Livestock is raised and timber is extracted from the forests. The main industries are brewing and the manufacture of glass and tiles. Lace-making is a traditional craft in the department.
[
Part of the department is in the Lorraine Regional Natural Park, a stretch of pastoral countryside stretching eastward from ]Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
and Nancy and spanning three departments. The park has many natural habitats including calcareous grassland, forested valleys, wet meadow
A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...
s, ponds and streams. There are many Natura 2000 protected areas and it is an important resting area for migratory birds. Among the different habitats it includes a stretch of coast, the plain of Woëvre, the Lac de Madine, the Meuse valley and the Hague plateau. The total area of the park is . It has a very short border with Belgium.
Demographics
Since the mid-nineteenth century, the exodus of the countryside inhabitants to the cities has caused the population of rural France to fall. Meuse has no big cities to receive population and the total population of the department has thus decreased. It reached 328,657 inhabitants in 1851, with a population density of , but had fallen to 277,955 by 1911. Meuse experienced the greatest proportional population decline in French departments in just ten years, from 278,000 inhabitants in 1911 into just 207,000 in 1921. The First World War dealt a heavy blow to the department, and by 1921, only 207,309 inhabitants were recorded. Many residents had fled, and entire villages that were on or near the front line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an Military, armed force's Military personnel, personnel and Military technology, equipment, usually referring to ...
in 1916 were destroyed. Meuse thus has several uninhabited communes because the villages were never rebuilt, and in fact are known as "Morts pour la France" ("Died for France"); the number of displaced persons from the villages varies from 131 to 718. Since the end of the Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...
in 1916, these communes have been unoccupied with an official population of zero; the villages are Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Bezonvaux, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme, Fleury-devant-Douaumont
Fleury-devant-Douaumont (, literally ''Fleury before Douaumont'') is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
During the Battle of Verdun in 1916 it was captured and recaptured by the Germans and French 16 times ...
, Haumont-près-Samogneux and Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre.[ In the later part of the twentieth century the number of inhabitants in the department varied little but eventually fell below 200,000 inhabitants in the 1980s.
Because of its low population density Meuse is considered to fall within the empty diagonal.
]
Principal towns
The most populous commune is Verdun
Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
In 843, the Treaty of V ...
; the prefecture, Bar-le-Duc, is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 4,000 inhabitants:[
]
Politics
The president of the Departmental Council is Jérôme Dumont, elected in July 2021.
Presidential elections 2nd round
Current National Assembly Representatives
Tourism
The European Beer Museum (Musée Européen de la bière) in Stenay, founded in 1986, is considered the largest of its kind on the continent.
File:Bar-le-Duc Place Saint-Pierre.jpg, Bar-le-Duc
File:Bar-le-Duc - Eglise Saint-Etienne - Le Transi -192.jpg, ''Le Transi de René de Chalon'' by Ligier Richier in Bar-le-Duc
File:10 Château d'Hattonchâtel.jpg, Château de Hattonchâtel
File:Chapelle castrale Vaucouleurs.jpg, Chapel of Vaucouleurs
File:Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre - Poilu.jpg, Historical reenactment near the Verdun battlefield
See also
* Arrondissements of the Meuse department
* Cantons of the Meuse department
* Communes of the Meuse department
The following is a list of the 499 Communes of France, communes of the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of France, department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of ...
* Departmental Council of Meuse
* Zone rouge
References
External links
*
Prefecture website
*
Meuse Departmental Council website
*
Official Tourist Board website
{{Authority control
1790 establishments in France
Departments of Grand Est
States and territories established in 1790