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The 'Rhine' (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the longest and most important
rivers in
Europe at
1,320 kilometres (820 miles), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second. The most important tributary is the
Aare river. The name of the Rhine comes from the archaic
German ''Rhine'', which in turn comes from
Middle High German: ''Rin'', from the
Proto-Indo-European root
★ ''reie-'' ("to flow, run")
[1], through the
Celtic language. The
Reno River in Italy shares the same etymology.
The Rhine and the
Danube formed most of the northern frontier of the
Roman Empire, and since those days the Rhine has been a vital navigable waterway, carrying trade and goods deep inland. It has also served as a defensive feature, and been the basis for regional and international borders. The many castles and prehistoric fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway. River traffic could be stopped at these locations, usually for the purpose of collecting tolls, by the state controlling that portion of the river.
Geography
The Rhine between the upper (''Obersee'') and lower part (''Untersee'') of
Lake Constance.
Rhine with chemical industry at
Wesseling near Cologne.
Switzerland
The Rhine's
origins are in the Swiss
Alps in the canton of
Graubünden, where its two main initial
tributaries are called ''Vorderrhein'' and ''Hinterrhein''. The Vorderrhein (anterior Rhine) springs from Lake Tuma near the
Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive
Ruinaulta (the Swiss Grand Canyon). The Hinterrhein (posterior Rhine) starts from the Paradies glacier near the Rheinquellhorn at the southern border of Switzerland. One of the latter tributaries originates in
Val di Lei in Italy.
Both tributaries meet near
Reichenau, still in Graubünden. From Reichenau, the Rhine flows north as the ''Alpenrhein'' passing
Chur and forming the frontier with
Liechtenstein and then
Austria, and then emptying into
Lake Constance. Emerging from Lake Constance, flowing west as the ''Hochrhein'' it passes the
Rhine Falls and is joined by the
Aare river which more than doubles its water discharge to an average of nearly 1,000 cubic meters per second. It forms the boundary with Germany until it turns north at the so-called
Rhine knee at
Basel.
Germany and France
Past Basel, as the
Upper Rhine, it forms the southern part of the border between
Germany and
France in a wide valley, before entering
Germany exclusively at
Rheinstetten, near
Karlsruhe.
At over 1000 kilometres in length, the Rhine is the longest river primarily within
Germany. It is here that the Rhine encounters some of its main tributaries, such as the
Neckar, the
Main and later the
Moselle, which contributes an average discharge of over 300 cubic meters per second.
Between
Bingen and
Bonn, the
Middle Rhine flows 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 at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised. This gorge is quite deep, and is the stretch of the river known for its many
castles and
vineyards. It is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site (2002) and known as "the romantic Rhine" with more than 40 castles and fortresses from the
Middle Ages (see links) and many lovely wine villages.
Though many industries can be found along the Rhine up into
Switzerland, it is along the
Lower Rhine in the
Ruhr area that the bulk of them are concentrated, as the river passes the major cities of
Cologne,
Düsseldorf, and
Duisburg.
Duisburg is the home of Europe's largest inland port representing an inland hub to the sea ports of
Rotterdam,
Antwerp and
Amsterdam. The
Ruhr, which joins the Rhine in Duisburg, is nowadays a clean river, given the fact that most of industry has disappeard over the last decades. The Ruhr is presently providing the region with drinking water. It adds another 70 cubic meters per second to the Rhine. However, other rivers from the
Ruhr area, above all the
Emscher, still bring a considerable degree of
pollution. Approaching the Dutch border, the Rhine now has an average discharge of 2,290 cubic metres per second and an average width of more than 300 metres.
Netherlands
The Rhine then turns west and enters the
Netherlands, where together with the rivers
Meuse and
Scheldt it forms the extensive
Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta, one of the larger
river deltas in western Europe. Crossing the border into the Netherlands at
Spijk, close to
Nijmegen and
Arnhem the Rhine is at its widest, but the river then splits into three main
distributaries: the
Waal,
Nederrijn ("Lower Rhine") and
IJssel branches.
From here the situation becomes more complicated, as the Dutch name "Rijn" no longer coincides with the main flow of water. Most of the Rhine water (two thirds) flows farther west through the Waal and then via the
Merwede and
Nieuwe Merwede (
Biesbosch) and, merging with the Meuse, through the
Hollands Diep and
Haringvliet estuaries into the
North Sea. The
Beneden Merwede branches off near
Hardinxveld-Giessendam and continues as the
Noord, to join the
Lek near the village of
Kinderdijk to form the
Nieuwe Maas, then flows past
Rotterdam and continues via
Het Scheur and the
Nieuwe Waterweg to the North Sea. The
Oude Maas branches off near
Dordrecht, farther down rejoining the
Nieuwe Maas to form
Het Scheur.
The other third portion of the water flows through the
Pannerdens Kanaal and redistributes in the IJssel and Nederrijn. The IJssel branch carries one ninth of the water volume north into the
IJsselmeer (a former bay), while the Nederrijn flows west parallel to the Waal and carries approximately two ninths of the flow. However, at
Wijk bij Duurstede the Nederrijn changes its name and becomes the
Lek. It flows farther west to rejoin the
Noord into the
Nieuwe Maas and to the North Sea.
The name "Rijn" from here on is used only for smaller streams farther to the north which together once formed the main river Rhine in
Roman times. Though they retained the name, these streams do not carry water from the Rhine anymore, but are used for draining the surrounding land and
polders. From Wijk bij Duurstede, the old north branch of the Rhine is called
Kromme Rijn ("Crooked Rhine") and past
Utrecht, first
Leidse Rijn ("Rhine of
Leiden") and then
Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine"). The latter flows west into a
sluice at
Katwijk, where its waters can be discharged into the
North Sea. This branch once formed the line along which the
Upper Germanic limes were built.
Large cities
Basel,
Strasbourg,
Karlsruhe,
Mannheim,
Ludwigshafen,
Wiesbaden,
Mainz,
Koblenz,
Bonn,
Cologne,
Düsseldorf,
Neuss,
Krefeld,
Duisburg,
Arnhem (Nederrijn),
Nijmegen (Waal),
Utrecht (Kromme Rijn),
Rotterdam (Nieuwe Maas).
Smaller cities
Konstanz,
Schaffhausen,
Breisach,
Speyer,
Worms,
Bingen,
Rüdesheim,
Neuwied,
Andernach,
Bad Honnef,
Königswinter,
Niederkassel,
Wesseling,
Dormagen,
Zons,
Monheim,
Wesel,
Xanten,
Emmerich,
Zutphen (IJssel),
Deventer (IJssel),
Zwolle (IJssel),
Kampen (IJssel).
Railway bridges
Existing and former
Railway bridges (with nearest
train station on the left and right bank):
Vorderrhein
★ Switzerland
★
★ a total of five bridges on the line Andermatt - Reichenau-Tamins (all single tracked, electrified, 1000mm gauge)
Hinterrhein
★ Switzerland
★
★ a total of two bridges on the line Filisur - Reichenau-Tamins (both single tracked, electrified, 1000mm gauge)
Alpenrhein
★ Switzerland
★
★ at Untervaz (industrial branch line, single tracked and non-electrifed, combined 1000mm and 1435mm gauge)
★
★ between Bad Ragaz and Maienfeld (double tracked, electrified, 1435mm gauge)
★
Liechtenstein and
Switzerland
★
★ between
Schaan and
Buchs SG (single tracked, electrified)
★ Austria and Switzerland
★
★ a total of two bridges of the Internationale Rheinregulierungsbahn (both single tracked, electrified, 750mm gauge)
★
★ between
Lustenau and
St. Margrethen (single tracked, electrified)
Hochrhein
★ Germany
★
★ between Konstanz Hbf and Konstanz-Petershausen (single tracked, electrified)
★ Switzerland
★
★ between Etzwillen and Hemishofen (single tracked, non electrified, line closed for traffic)
★
★ between Feuerthalen and
Schaffhausen (single tracked, electrified)
★
★ between Dachsen and
Neuhausen am Rheinfall (single tracked, electrified)
★
★ between
Eglisau and Hüntwangen-Will (single tracked, electrified)
★ Switzerland and Germany
★
★ between
Koblenz and
Waldshut (single tracked, electrified)
★ Switzerland
★
★ between
Basel SBB and
Basel Badischer Bahnhof (double tracked, electrified, soon to have four tracks)
Upper Rhine
★ France and Germany
★
★ between Huningue and Weil am Rhein (single tracked, destroyed in WW2)
★
★ between Chalampé and Neuenburg (single tracked, electrified, freight only - passenger service only on weekends)
★
★ between Neuf-Brisach and Breisach (single tracked, destroyed in WW2)
★
★ between
Strasbourg and
Kehl (single tracked, electrified, soon to be double tracked again)
★
★ between
Roeschwoog and
Rastatt-Wintersdorf (double tracked, used as street bridge since
1949, line closed
1960, rails were preserved for strategic purpose until
1999)
★ Germany
★
★ between
Karlsruhe-Maxau and
Wörth am Rhein-Maximiliansau (double tracked, electrified)
★
★ between
Germersheim and
Philippsburg (single tracked, electrified)
★
★ between
Ludwigshafen and
Mannheim (four tracks, electrified)
★
★ between
Worms-Brücke and Hofheim (double tracked, electrified)
★
★ between Mainz-Süd and Mainz-Gustavsburg (double tracked, electrified)
★
★ between Mainz-Nord and Wiesbaden-Ost (double tracked, electrified)
Middle Rhine
★ Germany
★
★ between Rüdesheim/Geisenheim and Münster-Sarmsheim/Ockenheim (double tracked, destroyed in WW2)
★
★ between Koblenz Hbf and Niederlahnstein (double tracked, electrified)
★
★ between Koblenz-Lützel and Neuwied (double tracked, electrified)
★
★
The Bridge at Remagen between Sinzig/Bad Bodendorf and Unkel (double tracked, destroyed in WW2)
Lower Rhine
★ Germany
★
★ two bridges at
Cologne:
★
★
★ the Südbrücke south of the City (double tracked, electrified)
★
★
★ the
Hohenzollernbrücke between
Köln Hbf and Köln Deutz/Messe (six tracks, electrified)
★
★ between Neuss-Rheinpark Center and Düsseldorf-Hamm (four tracks, electrified)
★
★ between Rheinhausen-Ost and Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd (double tracked, electrified)
★
★ between Moers and Duisburg-Beeck (single tracked (formerly double tracked), electrified, freight only)
★
★ between Büderich and Wesel (double tracked, destroyed in WW2)
Delta
★ Netherlands (in the delta the river splits and its name changes often)
★
★ between
Nijmegen and
Elst across
Waal (Rhine delta main branch)
★
★ between
Zaltbommel and
Geldermalsen across
Waal, made famous in a poem by
Martinus Nijhoff
★
★ at
Rotterdam across Nieuwe Maas (joint Rhein-
Meuse river mouth), former bridge 'De Hef' - now replaced by a tunnel. Farther to the south, main bridge is at Moerdijk.
★
★ between
Elst and
Arnhem across
Nederrijn (Rhine delta second-largest branch)
★
★ between
Culemborg and
Houten across
Lek (Rhine delta second-largest branch farther downstream)
★
★ at
Zutphen across
IJssel (Rhine third-largest branch)
★
★ at
Deventer across
IJssel
★
★ at
Zwolle across
IJssel
★
★ near Alblas across Noord (a branch near
Rotterdam), now being replaced by a tunnel.
★
★ between
Utrecht and
Zeist across
Kromme Rijn (near Bunnik station)
★
★ at
Utrecht central station across Vaartsche Rijn (canal)
★
★ at
Utrecht central station across
Oude Rijn (canalised into Leidschse Rijn).
★
★ between
Utrecht and Vleuten,
Woerden across Amsterdam Rijn-Canal
★
★ between
Utrecht and Breukelen,
Amsterdam across Amsterdam Rijn-Canal
The bridges at Huningue, Rastatt, Rüdesheim (Hindenburgbrücke) and Remagen (Ludendorffbrücke) were built for strategic military reasons only, in order to allow the Imperial German Army (and later the Wehrmacht) to quickly transport forces by rail to Germany's western border in the event of a war with France. Unlike other bridges built for the same purpose (like the ones at Koblenz or Cologne), these bridges were of almost no use in peacetime and thus were never rebuild after their destruction during the last months of World War 2 (except for the one at Rastatt, which was used to supply units of the French Army stationed in the area).
Tributaries
Vorderrhein.
from source to mouth:
Distributaries
Present Distributaries
''order: descending discharge capacity''
★
Waal (river) -
Nieuwe Merwede (canal) -
Hollands Diep -
Haringvliet (estuaries)
★
Merwede -
Nieuwe Maas -
Nieuwe Waterweg (=
Rotterdam harbour)
★
Nederrijn (river) -
Lek (river)
★
IJssel (river) -
IJsselmeer (former
Zuiderzee lagoon)
Former distributaries
''order: panning North to South through Western Netherlands''
★
Utrechtse Vecht (minor channel in
Roman times, flowing into former
Zuiderzee lagoon)
★
Kromme Rijn -
Oude Rijn (main channel in Roman times, dammed in 12th century AD)
★
Hollandse IJssel (formed after Roman times, dammed in 13th century AD)
★
Linge (big channel in Roman times, dammed in 14th century AD)
★
Biesbosch-area (initiated by 1421-1424 AD storm surges and river floods, by-passed since the digging of
Nieuwe Merwede canal in 1904 AD)
Canals include
''order: upstream to downstream''
★
Rhine-Main-Danube Canal - southeastern
Germany
★
Grand Canal of Alsace - eastern
France
★
Rhine-Herne Canal - northwest
Germany
★
★ which is the connection to the
Dortmund-Ems Canal and the
Mittellandkanal.
★
Maas-Waal Canal - eastcentral
Netherlands
★
Amsterdam-Rhine Canal - central
Netherlands
★
Scheldt-Rhine Canal - southwest
Netherlands
Geologic history
Alpine orogeny
The Rhine flows from the
Alps to the
North Sea Basin and the geography and geology of its present day watershed has developed since the
Alpine Orogeny began.
In southern
Europe, the stage was set in the
Triassic Period of the
Mesozoic Era, with the opening of the
Tethys Sea between the Eurasian and African
plates, between about 240
MBP and 220 MBP. The present
Mediterranean descends from this somewhat larger Tethys sea. At about 180 MBP, in the
Jurassic Period, the two plates reversed direction and began to compress the Tethys floor, causing it to be subducted under Eurasia and pushing up the edge of the latter plate in the Alpine Orogeny of the
Oligocene and
Miocene Periods. Several microplates were caught in the squeeze and rotated or were pushed laterally, generating the individual features of Mediterranean geography: Iberia pushed up the
Pyrenees;
Italy the Alps, and
Anatolia, moving west, the mountains of
Greece and the islands. The compression and orogeny continue today, as shown by the ongoing raising of the mountains a small amount each year and the active volcanoes.
In northern
Europe, the
North Sea Basin had formed during the
Triassic and
Jurassic period, and continued to be a sediment receiving basin since. In between the zone of Alpine Orogeny and North Sea Basin subsidence, remained highlands resulting from an earlier orogeny (
Variscan), such as the
Ardennes,
Eifel, and
Vosges.
From the
Eocene onwards, the ongoing
Alpine Orogeny caused a N-S rift system to develop in this zone. The main elements of this rift are the Upper Rhine Graben in southeast
Germany/eastern
France and the
Lower Rhine Embayment in northwest
Germany/southeast
Netherlands. By the time of the
Miocene, a river system had developed in the Upper Rhine Graben, that continued northward and is considered the first Rhine river. At that time it did not yet carry discharge from the
Alps: instead the watersheds of
Rhone and
Danube drained the northern flanks of the Alps.
Stream capture
The watershed of the Rhine reaches into the
Alps today, but it did not start out that way (Berendsen & Stouthamer, 2001; Fig. 2.2
[1]). In the
Miocene period, the watershed of the Rhine reached south only to the
Eifel and
Westerwald hills, about 450 km north of the Alps. The Rhine then had the
Sieg as a tributary, but not yet the
Mosel. The northern Alps were drained by the
Danube then.
Through
stream capture, the Rhine extended its watershed southward. By the
Pliocene period, the Rhine had captured streams down to the
Vosges mountains, including the Mosel, the
Main, and the
Neckar. The northern Alps were drained by the
Rhône then. By the early
Pleistocene period, the Rhine had captured most of its current Alpine watershed from the Rhône, including the
Aare. Since that time, the Rhine has added the watershed above
Lake Constance (
Vorderrhein,
Hinterrhein,
Alpenrhein; captured from the Rhône), the upper reaches of the Main (beyond
Schweinfurt), and the Vosges mountains (captured from the
Meuse) to its watershed.
Ice Ages
The
Pleistocene (~2.5 million years ago - 11,600 years ago) was the geological period of the Ice Ages. Since approximately 600,000 years ago six major Ice Ages have occurred, in which sea level dropped 120 m, and much of the continental margins became exposed. In the Early Pleistocene, the Rhine followed a course to the northwest, through the present North Sea. During the so-called Anglian glaciation (~450,000 yr BP, marine oxygen isotope stage 12) the northern part of the present North Sea was blocked by the ice, and a large lake developed that overflowed through the English Channel. This caused the Rhine's course to be diverted through the English Channel. Since then, during glacial times, the river mouth was located offshore Brest (France), and rivers like the
Thames and the
Seine became tributaries to the Rhine. During interglacials, when sea level rose to approximately the present level, the Rhine built deltas in what is now the Netherlands.
The last
Ice Age ran from (~74,000 BP = Before Present) until the end of the
Pleistocene (~11,600 BP). In northwest
Europe, it saw two very cold phases, peaking around 70,000 BP and around 29,000-24,000 BP. The last phase slightly predates the global last ice age maximum (
Last Glacial Maximum).
During this time the lower Rhine flowed roughly west through the Netherlands and extended to the southwest, through the English Channel, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean. The English and Irish Channels, and most of the
North Sea were dry land, mainly because sea level was approximately 120 m lower than today.
Most of the Rhine's current course was not under the ice during the last Ice Age, although its source must then have been a glacier. A
tundra with Ice Age flora and fauna stretched across middle Europe from Asia to the Atlantic Ocean. Such was the case during the
Last Glacial Maximum, ca. 22,000-14,000 yr BP, when ice-sheets covered Scandinavia and the Baltic, Scotland and the Alps, but left the space between as open tundra. The
loess, or wind-blown dust over that tundra settled in and around the Rhine Valley, contributing to its current agricultural usefulness.
End of the Last Ice Age
As northwest Europe slowly began to warm up from 22,000 years ago onward, frozen subsoil began to thaw, expanded alpine glaciers began to thaw, and fall-winter snow covers melted in spring. Much of the discharge was routed to the Rhine and its downstream extension (e.g. Menot et al. 2006, Science). Rapid warming and change of vegetation to open forest began about 13,000 BP. By 9000 BP, Europe was fully forested.
With globally shrinking ice-cover, ocean water levels rose and the English Channel and North Sea re-inundated. Meltwater adding to the ocean and land
subsidence drowned the former coasts of Europe (
transgression).
About 11000 yr ago, the Rhine estuary was in the Dover Strait. There remained some dry land in the southern
North Sea, connecting mainland
Europe to Britain. About 9000 yr ago, that last divide was overtopped / dissected. These events were well within the residence of man.
Since 7500 yr ago, a situation with tides and currents very similar to present has existed. Rates of sea-level rise had dropped so far that natural sedimentation by the Rhine and coastal processes together could compensate the transgression by the sea: in the last 7000 year the coast line was roughly at the same location. In the southern
North Sea, due to ongoing tectonic subsidence, the sea-level is still rising, at the rate of about 1-3 cm per century (1 meter in last 3000 years).
About 7000-5000 BP a general warming encouraged migration up the
Danube and down the Rhine by peoples to the east, perhaps encouraged by the sudden massive expansion of the
Black Sea as the
Mediterranean burst into it through the
Bosphorus about 7500 BP.
Holocene delta
At the begin of the Holocene (~11,700 years ago) the Rhine occupied its Late-Glacial valley. As a
meandering river, it reworked its ice-age braidplain. As sea-level continued to rise, in the Netherlands the formation of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta began (~8,000 years ago). Coeval absolute sea-level rise and tectonic subsidence have strongly influenced delta evolution. Other factors of importance to the shape of the delta are local tectonic activity of Peel Boundary Fault, the substrate and geomorphology as inherited from the Last Glacial, and coastal-marine dynamics such as barrier and tidal inlet formation (Cohen et al., 2002).
Since ~3000 yr BP (= years Before Present) human impact is seen in the delta. As a result of increasing land clearance (
Bronze Age agriculture) in the upland areas (central
Germany), the sediment load of the Rhine River has strongly increased (Hoffmann et al. 2007) and delta growth has sped up (Gouw & Erkens, 2007). This caused increased flooding and sedimentation, and ended peat formation in the delta. The shifting of river channels to new locations on the floodplain (termed avulsion) was the main process distributing sediment across the subrecent delta. Over the past 6000 years, approximately 80 avulsions occurred (documented by Berendsen & Stouthamer, 2001).
Direct human impacts in the delta started with peat mining for salt and fuel from
Roman times onward. It was followed embankment of the major distributaries and damming of minor distributaries took place in the 11-13th century AD. Thereafter, canals were dug, bends were short cut and groynes were build to prevent the rivers channels to migrate or silt up.
At present, the branches Waal and Nederrijn-Lek discharge to the North Sea through the former Meuse
estuary near Rotterdam. The river IJssel branch flows to the north and enters the
IJssel Lake (formerly the
Zuiderzee brackish lagoon, since 1932 a freshwater lake). The discharge of the Rhine is divided among three branches: the River Waal (6/9 of total discharge), the River Nederrijn - Lek (2/9 of total discharge) and the River IJssel (1/9 of total discharge). This discharge distribution is maintained by river engineering works since 1709 AD (digging of Pannerdens canal), with the help of weirs in the Nederrijn river since the 20th century.
Prehistory
Palaeolithic
During the
Middle Palaeolithic, ca 100,000-30,000 BP (the dates vary a great deal) western Europe, including the Rhine and Danube Valleys, was occupied by
Neanderthal Man, to which belonged the
Mousterian culture of stone tools. Mousterian sites are not considered intrusive. It is believed that the Neanderthals may have evolved from the preceding
Homo erectus in the vicinity of the glaciers, but the question has by no means been settled definitively.
Neanderthal sites are denser to the south, where open forest prevailed and the limestone terrain offered more caves as dwelling. The Rhine ran through an open tundra, where Neanderthals hunted big game, such as the
rhinoceros and the
woolly mammoth. Accordingly, open air Mousterian sites have been discovered in and around the Rhine valley.
Mesolithic
Before about 5600 BC, the Rhine Valley, along with most of Europe, was occupied by
Cro-magnon man in the
Mesolithic stage of cultural development; that is, they hunted and gathered, but owned a larger and more specialized tool kit than the
Palaeolithic people, knew more about the plants and animals, and even may have kept a few animals.
Iron Age
During the early
Iron Age, both banks of the Rhine were inhabited by
Celtic tribes. However, in the beginning of the
Pre-Roman Iron Age, ca
600 BC, the
Proto-Germanic tribes crossed the
Weser River and the
Aller River, and expanded the whole distance to the banks of the Rhine. This expansion is shown archaeologically in the form of the
Jastorf culture. From ca
500 BC and onwards, the lower Rhine and not the Weser and the Aller would increasingly mark the border between the
Celtic tribes and the
Germanic tribes.
Historic and military relevance
The human history of the Rhine begins with the writers of the late
Roman Republic and early
Roman Empire. Nearly all the classical sources mention the Rhine, and the name is always the same: Rhenus in Latin, Greek Rhenos. The Romans viewed the Rhine as the outermost border of civilization and reason, beyond which were mythical creatures and the wild Germanic tribesmen, not far themselves from being beasts of the wilderness they inhabited. As it was a wilderness, the Romans were eager to explore it. This view is typified by ''
Res Gestae Divi Augusti'', a long public inscription of
Augustus in which he (or his ghost writer) boasts of his exploits, including sending an expeditionary fleet north of the Rheinmouth to
Old Saxony and
Jutland, which he claims no Roman had ever done.
Throughout the long history of Rome, the Rhine was considered the border between
Gaul or the
Celts and the Germanic peoples, although it should be noted that the historical ethnonyms do not carry their modern ethno-linguistic definitions.
Typical of this point of view is a quote from
Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil'' (On Book 8 Line 727):
:"''(Rhenus) fluvius Galliae, qui Germanos a Gallia dividit''"
:"''(The Rhein is a) river of Gaul, which divides the Germanic people from Gaul.''"
The Rhine in the earlier sources was always a Gallic river.
As the
Roman Empire grew, the Romans found it necessary to station troops along the Rhine. They kept two army groups there (exercitus), the inferior, or "lower", and the superior, or "upper", which is the first distinction between upper Germania and lower Germania. It originally probably only meant upstream and downstream, the Niederrhein and Oberrhein regions of the map included with this article.
The Romans kept eight legions in five bases along the Rhine. The actual number of legions present at any base or in all depended on whether a state or threat of war existed. Between about 14 AD and 180 AD the assignment of legions was as follows.
For the army of
Germania Inferior, two legions at Vetera (
Xanten):
I Germanica and
XX Valeria (
Pannonian troops); two legions at oppidum Ubiorum ("town of the
Ubii"), which was renamed to Colonia Agrippina, descending to
Cologne. The legions were
V Alaudae, a Celtic legion recruited from
Gallia Transalpina, and
XXI, possibly a
Galatian legion from the other side of the empire.
For the army of
Germania superior, one legion,
II Augusta, at Argentoratum (
Strasbourg), and one,
XIII Gemina, at Vindonissa (
Windisch). Vespasian had commanded II Augusta before his promotion to imperator. In addition were a double legion, XIV and XVI, at Moguntiacum (
Mainz).
The two originally military districts of
Germania Inferior and
Germania Superior came to influence the surrounding tribes, who later respected the distinction in their alliances and confederations. For example, the upper Germanic peoples combined into the
Alemanni. For a time the Rhine ceased to be a border when the
Franks crossed the river and occupied Roman-dominated Celtic
Gaul as far as
Paris.
Subsequently language changes began to play a major political role.
West Germanic dissimilated into
Low Saxon,
Low Franconian languages and
High German languages roughly along the old lines. Perhaps it had been doing so all along.
Charlemagne united all the Franks in the
Holy Roman Empire, but he did not rule over a people of uniform language. After his death the empire split more or less along language lines, with the Low Franconian being spoken in the Netherlands and the Low Saxon and High German in what became Germany. The Romanized Franks became the French. The Rhine once again became a political border.
The Rhine as border has been and is a mystical and political symbol. German authors and composers have written reams about it. During World War II, it was still considered the sacred border of Germany, and was still a defensive barrier. The Germans fought especially hard to defend it.
The Rhine is closely linked to many important historical events — particularly military ones — as well as myths. For example:
★ The
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest which finally established the Rhine as the northern frontier of the
Roman Empire.
★ It was a historic object of frontier trouble between
France and
Germany. Establishing "
natural borders" on the Rhine was a long term goal of French foreign policy since the
Middle Ages. French leaders such as
Louis XIV and
Napoleon Bonaparte tried with varying degrees of success to annex lands west of the Rhine. In
1840 the ''Rhine crisis'' evolved, because the French prime minister
Adolphe Thiers started to talk about the Rhine border. In response, the poem and song ''
Die Wacht am Rhein'' ("The Watch on the Rhine") was composed at that time, calling for the defense of the western bank of the Rhine against France. During the
Franco-Prussian War it rose to the de-facto status of a national anthem in Germany. The song remained popular in
World War I and was used in the movie ''
Casablanca''
★ At the end of
World War I the
Rheinland was subject to the
Treaty of Versailles. This decreed that it would be occupied by the allies until 1935, and after that it would be a demilitarised zone, with the German army forbidden to enter. The Treaty of Versailles in general, and this particular provision, caused much resentment in Germany and are often cited as helping
Adolf Hitler's rise to power. The allies left the Rheinland in 1930, and the German army re-occupied it in 1936, which was enormously popular in Germany. Although the allies could probably have prevented the re-occupation, Britain and France were not inclined to do so, a feature of their policy of
appeasement of Hitler.
★ In
World War II it was recognised that the Rhine would present a formidable natural obstacle to the invasion of Germany by the western allies. The Rhine bridge at
Arnhem, immortalized in the
book and
film ''A Bridge Too Far'', was a central focus of the battle for Arnhem during the failed
Operation Market Garden of September 1944. The bridges at Nijmegen over the Waal distributary of the Rhine were also an objective of Market Garden. In a separate operation, the Rhine bridge at
Remagen became famous when U.S. forces were able to capture it intact — much to their own surprise — after the Germans failed to demolish it. This also became the subject of a film, ''
The Bridge at Remagen''.
★ In November 1986, a terrible disaster happened as fire broke out in a chemical factory near
Basel,
Switzerland. Chemicals soon made their way into the river and caused pollution problems. About 30 tons of chemicals were discharged into the river. Locals were told to stay indoors, as foul smells were present in the area. The pollutants included chemicals such as: pesticides, mercury and other highly poisonous agricultural chemicals.
★
Mainz Cathedral — this more than 1,000-year-old cathedral is seat to the
Bishop of Mainz. It holds significant historic value as the seat of the once politically powerful secular prince-archbishop within the
Holy Roman Empire. It houses historical funerary monuments and religious artifacts.
★ The ''
Nibelungenlied'', an epic poem in Middle High German, tells the saga of Siegfried/
Sigurd, who killed a dragon on the
Drachenfels (Siebengebirge) ("dragons rock") near
Bonn at the Rhine, of the Burgundians and their court at Worms at the Rhine, and Kriemhild's golden treasure which is thrown into the Rhine by Hagen
★ ''
Das Rheingold'' — inspired by the ''
Nibelungenlied'', the Rhine is one of the settings for the first opera of
Richard Wagner's
Ring cycle. The action of the epic opens and ends underneath the Rhine, where three Rheinmaidens swim and protect a hoard of
gold.
★ The
Loreley/Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine that is associated with several legendary tales, poems and songs. The river spot has a reputation for being a challenge for inexperienced navigators.
References
★ Berendsen, H.J.A. & E. Stouthamer (2001)
[2]: ''Palaeogeographic development of the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands''; Koninklijke van Gorcum, Assen; ISBN 90-232-3695-5
★ Cohen, K.M., Berendsen, H.J.A. & E. Stouthamer (2002) Fluvial deposits as a record for Late Quaternary neotectonic activity in the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands.
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw,
81 (3-4), 389-405
★ Gouw, M.J.P., Erkens, G. (2007) Architecture of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands) – A result of changing external controls.
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw, 86 (1), 23-54
★ Hoffmann, T., Erkens, G., Cohen, K.M., Houben, P., Seidel, J., Dikau, R.(2007) Holocene floodplain sediment storage and hillslope erosion within the Rhine catchment.
The Holocene, 17 (1), 105-118 DOI: 10.1177/0959683607073287
★ Ménot, G., Bard, E., Rostek, F., Weijers, J.W.H., Hopmans, E.C., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2006) Early Reactivation of European Rivers During the Last Deglaciation
Science 313 (5793), 1623-1625 DOI: 10.1126/science.1130511
Footnotes
1. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=rhein&searchmode=none
Further reading
★ Blackbourn, David., (2006) ''The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape and the Making of Germany''. The transformation of the Rhine since the eighteenth century.
External links
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