Meuse

The Meuse (/ˈmjuːz/; French: la Meuse IPA: [møz]; Walloon: Mouze IPA: [muːs]) or Maas (Dutch: Maas; IPA: [ˈmaːs]) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea. It has a total length of 925 km (575 mi).

History

From 1301 the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France, after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of the County of Bar (Barrois mouvant) as a French fief from the hands of King Philip IV. The border remained stable until the annexation of the Three Bishoprics Metz, Toul and Verdun by King Henry II in 1552 and the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by the forces of King Louis XIII in 1633. Its lower Belgian (Walloon) portion, part of the sillon industriel, was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe. The Meuse and its crossings were a key objective of the last major German WWII counter-offensive on the Western Front, the Battle of the Bulge (Battle of the Ardennes) in the winter of 1944/45.

Meuse (department)

Meuse (French pronunciation: ​[møz]) is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse. Meuse is part of the current region of Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine and is surrounded by the French departments of Ardennes, Marne, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle, and has a short border with Belgium on the north. Parts of Meuse belong to Parc naturel régional de Lorraine. Front lines in trench warfare during World War I ran varying courses through the department and it hosted an important battle/offensive in 1916 in and around Verdun.

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 of Barrois (area of Bar-le-Duc) and Three Bishoprics (area of Verdun).

From about 500 AD, the Franks controlled this part of northeastern France, and the Carolingian Empire was the last stage of their rule. The Carolingian territories were divided into three sections in 843 at the Treaty of Verdun, and the area that is now the department of Meuse, became part of Middle Francia. The new ruler was Lothair I, 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 an east and west part. The king of East Francia, Louis the German, received the eastern part and Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, received the western part, which included Meuse, thus effectively establishing the medieval Kingdoms of Germany and France.