Rhine

At 1,320 km (820 miles), the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein) is one of the longest rivers in Europe. The name of the Rhine in all these languages comes from Celtic Renos, literally "that which flows", from the Proto-Indo-European root *rei- ("to flow, run"), which also gave the word "to run" in English.

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 Germans, 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 Rhinemouth to Jutland, which no Roman had ever done (he says).

Related Topics:
Roman Republic - Roman Empire - Res Gestae Divi Augusti - Augustus - Jutland

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Throughout the long history of Rome, the Rhine was considered the border between Gaul or the Celts and the Germans, even though the border often was violated, as when the Germanics crossed it and joined with the Celts to form the Belgae (descending to Belgium). Typical of this point of view is a quote from Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil (On Book 8 Line 727):

Related Topics:
Gaul - Celts - Belgae - Belgium - Maurus Servius Honoratus

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:"(Rhenus) fluvius Galliae, qui Germanos a Gallia dividit"

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:"(The Rhine is a) river of Gaul, which divides the Germans from Gaul."

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The Rhine in the earlier sources was always a Gallic river.

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As the conflict between Rome and the Germanics 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 Germany and lower Germany. It originally probably only meant upstream and downstream, the Niederrhein and Oberrhein regions of the map included with this article.

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Germania Inferior - Xanten - I Germanica - XX Valeria - Pannonian - Ubii - Cologne - V Alaudae - Gallia Transalpina - XXI - Galatian

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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).

Related Topics:
Germania superior - II Augusta - Strasbourg - XIII Gemina - Windisch - Mainz

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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 Germans combined into the Alemanni. For a time the Rhine ceased to be a border when a union of all the west Germanics, the Franks, crossed the river and occupied Roman-dominated Celtic Gaul as far as Paris.

Related Topics:
Germania Inferior - Germania Superior - Alemanni - Franks - Gaul - Paris

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Subsequently language changes began to play a major political role. West Germanic dissimilated into Low German and High German 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 German being spoken in the Netherlands and the High German in what became Germany. The Romanized Franks became the French. The Rhine once again became a political border.

Related Topics:
West Germanic - Low German - High German - Charlemagne - Holy Roman Empire

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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 — in the adjacent states. For example:

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• 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 France's "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 nationalistic song The Watch on the Rhine (Die Wacht am Rhein) was composed at that time and during the Franco-Prussian War it rose to the status of an national anthem in Germany. The song calls for defending the Rhine against France. The song remained popular in World War I.
• At the end of WWI the Rhineland was subject to the Treaty of Versailles, which created lots of bitterness in Germany, and was one of the many reasons for World War II. The reoccupation of the Rhineland by Nazi Germany increased Hitler's popularity in Germany.
• The Rhine bridge at Arnhem, immortalized in "A Bridge Too Far", was a central focus of the battle for Arnhem during the failed Operation Market Garden of September 1944.
• The Rhine bridge of Remagen became famous in World War II when the Germans failed to demolish the bridge in time and the allied troops were able to establish a bridgehead - much to their own surprise.
• Mainz Cathedral - Over 1,000-year-old cathedral is seat to the Bishop of Mainz. Holds significant historic value as seat to the once politically powerful secular prince-archbishop within the Holy Roman Empire. Houses historical funerary monuments and religious artifacts.
• Das Rheingold - 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 Rhinemaidens swim and protect a hoard of gold.