Rhineland
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2008-06-30T14:34:29Z
SeanDwyer
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/* Following World War I */ Reworded to improve clarity and removed the phrase "mixed-race" to describe German-French children.
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The '''Rhineland''' (''Rheinland'' in [[German language|German]]) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river [[Rhine]] in the west of [[Germany]]. After the collapse of the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] in the early 19th century, the German-speaking regions at the middle and lower course of the Rhine river were annexed to the kingdom of [[Prussia]]. The Prussian administration reorganised the territory as the [[Rhine Province]] (also known as '''Rhenish Prussia'''), a term continuing in the names of the [[States of Germany|German states]] of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] and [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]. Following the [[First World War]] of the early 20th century, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by [[Triple Entente|Entente]] forces, then demilitarized under the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. German forces reoccupied the territory in [[1936]], as part of a diplomatic test of will, three years before the outbreak of the [[Second World War]].
==Geography==
[[Image:Rhineland.jpg|thumb|300px|The Rhineland includes parts of Germany west of the Rhine river (in yellow), as well as areas on the east bank.]]
The Rhineland is in the western part of Germany, and abuts international boundaries with France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The River [[Rhine]] forms the region's eastern boundary south (upstream) of a point north of [[Bingen am Rhein|Bingen]].
The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country ([[Westerwald]], [[Hunsrück]],[[Taunus]] and [[Eifel]]), cut by river valleys, principally the Rhine and [[Moselle River|Mosel]]. The north takes in the [[Ruhr]] valley.
Some of the larger cities in the Rhineland include [[Aachen]], [[Bonn]], [[Cologne]], [[Duisburg]], [[Düsseldorf]], [[Essen, Germany| Essen]], [[Koblenz]], [[Krefeld]], [[Leverkusen]], [[Ludwigshafen]], [[Mainz]], [[Mannheim]], [[Mönchengladbach]], [[Wiesbaden]] and [[Wuppertal]].
==The political entity==
The [[Rhine Province]] was created in 1824 by joining the [[province]]s of [[Lower Rhine]] and [[Jülich-Cleves-Berg]]. Its capital was [[Koblenz]]; it had 8.0 million inhabitants by 1939. In 1920, the [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar]] was separated from the Rhine Province and administered by the [[League of Nations]] until a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to Germany. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of [[Eupen]] and [[Malmedy]] were transferred to [[Belgium]] (see [[German-Speaking Community of Belgium]]). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided up between the newly-founded states of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] and [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]. The town of [[Wetzlar]] became part of [[Hesse]].
Today, the German region of Rhineland consists of the states of [[Saarland]], the southwestern half of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], and the state of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]. North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the prime German industrial areas, containing significant mineral deposits ([[coal]], [[lead]], [[lignite]], [[magnesium]], [[petroleum|oil]] and [[uranium]]) and water transport. In Rhineland-Palatinate agriculture is more important, including the vineyards in the [[Ahr (wine region)|Ahr]], [[Mittelrhein (wine region)|Mittelrhein]], [[Mosel wine|Mosel]], [[Nahe (wine region)|Nahe]], [[Palatinate (wine region)|Pfalz (Palatinate)]] and [[Rheinhessen (wine region)|Rheinhessen]] regions.
==Following World War I==
Following the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice of 1918]], Allied forces occupied the Rhineland as far east as the river with some small bridgeheads on the east bank at places like [[Cologne]]. Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] of 1919 the occupation was continued. The treaty specified three occupation Zones, which were due to be evacuated by Allied troops five, ten and finally 15 years after the formal ratification of the treaty, which took place in 1920, thus the occupation was intended to last until 1935. In fact, the last Allied troops left Germany five years prior to that date in 1930 in a good-will reaction to the [[Weimar Republic]]'s policy of reconciliation in the era of [[Gustav Stresemann]] and the [[Locarno Pact]].
Sections of the Rhineland bordering Belgium were annexed from Germany by the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. The cantons of [[Eupen]], [[Malmedy]] and [[St. Vith|Sankt Vith]] though entirely German in culture and language became the [[East Cantons]] of [[Belgium]].
The French troops especially had become notorious for their harsh treatment of the local civilian population. The French in a clear breach of the Treaty tried to separate the occupied areas from Germany by establishing an independent [[Rhenish Republic]] as a French puppet state. Separatist riots were encouraged and supported by the French, who tried to exploit traditional anti-Prussian resentments in the overwhelmingly [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] region. In the end, the separatists failed to gain any decisive support among the population.
The Treaty of Versailles also specified the de-militarization of the entire area to provide a buffer between Germany on one side and [[France]], [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]] (and to a lesser extent, the [[Netherlands]]) on the other side, which meant that no German forces were allowed there after the Allied forces had withdrawn. Furthermore (and quite unbearably from the German perspective) the treaty entitled the Allies to reoccupy the Rhineland at their will, if the Allies unilaterally found the German side responsible for any violation of the treaty.
In violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the spirit of the [[Locarno Pact]], [[Nazi Germany]] [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|remilitarized the Rhineland]] on Saturday, [[March 7]], [[1936]]. The occupation was done with very little military force, the troops entering on bicycles, and no effort was made to stop it (See [[Appeasement of Hitler]]). [[France]] could not act due to political instability at the time, and, since the remilitarisation occurred at a weekend, the British Government could not find out or discuss actions to be taken until the following Monday. As a result of this, the governments were inclined to see the remilitarisation as a ''fait accompli''.
Hitler took a risk when he sent his troops to the Rhineland. He told them to 'turn back and not to resist' if they were stopped by the French Army. The French did not try to stop them because they were currently holding elections and no president wanted to start a war with Germany.
The British government agreed with the act in principle, "The Germans are after all only going into their own back garden" ''Lord Lothian'', but rejected the Nazi manner of accomplishing said act. [[Winston Churchill]], however, advocated military action through cooperation by the British and the French.
The remilitarization of the Rhineland was favoured by some of the local population, because of a resurgence of German nationalism and harboured bitterness over the Allied occupation of the Rhineland until 1930 ([[Saarland]] until 1935).
A side-effect of the French occupations was the offspring of French soldiers and German woman. These children, who were seen as the continuing French pollution of German culture, were shunned by the broader German society and were known as ''[[Rhineland Bastards]]''. They were an object of the Nazi sterilisation programmes in the 1930s. The American poet [[Charles Bukowski]] was born in 1920 in [[Andernach]] as the son of a German mother and a Polish-American US soldier, serving among the occupation troops.
==The 1944–1945 military campaigns==
Two different military campaigns were fought in the Rhineland.
===U.S. Army===
For five months, from September 1944 until February 1945, the [[U.S. First Army]] fought a costly battle to capture the [[Battle of Hurtgen Forest|Hurtgen Forest]]. The heavily forested and ravined terrain of the Hurtgen negated Allied combined arms advantages( close air support, armor, artillery) and favoured German defenders. The U.S. Army lost 24,000 troops. The military necessity of their sacrifice has been debated by military historians.
===Canadian Army===
In early 1945, after a long winter stalemate, military operations by most Allied armies in Northwest Europe resumed with the goal of reaching the Rhine. From their winter positions in The Netherlands, the [[First Canadian Army]] under General [[Henry Duncan Graham Crerar|Henry Crerar]] reinforced by elements of the [[British Second Army]] under General [[Miles Dempsey]], drove through the Rhineland beginning in the first week of February 1945.
Operation ''[[Operation Veritable|Veritable]]'' lasted several weeks, with the end result of clearing all German forces from the west side of the Rhine river. The supporting operation by the First US Army, Operation ''[[Operation Grenade|Grenade]]'', was planned to coincide from the [[Rur|River Roer]], in the south. This was delayed for two weeks however, by German flooding of the Roer valley.
===Other actions===
On [[March 7]], [[1945]] a company of armoured infantry of the [[U.S. 9th Armored Division]] captured the last intact bridge over the Rhine at [[Remagen]]. General [[George Patton]]'s Third US Army also made a crossing of the river the day before the much anticipated Rhine crossings by the 21st Army Group ([[First Canadian Army]] and the [[British Second Army]]) under Field Marshal [[Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Montgomery]] in the third week of March 1945.
Operation ''[[Operation Varsity|Varsity]]'' was a massive airborne operation in conjunction with Operation ''[[Operation Plunder|Plunder]]'', the amphibious crossings. By early April, the Rhine had been crossed by all the Allied armies operating west of the river, and the battles for the Rhineland were over.
===Battle Honours===
In the official histories of the British and Canadian armies, the term '''Rhineland''' refers only to fighting west of the river in February and March 1945, with subsequent operations on the river and to the east known as "Rhine Crossing". Both terms are official Battle Honours in the Commonwealth forces.
==See also==
*[[Alsace-Lorraine]]
*[[Rhine]]
[[Category:Regions of Germany]]
[[ang:Rīnland]]
[[ca:Renània]]
[[cs:Porýní]]
[[cy:Y Rheindir]]
[[da:Rheinland]]
[[de:Rheinland]]
[[es:Renania]]
[[eo:Rejnlando]]
[[fr:Rhénanie]]
[[gl:Renania]]
[[ko:라인란트]]
[[he:חבל הריין]]
[[la:Rhenania]]
[[lt:Reino žemė]]
[[ml:റൈന്ലാന്ഡ്]]
[[mr:र्हाइनलँड]]
[[nl:Rijnland (Duitsland)]]
[[ja:ラインラント]]
[[no:Rhinland]]
[[pl:Nadrenia]]
[[pt:Renânia]]
[[ksh:Rhingland]]
[[ro:Renania]]
[[fi:Reininmaa]]
[[sv:Rhenlandet]]
[[th:ไรน์แลนด์]]
[[zh:莱茵兰]]