Tom Scott
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206446
- eISBN:
- 9780191677120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206446.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Economic History
This chapter examines the configuration of the southern Upper Rhine to find out whether mountain ranges or the river itself acted as barriers or clasps, frontiers or crossing-points. Modern political ...
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This chapter examines the configuration of the southern Upper Rhine to find out whether mountain ranges or the river itself acted as barriers or clasps, frontiers or crossing-points. Modern political geographers are accustomed to distinguish between frontiers and boundaries. This distinction is relevant to any consideration of whether mountains and rivers represented natural dividing lines on the Upper Rhine. At first glance, the Vosges massif to the west seems to present a formidable obstacle to passage. The peaks fall away sharply to the east into a string of narrow valleys which cut deep furrows in the landscape. Treaties reflect a sense of regional identity on the Upper Rhine in the later Middle Ages, an awareness of mutual needs and interests which was bounded by a sense of place. But the limits of the region were not narrowly circumscribed by the valley itself. To the unity of mountain and plain which spanned the river must be added the legacy of human settlement and political organization.Less
This chapter examines the configuration of the southern Upper Rhine to find out whether mountain ranges or the river itself acted as barriers or clasps, frontiers or crossing-points. Modern political geographers are accustomed to distinguish between frontiers and boundaries. This distinction is relevant to any consideration of whether mountains and rivers represented natural dividing lines on the Upper Rhine. At first glance, the Vosges massif to the west seems to present a formidable obstacle to passage. The peaks fall away sharply to the east into a string of narrow valleys which cut deep furrows in the landscape. Treaties reflect a sense of regional identity on the Upper Rhine in the later Middle Ages, an awareness of mutual needs and interests which was bounded by a sense of place. But the limits of the region were not narrowly circumscribed by the valley itself. To the unity of mountain and plain which spanned the river must be added the legacy of human settlement and political organization.
Tom Scott
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206446
- eISBN:
- 9780191677120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206446.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Economic History
The vagueness and permeability of the Upper Rhine's natural frontiers in the later Middle Ages were reflected in the boundaries of territorial authority. Only the Vosges, separating the lordships of ...
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The vagueness and permeability of the Upper Rhine's natural frontiers in the later Middle Ages were reflected in the boundaries of territorial authority. Only the Vosges, separating the lordships of Alsace from the duchy of Lorraine, constituted in any sense a political frontier. On the right bank of the river, the territories of the margraves of Baden, the counts of Fürstenberg, and the Habsburg archdukes all rode effortlessly over the ridges of the Black Forest mountains. Still less did the river Rhine itself mark a clear political divide. Aside from the enclaves of the secular territory of the bishops of Basel on the right bank around Schliengen and Istein, and the district of Beinheim on the left bank opposite Rastatt which the margraves of Baden had acquired in the fourteenth century, it was above all the extensive Habsburg possessions on the Upper Rhine, known collectively as Outer Austria, which spanned the river. Here the Rhine served only as a convenient distinction between administrative districts.Less
The vagueness and permeability of the Upper Rhine's natural frontiers in the later Middle Ages were reflected in the boundaries of territorial authority. Only the Vosges, separating the lordships of Alsace from the duchy of Lorraine, constituted in any sense a political frontier. On the right bank of the river, the territories of the margraves of Baden, the counts of Fürstenberg, and the Habsburg archdukes all rode effortlessly over the ridges of the Black Forest mountains. Still less did the river Rhine itself mark a clear political divide. Aside from the enclaves of the secular territory of the bishops of Basel on the right bank around Schliengen and Istein, and the district of Beinheim on the left bank opposite Rastatt which the margraves of Baden had acquired in the fourteenth century, it was above all the extensive Habsburg possessions on the Upper Rhine, known collectively as Outer Austria, which spanned the river. Here the Rhine served only as a convenient distinction between administrative districts.
Catherine Tatiana Dunlop
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226173023
- eISBN:
- 9780226173160
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226173160.003.0005
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
This chapter explores how hiking maps and panoramas promoted French and German claims to Alsace-Lorraine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1871, when the French-German border ...
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This chapter explores how hiking maps and panoramas promoted French and German claims to Alsace-Lorraine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1871, when the French-German border moved westward to the Vosges Mountains, patriotic hiking clubs took an interest in developing maps of the new border site. The first-ever series of Vosges hiking maps was published during the late nineteenth century by the “Vogesenclub,” a powerful outdoors association that later became the French “Club Vosgien” after World War I. Both the German and French versions of the club sold their hiking maps on the commercial market, where they found a broad audience of map readers eager to learn about Alsace-Lorraine’s cultural and historical topography while walking along hiking trails. Foldable, cheap, and designed to be carried into the wilderness, hiking maps distinguished themselves from other kinds of cartographic media because they were specifically designed to define territorial space through the physical movement of bodies.Less
This chapter explores how hiking maps and panoramas promoted French and German claims to Alsace-Lorraine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1871, when the French-German border moved westward to the Vosges Mountains, patriotic hiking clubs took an interest in developing maps of the new border site. The first-ever series of Vosges hiking maps was published during the late nineteenth century by the “Vogesenclub,” a powerful outdoors association that later became the French “Club Vosgien” after World War I. Both the German and French versions of the club sold their hiking maps on the commercial market, where they found a broad audience of map readers eager to learn about Alsace-Lorraine’s cultural and historical topography while walking along hiking trails. Foldable, cheap, and designed to be carried into the wilderness, hiking maps distinguished themselves from other kinds of cartographic media because they were specifically designed to define territorial space through the physical movement of bodies.
William Stuart Nance
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813169606
- eISBN:
- 9780813169644
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813169606.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter covers operations from the end of September 1944 to the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. It highlights fighting in the Vosges Mountains, the conclusion of the seige ...
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This chapter covers operations from the end of September 1944 to the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. It highlights fighting in the Vosges Mountains, the conclusion of the seige of Metz, fighting in the Saar River valley, actions around the battle of Aachen, as well as the fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. It discusses the challenges of cavalry fighting in positional warfare against an entrenched enemy, as well as fleshing out an often-overlooked portion of the war.Less
This chapter covers operations from the end of September 1944 to the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. It highlights fighting in the Vosges Mountains, the conclusion of the seige of Metz, fighting in the Saar River valley, actions around the battle of Aachen, as well as the fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. It discusses the challenges of cavalry fighting in positional warfare against an entrenched enemy, as well as fleshing out an often-overlooked portion of the war.
William Stuart Nance
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813169606
- eISBN:
- 9780813169644
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813169606.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter covers not only the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, but the lesser known Operation NORDWIND against the Sixth Army Group in the Vosges Mountains. Spanning December 1944 and January ...
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This chapter covers not only the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, but the lesser known Operation NORDWIND against the Sixth Army Group in the Vosges Mountains. Spanning December 1944 and January 1945, this chapter covers corps cavalry operations as part of both battles, as well as their contributions on the forgotten flanks of these famous events. Moreover, this chapter tells the whole story of both campaigns, from beginning to end, highlighting the vicious fighting that continued well after both battles were considered over.Less
This chapter covers not only the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, but the lesser known Operation NORDWIND against the Sixth Army Group in the Vosges Mountains. Spanning December 1944 and January 1945, this chapter covers corps cavalry operations as part of both battles, as well as their contributions on the forgotten flanks of these famous events. Moreover, this chapter tells the whole story of both campaigns, from beginning to end, highlighting the vicious fighting that continued well after both battles were considered over.
