Rhine

(proper noun)

A European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-Liechtenstein border, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Seain the Netherlands.  Its crossing was critical to the eventual victory of the Western Allies in Europe during World War II. 

Related Terms

Examples of Rhine in the following topics:

  • The Confederation of the Rhine

  • The Allied Drive Toward Berlin

    • By the end of the month, Allied forces were close to the Rhine's west bank.
    • With a large number of men captured, the stubborn German resistance during the Allied campaign to reach the Rhine in February and March 1945 had been costly.
    • Third Army had been fighting through the Palatinate, to "take the Rhine on the run."
    • In the Allied 6th Army Group area, the US Seventh Army assaulted across the Rhine in the area between Mannheim and Worms on March 26.
    • Having crossed the Rhine, both Army Groups fanned out into the German hinterland.

  • The Allied Push to Berlin

    • In February, the Soviets entered Silesia and Pomerania, while Western Allies entered western Germany and closed to the Rhine river.
    • By March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr, encircling the German Army Group B, while the Soviets advanced to Vienna.
    • The Allied invasion of Germany started with the Western Allies crossing the River Rhine in March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to Austria in the south before the Germans surrendered on 8 May 1945.
    • The crossing of the Rhine, the encirclement and reduction of the Ruhr, and the sweep to the Elbe-Mulde line and the Alps all established the final campaign on the Western Front as a showcase for Allied superiority in maneuver warfare.
    • Drawing on the experience gained during the campaign in Normandy and the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, the Western Allies demonstrated in Central Europe their capability of absorbing the lessons of the past.

  • The End of the Carolingians

    • By this treaty, Lothair received northern Italy and a long stretch of territory from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, essentially along the valleys of the Rhine and the Rhône; this territory includes the regions of Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, and Provence.
    • The territory initially known as East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe River in the east, and from the North Sea to the Alps.

  • Julius Caesar

    • Meanwhile, Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BCE, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine River.
    • Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

  • The Germanic Tribes

    • These five dialects are distinguished as North Germanic in southern Scandinavia; North Sea Germanic in the regions along the North Sea and in the Jutland peninsula, which forms the mainland of Denmark together with the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein; Rhine-Weser Germanic along the middle Rhine and Weser river, which empties into the North Sea near Bremerhaven; Elbe Germanic directly along the middle Elbe river; and East Germanic between the middle of the Oder and Vistula rivers.
    • Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Lombards made their way into Italy; Vandals, Burgundians, Franks, and Visigoths conquered much of Gaul; Vandals and Visigoths also pushed into Spain, with the Vandals additionally making it into North Africa; and the Alamanni established a strong presence in the middle Rhine and Alps.

  • German Immigration

    • Many communities acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "Over-the-Rhine" district in Cincinnati and the "German Village" in Columbus, Ohio.

  • Fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire

    • A side effect was the Cologne War, which ravaged much of the upper Rhine.
    • Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French satellite.

  • Louis XIV's Wars

    • His decision to cross the Rhine in September 1688 aimed to extend his influence and pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims.
    • By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace but he was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine.

  • Early Wars with Austria and Britain

    • These powers made several invasions of France by land and sea, with Prussia and Austria attacking from the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhine and the Kingdom of Great Britain supporting revolts in provincial France and laying siege to Toulon.
    • Napoleon's was one of three French armies sent with the aim to eventually reach Vienna (two other engaged in the campaign on the Rhine).