Читать книгу The Moselle Cycle Route. From the source to the Rhine at Koblenz онлайн

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During the reign of the Emperor Napoleon, French power reached its zenith. A series of military campaigns saw the French gain control of much of western and central Europe. Trier and the Rhineland were integrated into France, with towns such as Koblenz and Mainz assuming French names (Coblence and Mayence respectively). In Trier the electoral bishopric was abolished after 900 years. By sweeping away the multiplicity of small states that formed the HRE, Napoleon effectively ended the Empire. When he was defeated in 1815 by the combined forces of Britain and Prussia, the latter was one of two German states that emerged in a strong position (the other was Bavaria). These two states stepped into the void created by the end of the HRE, with the Prussians taking control of much of northern Germany including Trier and the northern Rhineland.

The equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I at Deutsches Eck in Koblenz (Stage 14)

The Prussians arrive

Despite a final rally to arms in 1840, when France threatened to invade the Rhineland, this was the end of France as the expansionary aggressor. Power now turned steadily to the east. By 1870 the Prussians, led by the ‘Iron Chancellor’ Bismarck, had succeeded in unifying Germany, and during the Franco–Prussian War (1870–1871) they captured much of eastern France and threatened Paris. The treaty that ended this war gave the west bank of the Rhine (Alsace) and the Moselle département of Lorraine (including the industrial cities of Metz and Thionville) to a newly established German Empire. French refugees from these areas arrived in the rest of Lorraine, giving a stimulus to the growth of industry, particularly textiles, in towns like Épinal along the Moselle.