Climate change in Germany
The Rhineland is historically a heavily industrial and population-dense area which includes the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, and Saarland. This region is rich in iron and coal deposits and supports one of Europe's largest coal industries. In the past, sulfuric acid emissions from Rhineland coal plants contributed to acid rain, damaging forests in other regions like Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony.
Rhine Campaign of 1795
The Rhine formed the boundary between the German states of the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbors, principally France, but also Switzerland and the Netherlands. Any attack by either party required control of the crossings. At Basel, where the river makes a wide, northerly turn at the Rhine knee, it enters what the locals colloquially call "the Rhine Ditch" ("Rheingraben"). This forms part of a rift valley some wide bordered by the mountainous Black Forest on the east (German side) and the Vosges mountains on the west (French side). At the far edges of the eastern flood plain, tributaries cut deep defiles into the western slope of the mountains. Further to the north, the river became deeper and faster, until it widened into a delta where it emptied into the North Sea.