meurthe is a former dÃ©partement of france created in 1790. its prÃ©fecture (capital) was nancy. it ceased to exist following the annexation of alsace-lorraine by germany in 1871. thumb|right|the meurthe department (1790â1871) ==general characteristics== the department of meurthe was created on march 4, 1790, during the french revolution, out of a part of the former province of lorraine. it took its name from the meurthe river flowing through it. as of 1866, meurthe had 714 communes. its area was 6,070 kmÂ² (2,344 sq. miles). it was divided into 5 arrondissements: nancy, chÃ¢teau-salins, lunÃ©ville, sarrebourg and toul. ==history== after the french defeat in the franco-prussian war of 1870-1871, the northeastern part of the meurthe dÃ©partement was annexed to the german empire by the treaty of frankfurt. on may 18, 1871, about one-third of the meurthe, corresponding approximately to the arrondissements of chÃ¢teau-salins and sarrebourg in the northeast of the dÃ©partement, were detached from meurthe and annexed to the german department of lorraine, becoming part of the reichsland of alsace-lorraine. the remaining two thirds of meurthe were merged with one fifth of the moselle dÃ©partement (arrondissement of briey, in the extreme west of moselle, to the northwest of meurthe) which had escaped german annexation, and on september 7, 1871, the merger gave birth to the new meurthe-et-moselle dÃ©partement (area: 5,246 kmÂ², compared to 6,070 kmÂ² for the former meurthe), with its prÃ©fecture at nancy. in 1919, with the allied victory in the first world war, alsace-lorraine was returned to france by germany at the treaty of versailles. however, the old dÃ©partements of meurthe and moselle was not recreated by reverting to the old dÃ©partement borders of before 1871. instead, meurthe-et-moselle was left untouched, and the third of meurthe and the four fifth of moselle that had been formed the german region of lorraine in 1871 were restituted as the new dÃ©partement of moselle, whose name is the same as the old dÃ©partement of moselle but whose borders are quite different. ==population== at the 1866 french census, the meurthe dÃ©partement had a population of 428,387 inhabitants. in 1872, after the annexation and merger, the new meurthe-et-moselle dÃ©partement had a population of 365,137 inhabitants. at the 1999 french census, if meurthe still existed it would have had a population of 647,307 inhabitants. on the other hand, in 1999 meurthe-et-moselle had a population of 713,779 inhabitants (the industria
1790_establishments_in_France Former_departments_of_France_in_France States_and_territories_disestablished_in_1871 States_and_territories_established_in_1790