page_title: Vosges
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Vosges / History
caption_attribution_description: English: &quot;Grand Geroldseck&quot; castle (looking East)
context_page_description: The Vosges are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and low mountain range of around 8,000 km² in area. It runs in a north-northeast direction from the Burgundian Gate to the Börrstadt Basin, and forms the western boundary of the Upper Rhine Plain.
  The Grand Ballon is the highest peak at 1,424 m, followed by the Storkenkopf, and the Hohneck.
context_section_description: The massif known in Latin as Vosago mons  or Vosego silva, sometimes Vogesus mons, was extended to the vast woods covering the region. Later, German speakers referred to the same region as Vogesen or Wasgenwald.
  Over the centuries, settlement population density gradually, as was typical for a forested region. Forests were cleared for agriculture, livestock and early industrial factories (such as charcoal works and glassworks) and the water mills used water power. Concentrations of settlement and immigration took place and not only in areas where minerals were found. In the mining area of the Lièpvrette valley, for example, there was an influx of Saxon miners and mining specialists. From time to time, wars, plagues and religious conflicts saw the depopulation of territories – in their wake it was not uncommon for people to be relocated there from other areas.
  On the lower heights and buttresses of the main chain on the Alsatian side are numerous castles, generally in ruins, testifying to the importance of this crucial crossroads of Europe, violently contested for centuries. At several points on the main ridge, especially at Sainte Odile above Ribeauvillé (German: Rappoltsweiler), are the remains of a wall of unmortared stone with tenons of wood, about 1.8 to 2.2 m (6 to 7 ft) thick and 1.3 to 1.7 m (4 to 6 ft) high, called the Mur Païen (Pagan Wall). It was used for defence in the Middle Ages and archaeologists are divided as to whether it was built by the Romans, or before their arrival.
  During the French Revolutionary Wars, on 13 July 1794, the Vosges were the scene of the Battle of Trippstadt. From 1871 to 1918, they formed the main border line between France and the German Empire. The demarcation line stretched from the Ballon d'Alsace in the south to Mont Donon in the north with the lands east of it being incorporated into Germany as part of Alsace-Lorraine.
  The Vosges saw extensive fighting during the world wars. The First World War featured severe and almost continuous fighting in the mountains. During the Second World War, in autumn 1944, they were the site of brief but sharp fighting between Franco-American and German forces.
  On 20 January 1992 Air Inter Flight 148 crashed into the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg International Airport, killing 87 people.
caption: The Château du Grand-Geroldseck, now in ruins
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A620", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:02:17 14:43:16", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "222", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[48, 43, 25927/3447]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[7, 19, 58718/1081]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "486", "Image GPSInfo": "2346", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2586", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6272", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:02:17 14:43:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:02:17 14:43:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "287/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "73/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "900", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1600", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "900", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2292", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "648000/71", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "648000/71", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "44aad4a020e635710467a9522faf0515"}