Vosges

Vosges
Alemannic German)
Geography
Map of the Vosges Mountains
Country	Bunter sandstone stratigraphic unit: 252–243 mya
Type of rock	Gneiss, granite, vulcanite, sandstone

The Vosges (

.

The Grand Ballon is the highest peak at 1,424 m (4,672 ft), followed by the Storkenkopf (1,366 m, 4,482 ft), and the Hohneck (1,364 m, 4,475 ft).^[5]

Geography

Geographically, the Vosges Mountains are wholly in France, far above the Col de Saverne separating them from the Palatinate Forest in Germany. The latter area logically continues the same Vosges geologic structure but traditionally receives this different name for historical and political reasons.^{[further explanation needed]} From 1871 to 1918 the Vosges marked for the most part the border between Germany and France, due to the Franco-Prussian War. The elongated massif is divided south to north into three sections:

• The Higher Vosges or High Vosges^[6] (Hautes Vosges), extending in the southern part of the range from Belfort to the river valley of the Bruche. The rounded summits of the Hautes Vosges are called ballons in French, literally "balloons".^[7]
• The sandstone Vosges or Middle Vosges^[6] (50 km, 31 mi), between the Permian Basin of Saint-Die including the Devonian-Dinantian volcanic massif of Schirmeck-Moyenmoutier and the Col de Saverne
• The Lower Vosges or Low Vosges^[6] (48 km, 30 mi), commonly known as North Vosges, a sandstone plateau ranging from 300 metres (1,000 ft) to 560 metres (1,850 ft) high,^[7] between the Col de Saverne and the source of the Lauter.

In addition, the term "Central Vosges" is used to designate the various lines of summits, especially those above 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation. The French department of Vosges is named after the range.

Geology

From a geological point of view, a

massif feature.

The Vosges in their southern and central parts are called the Hautes Vosges. These consist of a large Carboniferous mountain eroded just before the Permian Period with gneiss, granites, porphyritic masses or other volcanic intrusions. The north, south and west parts are less eroded by glaciers, and here Vosges Triassic and Permian red sandstone remains are found in large beds. The grès vosgien (a French name for a Triassic rose sandstone) are embedded sometimes up to more than 500 m (1,600 ft) in thickness. The Lower Vosges in the north are dislocated plates of various sandstones, ranging from 300 to 600 m (1,000 to 2,000 ft) high.

The Vosges are very similar to the corresponding range of the

, a major extensional basin. When such basins form, the thinning of the crust causes uplift immediately adjacent to the basin, decreasing with distance from the basin. Thus, the highest range of peaks rises immediately adjacent to the basin and increasingly lower mountains rise further from the basin.

Mountains

The highest points are in the Hautes Vosges: the

at 1,008 m (3,307 ft) being the highest point of this Nordic section.

The highest mountains and peaks of the Vosges (with Alsatian or German names in brackets) are:

• Grand Ballon (Großer Belchen) 1,424 m (4,672 ft)
• Storkenkopf 1,366 m (4,482 ft)
• Hohneck 1,363 m (4,472 ft)
• Kastelberg 1,350 m (4,429 ft)
• Klintzkopf (Klinzkopf) 1,330 m (4,364 ft)
• Rothenbachkopf 1,316 m (4,318 ft)
• Lauchenkopf 1,314 m (4,311 ft)
• Batteriekopf 1,311 m (4,301 ft)
• Haut de Falimont 1,306 m (4,285 ft)
• Gazon du Faing 1,306 m (4,285 ft)
• Rainkopf 1,305 m (4,281 ft)
• Gazon de Faîte 1,303 m (4,275 ft)
• Ringbuhl
  (Ringbühl) 1,302 m (4,272 ft)
• Soultzereneck
  (Sulzereneck) 1,302 m (4,272 ft)
• Le Tanet (Tanneck) 1,292 m (4,239 ft)
• Petit Ballon (Kahler Wasen or Kleiner Belchen) 1,272 m (4,173 ft)
• Ballon d'Alsace (Elsässer Belchen) 1,247 m (4,091 ft)
• Brézouard 1,229 m (4,032 ft)
• Ballon de Servance (highest point in the département of Haute-Saône) 1,216 m (3,990 ft)
• Drumont 1,200 m (3,937 ft)
• Rossberg 1,191 m (3,907 ft)
• Planche des Belles Filles
  1,148 m (3,766 ft)
• Molkenrain 1,123 m (3,684 ft)
• Champ du Feu (Hochfeld or Firstfeld) 1,098 m (3,602 ft)
• Baerenkopf 1,074 m (3,524 ft)
• Rocher de Mutzig (Mutzigfelsen) 1,008 m (3,307 ft)
• Donon
  1,008 m (3,307 ft)
• Taennchel (Tännchel) 992 m (3,255 ft)
• Climont 965 m (3,166 ft)
• Hartmannswillerkopf (Hartmannsweilerkopf) 956 m (3,136 ft)
• Ungersberg 901 m (2,956 ft)
• Tête du Coquin 837 m (2,746 ft)
• Mont Sainte-Odile (Odilienberg) 764 m (2,507 ft)
• Dabo (Dagsburg) 650 m (2,130 ft)
• Grand Wintersberg (Großer Wintersberg) 581 m (1,906 ft)
• Hohenbourg (Hohenburg) 550 m (1,804 ft)

Nature parks and protected areas

Two nature parks lie within the Vosges: the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park and the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park. The Northern Vosges Nature Park and the Palatinate Forest Nature Park on the German side of the border form the cross-border UNESCO-designated Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve.

In the late 20th century, a wide area of the massif was included in two

Climate

Meteorologically, as a consequence of the Foehn effect the difference between the eastern and western mean slopes of the range is very marked. The main air streams come generally from the west and southwest, so the Alsatian central plains just under the Hautes-Vosges receive much less water than the south-west front of the Vosges Mountains. The highlands of the arrondissement of Remiremont receive as annual rainfall or snowfall more than 2,000 mm (79 in) of precipitation yearly, whereas some dry countryside near Colmar receives less than 500 mm (20 in) of water in the event of insufficient storms. The temperature is much lower in the west front of the mountains than in the low plains behind the massif, especially in summer. On the eastern slope economic vineyards reach to a height of 400 m (1,300 ft); on the other hand, in the mountains, it is a land of pasture and forest.

The only rivers in Alsace are the Ill coming from south Alsace (or Sundgau), and the Bruche d'Andlau and the Bruche which have as tributaries other, shorter but sometimes powerful streams coming like the last two from the Vosges Mountains. The rivers Moselle, Meurthe and Sarre and their numerous affluents all rise on the Lorraine side.

In the High Moselle and Meurthe basins, moraines, boulders and polished rocks testify to the former existence of glaciers which once covered the top of the Vosges. The mountain lakes caused by the original glacial phenomena are surrounded by pines, beeches and maples, and green meadows provide pasture for large herds of cattle, with views of the Rhine valley, the Black Forest and the distant, snow-covered Swiss mountains.

History

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

in the Vosges was built during the 12th century.

The massif known in

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 grew gradually, as was typical for a forested region. Forests were cleared for agriculture, livestock and early industrial factories (such as

] 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

During the

Alsace-Lorraine

.

The Vosges saw extensive fighting during the world wars. During World War I, there was severe and almost continuous fighting in the mountains.[10] During World War II in October 1944, there was a fierce battle between German forces and the U.S. 442nd Regiment, a segregated unit composed of second-generation Japanese Americans (Nisei), during which the 442nd charged straight up the mountain to rescue the 1st Battalion of the 36th Infantry, formerly the Texas Guard—also known as the "Lost Battalion"—who were cut off and stranded on the mountainside under heavy fire from the Germans. Two previous rescues failed. The 442nd suffered 800 casualties, rescued the Texans, and took the mountain. ^[11]

On 20 January 1992 Air Inter Flight 148 crashed into the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg International Airport, killing 87 people.

Language

In pre-Roman times, the Vosges was empty of settlements or was colonized and dominated by the

]

See also

• Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park
• Vosges and Jura coal mining basins

References

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vosges" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 214.

Further reading

General texts:

• René Bastien, Histoire de Lorraine, éditions Serpenoise, Metz, 1991, 224 pages.
  ISBN 2-87692-088-3
  (simple historic approach for children)
• Etienne Julliard, Atlas et géographie de l'Alsace et de la Lorraine, Flammarion, 1977, 288 pages (a geogropher's view of this part of France who gives theirs waters to Rhin)
• Robert Parisot, Histoire de Lorraine (Meurthe, Meuse, Moselle, Vosges), Tome 1 à 4 et index alphabétique général, Auguste Picard éditeur, Paris, 1924. Anastaltic impression in Belgium by the éditions Culture et Civilisation, Bruxelles, 1978. (large and more sophisticated evenemential history)
• Yves Sell (dir.), L'Alsace et les Vosges, géologie, milieux naturels, flore et faune, La bibliothèque du naturaliste, Delachaux et Niestlé, Lausanne, 1998, 352 pages.
  ISBN 2-603-01100-6
  (global view of nature and land)
• Jean-Paul von Eller, Guide géologique Vosges-Alsace, guide régionaux, collection dirigée par Charles Pomerol, 2° édition, Masson, Paris, 1984, 184 pages.
  ISBN 2-225-78496-5
  (a precise geologic description)

List of majors periodicals concerning Lorraine and South Lorraine:

• Annales de l'Est (et du Nord), Nancy.
• Annales de la Société d'Émulation des Vosges, Epinal, from 1826.
• Bulletin de la Société Philomatique Vosgienne, Saint-Dié, from 1875 to 1999 (nowadays Mémoire des Vosges Histoire Société Coutumes)
• Publications of the Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie lorraine, Metz (from 1890, nowadays Les Cahiers Lorrains, trimestrial review).
• Publications of the Société d'Histoire de la Lorraine &
  Musée Lorrain
  , Nancy (Lotharingist wrintings since 1820, nowadays trimestrial périodical, Le Pays Lorrain)

On the

First World War

:

• Guide des sources de la Grande Guerre dans le département des Vosges, Conseil général de Vosges, Epinal, 2008, 296 pages.
  ISBN 978-2-86088-062-6
• Isabelle Chave (dir.) avec Magali Delavenne, Jean-Claude Fombaron, Philippe Nivet, Yann Prouillet, La Grande Guerre dans les Vosges : sources et état des lieux, Actes du colloque tenu à Epinal du 4 au 6 septembre 2008, Conseil général des Vosges, 2009, 348 pages.
  ISBN 978-2-86088-067-1
• "La guerre aérienne dans les Vosges. 1914–1919", Mémoire des Vosges H.S.C. édité par la Société Philomatique Vosgienne, [hors série n°5, septembre 2009], 68 pages.
  ISSN 1626-5238

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vosges mountains.

• Illustrated article on the Vosges battlefields of WWI at Battlefields Europe at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 April 2012)