Straightening the Rhine

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Different rivers at the mouth of the Neckar
Original plan

The straightening of the Rhine , also called Rhine regulation, correction or rectification of the Rhine, is the artificial shortening of the formerly meandering Rhine . The river straightening was carried out in Germany between 1817 and 1882, since 1851 by the Rheinstrom-Bauverwaltung in Koblenz under the direction of Eduard Nobiling . Nobiling was responsible for the essential measures of straightening the Middle and Lower Rhine from Bingen to the Netherlands. Engineer Johann Gottfried Tulla and his successors, including Max Honsell , were responsible for the Upper Rhine. The straightening of the Rhine was a prerequisite for making the Rhine navigable up to Basel , which began in 1907.

Situation around 1810

After the Ice Age , the Upper Rhine was buried in its deposits and left behind garland-like high banks on which flood-proof settlements could develop. The settlements in the lowlands were repeatedly hit by severe flooding.

The Rhine itself flowed between Basel and Karlsruhe on a two to three kilometer wide drainage area with many branches of the river and small islands , while between Karlsruhe and Mainz it flowed through the lowland in sweeping loops .

Since the Rhine formed the border between the Grand Duchy of Baden and France or the Bavarian Palatinate , and the exact course of the river changed frequently, the course of the border also had to be measured again and again. The Rhine was of economic importance as a traffic artery for rafting and fishing.

Punctures that had already taken place for other reasons, such as the Büdericher Canal near Wesel from 1785, had made it clear that a targeted straightening of the course of the river by punctures is suitable for reducing the risk of flooding. In addition, the possibilities appeared to make the Rhine fully navigable by deepening the straightened river bed.

planning

Different rivers over the centuries in the greater Mannheim area on a map from 1850

The first plan to correct the Upper Rhine by Tulla was presented in 1809. In the Upper Rhine Plain north of Karlsruhe, river loops were to be separated by means of "punctures" and the river bed was to be narrowed and deepened to 200–250 m, and dams were to be created to protect against flooding, which should force the river to erosion and lower the water level.

The flood in January 1816, which hit the community of Wörth badly, led to an agreement between the Baden and Bavarian governments on April 26, 1817 without offsetting the costs. It was decided to pierce the river bends according to the proposed rectification plan. Bavaria then took over the execution of the punctures in Baden territory and Baden the punctures in Bavarian territory.

execution

In 1829 a canal for shortcuts, which is narrower than the river bed, was dug at the Kühkopf . The rest of the “work” for widening was done by the river itself. Today the river only takes this shortcut, only a small part of the water flows through the now almost completely silted loop.

Punctures

Because at that time there was no heavy equipment such as excavators and soil could only be moved with shovels, wheelbarrows and horse-drawn carts, efforts were made to move as little earth as possible.

So you didn't dig a completely new river bed, just small channels as shortcuts through the loops. These channels were on the order of about 10 to 25 meters wide.

During the construction work, a small dam was left at the upper end so that the workers could dig largely dry. This dam was removed when the canal was otherwise completely finished, flooding the canal and taking a shortcut for the water.

The river itself took over the broadening to the full width of the river bed of 240 m above and 300 m below Mannheim. Since the canals overcome the same height difference as the loops over a shorter distance, the gradient here was greater and the current stronger, so that these shortcut channels grew to the full width by themselves at the latest during the next flood.

In many cases the upper end of the old loop was blocked with a dam so that there was no more current here and the loops slowly silted up. The Kühkopf (see map) is an exception: even today, part of the Rhine water flows through the old loop - the amount of water here, however, is limited by a concrete threshold at the entrance.

course

Piercing the meanders shortened the distance between Basel and Bingen by 81 km. The plan initially appeared to be successful with regard to deepening the river bed, as the water level sank, the floodplains could be made usable for agriculture and the Upper Rhine was spared from flooding for the time being.

In the spring of 1817, forest areas were cut down and the Knielinger cut started. The work could not start without incident. The residents of Knielingen feared for their fishing grounds and resisted; their resistance was broken with military force.

The communities were obliged to do manual and clamping services . The excavated soil was poured sideways. The further deepening and widening of the punctures was left to the floods. After three to four years, the Rhine finally took up the new valley path .

The width of the Rhine was determined by Tulla to be 240 meters. A width of 300 meters was planned from the mouth of the Neckar downstream. The bank itself was paved with sinkers and stone paving .

Protests against the continuation of the straightening of the Rhine were brought forward in 1826 by the governments of Hesse, Prussia and the Netherlands. Only after difficult negotiations could the raised fears of an increased risk of flooding and ice be dispelled. As the last puncture, the Altriper puncture was tackled in 1865. Further corrections, such as the breakthrough at Neckarau only a little further down the Rhine , which would have led through today's Mannheim Forest Park , were no longer implemented. This is why the Rhine still has individual loops today.

Punctures along the Baden-Palatinate border

A total of 18 punctures were made from the mouth of the Lauter to Roxheim , shortening the current path by 37 percent from 135 kilometers to 86 kilometers.

Of the 18 punctures, Bayern carried out 8 and Baden 10. The cost of the Altriper puncture was paid jointly.

Monument in Leopoldshafen for the straightening of the Rhine between Karlsruhe and Germersheim
  1. Neuburg puncture
  2. Daxlander puncture
  3. Pforzer puncture
  4. Knielinger puncture
  5. Wörther Durchstich
  6. Neupotzer puncture
  7. Linkenheim puncture
  8. Leimersheimer Durchstich
  9. Germersheim puncture
  10. Rheinsheim breakthrough
  11. Oberhauser or Rheinhauser Durchstich
  12. Angelhofer puncture
  13. Otterstadter puncture
  14. Ketch puncture
  15. Altriper puncture
  16. Friesenheim breakthrough

Rhine straightening between Basel and the mouth of the Lauter

Along the Baden-French border between Basel and the mouth of the Lauter, straightening began in 1840 after a state treaty between Baden and France of April 5, 1840 had stipulated the legal framework.

Straightening of the Rhine in Hesse

The straightening of the Rhine between Worms and Mainz was a purely Hessian matter after the province of Rheinhessen was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse at the Congress of Vienna of 1814/15 . In 1828/1829 a breakthrough took place at the level of Guntersblum under the Grand Ducal Hydraulic Engineering Director Claus Kröncke . The inland peninsula, separated from the mainland on the left bank of the Rhine, is today's inland island of Kühkopf .

Rhine correction between Mainz and Bingen

In 1854, a technical commission from Mainz to Bingen determined the measures considered necessary for a continuation of the correction. Many of the former Rhine floodplains were to be "driven away". Since February 1863, there were plans for the distance between Niederwalluf and Geisenheim in the then the Duchy of Nassau belonging Rheingau . The aim was to remove obstacles to shipping, improve the irregular condition in the river bed and achieve a normal width in the undivided stream at 450 meters (at 6 feet at the Mainz level). The abortion of individual floodplains as well as bank reinforcement and parallel works from stone throws were also planned by 1866. In 1867 the first stone masses were brought in. In that year the Rheingau became part of the Prussian government district of Wiesbaden . In the Rheingau population, resistance against the plans formed on a broad basis. Heinrich Eduard von Lade from Geisenheim made himself the spokesman for a petition with the Prussian King Wilhelm and the Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck. The rulers were informed that large swamp areas would arise in front of the Rheingau communities as a breeding ground for mosquito plagues . Some places like Erbach, Hattenheim and Winkel would no longer be accessible from the Rhine. The river should not become a canal, said von Lade, and tourism will also be damaged. The population would become impoverished and degenerate into disease and the vineyards would lose their value massively. The Rheingau spoke of an ineffective correction of the Rhine, which would come to an end at Binger Loch. The King of Prussia should therefore stop correcting the Rhine. The press reported about this at the time. Von Lade had almost the entire Rheingau on his side, pastors, mayors, teachers, winegrowers and others signed the petition. Von Lade traveled to Berlin to present Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and King Wilhelm I. his concerns.

Inselrhein near Erbach in the Rheingau with the island of Mariannenaue

Finally, in December 1867, the construction work that had already started was stopped to check the plans again. A commission formed in the Reichstag in 1880 passed the resolution in the same year that the structural measures would not harm the region. The feared consequences would not occur. The development of the Rhine as a waterway gained priority. The interest representatives in the Rheingau split into two camps. It was recognized that compromises had to be made. The flow conditions in this section of the Rhine have changed again and again until the 20th century. The resistance to the first plans to correct the Rhine ultimately meant that the section between Mainz and Bingen was able to retain a special character as an island Rhine .

Stone suppliers

The stone material required in the course of straightening the Rhine was supplied , among other things, from the quarries of Johann Friedrich II Götz in the Neckar valley . The wooden barges were brought up to Plittersdorf by horses or dragged by steam boats . The stones were unloaded manually at the loading point. The Götz barges drove down into the valley of their own accord. Starting in 1878, the wooden ships were towed up the Neckar, attached to a chain tow ship . The stones from the Goetz quarries in the Neckar valley were only competitive up to Karlsruhe . Up the Rhine, the granite stone from the quarries of the Black Forest was preferred. The sections of the Rhine supplied by Götz nevertheless varied depending on the Rhine passage to be built on.

consequences

Rhine near Karlsruhe -Maxau

The Rhine regulation brought advantages for shipping, which is only restricted during extremely high and low tides .

However, fishermen were negatively affected by the regulation.

The flood level was lowered by around one meter, the risk of flooding and the risk of ice accumulation were reduced. The straightening of the Rhine also brought about a continuous dam system for the first time . As a consequence of the faster flow through the straightened river sections, the northern areas were hit harder by floods.

The biggest mistake, however, was that the extent of deep erosion was completely underestimated. The gravel was moving faster downstream and deepening the river bed more than originally planned. Because instead of building higher and higher dams as flood protection measures, the river bed should be deepened by natural erosion. In some places, however, the river dug up to 10 meters deep into the ground. The groundwater level was thus too low even for the agricultural use of the adjacent areas. In addition, individual riparian forests died as a result .

In addition, existing wells in many places had to be deepened in order to continue to ensure the water supply. Since the water level sank, tributaries remained without water even during floods. However, the siltation resulted in a gain in area. Original natural landscapes have largely been removed, relics of the former Rhine loops are still present in only a few places ( Old Rhine ).

In the contracts concluded between the states of Baden and Bavaria, the sovereignty and property rights were also specified. The border was determined almost continuously (exceptions: Kollerinsel and bridgehead of the fortress Germersheim ) by the valley path . Land that came to the other bank passed into the sovereignty of the respective state. Real estate remained with the previous owners. Backwaters became the property of the state under whose sovereignty they fell.

literature

  • David Blackbourn : The Conquest of Nature . A history of the German landscape (original title: The Conquest of Nature . Water, Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany. New York, NY / London 2006. ISBN 0-393-06212-0 , translated by Udo Rennert). dva , Munich 2006. ISBN 978-3-421-05958-1 .
  • Mark Cioc: The Rhine . An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000. In: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books . University of Washington Press, Seattle 2002. ISBN 0-295-98254-3 / 2006. ISBN 978-0-295-98500-8 (English).
  • Eberhard Henze: Technology and humanity. Johann Gottfried Tulla . Quadrate, Mannheim 1989. ISBN 3-924704-16-3 .
  • Johann Gottfried Tulla: The principles according to which the Rhine construction work should be carried out in the future . Karlsruhe 1812 (1st memorandum)
  • Johann Gottfried Tulla: The rectification of the Rhine . Karlsruhe 1822 (2nd memorandum; digitized version )
  • Johann Gottfried Tulla: About the rectification of the Rhine, from its exit from Switzerland to its entry into the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Karlsruhe 1825 (3rd memorandum; digitized version )
  • Johann Gottfried Tulla [cartography]; Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg (ed.): Chart of the Grand Duchy of Baden - designed on the Grand Duke. Badisch. Engineer Bureau and revised by JG Tulla, [Repr. the edition] 1812. - 1: 500,000 / ed. from the Land Surveying Office of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 1988.
  • Rudolf Strasser: The changes in the Rhine current in historical times. Volume I: Between the Wupper and Düssel estuaries, Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1992.

Web links

Commons : Straightening of the Rhine  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JJ Eichhoff : Topographical-statistical representation of the Rhine: with excellent consideration of its navigation and action, the previous state of its police constitution, its possible improvement and expansion to the other large rivers, with which it is partly already connected, partly could still be used . Cologne : M. DuMont Schauberg , 1814 (online on Google Books ), p. 18.
  2. ^ Rheingau Echo of February 23, 2017: Resistance to the Rhine correction
  3. ↑ Hanspeter Rings: Neckarschiffahrt: Illustrated history of Ludwig and Jakob Götz KG. With the memories of Friedrich Götz . 1st edition. Edition Quadrat, Mannheim 1990, ISBN 3-923003-49-8 , pp. 13, 49 .

Web links