Forêts
Forêts (French: [fɔ.ʁɛ]) was a department of the French First Republic, and later the First French Empire, in present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Its name, meaning 'forests', comes from the Ardennes forests. It was formed on 24 October 1795, after the Austrian Netherlands had been annexed by France on 1 October. Before annexation, the territory was part of the Duchy of Luxembourg and small parts of the Duchy of Bouillon. Its capital was Luxembourg City.
Department of Forêts | |||||||||||||
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| 1795–1814 | |||||||||||||
Forêts and other annexed departments | |||||||||||||
| Status | Department of : | ||||||||||||
| Chef-lieu | Luxembourg 49°36′38″N 6°7′58″E | ||||||||||||
| Official languages | French | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Luxembourgish, German | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Creation | 1 October 1795 | ||||||||||||
• Treaty of Paris, disestablished | 30 May 1814 | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Belgium Germany Luxembourg | ||||||||||||
14,176 men from the former Duchy of Luxembourg were conscripted into the French Revolutionary Army and the Grande Armée in these years, of whom 9,809 died on the battlefields of Europe.
After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, most of Forêts became part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in a personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands); the part on the east side of the rivers Our and Sauer became part of the Prussian Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, which was succeeded by the Rhine Province in 1822. Luxembourg was partitioned following the Belgian Revolution, with the western part becoming the Belgian Province of Luxembourg. Prussia established the German Empire in 1871, the precursor to modern Germany. Today the territory is divided between the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Belgian Province of Luxembourg, and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The department was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons (situation in 1812):
- Luxembourg: cantons Luxembourg (2 cantons), Arlon, Bettembourg, Betzdorf, Grevenmacher, Mersch, Messancy, and Remich (Arlon and Messancy now in Belgium, others in Luxembourg).
- Bitburg: cantons Bitburg, Arzfeld, Dudeldorf, Echternach, and Neuerburg (Echternach now in Luxembourg, others in Germany).
- Diekirch: cantons Diekirch, Clervaux, Ospern, Vianden, and Wiltz (now in Luxembourg).
- Neufchâteau: cantons Neufchâteau, Bastogne, Étalle, Fauvillers, Florenville, Houffalize, Paliseul, Sibret and Virton (now in Belgium).
Its population in 1812 was 246,333, and its area was 691,035 hectares.