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Moselle is a département in the northeast of France named after the Moselle River.
History
Moselle was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former province of Lorraine.
The cities of Saarbrücken and Saarlouis, which are now German were briefly in the department. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War the Treaty of Frankfurt on May 18, 1871 accorded most of the department to Germany.
At the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles returned these territories to France.
During World War II Moselle became part of the Gau Westmark at the armistice of June 22, 1940. Adolf Hitler considered Moselle and Alsace part of Germany.
Moselle was liberated by the American army in 1944.
Geography
Moselle is part of the current region of Lorraine and is surrounded by the French departments of Meurthe-et-Moselle and Bas-Rhin, as well as Germany and Luxemburg on the north.
The important rivers are the following:
Demographics
The inhabitants of the department are called Mosellans.
The population has remained relatively stable since World War II and now surpasses 1 million, mostly in the urban area around Metz and along the Moselle.
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