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Vosges (department)

Coordinates: 48°10′N 06°25′E / 48.167°N 6.417°E / 48.167; 6.417
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This article is about the department. For the mountain range, see Vosges.
Vosges
Department of France
Clockwise from top: Épinal seen from the castle ruins, Bussang, Bruyères with Mont Avison in the background, La Bresse
Flag of Vosges
Flag
Coat of arms of Vosges
Coat of arms
Location of Vosges in France
Location of Vosges in France
Coordinates: 48°10′N 06°25′E / 48.167°N 6.417°E / 48.167; 6.417
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
PrefectureÉpinal
SubprefecturesNeufchâteau
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Government
 • President of the Departmental CouncilFrançois Vannson (LR)
Area
1
 • Total5,874 km2 (2,268 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total360,673
 • Rank64th
 • Density61/km2 (160/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number88
Arrondissements3
Cantons17
Communes507
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2
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Vosges (French pronunciation: [voʒ] ⓘ) is a department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. It covers part of the Vosges mountain range, after which it is named. Vosges consists of 17 cantons and 507 communes, 273 of which are classified as urban and of which 234 are classified as rural, including Domrémy-la-Pucelle, where Joan of Arc was born.[2][3] In 2019, it had a population of 364,499 with an area of 5,874 km2 (2,268 sq mi); its prefecture is Épinal.

History

Hundred Years' War

Joan of Arc was born in the village of Domrémy, then in the French part of the Duchy of Bar, or Barrois mouvant, located west of the Meuse. The part of the duchy lying east of the Meuse was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Duchy of Bar later became part of the province of Lorraine. The village of Domrémy was renamed Domrémy-la-Pucelle in honour of Joan.[4]

French Revolution

The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on 9 February 1790 during the French Revolution.[5] It was made of territories that had been part of the province of Lorraine. In German it is referred to as Vogesen.

In 1793, the independent Principality of Salm-Salm (town of Senones and its surroundings), enclosed inside the Vosges department, was annexed to France and incorporated into Vosges. In 1795, the area of Schirmeck was detached from the Bas-Rhin department and incorporated into the Vosges department.[6] The Vosges department then had an area of 6,127 km2 (2,366 sq miles), which it kept until 1871.

In 1794, Vosges was the site of a major battle between the forces of Revolutionary France and the Allied Coalition. The oldest square in Paris, Place Royale, was renamed Place des Vosges in 1800 when the department became the first to pay the new revolutionary taxes.

Franco-Prussian War

After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, 4% of the Vosges department in the extreme northeast of the department was annexed to the German Empire by the Treaty of Frankfurt on the ground that the people there spoke Germanic dialects. The area annexed on May 18, 1871, corresponded to the canton of Schirmeck and the northern half of the canton of Saales. Schirmeck and Saales had been historically part of Alsace. These territories, along with the rest of Alsace and the annexed territories of Lorraine, became part of the Reichsland of Elsaß-Lothringen. The area of the Vosges department was thus reduced to its current 5,874 km2 (2,268 sq. miles).

First and Second World Wars

In 1919, with the allied victory in the World War I, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France by Germany at the Treaty of Versailles. However, Schirmeck and Saales were not returned to the Vosges department, but instead were incorporated into the recreated Bas-Rhin department.

An ill-fated Special Air Service (SAS) mission called Operation Loyton took place in the Vosges forests in 1944.

Various military cemeteries are located in the department, the largest of which is the Le Quéquement American Cemetery in Dinozé, near Épinal. It was built by the American 45th Infantry Division in September 1944 and completed in 1959. 5,255 soldiers killed in action during fighting in France, the Vosges, the Rhine valley and Germany are interred there.[7]

Geography

The largest cities/towns are Épinal (approx. 33,000), Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (approx. 21,500), Gérardmer (approx. 8,500), on the lake of the same name, and Remiremont (approx. 8,000). A total population of 378,830 inhabitants was recorded in the 2011 census. The population is split with 70% in urban areas and 30% living in rural districts.

Roughly 47% of the department is covered by woodlands and forests (the third highest in France), while 38% of land is in agricultural use. The remaining 13% is commercial, industrial and residential.[2]

While the west part of the Vosges is flat sedimentary land (well suited for mineral waters), the east is dominated by the Vosges Mountain range (including the Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Reserve) of which the Grand Ballon at 1424m is the highest peak.[2] The Monts Faucilles traverse the south of the department in a broad curve declining on the north into elevated plateaus, on the south encircling the upper basin of the River Saône. This chain, dividing the basins of the Rhône and the Rhine, forms part of the European watershed between the basins of the Mediterranean and Atlantic.[8]

The Saône rises (named after the Celtic goddess Sagon)[9] at Vioménil, in the Vosges. The Anger river also passes through it.

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1801308,920—    
1806334,169+1.58%
1831397,987+0.70%
1841419,992+0.54%
1851427,409+0.18%
1861415,485−0.28%
1872392,988−0.50%
1881406,862+0.39%
1891410,196+0.08%
1901421,104+0.26%
1911433,914+0.30%
1921383,684−1.22%
1931377,980−0.15%
1936376,926−0.06%
1946342,315−0.96%
1954372,523+1.06%
1962380,676+0.27%
1968388,201+0.33%
1975397,957+0.36%
1982395,769−0.08%
1990386,258−0.30%
1999380,952−0.15%
2006379,975−0.04%
2011378,830−0.06%
2016369,641−0.49%
source:[10]

Culture

The Roman fortified town of Grand, located 30 km from Toul, has an amphitheatre and a temple to the Cult of Apollo. At La Bure, located a few kilometres from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, archaeologists have found evidence for human habitation going back to around 2000 BC.

Politics

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election Winning Candidate Party % 2nd Place Candidate Party %
2022 Emmanuel Macron LREM 47.59 Marine Le Pen RN 52.41
2017[11] Emmanuel Macron LREM 55.26 Marine Le Pen FN 44.74
2012 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 50.94 François Hollande PS 49.06
2007 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 54.72 Ségolène Royal PS 45.28
2002[11] Jacques Chirac RPR 78.81 Jean-Marie Le Pen FN 21.19
1995[12] Jacques Chirac RPR 51.44 Lionel Jospin PS 48.56

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency Member[13] Party
Vosges's 1st constituency Stéphane Viry The Republicans
Vosges's 2nd constituency Gérard Cherpion The Republicans
Vosges's 3rd constituency Christophe Naegelen Miscellaneous right
Vosges's 4th constituency Jean-Jacques Gaultier The Republicans

Miscellaneous topics

Séré de Rivières forts

As a border area, the Vosges region was a route for possible invasion. As such four important forts were constructed in the department: Bourlémont Fort in Mont-les-Neufchâteau (built between 1878 and 1881); Uxegney Fort (built between 1882 and 1884); Bois l'Abbé Fort (built in 1884 and 1885); and the Le Parmont Fort in Remiremont (built between 1874 and 1876).[7]

Tourism

See also

References

  1. ^ "Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "The Vosges Departmental Tourist Board - The département: a few figures". Tourismevosges.fr. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  3. ^ "Jeanne d'arc Domremy-la-Pucelle Centre Johannique, Centre d'Interprétation Vosges". Tourismevosges.fr. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  4. ^ Condemnation trial, p. 37.[1]. Retrieved 23 March 2006.
  5. ^ "Vosges tourisme > Histoire". Site officiel du Conseil général des Vosges (in French). Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  6. ^ P.S. (2002). "L'Essor, Revue trimestrielle de Schirmeck" (PDF). Le Pays Lorrain (in French). 83. Société d'archéologie lorraine et du Musée historique lorrain: 255. ISSN 0031-3394. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  7. ^ a b "The Vosges Departmental Tourist Board - Forts and cemeteries". Tourismevosges.fr. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  8. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vosges". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 214. This entry further details the industrial base at the time.
  9. ^ "The Vosges Departmental Tourist Board - Archeological sites". Tourismevosges.fr. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  10. ^ "Le SPLAF". splaf.free.fr.
  11. ^ a b l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Présidentielles". interieur.gouv.fr.
  12. ^ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle de 1995 par département - Politiquemania". www.politiquemania.com.
  13. ^ "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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