As the old century gave way to the new, the river was alive with steam ships chugging product against the strong Rhine current. The Great War came. In the Treaty of Versailles, France was awarded Alsace-Lorraine. They began work on a series of hydro-electric plants, diverting water from the river's main bed into a series of loops. The Germans protested--- such removal of water from the river would destroy the water table in the fertile state of Baden and ruin the livlihood for the farmers there. The Germans had no bargaining power, and the French proceeded with their plan, dismissing the fears of the Germans. World War II came as the German people bucked under the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and allowed Adolph Hitler to come to power. The recurrent dream of "returning the Rhine to the Germans" was reawakened. The Rhine became a Nazi river.

At the end of World War II the borders drawn once again left Alsace-Lorraine in possession of the French. American money in the form of the Marshall Plan came pouring into Europe to rebuild the war-wearied countries. The French took some of this money, shook the dust off the hydro-electric plant plans, and started where they left off, building a series of power plants and a canal to connect the Rhine to the French River Rhone to increase their own commercial success. The German states had no negotiating power. The water table in Baden fell just as feared, drying up the once-fertile farmland in Germany.

The engineering changes made to the River Rhine have boasted many successes: The eradication of cholera, malaria, typhoid, and dysentery in the Rhine Valley. These measures were so successful that these diseases are now considered "tropical diseases" and some people don't even realize that these diseases were once common in Northern Europe before the draining of the marshlands. Huge amounts of farmland was made available. The navigability of the river was increased, turning the Rhine into an artery for commerce into Northern Europe. As a result of the river's navigability, the Rhine Valley became an industrial center for Germany, developing its coal resources; and Switzerland, connecting an otherwise land-locked nation to the sea.

Of course, these improvements came with trade-offs: namely that flooding was not alleviated (only relocated), that the water table was lowered, affecting cropland, and the river's orginal ecosystem was completely destroyed. Popular and delicious fish like salmon were replaced by tough, hardy varieties; the softwood forests disappeared; birds that nested in the marshlands died out; the species diversity dropped down to dangerously low levels. The Rhine once described by the Romans and the Romantic poets was gone. The products of the Industrial Revolution turned the river from a thriving ecosystem to slimy, near-dead canal. However, since the 1970s, efforts have been made at environmental restoration, and in 1997, three years ahead of schedule, salmon returned to the river.

A change made to the river never fails to have unforeseen consequences, and every act (or failure to act) eventually requires remediation down the road. Despite continuous efforts to "perfect" the Rhine River, the river will always be changing, as rivers always do.

ahahaha!
your unbiased third person point of view was amazing.

i cannot think you enough.
» bananaface on 2007-04-29 08:44:28

ack.
i cannot thank you enough.
» bananaface on 2007-04-29 08:44:47

I really enjoy reading your site.
» lyndeep on 2007-04-30 11:03:49

Re:comment
Oh, man. At least you aren't covered in barf and have to lead a discussion on/present a paper. Oh, Linh.
» ranor on 2007-04-30 01:13:06

So how is your coding coming along?
» ikimashokie on 2007-04-30 01:16:04

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