History of crossings of the Rhine

The crossing of the Rhine at Tolhuis (now a suburb of Nijmegen) on 12 June 1672 - painting by Adam Frans van der Meulen.

A 'passage of the Rhine' on the south facade of the porte Saint-Denis.

The River Rhine forms a natural frontier and so the phrase Rhine Crossing or Crossing of the Rhine may refer to one of several crossings of it:

• the Crossing of the Rhine from east to west by barbarians in 406, into the territory of the Roman Empire
• several times by French troops invading Germany during the Franco-Dutch War, such as:
  • 12 June 1672 near Tolhuis, commanded by the Vicomte de Turenne and Louis, Prince of Condé, in which Louis was severely wounded forcing the river crossing - this crossing was commemorated in the painting Crossing of the Rhine by the army of Louis XIV, 1672 by Joseph Parrocel
  • 1673, led by Turenne
• several times by French troops invading Germany during the French Revolutionary Wars:
  • for the first time in 1794, near Düsseldorf
  • on 6 September 1795, as commemorated in Louis-François Lejeune's painting First crossing of the Rhine by the French army commander by Jourdan and Kléber, at Düsseldorf in the duchy of Berg, 6 September 1795
  • 18 April 1797, by French Revolutionary forces near Neuwied, causing to the Battle of Neuwied.
  • Between 27 April and 2 May 1800, 100,000 men under Jean Victor Marie Moreau, crossing to confront the Austrians, who they then met at the battle of Stockach.
• the crossing from west to east by the western Allies in March 1945 during the Western Allied invasion of Germany, including Operation Plunder and Operation Varsity - British units participating were granted the battle honour 'Rhine Crossing' by the British Army