Sarre (department)

Sarre is the name of a department of the First French Empire which is now part of Germany and Belgium. It is named after the river Saar. It was formed in 1798, when the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Prior to the occupation, its territory was divided between the Archbishopric of Trier and the Electoral Palatinate (the Duchy of Zweibrücken and the Count of Veldenz). Its territory is part of the present German states Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland as well as a tiny adjacent section of the Belgian province of Liège. Its capital was Trier. The département was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons:

* Trier, cantons Bernkastel, Büdlich, Konz, Pfalzel, Saarburg, Schweich, Trier and Wittlich.
* Birkenfeld, cantons: Baumholder, Birkenfeld, Grumbach, Hermeskeil, Herrstein, Kusel, Meisenheim, Rhaunen and Wadern.
* Prüm, cantons: Blankenheim, Daun, Gerolstein, Kyllburg, Lissendorf, Manderscheid, Prüm, Reifferscheid and Schönberg.
* Saarbrücken, cantons: Blieskastel, Lebach, Merzig, Ottweiler, Saarbrücken, Sankt Arnual and Waldmohr.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, most of the département became part of Prussia, with smaller parts assigned to Duchy of Oldenburg (Birkenfeld) and Bavaria. The former Schönberg canton would later be included in the Eupen-Sankt Vith-Malmedy plebiscite area following World War I.

ee also

*Saar, League of Nations governed territory (1920-1935)
*Saar, French protectorate (1947-1959)