Meurthe Department

Meurthe (French pronunciation: ​[mœʁt]) is a former department of France created in 1790. Its prefecture (capital) was Nancy. It ceased to exist following the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany in 1871.

The department of Meurthe was created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution, out of a part of the former province of Lorraine. It took its name from the river Meurthe flowing through it.

As of 1866, Meurthe had 714 communes. Its area was 6,070 km² (2,344 sq. miles). It was divided into 5 arrondissements: Nancy, Château-Salins, Lunéville, Sarrebourg and Toul.

After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the northeastern part of the Meurthe department was annexed to the German Empire by the Treaty of Frankfurt. On 18 May 1871 about one-third of the Meurthe, corresponding approximately to the arrondissements of Château-Salins and Sarrebourg in the northeast of the department, were detached from Meurthe and annexed to the German Department of Lorraine, becoming part of the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine.

The remaining two thirds of Meurthe were merged with one fifth of the Moselle department (arrondissement of Briey, in the extreme west of Moselle, to the northwest of Meurthe) which had escaped German annexation, and on 7 September 1871 the merger gave birth to the new Meurthe-et-Moselle department (area: 5,246 km², compared to 6,070 km² for the former Meurthe), with its prefecture at Nancy.

...
Wikipedia