The Rhine and European Security in the Long Nineteenth Century Throughout history rivers have always been a source of life and of conflict. This book investigates the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine’s (CCNR) efforts to secure the principle of freedom of navigation on Europe’s prime river. The book explores how the most fundamental change in the history of international river governance arose from European security concerns. It examines how the CCNR functioned as an ongoing experiment in reconciling national and common interests that contributed to the emergence of Eur- opean prosperity in the course of the long nineteenth century. In so doing, it shows that modern conceptions and practices of security cannot be under- stood without accounting for prosperity considerations and prosperity poli- cies. Incorporating research from archives in Great Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as the recently opened CCNR archives in France, this study operationalises a truly transnational perspective that effectively opens the black box of the oldest and still existing international organisation in the world in its first centenary. In showing how security-prosperity considerations were a driving force in the unfolding of Europe’s prime river in the nineteenth century, it is of interest to scholars of politics and history, including the history of international rela- tions, European history, transnational history and the history of security, as well as those with an interest in current themes and debates about transboundary water governance. Joep Schenk is lecturer at the History of International Relations section at Utrecht University, Netherlands. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow within an ERC-funded project on the making of a security culture in Europe in the nineteenth century and is currently researching international environmental cooperation and competition in historical perspective. Routledge Studies in Modern European History 76 Europe between Migrations, Decolonization and Integration (1945–1992) Edited by Giuliana Laschi, Valeria Deplano, Alessandro Pes 77 Steamship Nationalism Ocean Liners and National Identity in Imperial Germany and the Atlantic World Mark Russell 78 Transatlantic Anarchism during the Spanish Civil War and Revolution, 1936–1939 Morris Brodie 79 Emotions and Everyday Nationalism in Modern European History Edited by Andreas Stynen, Maarten Van Ginderachter and Xosé M. Núñez Seixas 80 Black Abolitionists in Ireland Christine Kinealy 81 Sinti and Roma in Germany (1871-1933) Gypsy Policy in the Second Empire and Weimar Republic Simon Constantine 82 German Neo-Pietism, the Nation and the Jews Religious Awakening and National Identities Formation, 1815–1861 Doron Avraham 83 Child Migration and Biopolitics Old and New Experiences in Europe Edited by Beatrice Scutaru and Simone Paoli 83 The Rhine and European Security in the Long Nineteenth Century Making Lifelines from Frontlines Joep Schenk 84 Garibaldi’s Radical Legacy Traditions of War Volunteering in Southern Europe (1861–1945) Enrico Acciai For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/history/series/SE0246 The Rhine and European Security in the Long Nineteenth Century Making Lifelines from Frontlines Joep Schenk First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Joep Schenk The right of Joep Schenk to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Schenk, Joep, author. Title: The Rhine and European security in the long nineteenth century : making lifelines from frontlines / Joep Schenk. Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge studies in modern European history | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020031722 (print) | LCCN 2020031723 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367345761 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429326660 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Inland water transportation–Rhine River–History. | Inland water transportation–Europe–History. | Shipping–Rhine River–History. | Europe–Foreign relations. | Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine–History. Classification: LCC HE662 .S24 2020 (print) | LCC HE662 (ebook) | DDC 341.4/4209409034–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031722 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031723 ISBN: 978-0-367-34576-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-32666-0 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of illustrations viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Making lifelines from frontlines 1 Renewed relevance 4 The Rhine as part of a post-Napoleonic security system 7 Rowing back along the paper trail 10 1 Securing freedom of navigation: A revolutionary fight against a barbaric past (1789–1813) 16 Introduction 16 The imperial Roman army of rivers 17 Disintegrating river regimes in the Middle Ages 19 Revolutionary France versus deadlocked international rivers 21 A British perspective on France’s grand river policies 24 Economic weight within the European balance of power 27 The failed attempt of a ‘liberal’ Rhine regime under Napoleon 28 2 The balance of power and the system of commerce before and after Vienna (1814–1815) 35 Introduction 35 A pushy appeal 35 Freedom of navigation as a European principle 38 Allied cooperation and Dutch ambivalence to opening up the European rivers 42 Humboldt and Eichhoff at the River Congress Committee in Vienna 46 vi Contents A ‘Central’ Commission for the Rhine, not a ‘European’ one 50 Conclusion 53 3 On behalf of the common good: Dutch-Prussian rivalry in and outside the CCNR (1816–1831) 58 Introduction 58 From Vienna to Mainz 58 A road map to international cooperation: Eichhoff’s ‘Instruction Interimaire’ 61 The bone of contention: Dutch sea rights and Prussian forced transshipment rights 66 The end of the CCNR? Prussian withdrawal and European interference 74 Secret Dutch-Prussian negotiations 77 Conclusion 80 4 A river, a legislator: The origins of a riverine knowledge system in the 1830s 87 Introduction 87 What did they know? 87 The administrative machine 94 Mapping the Rhine 97 Safety of navigation 101 Conclusion 106 5 Between radicals and experts: Consolidating a Rhine expert regime in the 1840s to 1860s 111 Introduction 111 Sailors vs steamers 111 The first Rhine survey 120 Extending the tasks of the Technical Commission: the Rheingau and the Cologne Railway Bridge 125 Conclusion 131 6 Running an international organisation in the context of increasing national power politics (1860–1900) 137 Introduction 137 ‘Ruhig und unpolitisch’ 137 Reducing Rhine tolls 139 Contents vii A new Chief Inspector in troubled times 141 Abolition of the Rhine tolls after all 146 The protection of Rhenish salmon 147 Continuing Rhine surveys 151 Principles, norms, and institutions 158 Conclusion 160 Conclusion: Composing a heritage and projecting the future of the CCNR (1900–1918) 164 W.J.M. van Eysinga 164 The CCNR as part of the European security culture in the nineteenth century 165 Europe and beyond 168 What remained 169 Appendix 1: Members of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine 1816–1914 173 Appendix 2: Administration of the Octroi/Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine 1815–1914 176 Archival sources 177 Selected bibliography 179 Index 190 Illustrations Figures 0.1 The Rhine after Napoleon x 1.1 Habsburg and French forces fight for the control of the Rhine crossing between Kehl and Strasbourg during the Rhine Campaign of 1796 24 2.1 Portrait of Johann Joseph Eichhoff 38 3.1 Map of the city of Mainz 1825, made by captain Hock, who also produced the first (but lost) integral map of the entire Rhine (see Chapter 4) 61 4.1 Cartographic illustration of the Rhine valley, or Rheinpanorama by Elisabeth Susanna Maria Rebecca von Adlerflycht (1811) 90 4.2 Map of the Rhine between Switzerland and Holland 1640 by the Dutch cartographer Willem Jansz. Blaeu 98 4.3 View of the Loreley 101 5.1 Metternich, symbol of the conservative power in Europe, flees to his castle Johannisberg on the Rhine after the democratic revolution in Austria in March 1848. (Caption in the original: ‘The devil has finally got the spirit-killer of Europe afloat, and is carrying him to his castle on the Rhine to pay his 33-year overdue taxes.’) 121 5.2 Lithograph of the standing bridge near Cologne 131 6.1 The Niederwalddenkmal close to Rudesheim was inaugurated in 1883. It commemorates the German unification and the founding of the empire in 1871. The lyrics of ‘Die Wach am Rhein’ and its location represent the symbolic significance of the river for the German unification 155 Acknowledgements For this work, I owe a big thank you to our ERC Secure team Beatrice de Graaf, Constantin Ardeleanu, Ozan Ozavci, Erik de Lange, Wouter Klem, and Susanne Keesman. The section of International Relations in Historical