The Rhine River — Raging with History

Maybe I’ll spend my old age just gazing out windows from evocative perches in my favorite European villages. While researching the Rhine River Valley recently for the new edition of our Germany guidebook, I enjoyed a corner room with a mesmerizing Rhine view. I’d wake up and find myself captivated by the river scene — and then realize I was less dressed than was appropriate for that conservative little burg.

Putting on a shirt and continuing to enjoy the scene, it occurred to me that I was enthralled by more than the pretty view. It was the rhythm of the mighty Rhine — so bustling with shipping and history — combined with the environment: black slate cut from plains above; terraced vineyards zigzagging up hills — forlorn in the modern economy but still absorbing sun and stocking grapes with sugar; husks of ruined castles, standing as monuments to class warfare, greed, and war; and stoic spires of stone churches slicing vertically through townscapes. The quiet, deep-grey power of the river flows as steadily as time itself, a dance floor where ferries, barges, and sightseeing boats do their lumbering do-si-do past fabled and treacherous rocks.

It was here that the ancient Romans decided to call it an empire and draw the line that defined their vast holdings — a line that separated barbarians from the civilized world, just as it separates Protestants and Catholics today. It was here, on New Year’s Eve in 1813, that Prussian General Field Marshall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, a local hero, used an innovative pontoon bridge to cross the Rhine and flank Napoleon’s forces (on their way back from a disastrous Russian campaign). And it was also along this stretch of river that US General Omar Bradley’s troops found a bridge still standing (at Remagen) to push past the natural barrier the Rhine has always provided Germany against invaders, and ultimately take the war into Hitler’s heartland.

A monument below my hotel window remembering Germany’s dead from various wars still has an unused panel. My hunch is that it’ll never be used. Germany, mighty today without the help of its military, has a profound distaste for wars. Like so many nations, it rose by the sword…and then fell.

Pondering sweeping armies and the rise and fall of great powers (along with my own country’s place in the march of history), I think of all the nations in Western Civilization that at one time rose to be dominant powers, then settled back down — either because of military defeat, economic malaise, or both — and realize life goes on just fine without all that responsibility. Think about it: Rome, Spain (under Charles V), Austria (under the Habsburgs), France (under Napoleon), Germany (under Hitler), Victorian Britain (upon which “the sun never set”), as well as Portugal, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, and, I’m sure, many others.

Then, with the political and economic frustration at a rolling boil back home in the USA — which just a decade or so ago was celebrating its status as “the world’s only superpower” — an interesting thought hit me. Had we known that “the Arab Spring” was just around the corner and managed to be patient (as we were to let the USSR rise and fall without a hot war), Saddam Hussein would have been swept away by his own people. The Iraqis surely would have done to their dictator what the Egyptians did to Mubarak and the Libyans did to Gaddafi. The USA would be a couple trillion dollars better off, and Iraq — rather than becoming a client state of the United States — may have created a homegrown democracy on its own terms.

Comments

24 Replies to “The Rhine River — Raging with History”

  1. It’s possible. But even if it didn’t happen that way (an overthrown regime), Hussein could have been a buffer against Iran. Pride and hegemony have always been a hallmark of US policy and it has not always turned out well. But it did in Bosnia so we can’t set and hold to rigid policies. Of course if we see our biggest asset as our military, we will see every problem as solvable by a war.

  2. The Rhine was really one of the most beautiful parts of our trip to Germany. We stayed in St Gore and took the river trip. I know a lot of people think that is cheesy but we loved it and all the little towns along the way!

  3. Rick history is not linear. I have no doubt like Egypt, Greece, Rome and Venice someday future travellers will come to the once mighty United States and tour our government seats the way we tour the Doge’s Palace. Obviously history will have many twists and turns and noone knows how long that will take. The same could be said for Saddam Hussein. Who knows what turns history may have taken had he remained in power as Iran flirted with nuclear weapons? Who knows what the Arab Spring would look like if he were in power? It’s interesting that you posit that the only Middle East dictator who used chemical weapons on his own people would be unseated unseated by them. Also while we waited for that to occur we would have spent billions continuing to contain him with the NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH air campaigns. My last point is it did cost us several trillion dollars to win that Cold War.

  4. The bridge at Remagen was not seized by Patton’s Third Army, which was farther south, and crossed the Rhine on it’s own. The Remagen bridge was taken by the 9th Armored Division, a unit of First Army. It’s a nitpick, but might as well correct the error before it goes into a guidebook.

  5. That’s not nitpicking, just correcting a mistake, because they DO happen, regardless of what some people like to think! Appreciate the clarification.

  6. Yeah…who needs the responsibility for justice and calling genocidal dictators and worldwide terror organizations to account when we could save a few trillion dollars?

    “Consequences schmonsequences…as long as I’m rich”
    Daffy Duck

  7. Rick,
    There is also the possibility that the Arab Spring happened because of the USA foray into Afghanistan and Iraq.

  8. I think RS, as moderator, is going to have to moderate his guidelines. My personal experience is that once you begin to squelch debate, you deter people from participating openly and with passion. Steves cannot and should not post provocative political opinions and then entreat his fans to contain themselves in their responses and counter-responses. Throw it out there, Rick, but then get out of the way.

  9. I’ve been contemplating a theory about Germany since my world history class a couple years ago. Mr. Steves says, “Like so many nations, it rose by the sword…and then fell.” I think there could be a different approach. Before Germany was united she was the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. And through the Thirty Years War it’s lands were divided between France, Sweden, Prussia, and the Habsburg’s as spoils of war. What’s always bothered me is that the powerful nations of Europe, at that time, exchanged land without any care or consideration of those that inhabited those regions. They were a faceless nation to be squabbled over. Only until 1815 with the German Confederation did things change. It wasn’t long before the start of WWI and WWII. I think one could build the case that after years of being taken advantage of the German people took a stand, we have a voice and rights. Maybe Hitler wasn’t just a good speaker as much as he had great timing. Addressing a nation of tired people looking for a charismatic leader to help them define their future. I’m sure there are holes in it. But something I’ve always wondered about. P.S. I am NOT defending Hitler. Just to clarify.

  10. As my German colleagues (children of Wermacht men) explained many years ago, Hitler was a result of the punishing treaty forced upon it after losing WW One (Versailles). He was, indeed, all about good timing and also benefited from an aging, weak leader plus a depressed population anxious to be proud again. Many down-trodden people buy into charismatic leadership with mixed results. Mandela was a good result. Today, German nationals are still very proud and feel they make the best products in the world. One of their only Achilles Heels is that they are somewhat rigid. That could result in contraction of the EuroZone (deleting countries like Greece, Italy and Spain). Germany is a great country to tour and with which to do business.

  11. Mr. Steves… the Bundewehr is very much involved in wars in Afghanistan and Libya (and were in Kosovo), but they’ve suffered very few casualties. German war monuments usually only list the dead who came from that particular town. You would have to visit one of the few communities to have suffered a loss in the current wars to see names in the “unused panel”. There is a single, lone name under the Afghanistan section on a monument in one of the towns near where I live in Germany.

  12. More political Anti-American blowback from Rick Steves. I guess I should be used to it by now. It’s his site and he can write what he wants. I’ve stopped watching his shows because of the smug way he injects this sort of thing into them.

  13. I don’t see the un-American or smugness in the post. I see personal assumptions or educated guesses as some might say. I think he would like to believe that Saddam would be toppled by his own people and honestly I would also. If you actually desire war then you need to seek some professional help. But I am not so naive to think Saddam was just a run of the mill dictator. I’ve seen the horrifying outcome of a chemical attacks and those willing to use them. No Nukes. Forget that! No chemical weapons! The sole purpose of a chemical weapon is to end life. Spray an ounce of VX on a bunker or aircraft and nothing happens. Spray an ounce of VX in an auditorium and kill 500 people. There is absolutely no reason why ANY nation (including U.S.) should have them. If Saddam was capable of using the Kurdish people as his personal guinea pigs, there is no telling what he would do to his own people.

  14. I think it’s hard to ignore the smugness and anti-Americanism that Rick sometimes displays. Before even reading his blogs I used to watch his shows all the time on PBS, and after a while I noticed when he was in some of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Europe, he would make derogatory comments about Catholicism. He would marvel at the beauty and then in the next breath make a comment about faith by saying “if you believe in THAT”. Since then my curiosity about him lead me to his blogs and he has admitted that he did (and probably still does) have an anti-Catholic bias. The main cricicism I have though is the condescending way he comments. Provoke discussion all you want but there is no need for haughtiness or insulting a vast majority of people who gave you business success.

  15. It is supremely difficult to communicate in writing balance and objectivity without offense. Because the human condition is to be judgmental and to interpret what we read as what we personally have already formed positions about. Nobody knows what Steves’ motivation is for what he writes. It’s possibly a version of: ” I call ’em as I see ’em”. It’s called freedom of speech and it’s part of our Bill of Rights. I had many a German national tell me what he thought of me and the US and pizza. Take it all with a grain of salt. (or half grain to lower your blood pressure).

  16. I think the best of Rick Steves blog entries should be published as a book. Maybe a yearly publication.

  17. Roe is right, but to add one key point, General Courtney Hodges is the man who led the US 1st Army (he was of equal rank reporting to Bradley, same as Patton with the 3rd Army).

  18. It took substantial U.S. and European military involvement to overthrow Gaddafi. Egypt is not a democracy. The military is taking the reins; a mob recently attacked the Israeli embassy. The U.S. pushed the Soviet Union to collapse through various means usually opposed by the left (military build up, strategic defense, economic sanctions, stopping Soviet-sponsored clients in Central America, etc.) Iraq is not a client state; the concern is that they may be too friendly to Iran. Saddam brutally crushed dissent, like the Iranians and Syrians.

  19. Another historical nitpick– the American forces did not really “take the war to Hitler’s capital, Berlin.” The Western Allies were well west of Berlin when the war ended on 7 May 1945. The Soviets had surrounded the city.

  20. Maybe the best blog responses from readers should be compiled and published as highlights on this blog site.

  21. Rick…Rick…Rick…just look at the comments on this blog entry. All but one or two of them have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with travel or people’s experience in the Rhine Valley but are responses to your political statements and observations. This is NOT what I come to your site for… your are ruining a great thing!

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