Danube

I

Introduction

Danube (ancient, Danubius, and in the lower part of its course, Ister; German, Donau; Slovak, Dunaj; Hungarian, Duna; Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Bulgarian, Dunav; Romanian, Dunărea; Ukrainian, Dunay), river in Europe, second-longest and one of the principal traffic arteries on the Continent. The Danube is the only major Continental European river to flow from west to east. It rises in the Black Forest region of Germany and flows in a generally easterly direction for a distance of about 2,850 km (1,776 mi), emptying, on the Romanian coast, into the Black Sea.

II

Course and Physical Environment

The delta of the Danube is a region of desolate marshes and swamps, broken by tree-covered elevations, and is an important nature reserve. The Danube is navigable by ocean vessels to Brăila, Romania, and by river craft as far as Ulm in Germany, a distance of some 2,575 km (1,600 mi). About 60 of the approximately 300 tributaries of the Danube are navigable. The principal ones, in the order in which they merge with the Danube, include the Lech, Isar, Inn, Morava, Váh, Rába (Raab), Drava, Tisza, Sava, Siret, and Prut.

The Danube basin, more than 777,000 sq km (300,000 sq mi) in area, includes parts of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia (part of the federation of Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. Important cities on the river include Ulm, Regensburg, and Passau, in Germany; Linz and Vienna, in Austria; Bratislava, in Slovakia; Budapest, in Hungary; Belgrade, in Serbia; and Galaţi and Brăila, in Romania. Canals link the Danube to the Main, Rhine, and Oder rivers. The Danube Valley between Linz and Vienna, Austria, is noted for its beautiful scenery.

III

Place in European History

A

From Roman Times to the End of the Middle Ages

The Danube has always been an important route between western Europe and the Black Sea. It formed, in the 3rd century ad, the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in south-eastern Europe. Early in the Middle Ages, Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Magyars, and other migratory peoples crossed the Danube on their way to invade the Roman, and later the Byzantine Empire. It served as an artery for the Crusaders (see Crusades) into Byzantium (Constantinople) and from there to the Holy Land (see Palestine). The river later eased the advance (beginning at the end of the 14th century) of the Ottoman Turks into western and central Europe.

B

The 19th Century

In the 19th century it became an essential link between the growing industrial centres of Germany and the agrarian areas of the Balkan Peninsula. At that time, most of the river’s middle and upper course lay within the Austro-Hungarian Empire; the lower part belonged to the decaying empire of the Ottoman Turks. As Turkish control over the Balkans weakened, Austria and the other European powers moved to prevent Russia from acquiring the strategic Danube delta.

By the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1856), terminating the Crimean War, a European commission was established to control the delta. The commission made a number of changes in the delta and in the lower reaches of the river beneficial to navigation. In 1890 the Austrian government began a series of improvements in that part of the river known as the Iron Gate.