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Haut-Rhin is one of the original 83 departments, created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790 through the application of the law of 22 December 1789 in respect of the southern half of the province of Alsace (Haute-Alsace).
Its boundaries have been modified many times:
- 1798, it absorbed Mulhouse, formerly a free city, and the last Swiss enclave in the south of Alsace;
- 1800, it absorbed the whole département of Mont-Terrible;
- 1814, it lost the territories which had been part of Mont-Terrible, which were returned to Switzerland, except for the old principality of Montbéliard;
- 1816, it lost Montbéliard, which was transferred to the département of Doubs;
- 1871, it was mostly annexed by Germany (Treaty of Frankfurt). The remaining French part formed the Territoire de Belfort in 1922;
- 1919, it was reverted to France (Treaty of Versailles) but remains administratively separated from Belfort.
- 1940, it was annexed de facto by Nazi Germany.
- 1944, it was recovered by France.
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