Mont-Tonnerre

This article is about the department. For the mountain, see Donnersberg.

Department of Mont-Tonnerre Département du Mont-Tonnerre (French)
Department of the First French Republic
1797–1814
Flag
Map of the former département du Mont-Tonnerre
Capital	Mainz
History
• Established	1797
• Disestablished	1814
Preceded by Succeeded by Electorate of Mainz Prince-Bishopric of Speyer Prince-Bishopric of Worms Nassau-Weilburg Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt Electoral Palatinate Kingdom of Bavaria Grand Duchy of Hesse
Today part of	Germany

Mont-Tonnerre (French: [mɔ̃.tɔ.nɛʁ]) was a department of the First French Republic and later the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the highest point in the Palatinate, the Donnersberg ("Thunder Mountain", possibly referring to Donar, god of thunder). It was the southernmost of four departments formed in 1797 when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Prior to the French occupation, its territory was divided between the Archbishopric of Mainz, the Bishopric of Speyer, the Bishopric of Worms, Nassau-Weilburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, the Electorate of the Palatinate and the imperial cities of Worms and Speyer. Its territory is now part of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Its capital was Mainz (French: Mayence).

The department was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons (situation in 1812):

• Mainz, cantons: Alzey, Bingen, Bechtheim, Kirchheimbolanden, Mainz (2 cantons), Nieder-Olm, Ober-Ingelheim, Oppenheim, Wöllstein and Wörrstadt.
• Kaiserslautern (French: Kayserslautern), cantons: Göllheim, Kaiserslautern, Lauterecken, Obermoschel, Otterberg, Rockenhausen, Winnweiler and Wolfstein.
• Speyer (French: Spire), cantons: Dürkheim, Edenkoben, Frankenthal, Germersheim, Grünstadt, Mutterstadt, Neustadt, Pfeddersheim, Speyer and Worms.
• Zweibrücken (French: Deux-Ponts), cantons: Annweiler, Homburg, Landstuhl, Medelsheim, Neuhornbach, Pirmasens, Waldfischbach and Zweibrücken.

Its population in 1812 was 342,316.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the department was divided between the Kingdom of Bavaria (Palatinate) and the Grand Duchy of Hesse (around Mainz).