Danube River

The Danube has been one of the most significant cultural and historic boundaries in Europe. In the early Middle Ages (3rd Century A.D.), the full length of the river formed the northern border of the Roman Empire. It remained intact as late as 454 A.D. when the Goths, Huns, Slavs, and other groups crossed the Danube in order to invade the crumbling Empire.The Roman legacy established the importance of the river as a medieval trade route, explaining why so many crucial trade and transportation centers can still be found along its shore today. The waters of the Danube also form a critical militaristic and spiritual lifeline. It was the major connection between Europe and the East, providing a pathway for crusaders to charge into Byzantium and the Holy Land.Under the Roman Empire (when it was known as Danubius and, in its lower course, as Ister), the Danube was the northern border against the barbarian world. As Rome declined, the Danubian plains for centuries attracted invading hordes—Goths, Huns, Avars, Magyars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Mongols, and others. The Danube increased in commercial importance in the era of the Crusades, but commerce suffered (15th–16th cent.) after the Turks gained control of its course from the Hungarian plain to the Black Sea. In the 19th cent. the Danube's economic importance as an international waterway increased. At the end of the Crimean War the Congress of Paris appointed (1856) a commission to clear the delta (below Brăila) of obstructions.

By the Treaty of Versailles (1919) the Danube was internationalized and a commission established with jurisdiction over the course from Ulm to Brăila. Germany repudiated the internationalization in 1936 and in 1939–40 forced both the navigation and international commissions to dissolve. After World War II, delegates from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, and France met (1948) to determine the status of the Danube. When a commission representing only the seven riparian nations was established, the three Western nations refused to sign the convention. Subsequently, the riparian nations established a new Danube commission, based at Budapest; present membership includes Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

The trade corridor along the Danube gave rise to two major empires, the Austrian and Hungarian, which merged under Austria in the early 19th century. The Danube then served as a link between the industrial centers of Germany (Austrian Empire) and the agricultural areas of the Balkan Peninsula (Ottoman Empire). It also served as a critical cultural border. To this day, Romania (north of the river) and Bulgaria (south) reflect their respective and separate histories with Romania having a Romance language and Bulgaria demonstrating key historic affinities in architecture and religion with the Ottoman Turks.

Both the commercial and military value of the Danube are still recognized today. Many treaties have been signed to try to keep one country from having too much control over the river. Today the Danube is still a major transportation route, with more than 3,500 ships passing through its delta each year. Extensive navigation is made possible by various dredging of canals and channels often constructed with inter-country cooperation for the benefit of all the nations that border this essential waterway.The Danube River has been used as an important means of transportation for commerce and military operations for nearly 2,000 years because it is the only major European river that flows west to east. The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest and flows through the heartland of Austria, first forming the border of Austria and Slovakia, and then Slovakia and Hungary. Leaving Hungary, it runs through Croatia and Serbia to form the boundary between Serbia and Romania and then the Romania and Bulgaria border. The mighty Danube brushes the edge of Moldova and Ukraine before finally emptying into the Black Sea.

The Upper Danube is home to four capital cities—Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade—more than any other river in the world. Downstream from Belgrade, the Danube enters the Iron Gates, a great natural corridor through the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains. It then spills into the plains of the ancient Roman province of Wallachia. Flooding has been a problem there since Roman times and still is. Due to the floods, no major cities have been developed on the Danube downstream of Belgrade. Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is 50 miles uphill from the Danube, well protected from rising water in the spring.