Marne (river)

The Gauls worshipped a goddess known as Dea Matrona ("divine mother goddess") who was associated with the Marne. The Marne was navigable as a free-flowing river until the 19th century. It had one gated 500 m shortcut, the Canal de Cornillon in Meaux, which was built in 1235, the oldest canal in France. Canalisation was started in 1837 and completed to Épernay in 1867. It included a number of canals to bypass the most extravagant meanders. In World War I, the Marne was the scene of two notable battles. In the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914), the military governor of Paris, General Joseph Gallieni, took the initiative in driving the Germans back from the capital, rendering their war-plan inoperative. In the Second Battle of the Marne (July-August 1918), the last major German offensive on the Western Front was defeated by an Allied counter-attack, leading eventually to the Armistice. == Navigation ==

During the heyday of canal transportation, the Marne was a major artery connecting Paris and the Seine with major rivers to the east: the Meuse (via the Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne and the Canal des Ardennes), the Moselle and the Rhine (via the Marne-Rhine Canal), and the Saône and Rhône (via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône). To facilitate transportation along the Marne itself, a number of lateral canals were constructed alongside. The most extensive was the Canal latéral à la Marne, which runs between Vitry-le-François and Dizy. Downstream of this were several more, including the Canal de Meaux à Chalifert, the Canal de Chelles, and the Canal de Saint-Maurice which ended at Charenton-le-Pont near the Marne's confluence with the Seine. Furthermore, a portion of the Canal de l'Ourcq also runs parallel and quite close to the Marne before swinging away to enter Paris from the north; at one time the two were linked by a "tub-boat" inclined plane near Meaux. == Departments and main towns crossed ==

• Haute-Marne (52): Langres, Chaumont, Saint-Dizier (confluence with the Blaise); • Marne (51): Vitry-le-François (confluence with the Saulx), Châlons-en-Champagne, Épernay; • Aisne (02): Château-Thierry; • Seine-et-Marne (77): Mary (confluence with the Ourcq), Meaux (confluence with the Grand Morin), Précy, Annet (confluence with the Beuvronne), Thorigny, Lagny, Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes, Torcy, Noisiel, Chelles; • Seine-Saint-Denis (93): Neuilly, Noisy-le-Grand, Gournay, Neuilly-Plaisance; • Val-de-Marne (94): Alfortville, Nogent, Créteil, Charenton-le-Pont, Champigny, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Joinville-le-Pont, Saint-Maurice, Bry, Le Perreux. ==Artistic depictions==

During the 19th and 20th centuries the Marne inspired many painters, among whom were: • Camille Corot; • Paul Cézanne; • Pierre Emmanuel Damoye; • Camille Pissarro; • Henri Rousseau, known as "Le Douanier Rousseau"; • Albert Marquet; • Raoul Dufy; • André Dunoyer de Ségonzac; • Louis Vuillermoz; • Maurice Boitel; • Daniel du Janerand. ==References==