The French placed the land at the Middle Rhine under the command of the prefect of the Département Rhin et Moselle in Coblence. The population soon came to approve of the new government, because it ended the power of aristocracy and thus the feudal system and brought about liberal jurisdiction and other advantages. But the French era ended with Napoleon's defeats.

The "German" Rhine became the symbol of national unity and greatness. At the Congress at Vienna (1815), Prussia obtained the rule over the left side of the river (Wacht am Rhein), while the right side remained under the rule of Nassau. The advantages that the French administration had brought about were largely abolished in the Rhine province (since 1830) and the Ständestaat, the old class system with its aristocracy, supremacy of the towns and the class of the farmers was re-established.

The aristocrats were once again in political power, the class of the educated citizens (Bildungsbürgertum) remained virtually without political influence. After the Prussian-Austrian war (1866), Prussia also annected Nassau's territories on the right side of the Rhine.

In spite of both the steam boat shipping (since approx. 1830) and the railway construction, industrialisation in the narrow Rhine valley could not prosper. By 1900, the valley was predominantly a wine-growing region with small towns and villages, characterised by agriculture, trades and crafts.