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ZweibrUcken[tsvI´´brU´kun] Pronunciation Key, Fr. Deux-Ponts, city (1994 pop. 35,704), Rhineland-Palatinate, W Germany, near the Saarland border. ZweibrUcken is a transportation center and has ironworks, steelworks, and factories that produce leather goods, wood products, machines, and textiles. It is also a noted horse-breeding center, horse races are held there. ZweibrUcken was chartered in 1352 and passed (1385) to the Palatinate branch of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach. In 1410 it became the seat of the counts (later dukes) palatine of ZweibrUcken under a cadet line of the Palatinate branch. Charles X of Sweden was the nephew of John II, duke palatine of ZweibrUcken; his son, Charles XI of Sweden, inherited ZweibrUcken in the late 17th cent., and the duchy remained in personal union with Sweden from 1697 until the death (1718) of Charles XII. The ZweibrUcken line continued until 1731, when the related Palatinate-Birkenfeld line acceded. The duchy of ZweibrUcken was annexed (1797) to France. It was restored to Bavaria at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and since then has shared the history of the Rhenish Palatinate. It was virtually demolished in World War II but has since been reconstructed.
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