The present state of Rhineland-Palatinate formed part of the French Zone of Occupation (1945-1949) after the Second World War. It comprised the former Bavarian Palatinate, the ("government districts") of Koblenz and Trier (which formed the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province), the parts of the Province of Rhenish Hesse () west of the River Rhine and belonged to the People's State of Hesse (), parts of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau (Montabaur), and the former Oldenburg region around Birkenfeld (Principality of Birkenfeld).