Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Meuse river begins its journey on the Langres plateau in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, a commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse. This source sits high above the surrounding landscape before the water starts flowing northward through French departments like Haute-Marne and Vosges.
The Battle of Verdun took place during World War I along these banks while the Battle of Sedan became a key objective during the Battle of France in 1940. The last major German counter-offensive on the Western Front known as the Battle of the Bulge targeted crossings in December 1944 and January 1945.
The Afgedamde Maas was created in the late Middle Ages when a major flood made a connection between the Maas and the Merwede at Woudrichem. A dam completed at its southern inlet in 1904 renamed the former main branch Afgedamde Maas so it no longer receives water from the Maas.
The name Meuse derives from its Latin form Mosa which ultimately traces back to the Celtic or Proto-Celtic root Mosā. This likely shares origins with English word maze referring to the rivers many twists and turns.
An international agreement signed in 2002 in Ghent Belgium established water management cooperation among France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Participating entities included Belgian regional governments of Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels though Brussels itself does not lie within the basin while pumping running water into the Meuse.