It had a population of 1,, in The Var department takes its name from the river Var , which flowed along its eastern boundary, until the boundary was moved in and the department is no longer associated with the river. Toulon is Var's largest city and administrative capital, known as the prefecture.
The department of Var was created at the time of the French Revolution , on 4 March , from a portion of the former royal province of Provence. Its capital was originally Toulon , but this was moved to Grasse in to punish the Toulonnais for yielding the town to the British in Subsequently, the capital was moved to Brignoles in , then to Draguignan in It was not returned to Toulon until In , following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo the department was occupied by Austrian troops until November In the first railroad reached Toulon.
With the creation of the new department of Alpes-Maritimes in and following the annexation by France of Nice, the eastern part of the department, corresponding to the arrondissement of Grasse , was moved to the new department. This move also shifted the river Var, which had given the department its name, to the new department. In a cholera epidemic struck Toulon. The leader of the fight against the epidemic was Georges Clemenceau , a doctor and a member of the National Assembly for the Seine department.
He was later elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Var department from to and Senator from to , during which time he also served as Prime Minister of France.
The First World War — stimulated growth in shipyards and military industries in the region, but weakened the agricultural and food industries. In the German Army moved from Occupied France into the zone libre , which included the Var department. The Maquis Vallier , a group of maquis resistance fighters, was active.
