[citation needed] The department was created in 1793 with the annexation of the short-lived Rauracian Republic, which had been created in December 1792 from the imperial part of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel.

In 1797, the former Württemberg-owned Principality of Montbéliard, which had previously been given to Haute-Saône, was reattached to Mont-Terrible, together with the remaining Swiss part of the Bishopric of Basel after the French attack to the Elvetic nation.

Its territory was annexed to the Haut-Rhin, within which it formed the two arrondissements of Delémont and Porrentruy.

In 1815, the territory that had previously formed Mont-Terrible was partitioned between Doubs (Montbéliard) and the Swiss canton of Bern (now forming the canton of Jura and the Bernese Jura).

The Department was created on 23 March 1793 by the National Convention which decreed the French Republic and the Country of Porrentruy to be reunited under the name of the Department of Mont-Terrible.