Western Europe is traversed by the Rhinegraben rift system. The stages of graben formation evolved coincidentally with the culminations of compressional folding in the Alps. Rhinegraben rifting has been controlled by mantle diapirism, but the Alpine orogeny by subduction of lithosphere. Presumably, Alpine subduction forced compensating mantle uplift in the foreland. The Middle Eocene to Oligocene crustal spreading of the Rhinegraben implies a state of stress with a maximum horizontal component parallel to the graben axis (about 20‡). In the same area, the Recent average direction of maximum compressive stress is of about 320‡ (NW), as calculated by in-situ stress measurements, fault-plane solutions of earthquakes and Recent crustal movements. The rotation of the stress components relative to the crust of stable Europe evolved subsequent to counterclockwise rotations of microplates in the Mediterranean. A model is proposed which ascribes these rotations to alterating shear motions of the Afro-Arabian macroplates relative to stable Europe exerting a ball-bearing effect to the intervenient microplates. The postulated motions are in accord with the patterns of inhomogeneous ocean floor spreading east and west of the African plate. The stages of Alpine plate collision had induced a significant readjustment of intraplate stress conditions, and deformation in the cratonic foreland of stable Europe.