Traditional Alsation costumes. Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.
Where Was Alsace-Lorraine or Elsass-Lothringen?
Alsace-Lorraine covered just over five thousand square miles in northeast France. It fell under German control at several points during its history, most notably as the Reichsland (Imperial Territory) Elsass-Lothringen after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.
The iron-rich land situated on the French-German border featured countless steel and iron works, but this financial and industrial asset was apparently never a factor in the Germans' insistence that Alsace-Lorraine belonged to them.
Alsace and Lorraine were part of the "Father of Europe" Emperor Charlemagne's Frankish Empire, and in 843 A.D., his grandson Emperor Lothair I was proclaimed the ruler of Middle Francia. This became better known as Lotharingia and later as Lorraine. Alsace lay to Lorraine's east and southeast.
On 8 August 870, Charles the Bald in West Francia (France) and his half-brother Louis the German in East Francia (Germany) split their recently deceased nephew Lothair I's territory between them. The Treaty of Meerson formally recognised Louis the German as the ruler of the land to the east of the Jura Mountains, the Moselle and Meuse valleys.
In 962, West and East Francia formed part of Emperor Otto I's Holy Roman Empire.
1648: The Peace of Westphalia
German emperors reigned until 1469, when Upper Alsace was awarded, with limited powers, to Charles of Burgundy. He was the subordinate of the German emperor in Lower Alsace, and all taxes from Upper Alsace were paid into Lower Alsace's coffers.
In 1476, Lorraine gained independence from France, and it became a duchy. In 1477, Upper Alsace passed to the House of Habsburg.
The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) signalled another change. At the war's conclusion, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia was drawn up, and the Alsace-Lorraine region was officially awarded to France because its army had seized most of the territory in battle.
Over the next decade, much of Lorraine was restored to the duchy's last ruler Charles IV, as confirmed in the Treaty of Pyrenees. Charles' powers were not reinstated to their previous level. The French monarch claimed supremacy over him.
Two hundred years of French rule under a succession of monarchs and the Bonapartes' followed.
The Franco-Prussian War: The Loss of Alsace-Lorraine
By 1870, Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon I's nephew, through his brother Louis, ruled in France. He was a successful figure for over twenty years, but he fell from power with a deft blow from the Prussians.
The Franco-Prussian War was an escalation of a dispute about who should succeed to the Spanish throne. Enmity between France and Germany was used by the Prussian Minister-President Otto von Bismarck as a reason to wage war. There was an ulterior motive: By giving the German states a common enemy, he hoped to finally realise his vision of German unification.
The Prussians were victorious, and the French were demoralised. Napoleon III was taken prisoner and deposed. On 18th January 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors in Paris' Palace of Versailles, King Wilhelm I of Prussia announced the establishment of the German Empire and his elevation from king to emperor (kaiser). Napoleon III was allowed to travel to exile in England. He died on 9th January 1873 in Chislehurst, then in Kent, and today in Greater London.
The new German Empire claimed Alsace-Lorraine in the Treaty of Frankfurt to give the German army more defensive land on the border. The French lost the revenue derived from the region's iron and steel.
Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen
Alsace-Lorraine was renamed Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen (reichsland: imperial state). The population was predominantly French, and they remained loyal to France. A mass emigration took place. The French that remained in the reichsland harboured a considerable grudge against the Germans.
This weakened as the French Catholic Church and French Republic governments made announcements and changes that were deemed anticlerical and unpopular. A sizeable percentage of the people in Elsass-Lothringen shifted their allegiance to the Germans, and in 1902 Elsass-Lothringen was authorised to self-govern.
In 1911, Elsass-Lothringen was given its own constitution.
A German influence prevailed. Alsatian, a heavily German dialect, was (and remains) the common language; traditional Alsatian costumes were adopted, and German cuisine became popular. Three-quarters of the reichsland's inhabitants were fluent in German when World War One was declared.
The 20th Century for Alsace-Lorraine
After the bloodshed of the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was again given to the French. In a reversal of the 1871 sentiments, the pro-German population preferred self-government under the Germans to being a small and governed region of France.
Throughout the 1920s, the Alsations mounted unsuccessful campaigns to regain their self-government. The French government refused to buckle, and the people's hunger for autonomy faded as the years passed.
During the Second World War, Alsace-Lorraine fell into German hands, and it was known as Gau-Baden Elsass. After the war, the French controlled Alsace-Lorraine.
The cities of Alsace and Lorraine remain, and today, the old Alsace-Lorraine lies in the départements of Moselle, Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin in the Grand Est region of France.
French and German are taught in the area's schools, and the influences, dialects and habits from both countries are a part of everyday life.
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