Alsace–Lorraine (German: Elsaß–Lothringen), officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine (), was a territory of the German Empire between 1871 and 1918, comprising most of Alsace and part of Lorraine. Its capital was Strasbourg. It was annexed by the German Empire following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War and formally ceded by France under the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871). French resentment over the loss of the territory was one of the contributing factors to World War I. Following Germany's defeat in that conflict in 1918, Alsace–Lorraine was restored to France; its cession was confirmed under the Treaty of Versailles.

Alsace–Lorraine was the only territory of the German Empire administered directly by the imperial government rather than as a constituent state. It gradually acquired representative institutions, culminating in the 1911 constitution, an elected Landtag, and limited internal autonomy. It also elected deputies to the Reichstag, where protest, autonomist, and empire-wide political parties competed for electoral support.

Most inhabitants spoke German dialects, while French was spoken mainly in parts of Lorraine. The territory's linguistic, religious and political diversity shaped its public life throughout the German period. During the Second World War, Alsace and Moselle were annexed by Nazi Germany before being restored to France again in 1944–45.

Some legal provisions specific to the territory remain in force as the local law in Alsace–Moselle. Since 2016, the area has formed part of the French administrative region of Grand Est.

Geography

Alsace–Lorraine had a land area of . Its capital was Straßburg. It was divided into three districts ( in German): Oberelsaß (Upper Alsace), whose capital was Kolmar, had a land area of and corresponds precisely to the current department of Haut-Rhin Unterelsaß, (Lower Alsace), whose capital was Straßburg, had a land area of and corresponds precisely to the current department of Bas-Rhin Bezirk Lothringen, (Lorraine), whose capital was Metz, had a land area of and corresponded precisely to the current department of Moselle

Towns and cities The largest urban areas in Alsace–Lorraine at the 1910 census were: Straßburg: (now Strasbourg): 220,883 inhabitants Mülhausen: (Mulhouse): 128,190 inhabitants Metz: 102,787 inhabitants Diedenhofen: (Thionville): 69,693 inhabitants Colmar: 44,942 inhabitants

History

Background

The modern history of Alsace–Lorraine was primarily influenced by the rivalry between French and German nationalism.

France long sought, strategically, to attain and preserve what it considered its "natural boundaries"—the Pyrenees to the southwest, the Alps to the southeast, and the Rhine to the northeast; these strategic aims led to its annexing territories in the Holy Roman Empire west of the Rhine. What is now known as Alsace was progressively conquered by France under and in the 17th century, Strasbourg being conquered in 1681, while Lorraine was incorporated from the 16th century under Henry II to the 18th century under . Original publication was from Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing, see preceding link. (in the case of the Three Bishoprics, as early as 1552). The territory of the Duchy of Lorraine came under French influence after the War of the Polish Succession, when the French candidate for the Polish throne was given the (previously owned by Francis of Lorraine, Maria Theresa’s husband) Duchy of Lorraine, which came into the French crown territories upon his death in 1766. These border changes at the time meant more or less that one ruler (the local princes and city governments, with some remaining power of the Holy Roman Emperor) was exchanged for another (the King of France).

German nationalism, on the other hand, which in its 19th century form originated as a reaction against the French occupation of large areas of Germany under Napoleon, sought to unify all the German-speaking populations of the former Holy Roman Empire into a single nation-state. As various German dialects were spoken by most of the population of Alsace and Moselle (northern Lorraine), these regions were viewed by German nationalists to be rightfully part of a hoped-for united Germany in the future, despite what the French parts of their population wanted.

From annexation to World War I

Annexation considerations In 1871, the newly created German Empire's demand for Alsace from France after its victory in the Franco-Prussian War was not simply a punitive measure. The transfer was controversial even among the Germans: The German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was initially opposed to it, as he thought (correctly) that it would engender permanent French hostility toward Germany. Some German industrialists did not want the competition from Alsatian industries, such as the cloth makers who would be exposed to competition from the sizeable industry in Mulhouse. Karl Marx also warned his fellow Germans: "If Alsace and Lorraine are taken, then France will later make war on Germany in conjunction with Russia. It is unnecessary to go into the unholy consequences."Fernbach, David (ed.) Marx: The First International and After, p. 178, Letter to the Brunswick committee of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party, from Marx-Engels-Werke, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1974

Bismarck and the South German industrialists proposed to have Alsace ceded to Switzerland, while Switzerland would compensate Germany with another territory. The Swiss rejected the proposal, preferring to remain neutral between the French and Germans.

The German Emperor, Wilhelm I, eventually sided with army commander Helmuth von Moltke, other Prussian generals and other officials who argued that a westward shift in the French border was necessary for strategic military and ethnographic reasons. From a linguistic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. At the time, ethnic identity was often based primarily on language, unlike today's more multifaceted approach focusing on self-identification. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting the frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks. Due to the annexation, the Germans gained control of the fortifications of Metz and Strasbourg (Strassburg) on the left bank of the Rhine and most of the iron resources of Lorraine.

The possibility of granting Alsace–Lorraine the status of a constituent state of the German Empire with its own sovereign and constitution was not considered, in part because Prussia was convinced that the population of the territory would first have to be Germanized, i.e., accustomed to the new German-Prussian form of government. The Imperial Territory () created on 28 June 1871 was therefore treated initially as an occupied territory and administered directly by an imperial governor () appointed by Wilhelm I. Although it was not technically part of the Kingdom of Prussia, in practical terms, it amounted to the same thing since the emperor was also king of Prussia and the chancellor its minister-president.

Memory of the Napoleonic Wars was still alive in the 1870s. Wilhelm I himself had had to flee with the Prussian royal family to East Prussia as a nine-year-old in 1806 and had served in the Battle of Waterloo. Until the Franco-Prussian War, the French had maintained a long-standing desire to establish their entire eastern frontier on the Rhine. Thus, most 19th-century Germans viewed them as aggressive and acquisitive people. In the years before 1870, the Germans feared the French more than the French feared the Germans. Many Germans at the time thought that the unification of Germany as the new Empire would in itself be enough to earn permanent French enmity and thus desired a defensible border with their long-standing enemy. Any additional hostility earned from territorial concessions was downplayed as marginal and insignificant in the scheme.

Area annexed The annexed area consisted of the northern part of Lorraine and Alsace. The area around the town of Belfort (now the French Territoire de Belfort) was not annexed. The town's heroic defence led by Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, who surrendered only after receiving orders from Paris, allowed President Adolphe Thiers to negotiate retention of the Belfort region. The town of Montbéliard and its surrounding area to the south of Belfort, which have been part of the Doubs department since 1816 and therefore were not considered part of Alsace, were not included, even though they had been a Protestant enclave (County of Montbéliard) belonging to Württemberg from 1397 to 1796.

This area corresponded to the present French of Bas-Rhin (in its entirety), Haut-Rhin (except the area of Belfort and Montbéliard), and a small northeast section of the Vosges département, all of which made up Alsace, and most of the of Moselle (four-fifths of Moselle) and the northeast of Meurthe (one-third of Meurthe), which were the eastern part of Lorraine.

The remaining two-thirds of the département of Meurthe and the westernmost one-fifth of Moselle, which had escaped German annexation, were joined to form the new French of Meurthe-et-Moselle.

The new border between France and Germany mainly followed the geo-linguistic divide between French and German dialects, except in a few valleys of the Alsatian side of the Vosges mountains, the city of Metz and its region and in the area of Château-Salins (formerly in the Meurthe ), which were annexed by Germany although most people there spoke French. In 1900, 11.6% of the population of Alsace–Lorraine spoke French as their first language (11.0% in 1905, 10.9% in 1910).

That small francophone areas were affected was used in France to denounce the new border, since Germany had justified the annexation on linguistic grounds. The German administration was tolerant of the use of the French language (in sharp contrast to the use of the Polish language in the Province of Posen), and French was permitted as an official language and school language in those areas where it was spoken by a majority; this changed in 1914 with the First World War.

Citizenship option

Under the provisions of the Treaty of Frankfurt, the inhabitants of the annexed areas received Alsace–Lorraine citizenship unless they had migrated directly from France. Until 1 October 1872, they had the option of retaining French citizenship. A total of 160,878 people, or about 10.4% of the total population, took the option. The proportion was particularly high in Upper Alsace, where 93,109 people (20.3%) declared that they wished to retain French citizenship, and much lower in Lower Alsace (6.5%) and Lorraine (5.8%).

Originally it was envisaged that those who chose French citizenship would have to leave Alsace–Lorraine. They were allowed to either take their property with them or sell it. Ultimately only about 50,000 people left for France, corresponding to 3.2% of the population of Alsace–Lorraine. The approximately 110,000 optants who had not emigrated by 1 October 1872 lost their option of French citizenship, although they were not expelled by the German authorities but retained German citizenship. Some estimates of the total number of optants, however, are as high as 280,000, with the number who left for France set at about 130,000.

Government

Territorial Committee