UC Blue Ash

In his third installment for the UC Blue Ash Blog, Professor Timothy Forest provides a really interesting look at the history of the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.

Strasbourg flood barrier which was used to protect the city from invaders from the west by flooding the surrounding countryside.

Alsace has been a border region for thousands of years.  It was part of the Roman Empire as one of its northernmost frontier districts.  And, just as today, Germany lies across the Rhine River, with the river marking the border between lands that were under Roman control and those inhabited by the “barbarians” – or Germans as they were known.  With the collapse of Roman rule in the fourth century, local chiefs ruled the area until it was brought under the control of powerful Frank kings. The death of the great Frankish king Charlemagne in 814 led to the start of centuries of the French and Germans fighting to control this region, which became aptly known as the “Middle Kingdom.”

France, because it united earlier, was able to assert its claim more than Germany, which did not unite until 1871.  However, most of Alsace did not become part of France until the reign of Louis XIV, in the 1690s.  Even then, Alsace was different.  Most people spoke Alsatian, which is a German dialect, and most of the residents of the largest cities remained Protestant, even though France was officially a Roman Catholic country.

After the French Revolution, Alsace, with its waterpower and its mines, became one of the first parts of France to industrialize.   The wealth these factories created, along with the “German” culture of the region, caused many across the Rhine to demand that Alsace (and Lorraine) become part of a new German nation.  In 1870, a war was fought between France and the largest German kingdom, Prussia, in part over who would control Alsace.  After the very short war, France was defeated, and Alsace and parts of Lorraine became part of the brand new German Empire, dominated by Prussia.  Town names were made more German-sounding, education (which was bilingual) became German-only, all men were forced to serve in the German army.

The moat surrounding Wissembourg, France.

Angry about giving up what came to be called the “Lost Provinces,” France rapidly modernized its army, with many in France openly seeking a new war with Germany to gain back Alsace-Lorraine.  This in part explains the start of World War I.  When Germany was defeated four years later, Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France.  French was made the only language of instruction, all laws were in French, place names were made to sound more “French,” etc.  This lasted exactly 20 years.  In 1940, German troops once again invaded France, and Alsace and Lorraine were made a part of Germany again. In 1945, after World War II, the region was again reunited with France, as it remains so today.

Here I am at the European Parliament located in Strasbourg.

Today no one challenges that Alsace is a part of France.  In a largely successful effort to stop the cycle of violence that saw this area switch hands four times in less than one hundred years, people on both sides of the Rhine stress their shared history rather than their differences.  People today live in Germany and work in France, or vice versa, and many people are bilingual.  The two regions – Alsace and Baden in Germany – share a television station that broadcasts in French and German (check it out!: www.arte.tv).  And, Strasbourg is one of three capitals of the European Union – the European Parliament meets here, giving the city a very international feel.  Strolling the streets and hearing the different languages as I do every day, it is at times difficult to see the violence that this region witnessed as little as 70 years ago.

Next time I will be sharing some of my travels throughout in the region, including Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and France.

Prof. Timothy Forest

Timothy S. Forest is an assistant professor of history at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. He currently teaches courses in world, modern European and Latin American history. He is currently serving as a Fulbright Research Scholar in France and can be contacted at: timothy.forest.uc.edu.