Katana VentraIP

Alsace–Lorraine

Alsace–Lorraine (German: Elsaß-Lothringen), officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine (German: Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen), was a former territory of the German Empire, located in modern day France. It was established in 1871 by the German Empire after it had occupied the region during the Franco-Prussian War. The region was officially ceded to the German Empire in the Treaty of Frankfurt.[1] French resentment about the loss of the territory was one of the contributing factors to World War I. Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to France in 1920 as part of the Treaty of Versailles following Germany's defeat in the war, although already annexed in 1918.[2]

Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine
Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen (German)
Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine (French)

Straßburg (Strasbourg)

 

14,496 km2 (5,597 sq mi)

 

1,874,014

Federal territory

 

Eduard von Möller (first, as Oberpräsident)

Rudolf Schwander (last, as Reichsstatthalter)

Landtag

Núrto

 

10 May 1871

1918

28 June 1919

Bezirk Lothringen, Oberelsass, Unterelsass

France

Geographically, Alsace-Lorraine encompassed most of Alsace and the Moselle department of Lorraine. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River, east of the Vosges Mountains; the section originally in Lorraine was in the upper Moselle valley to the north of the Vosges.


The territory encompassed almost all of Alsace (93%) and over a quarter of Lorraine (26%), while the rest of these regions remained parts of France. For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in the form of a "local law in Alsace-Moselle". In relation to its special legal status since reversion to France, the territory has been referred to administratively as Alsace-Moselle. (Alsatian: 's Elsàss-Mosel; German: Elsaß-Mosel or Elsass-Mosel).[a]


Since 2016, the historical territory has been part of the French administrative region of Grand Est.

(Upper Alsace), whose capital was Kolmar, had a land area of 3,525 km2 (1,361 sq mi) and corresponds exactly to the current department of Haut-Rhin

Oberelsaß

(Lower Alsace), whose capital was Strassburg, had a land area of 4,755 km2 (1,836 sq mi) and corresponds exactly to the current department of Bas-Rhin

Unterelsaß

(Lorraine), whose capital was Metz, had a land area of 6,216 km2 (2,400 sq mi) and corresponds exactly to the current department of Moselle

Bezirk Lothringen

The area around the town of (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.[10]

Belfort

The town of 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.

Montbéliard

German and Germanic dialects: 1,492,347 (86.8%)

[52]

[52]

Alsace-Lorraine Regional Party

Independent Regional Party for Alsace-Lorraine

Unification of Germany

Gare de Metz-Ville

German Lorraine

Moselle (department)

Annexation of Alsace-Lorraine

(1911). "Alsace-Lorraine" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 756–757.

Ashworth, Philip Arthur

Bankwitz, Philip Charles Farwell. Alsatian autonomist leaders, 1919-1947 (UP of Kansas, 1978).

Byrnes, Joseph F. "The relationship of religious practice to linguistic culture: language, religion, and education in Alsace and the Roussillon, 1860–1890." Church History 68#3 (1999): 598–626.

Harp, Stephen L. "Building the German nation. Primary schooling in Alsace-Lorraine, 1870–1918." Paedagogica Historica 32.supplement 1 (1996): 197–219.

Hazen, Charles Downer. Alsace-Lorraine Under German Rule (New York: H. Holt, 1917). ; scholarly history

online

Höpel, Thomas: , European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2010, retrieved: December 17, 2012.

The French-German Borderlands: Borderlands and Nation-Building in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Klein, Detmar. "German-Annexed Alsace and Imperial Germany: A Process of Colonisation?." in Róisín Healy and Enrico Dal Lago, eds. The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe's Modern Past (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014). 92-108.

Putnam, Ruth. Alsace and Lorraine from Cæsar to Kaiser, 58 B.C.–1871 A.D. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1915.

Seager, Frederic H. "The Alsace-Lorraine Question in France, 1871-1914." in Charles K. Warner, ed., From the Ancien Regime to the Popular Front (1969): 111–126.

Silverman, Dan P. Reluctant Union; Alsace-Lorraine and Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 (Pennsylvania State UP, 1972).

Varley, Karine. Under the Shadow of Defeat (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2008) pp. 175–202.

(Archived 2009-10-25) (in German)

http://www.geocities.com/bfel/geschichte5b.html

(in German)

http://www.elsass-lothringen.de/

https://web.archive.org/web/20090730200508/http://geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Alsace_Lorraine.html

France, Germany and the Struggle for the War-making Natural Resources of the Rhineland

Elsass-Lothringen video

(in French and German)

Annuary of Cultur and Artists from Elsass-Lothringen

48°40′N 7°00′E / 48.67°N 7°E / 48.67; 7