In prehistoric times, Alsace was inhabited by nomadic hunters. Part of the province of
Germania Superior in the Roman Empire, the area went on to become a diffuse border region between the French and the German cultures and languages. Long a center of the German-speaking world, after the end of the
Thirty Years' War, southern Alsace was annexed by France in 1648, with most of the remainder conquered later in the century. In contrast to other parts of France, Protestants were permitted to practise their faith in Alsace even after the
Edict of Fontainebleau of 1685 that abolished their privileges in the rest of France. After the 1870–71
Franco-Prussian War, Alsace was annexed by Germany and became a part of the 1871
unified German Empire as a formal
Reichsland, or "imperial territory." After
World War I the victorious Allies detached it from Germany and the province became part of the
Third French Republic. Having been occupied and annexed by Germany during
World War II, it was returned to France by the Allies at the end of
World War II.
Pre-Roman Alsace The presence of hominids in Alsace can be traced back 600,000 years. By 4000 BC, farming arrived in the form of
Linear Pottery culture in the region from the Danube and the Hungarian plain. The culture was characterized by "timber longhouse settlements and incised pottery ... favoring floodplain edge situations for their permanent villages ... [and] small clearings in the forest" for their crops and animals." By 100 BC, Germanic peoples, including eventually the
Suebi and other tribes under
Ariovistus, had begun to intrude into areas along the upper Rhine and Danube long settled by Celtic
Gauls. Alsace itself had come to be occupied by the
Triboci, a Germanic tribe allied with Ariovistus.
Roman Alsace In response to the threat posed by
Ariovistus, the
Aedui, a Celtic tribe allied to Rome, appealed to the Roman Senate and Julius Caesar for aid. In 58 BC, after negotiations with Ariovistus failed,
Julius Caesar routed the Suebi at the foot of the Vosges near what became Cernay in southern Alsace. There followed a "long period of security ... for the Gauls along the middle and upper Rhine." As a border province, the Romans built fortifications and military camps, many of which, including
Argentoratum (Strasbourg), evolved into modern towns and cities.
Alemannic and Frankish Alsace In 357, Germanic tribes attempted to conquer Alsace but they were rebuffed by the Romans. As in much of Europe, the prosperity of Alsace was brought to an end in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the
Black Death. These hardships were blamed on Jews, leading to the
pogroms of 1336 and 1339. In 1349, Jews of Alsace were accused of poisoning the wells with
plague, leading to the massacre of thousands of Jews during the
Strasbourg pogrom. Jews were subsequently forbidden to settle in the town. An additional natural disaster was the
Rhine rift earthquake of 1356, one of Europe's worst which made ruins of
Basel. Prosperity returned to Alsace under
Habsburg administration during the
Renaissance. ,
Strasbourg Holy Roman Empire central power had begun to decline following years of imperial adventures in Italian lands, often ceding hegemony in Western Europe to France, which had long since centralized power. France began an aggressive policy of expanding eastward, first to the rivers
Rhône and
Meuse, and when those borders were reached, aiming for the Rhine. In 1299 the French proposed a marriage alliance between
Blanche (sister of
Philip IV of France) and
Rudolf (son of
Albert I of Germany), with Alsace to be the dowry; however, the deal never came off. In 1307, the town of
Belfort was first chartered by the Counts of
Montbéliard. During the next century, France was to be militarily shattered by the
Hundred Years' War, which prevented for a time any further tendencies in this direction. After the conclusion of the war, France was again free to pursue its desire to reach the Rhine and in 1444 a French army appeared in Lorraine and Alsace. It took up winter quarters, demanded the submission of
Metz and
Strasbourg and launched an attack on
Basel. In 1469, following the , Upper Alsace was sold by Archduke
Sigismund of Austria to
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Although Charles was the nominal landlord, taxes were paid to
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. The latter was able to use this tax and a dynastic marriage to his advantage to gain back full control of Upper Alsace (apart from the free towns, but including Belfort) in 1477 when it became part of the demesne of the Habsburg family, who were also rulers of the empire. The town of Mulhouse joined the
Swiss Confederation in 1515, where it was to remain until 1798. By the time of the
Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Strasbourg was a prosperous community, and its inhabitants accepted Protestantism in 1523.
Martin Bucer was a prominent Protestant reformer in the region. His efforts were countered by the Roman Catholic Habsburgs who tried to eradicate heresy in Upper Alsace. As a result, Alsace was transformed into a mosaic of Catholic and Protestant territories. On the other hand,
Mömpelgard (Montbéliard) to the southwest of Alsace, belonging to the Counts of
Württemberg since 1397, remained a Protestant enclave in France until 1793.
German Land within the Kingdom of France This situation prevailed until 1639, when most of Alsace was conquered by France to keep it out of the hands of the
Spanish Habsburgs, who by
secret treaty in 1617 had gained a clear road to their valuable and rebellious possessions in the
Spanish Netherlands, the
Spanish Road. Beset by enemies and seeking to gain a free hand in
Hungary, the Habsburgs sold their
Sundgau territory (mostly in Upper Alsace) to France in 1646, which had occupied it, for the sum of 1.2 million
Thalers. When hostilities were concluded in 1648 with the
Treaty of Westphalia, most of Alsace was recognized as part of France, although some towns remained independent. The treaty stipulations regarding Alsace were complex. Although the French king gained sovereignty, existing rights and customs of the inhabitants were largely preserved. France continued to maintain its customs border along the
Vosges mountains where it had been, leaving Alsace more economically oriented to neighbouring German-speaking lands. The German language remained in use in local administration, in schools, and at the (Lutheran)
University of Strasbourg, which continued to draw students from other German-speaking lands. The 1685
Edict of Fontainebleau, by which the French king ordered the suppression of
French Protestantism, was not applied in Alsace. France did endeavour to promote Catholicism.
Strasbourg Cathedral, for example, which had been Lutheran from 1524 to 1681, was returned to the Catholic Church. However, compared to the rest of France, Alsace enjoyed a climate of
religious tolerance. receiving the keys of Strasbourg in 1681 France consolidated its hold with the 1679
Treaties of Nijmegen, which brought most remaining towns under its control. France seized Strasbourg in 1681 in an unprovoked action. These territorial changes were recognised in the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick that ended the
War of the Grand Alliance. But Alsace still contained islands of territory nominally under the sovereignty of German princes and an independent city-state at Mulhouse. These enclaves were established by law, prescription and international consensus.
From French Revolution to the Franco-Prussian War The year 1789 brought the French Revolution and with it the first division of Alsace into the départements of
Haut- and
Bas-Rhin. Alsatians played an active role in the French Revolution. On 21 July 1789, after receiving news of the
Storming of the Bastille in Paris, a crowd of people stormed the Strasbourg city hall, forcing the city administrators to flee and putting symbolically an end to the feudal system in Alsace. In 1792,
Rouget de Lisle composed in Strasbourg the Revolutionary marching song "
La Marseillaise" (as
Marching song for the Army of the Rhine), which later became the anthem of France. "La Marseillaise" was played for the first time in April of that year in front of the
mayor of Strasbourg
Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich. Some of the most famous generals of the French Revolution also came from Alsace, notably
Kellermann, the victor of
Valmy,
Kléber, who led the armies of the French Republic in
Vendée, and
Westermann, who also fought in the Vendée.
Mulhouse (a city in southern Alsace), which had been part of Switzerland since 1466, joined France in 1798. including over 280,000 soldiers and 90,000 horses in Bas-Rhin alone. This had grave effects on trade and the economy of the region since former overland trade routes were switched to newly opened
Mediterranean and
Atlantic seaports. The population grew rapidly, from 800,000 in 1814 to 914,000 in 1830 and 1,067,000 in 1846. The combination of economic and demographic factors led to hunger, housing shortages and a lack of work for young people. Thus, it is not surprising that people left Alsace, not only for Paris – where the Alsatian community grew in numbers, with famous members such as
Georges-Eugène Haussmann – but also for more distant places like Russia and the
Austrian Empire, to take advantage of the new opportunities offered there: Austria had conquered lands in Eastern Europe from the
Ottoman Empire and offered generous terms to colonists as a way of consolidating its hold on the new territories. Many Alsatians also began to sail to the United States, settling in many areas from 1820 to 1850. In 1843 and 1844, sailing ships bringing immigrant families from Alsace arrived at the port of New York. Some settled in Texas and Illinois, many to farm or to seek success in commercial ventures: for example, the sailing ships
Sully (in May 1843) and
Iowa (in June 1844) brought families who set up homes in northern Illinois and northern Indiana. Some Alsatian immigrants were noted for their roles in 19th-century American economic development. Others ventured to Canada to settle in southwestern
Ontario, notably
Waterloo County.
Alsatian Jews In contrast to the rest of France, the Jews in Alsace had not been expelled during the Middle Ages. By 1790, the
Jewish population of Alsace was approximately 22,500, about 3% of the provincial population. They were highly segregated and subject to long-standing
antisemitic regulations. They maintained their own customs,
Yiddish language, and historic traditions within the tightly knit ghettos; they adhered to Jewish law. Jews were barred from most cities and instead lived in villages. They concentrated in trade, services, and banking. They financed about a third of the mortgages in Alsace. Official tolerance grew during the French Revolution, with full emancipation in 1791. However, local antisemitism also increased and Napoleon turned hostile in 1806, imposing a one-year moratorium on all debts owed to Jews. In the 1830–1870 era, most Jews moved to the cities, where they integrated and acculturated, as antisemitism sharply declined. By 1831, the state began paying salaries to official rabbis, and in 1846 a special legal oath for Jews was discontinued. Antisemitic local riots occasionally occurred, especially during the Revolution of 1848. The merger of Alsace into Germany in 1871–1918 lessened antisemitic violence. The constitution of the
Reichsland of 1911 reserved one seat in the first chamber of the
Landtag for a representative of the Jewish Consistory of Alsace–Lorraine (besides two seats respectively for the two main Christian denominations).
Struggle between France and united Germany The
Franco-Prussian War, which
started in July 1870, saw France defeated in May 1871 by the
Kingdom of Prussia and other German states. The end of the war led to the
unification of Germany.
Otto von Bismarck annexed Alsace and northern Lorraine to the new
German Empire in 1871. France ceded more than 90% of Alsace and one-fourth of Lorraine, as stipulated in the
treaty of Frankfurt;
Belfort, the largest Alsatian town south of Mulhouse, remained French. Unlike other member states of the German federation, which had governments of their own, the new
Imperial territory of Alsace–Lorraine was under the sole authority of the
Kaiser, administered directly by the imperial government in Berlin. Between 100,000 and 130,000 Alsatians (of a total population of about a million and a half) chose to remain French citizens and leave
Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen, many of them resettling in
French Algeria as
Pieds-Noirs. Only in 1911 was Alsace–Lorraine granted some measure of autonomy, which was manifested also in a flag and an anthem (
Elsässisches Fahnenlied). In 1913, however, the
Saverne Affair (
French: Incident de Saverne) showed the limits of this new tolerance of the Alsatian identity. in the 1870s During the First World War, to avoid ground fights between brothers, many Alsatians served as sailors in the
Kaiserliche Marine and took part in the Naval mutinies that led to the abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918, which left Alsace–Lorraine without a nominal head of state. The sailors returned home and tried to found an independent republic. While
Jacques Peirotes, at this time deputy at the
Landrat Elsass–Lothringen and just elected
mayor of Strasbourg, proclaimed the forfeiture of the German Empire and the advent of the
French Republic, a self-proclaimed government of Alsace–Lorraine declared its independence as the "
Republic of Alsace–Lorraine". French troops entered Alsace less than two weeks later to quash the worker strikes and remove the newly established Soviets and revolutionaries from power. With the arrival of the French soldiers, many Alsatians and local Prussian/German administrators and bureaucrats cheered the re-establishment of order. Although U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson had insisted that the
région was self-ruling by legal status, as its constitution had stated it was bound to the sole authority of the Kaiser and not to the German state, France would allow no plebiscite, as granted by the
League of Nations to some eastern German territories at this time, because the French regarded the Alsatians as Frenchmen liberated from German rule. Germany ceded the region to France under the
Treaty of Versailles. Policies forbidding the use of German and requiring French were promptly introduced. In order not to antagonize the Alsatians, the region was not subjected to some legal changes that had occurred in the rest of France between 1871 and 1919, such as the
1905 French law on the separation of Church and State. marked with "Elsaß" (1940) Alsace–Lorraine was occupied by Germany in June 1940 during the Second World War. Although never formally annexed, Alsace and Lorraine were incorporated into the
Greater German Reich. Each was placed under a
Chief of Civil Administration (CdZ), who was the Nazi Party
Gauleiter and
Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the adjacent German territory. Alsace was administered as part of
Gau Baden under
Robert Heinrich Wagner and his deputy,
Hermann Röhn. Lorraine was administered as part of the Gau Saarpfalz, (later
Gau Westmark) under
Josef Bürckel and his deputy,
Ernst Ludwig Leyser. During the war, 130,000 young men from Alsace and Lorraine were conscripted into the German armies against their will (
malgré-nous). There were some volunteers for the
Waffen SS., although they were outnumbered by conscripts of the 1926–1927 classes. Thirty of said Waffen SS were involved in the
Oradour-sur-Glane massacre (29 conscripts, one volunteer). A third of the malgré-nous perished on the Eastern front. In July 1944, 1500
malgré-nous were released from Soviet captivity and sent to
Algiers, where they joined the
Free French Forces.
After World War II Today, the territory is in certain areas subject to some laws that are significantly different from the rest of France, which is known as the
local law. In more recent years, the Alsatian language is again being promoted by local, national and European authorities as an element of the region's identity. Alsatian is taught in schools (but is not mandatory) as one of the regional languages of France. German is also taught as a foreign language in local
kindergartens and schools. There is a growing network of schools proposing full immersion in Alsatian dialect and in Standard German, called
ABCM-Zweisprachigkeit (ABCM -> French
acronym for "Association for Bilingualism in the Classroom from Kindergarten onwards", Zweisprachigkeit -> German for "Bilingualism"). However, the
Constitution of France still requires that French be the only official language of the Republic. Alsatian was portrayed as a "Germanic" dialect not having standard German as its
Dachsprache. French government institutions employ a variety of means to prevent the German-speaking Alsatians from publishing media in their native language. Until recently, this was even prohibited under penalty of law. Sports and youth news in particular are not allowed to be published in German.
Timeline ==Geography==