Gallo-Roman period The Latin name of the stage at the foot of the Bussang Pass was Wixenterius; it later became Visentine for a few centuries, referring to
Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle and its annex
Bussang. It lies on the secondary Roman road from
Trier and
Metz to
Augusta Raurica, now in
Switzerland near
Basel. Roman roads often took over and improved existing Gallic routes, as in the case of the junction between the
Leucans and the
Sequans or
Lingons via the upper Moselle. . This is a via vicinalis, or secondary road, which at
Illzach, in Latin Uruncis, branches off from the via publica, the main Roman road
Argentoratum-
Vesontio (Strasbourg - Besançon), to enter the
Thur valley and cross the Vosges at the Col de Bussang. The Moselle route continues towards
Létraye, It is, however, described in
Antonin's itinerary. The secondary roads were often built by the legions to change mounts and have a snack, and every 40 km,
mansionis; these were run by a
manceps or
praepositus mansionis for five years. In busy areas, such as the Reims-Metz-Strasbourg Roman road, Vicus or rural settlements grew up around these
mansionis. Originally, they were built for the
cursus publicus, the equivalent of the official postal service. But they were soon extended by several buildings, as they served as stopping-off points or lodgings for itinerant travelers and merchants. People traveled from one
mansio to another. They were often U-shaped, with stables, carriage spaces, dormitories, and refectories. Occasionally, there were also thermal baths. Not so in Bussang. At the bottom or top of the steeper slopes, the stopover lodge had additional draught animals to help the teams up or down. The
Col de Saverne at Usspann is a good illustration of the difficulty of descending a Vosges hill. People were transported on the
essedum, already used by the Gauls, but also on the
rheda, which had the advantage of being narrower and better suited to narrow paths such as those on the natural valley bottoms of mountain ranges However, compared with Route Royale 66, the old Roman vicinal road from
Fresse-sur-Moselle took the slope of the Lait hillside to avoid what was then a very marshy valley floor. The same road was still in use in the 17th century, although the Dukes of Lorraine asked for it to be rebuilt in 1615 and again in 1630.
Medieval trade routes Medieval trade routes in the southern part of the Vosges mountains, i.e., those along the upper Moselle valley, were those leaving Lorraine at the Bussang Pass towards
Alsace, at the
Col des Croix and at the
Col du Mont de Fourche towards
Franche-Comté. The
Col de Taye route follows the ancient Roman road from
Metz to
Basel (Divodurum -
Augusta Basiliensis), perpetuating the tradition of the Bussang Pass transit valley.
Taye Pass and Estaye tonnage The spiritual and temporal holdings of the
Remiremont chapter in the early
Middle Ages were extensive in the southern
Vosges mountains, encompassing the valleys of the
Vologne,
Moselotte, and
Haute Moselle rivers, as well as the ridges to the east and south. The revenues of the
canonesses were derived from tolls, high pasture, and
tonlieux rights, among other sources. As
avouésof the chapter, the
dukes of Lorraine gradually took over the outlying lands of the noble ladies, building castles such as those at
Bruyères and
Arches, which were to become the seats of the two mountain
provosts of the Lorraine duchy. of l'Estaye now the commune of
Haut-du-Them-Château-Lambert. As with Bussang, the Lorraine part belonged to the extensive
Ramonchamp ban, where the Thillot mines were located. The two roads leading to the two passes, Bussang and Les Croix respectively, are known in the archives and popular language on the Lorraine and Comtois sides as
Les Vaulx. According to the sources, Jacques Valroff was a page to the Duke of Lorraine, in charge of the Taye toll and lord of
Deneuvre. Until mining began in 1560, with the arrival of
German,
Danish, and
Swedish miners, foresters, and charcoal burners, Bussang was an outlier, or even more so, a succession of inns and taverns below the slope that had to be climbed to cross the Vosges. It was a stopping-off point for reinforcement horses before heading for the pass.
Thermalisation did not yet exist, and logging to meet industrial demand grew steadily until the 18th century. Merchants and transporters rarely traveled alone; generally, they organized themselves and moved in “convoys” of traders, either with a cart or on foot carrying a backpack. Additionally, there were pilgrims, travelers, and itinerant workers moving from one construction site to another. Sometimes, they gathered into “nations,” forming communities based on shared language or culture. The “German” merchants included
Alsatian and other German-speaking traders. They would cross the Bussang Pass, a gateway to the French-speaking world, at least as far as Metz, a hub of movement in Lorraine due to its location at the crossroads of north-south and east-west routes. During the
Middle Ages, transport carts inherited from the
Gallo-Roman era were still in use: the two-wheeled cart (
plaustrum minus) or the four-wheeled cart (
plaustrum majus), drawn by oxen or horses. These carts had limited flexibility and mobility, often requiring an extra horse to climb steep slopes, referred to as “
côtes,” a term used more commonly in the past than “
col.” Logistical support from locals persisted until the 18th century, as city archives mention innkeepers and tavern owners, some of whom employed horses solely to guide carts to the Bussang Pass. Carriers also handled errands for individuals and communities. A carriage called “the accelerated” also managed postal services. Furthermore, innkeepers needed to own spacious premises to accommodate people and animals, store vehicles, and shelter horses and
oxen. The goods transported along this Moselle route were largely similar to those circulating on the
Rhine axis from Lower Rhineland to Basel, as well as on routes crossing
Champagne toward
Langres and
Switzerland or along the
Neckar River. However, specific products varied depending on economic trends or artisanal activities prominent at different points in Lorraine’s history. Key transported goods included: • Wine, with Metz and Cologne handling most of the traffic. • Glass, such as flat glass, white or colored glass made in the “Lorraine style,” and later, crystalline or “
Venetian glass” after a local glassmaker’s thirteen-year stay in
Murano. These were produced in glassworks around
Darney and
Fontenoy-le-Château. Pierre Thierry from
Fontenoy, for instance, rose professionally to become a broker for major international firms, managing transport between Italy and regions extending from England to Northern Italy via Flanders. • Wool or textiles, with Flanders remaining a key center of the textile industry, maintained constant relations with Italy as a gateway to the East. Meanwhile, the Moselle served as a link • Wood is used in royal foundries and manufacturing facilities on both sides of the mountain ridge (
Masevaux,
Oberbruck,
Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle). • Salt is transported via the Bussang Pass to
Mulhouse and
Basel, connecting
Lorraine to
Switzerland. Lorraine salt was also sold in Upper Alsace (then part of
Further Austria), southwestern Germany, and the Swiss border region around the
Bishopric of Basel. The “salt rolling” through the Bussang Pass continued until the
French Revolution, likely being the last regularly transported product before industrialization and the advent of textiles in the valley. Archives describe the “great salt trade” from
Thann to
Delle at the Swiss border, noting the Bussang Pass route as so narrow on the ascent (called “die Steige” by the Alsatians) that two carts could not pass each other. Descending carts had to use designated pullouts to allow ascending carts to pass.
Progressive Decline of the Trade Route at the time of its annexation to
France in the 18th century. The
Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), the
Ten Years’ War (1634–1644), and the
Dutch War (1672–1678) ended regular international trade along the Bussang Pass route between
Alsace and
Franche-Comté. The decline stemmed from multiple reasons, primarily geopolitical and economic. After these wars, the Vosges passes became territorial borders: Bussang Pass linked to Alsace, which became French in 1648 under the
Treaty of Westphalia, while Croix Pass connected to Franche-Comté, which joined France in 1678 under the
Treaty of Nijmegen. Bussang and the High Vosges remained part of ducal Lorraine until 1766, as shown in historical maps. Beyond these dates, decades of disorder, pillaging, and war severely disrupted the region, as evidenced by archival documents covering the Vosges mountains, heavily impacted by the
Thirty Years’ War. Another economic factor contributing to the decline of the Lorraine-Alsace-Switzerland route was the disruption of traditional trade networks along the
Lotharingian axis due to annexed regions adopting French legislation, particularly concerning taxes and tariffs. Even after Lorraine’s annexation, customs duties on goods passing from Lorraine into France persisted, stifling trade opportunities southeast of the Vosges. A letter from Emperor
Rudolf II to Eberhardt, Lord of Ribeaupierre, confirms the abandonment of the ancient Alsace route via the Bussang Pass. The emperor announced his intent to establish a toll office in
Sainte-Marie, noting that goods once traveling through
Bergheim,
Thann, and
Belfort—where tolls were collected—were now passing through the
Lièpvre Valley toll-free. The route to Thann followed the
Moselle Valley via the Bussang Pass and its Taye toll. Thann’s fate hinged on its geographical position at the entrance to the Thur Valley, controlling access to the Bussang Pass and serving as a transit point between the Empire and the Kingdom of France. An excerpt from the local historian Louis Jouve’s work on Bussang vividly conveys nostalgia for the old Taye Pass route: "Its location at the foot of the Vosges Mountains, far from major cities, made Bussang an ideal stopover on the route from Metz to Basel. Carriers and travelers of all kinds made mandatory halts here between Thann and Remiremont, as the distance was far too great for a single day’s journey given the poor state of roads, nearly impassable in the early 18th century for large transports or troops. Money circulated more abundantly, and relations with the outside world became more active and frequent once the roads crossing the Vosges were rectified and improved. Ah! The carriers with their enormous transport carts, the mail coaches, and the 'accelerated,' the old folks say—what movement, what animation, what commercial activity Bussang once saw! You young ones cannot imagine it!"
Troop Movements, Garrisons, and Conflicts Burgundian War (1474–1477) 1473: The Passage of Charles the Bold with Philip the Good's Remains , Duke of Burgundy, wishing to invade Lorraine in the 15th century. Before the occupation of Lorraine during the
Burgundian War in 1475, there was already a precedent. In
Wars of the Past and Lessons of Today, a patriotically tinged account highlights the border role of the Bussang Pass as follows: "In September 1473, he
[Charles the Bold] appeared in
Nancy, under the slightly moved gaze of the very young
René II, duke since the day before, escorting the body of his father,
Philip the Good, from
Bruges to the sepulchral chapel in
Dijon. His arrival in Nancy was from the north, via the traditional route of the
Bouxières Bridge, and his departure was to the south through the land of the Neufchâtel family, then through
Charmes, Épinal, Remiremont, the Estaye Pass, a defile near Bussang where stood the last castle of Lorraine’s borders, which would later be guarded by the first fortress of the high Moselle defensive curtain at
Ballon de Servance. Thus, the ducal coffin passed through Charmes, very close to
Domrémy, and Philip the Good ended his last journey in our country—a man who, after once seizing
Good Lorraine in
Compiègne, had sold it to the English. And it was here, moreover, in this very duchy, that within just two years, his dynasty would permanently collapse.”
The Moselle Route The same
Memoirs note that the Burgundians were well-acquainted with the
Moselle route. Nobles from Burgundy, including the lords of Neufchâtel, had seized key sites within the Duchy of Lorraine, such as the formidable fortress of Châtel: "Already, a Neufchâtel occupies the
episcopal seat of Toul, and a Marguerite of
Neufchâtel sits on the abbatial throne of Remiremont: from end to end, the long Moselle road is open, the fracture ready to split Lorraine in two: the Master [Charles the Bold] may enter." This war concluded with the death of the Duke of Burgundy at the
Battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477.
Thirty Years’ War and the Ten Years’ War , oil by Samuel Hofmann, three years before his
Valtellina campaign which led him to cross the Bussang pass in difficult conditions.
Closure of the Pass in 1630 The
Duke of Lorraine, pursuing a policy of neutrality during the
Thirty Years’ War, realized that France, under the geopolitical calculations of
Cardinal Richelieu and
King Louis XIII, would take advantage of the chaos in Central Europe to expand its
borders eastward. Nevertheless, the first French occupation of Lorraine occurred only in 1633. Anticipating such moves, Lorraine’s authorities closed the Bussang Pass to block enemy troops from traversing the High Vosges. Devastating raids were carried out in neighboring Alsatian valleys to discourage incursions into the poorly fortified Lorraine. Another reason for closing the Bussang Pass lay in public health concerns: the plague had been reported in 1630 in
Thann, the gateway to the
Thur Valley on the Alsatian side.
January 1635: The Valtellina Campaign The upper Moselle Valley once again served as a transit route between Lorraine and Italy.
Charles IV of Lorraine allied with the
Imperial forces, had set up winter quarters in
Vieux-Brisach. After the
defeat at Nördlingen, France, aligned with the Protestant camp, increasingly joined the conflict to sever Imperial communication with Italy and prevent Spanish troops from joining
Catholic forces across the Alps. To achieve this,
Louis XIII reconciled with his former enemy,
Henri II, Duke of Rohan, a skilled and respected commander. Rohan took command of the Valtellina corps within the Army of Italy, led by the Duke of Harcourt. He was tasked with capturing
Belfort and
Brisach, still in Imperial hands, and then occupying the
Valtellina to secure all mountain passes leading from
Switzerland to
Italy or
Tyrol via the
Upper Inn Valley. The Valtellina expedition was to remain secret to prevent Spanish or Lorraine spies from thwarting the plan. under the command of
François Thibault. Seven regiments (about 4,000 men) and six cavalry squadrons (about 400 horses) reached the Valtellina. Along the way, Rohan also integrated Landé's troops, two Swiss regiments, and seven
Grison regiments. However, units were lost due to severe weather in the Vosges, sieges of cities like
Belfort, and other challenges. Some troops were left behind to secure conquered territories. advising against delays, even for Belfort or Brisach. illnesses, and poor conditions between the plains and the Bussang Pass. On January 16, 1635, he wrote from
Épinal that he had to slow his pace to avoid losing his infantry to the snow. By January 21, he reached Remiremont, writing: "Had I left six days earlier, I would have lost half our infantry." From there, he advanced along the Moselle Valley, closing and controlling routes into
Franche-Comté with four regiments and two companies under
Baron de Montausier's command. He continued with the rest of his troops under
“constant rains” and faced snow when crossing the Bussang Pass with
artillery (nine cannons, 37 munitions carts) and
infantry. His headquarters in the Italian Alps was established in
Morbegno and moved to
Tirano in June 1635.
November 1638 Duke
Charles IV leaves
Franche-Comté, where he had sought refuge following the French occupation of his duchy, with approximately 4,000 men, aiming to rescue
Breisach (modern-day Vieux-Brisach) from Protestant forces. Passing through
Épinal and
Remiremont, he continues via the Bussang Pass to reach the Thur Valley. However, he fails to reach Breisach as
Weimarian troops, particularly their cavalry, halt him at Thann. Many Lorraine nobles are captured, and about 600 Lorrainers join
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar's service. On November 18, 1638, Lorrainers hold
Te Deum services in many parishes, thanking God for sparing their sovereign.
1639 Bernard of Saxe-Weimar sends von Rosen and Kanowski to seize Thann, ordering Rosen to prevent the Lorrainers from approaching. Rosen crosses the Vosges, defeating a regiment of Charles IV at Saint-Dié, before advancing to Épinal, even though the city was under the control of Du Hallier, Governor of Lorraine. Rosen then returns to Thann via the Alsace route.
Dutch War in winter. During the
Dutch War,
Turenne spends three days in December 1674 resting his troops in
Rambervillers. He proceeds through
Padoux and
Éloyes towards
Épinal and
Remiremont. via the Moselle Valley and the Bussang Pass. The pursuit ends with Turenne’s victory at the
Battle of Turckheim on January 5, 1675. By leading his troops unexpectedly over several Vosges passes in the harsh winter, Turenne secures an initial victory that allows him to take
Strasbourg. while others insist he traveled through Franche-Comté via Faucogney. He likely coordinated multiple detachments through various passes into the Alsatian plain. The ''Mémoires de la Société d'archéologie lorraine et du Musée lorrain'' notes: “
Saint-Dié saw the passage of Count Bourlémont, who occupied the Sainte-Marie Pass with 400 men. Finally, Chevalier d'Hocquincourt advanced into the Thur Valley from the Upper Moselle and the Bussang Pass.” The Chevalier, Georges de Monchy, Marquis d'Hocquincourt, was a lieutenant-general of the king’s armies in 1655 and knighted in 1688. Supporting this, the 1887
Bulletin de la Société philomatique vosgienne states Turenne departed “from Belfort while his light troops took the direct route via the Bussang Pass and the Thann Valley.” Similarly, the ''Société belfortaine d'émulation'' reads: “It is an error: one of Turenne’s lieutenants crossed the Bussang Pass and Saint-Amarin Valley. As for the illustrious general, after taking Remiremont, he passed through
Rupt,
Faucogney, and
Mélisey, where he stayed for two days.”
Old Monarchy and Revolutionary Era In 1749, the companies
Le Deuil de l’Hôtel des Invalides and
La Cour au Chantre were assigned to Bussang. The second Swiss regiment, which later became the 76th Infantry Regiment in 1791, was part of the Grandvillars regiment under the 2nd Corps led by Count
Woldemar de Lowendal. Having served recently during the
War of the Austrian Succession (1744–1747), the regiment awaited reassignment. That year, stationed across several northeastern towns, the regiment came under Chevalier Jean-Alexandre de Balthazard’s command as colonel on June 15, 1749. On March 13, 1755, the town of
Remiremont protested a 100-
livre fine to the Chancellor of Lorraine for failing to maintain the road between Remiremont and Bussang. On August 3, 1790, orders were issued to provide lodging, food, and escorts for the Marquises of Lambert and Nesle, traveling to Alsace via Remiremont and the Bussang Pass.
France's Invasion by the Coalition in 1814 On January 4,
Schwarzenberg,
supreme commander of the allied armies, planned operations for January 6, 7, and 8 during the
French Campaign. Four army groups were formed: the 6th Corps under
Wittgenstein and the 5th Corps under
Field Marshal Wrede formed the "Alsace Army Group." The "Vosges Army Group" consisted of a detachment led by Prince Tcherbatow and the 4th Corps, bolstered by an Austrian heavy battery and Archduke Ferdinand’s Austrian Hussar Regiment. The Bavarian Corps was tasked with seizing
Sélestat, supporting the Württembergers at
Neuf-Brisach on January 6, 1814, and linking up with
Wittgenstein. Schwarzenberg assigned Wittgenstein the mission of occupying Lower Alsace and advancing towards Lorraine via
Haguenau,
Saverne, and
Phalsbourg. The Vosges Army Group targeted
Épinal. On January 6, Baron
Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow was ordered to reach
Sainte-Croix, then cross the Vosges via the Bussang Pass to follow the
Moselle Valley to
Remiremont, arriving in
Épinal on January 9. Schwarzenberg directed the 4th Corps to avoid the
Bonhomme Pass despite its proximity, instead taking a 40-km detour via
Thann and the Bussang Pass to Remiremont and Épinal. To support the Bavarian Corps and link it with the Austrian Corps, the Bohemian Army’s headquarters ordered the Württembergers to cross the Vosges, reach Remiremont in the Upper Moselle Valley, and proceed to
Plombières-les-Bains and
Langres.
Don Cossacks, commanded by Platow, were attached to aid this mission. The troops crossed the Vosges sequentially via the Bussang Pass, referred to in German as
Büssing Pass. in the winter landscape of the Vosges, by
François Flameng.
First World War • 6th Battalion of Alpine Hunters (BCA) Soldier Jean Fourty writes in his journal that the 6th BCA was withdrawn from Artois to be sent to Alsace:On January 25, 1915, the battalion left Le Thillot, passed through Bussang, crossed the former border at 4 p.m. at the Bussang Pass, and went to billet in Felleringen, in the Thur Valley. On the 26th, it reached Saint-Amarin, which remained until February 11, carrying out defense works in the region. • 22nd Battalion of Alpine Hunters (BCA) Victorin Lassiaz, a corporal in the 22nd BCA, 1st Company, recounts departing for war on August 9 from
Bourg-Saint-Maurice and arriving in Bussang on the 11th at 6 a.m. He then ascended to the Drumont Chalet for advanced posts, enjoying a "magnificent view of Mulhouse and the Rhine from the orientation table." On the 12th, he descended to the Bussang Tunnel and slept in the forest. On the 13th, the 1st section climbed to the Neuf-les-Bois Chalet to secure a small outpost. He left the Bussang Pass on August 14 with the 12th Battalion of Alpine Hunters, reaching
Thann in the evening. • 41st Infantry Division Between August 4 and 10, 1914, the 41st Infantry Division was stationed between the
Schlucht Pass and the Bussang Pass. It was heavily involved in the Vosges conflicts early in the war. • 359th Infantry Regiment The regiment resumed its journey by train from Toul on December 16, 1914, heading to Alsace. Arriving in Bussang the same day, it crossed the Bussang Pass during the night of December 16–17 and billeted in
Urbès, arriving around 2 a.m.
Second World War In the autumn of 1944, Allied forces that had landed in Normandy and Provence faced German armies regrouping in the Vosges. Notes from Captain Petit of the 4th/7th Regiment of African Hunters (RCA), part of the 1st French Army, reveal that on November 26, 1944, the 7th RCA platoons were deployed between
Le Thillot and the Bussang Pass for operations targeting the Vosges passes to penetrate Alsace. As German troops retreated to the Bussang Pass, artillery fire on the pass began early in the evening once most of the soldiers had reached Bussang and were stationed near the train station, where the 4th Squadron's command post was located. By November 29, the pass and Drumont Mountain were under French control, except for the tunnel, which remained resistant. On December 1, the engineering corps had to clear a path for the troops waiting below at Bussang, as the tunnel had been destroyed. The following day, the troops crossed the pass using the bypass created by the engineers, who had worked around the blocked tunnel. German occupation forces defended the Bussang Pass for an extended period and attempted to retake it. The
19th Army,
Army Group G,
198th Infantry Division, was still stationed on the Lorraine side in September 1944. The retreat toward the Alsatian flank of the Vosges crest continued relentlessly. Until October 14, 1944, the
64th Army Corps and the 198th Infantry Division, under General major Otto Schiel (September 1944 to January 1945), occupied the sector. After November 1, 1944, the 198th fought alongside the 4th Luftwaffe Field Corps. During clashes with the French 7th RCA troops, the
708th Volksgrenadier Division, commanded by General major Wilhelm Bleckwenn, and the
716th Infantry Division, led by General major Ernst von Bauer, represented the
64th Army Corps and the
19th Army.
Border Pass For two millennia, the Bussang Pass has served as a linguistic, cultural, political, and diocesan boundary, as well as a demarcation line for grazing lands and pastures.
Linguistic Frontier Boundary between Germanic and Romance languages -
Alemannic languages. Unlike the passes in the northern and central parts of the Vosges massif, which rarely mark the linguistic boundary between the Romance and Germanic language families—at most delineating variants within the same language subfamilies—the southern passes, such as the Bussang Pass, often coincide with the linguistic frontier between Germania and Romania. This is because the language boundary does not precisely follow the Vosges' ridgeline in the north. Sometimes, Germanic languages extend
westward (
Northern Vosges, Sarrebourg region), while in other instances,
Lorraine dialects cross eastward over the ridges, as is the case with
Welche, for example. The Bussang Pass separates southern Alemannic dialects, as observed at survey point no. 175 in Storckensohn, from the Vosgian dialects of the southern Vosges studied by Oscar Bloch in his linguistic atlas of the region. Bussang Patois, Romance Side:
"Di ton péssa, on fyé byen mœ ké métnan. Li gen ni guégni mi tan d’ergen: lè fomme, on li p’yé di sou par jour, é on n’léz i bévé pwon d’bwèsson; léz homme guégni déj-œt è vin sou, pou lè bwon sèyêre, è on léz i bèyè in wérre dé vin é médi." Testimony of Michel de Montaigne 's journey.
Montaigne stayed in
Plombières, "situated on the borders of Lorraine and Germany", from September 16 to September 27, 1580, before continuing to Bussang. He describes his passage through the Bussang Pass in his travel journal as follows: "From there, we followed for a long time a very beautiful and pleasant valley, running along the Moselle River, and came to dine at Bussang, four leagues away. A small wretched village, the last in the French-speaking region, where Messrs. d'Estissac and de Montaigne, dressed in canvas smocks lent to them, went to see silver mines owned there by the Duke of Lorraine, about two thousand steps into the heart of a mountain. After dinner, we traveled through the mountains, where we were shown, among other things, on inaccessible rocks, the eyries where hawks are caught, costing there only three testons of the local currency, as well as the source of the Moselle. We then came to sup at
Thann, four leagues away." The term "Bussang Pass" was not in use during the
Middle Ages or the 16th century, so Montaigne could not write it. However, he refers to the gap in the mountain, the inaccessible rocks, and the source of the Moselle, which are located at the current site of the pass, 3 km from the village of Bussang, past the hamlet of Taye.
At the Borders of Germany Situated at the intersection of two families of
vernacular languages, this region also separates two literary and administrative languages, French and German. This distinction predates both the annexation of
Alsace-Lorraine as the
Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen in 1871 and the forcible incorporation of Alsace into the Third Reich in 1940. The terms "
allemand" and "
Allemaigne" were commonly used in Lorraine’s regional French to designate anything non-French Romanic. Thus, the neighboring Alsace, reached by crossing the Vosges passes, was considered German land. The German-speaking Moselle largely corresponds to the former "''bailliage d'Allemagne''" within the Duchy of Lorraine. Landmarks such as the "
Tête des Allemands" (1,014 m) and the "
Col des Allemands" (915 m) above the Bussang Pass to the south underscore the cultural border between the German-speaking and French-speaking worlds, long before the
German Empire’s creation in 1871. In the local Vosges dialects of the upper Moselle, Alsace is called "
Ollemaine" or "
Almê", while the Romanesque Vosgians refer to themselves as "
Lôrés" (and later "
Lorrains"). Merchants and travelers crossing the Bussang Pass are easily distinguished by their language. Among these, it is logical to count a majority of inhabitants from both sides of the massif—the
Thur Valley and the
Moselle Valley. In the 15th and 16th centuries, toll controllers on the Lorraine side reported convoys of German merchants passing every eight days between
Colmar and
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port. Bussang had fewer than 200 inhabitants in the 16th century, fewer than 500 in the 17th century, and 1,000 by 1789. The influx of German-speaking populations in the 19th century continued the tradition of cultural contact in this buffer zone along the Vosges ridge. The Bussang Pass, like nearly the entire Vosges ridge, is not an impermeable border Some place names are bilingual or multilingual if dialectal versions are included. The Bussang Pass separated the peoples of Moselle lands from those of the Upper Rhine. The first Germanic peoples, the
Suebi, settled in exchange for their assistance to the
Sequani Celts against their enemies, the
Aedui. To the north of the Alsatian plain were the
Triboci. Thus, the early stages of Germanization on the eastern slopes of the Vosges began in antiquity. During the Merovingian era, Alsace quickly separated from Frankish
Austrasia and became part of the Kingdom of
Alamannia. The Bussang Pass temporarily lost its status as a border when
Middle Francia and then
Lotharingia were created, as Alsace was part of this vast kingdom. However, shortly before the partition of the Duchy of Lotharingia into
Lower Lorraine and
Upper Lorraine in the 10th century, Alsace came under the Duchy of
Swabia under
Burchard II in 917, thus once again entering the Germanic sphere. the evangelizer of the Alemannic-Swabian region of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. The Abbot of Murbach held precedence after the primate of
Fulda among all
imperial abbots. The Murbach
scriptorium became one of the centers for the development of
Old High German in the Alemannic sphere, alongside
Saint Gall and
Reichenau. As a clergyman prohibited from shedding blood, the Abbot of Murbach was represented by a
vogt (
advocate) responsible for defense and military matters. These were often local lords such as the Counts of Ferrette or the
Lords of Bollwiller. With the creation of the
Landgraviate of Upper Alsace, which held authority over the Abbey Principality of
Murbach despite its near-total autonomy, the Bussang Pass became an entry point into
Sundgau and later
Further Austria under
Habsburg rule. Thus,
Austria, through the
Archduke, reached the southern Vosges passes. . Just a few kilometers away, the Bussang Pass might have been a mere crossing point between the lands of the
Insigne Chapter of Remiremont on one side and the ridgelands under the Duke of Lorraine on the other. The villages of
Oderen,
Kruth, and part of
Fellering belonged to the canonesses of Remiremont. In 973, Charlemagne granted the Chapter of Murbach much of his holdings in Fellering. The Oderen Pass, slightly north of the Bussang Pass, logically served as a route to the upper
Thur Valley. In 1537, the Prince-Abbot of
Murbach Abbey became the feudal lord of the entire upper Thur Valley after acquiring lands not previously donated by Charlemagne. For around seven centuries, the Bussang Pass remained the frontier between the Duchy of Lorraine and Upper Alsace. When the Abbey Principality of Murbach and Upper Alsace, under Habsburg authority, was annexed by France in 1648, the Bussang Pass marked the border between an independent Lorraine duchy and an increasingly powerful French kingdom. Part of the lands under
surséance, the upper
Moselle Valley also experienced a period under the jurisdiction of
Franche-Comté and thus the Kingdom of France for 23 years before being returned to the Duke of Lorraine by the Treaty of Besançon on August 25, 1704. Consequently, the Bussang Pass ceased to be a national border, becoming a regional one between Alsace and Franche-Comté. A decree dated July 16, 1681, proclaimed “the Reunion of the Vaux de Longchamps and
Ramonchamps to the sovereignty and county of Burgundy,” despite protests from the mayors of annexed communes. The pass was located in the ban of Ramonchamp at the time. The issue of the lands under surséance ended with the retrocession of the bans of Ramonchamp and Longchamp to the Duchy of Lorraine in 1704. Even after Lorraine’s annexation to France half a century later, the upper Moselle remained part of Lorraine. This status as a territorial boundary disappeared in 1766 when ducal Lorraine was annexed to France. A century later, the pass became a state border between France and the newly created
German Empire in 1871. In 1918, it no longer divided two states but merely two departments. During World War II, the
Third Reich not only occupied Alsace-Lorraine but reintegrated it into the Reich. Since the end of World War II, the Bussang Pass has ceased to be a border between the two states.
Diocesan Boundaries Spiritually, the Bussang Pass also served for centuries as a boundary between two ancient and vast dioceses, distinct from the imperial episcopal principalities:
Toul, under the ecclesiastical province or archdiocese of
Trier, and
Basel. Beyond the pass into Alsace, travelers entered the deanery or rural chapter of
Mazopolitanum in the
Diocese of Basel, centered in
Masevaux. It was only during the
French Revolution, specifically in 1790, that the Diocese of Basel’s French territories in Alsace were incorporated into the new constitutional Diocese of Haut-Rhin. On the Lorraine side, the ecclesiastical Pouillé of Toul from 1402 detailed the origins and divisions of “one of the largest dioceses of ancient Gaul,” with six archdeaconries encompassing 680 parishes. The Toul boundary at the Bussang Pass aligned with the frontier of the ancient
Leuci territory (
Civitas Leuquorum) under the
Trier metropolis. This explains why Bussang, 265 km from Trier but only 65 km from Basel, belonged to Toul. Until the
Ancien Régime, the Bishop of Toul retained the honorary title of
Leuchorum episcopus. archdeaconry and the deanery of
Remiremont, which the
Pouillé describes briefly as follows: "The Deanery of Remiremont extends into the Vosges Mountains and is separated by these Mountains from Alsace to the East. To the South, it borders the
Diocese of Besançon, and to the West and North, it is bounded by the Deanery of Épinal. The Moselle River divides it in two, from its source in Bussans, within the parish of Saint Maurice, to below Arches, which is the last parish of this Deanery toward
Épinal." both dependent on the ecclesiastical province of
Besançon from 1823 onward.
Strasbourg’s Diocese, elevated to an
archdiocese by
John Paul II in 1988, also fell under Besançon. The
Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797 ended the
Franco-Austrian War, bringing Trier and the Rhine’s left bank under French administration during the Napoleonic period. The 1823 restructuring severed the historical ties between Lorraine
dioceses and
Trier after over 1,100 years. The diocesan territories retained a cross-border character, each stemming from a former episcopal principality led by a
prince-bishop of the
Holy Roman Empire. Toul belonged to the
Three Bishoprics, The 1712 boundary description outlines the limits as follows: • The slopes behind the Hutte, from Taye to the pass, formed the woodland slopes of Drumont, 1,200 meters. • The slopes behind Taye, from Lamerey to the pass, were the woodland slopes of Neuf-Bois, 1,228 meters. • The Champs-Colnots to the area behind the Hutte belonged to the woodland slopes of Forgoutte, 1,008 meters.
Developments History of the Roadway . The Bussang Pass is located on Route Nationale 66 (RN 66), previously Route Royale 66 and formerly Route Impériale 84. The old Roman road route remained in use until the 17th century. The current road, established in 1724–1725, follows the valley floor after marshy areas bypassed by the Roman road were drained. Twenty years later, construction began on a new road from
Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle to
Giromagny, passing through what would become the ''
Col du Ballon d'Alsace''. This project, completed over 18 years, opened up the upper Moselle valley and improved transit to Alsace via
Thann or
Belfort. In 1753, authorities decided to build this new road over the Ballon d'Alsace to facilitate the transport of heavy goods. Floating timber down the Moselle was insufficiently profitable, even with minor river improvements, particularly for marine timber destined for Normandy's shipyards. The intendant repeatedly reminded timber exporters from Ramonchamp that dragging logs along the roadway was forbidden as it caused significant damage. Before the diversion to
Giromagny after Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle, timber transit to Alsace could only occur via the Col de Bussang. This operation boosted cross-border trade between Lorraine and Upper Alsace, as timber was felled on the Lorraine side and processed in
Masevaux,
Oberbruck, or Blanc Murger (
Bellefontaine). Originally, the royal and national road connected
Bar-le-Duc in Meuse (Lorraine) to
Basel (Switzerland), corresponding to the
Ancien Régime's commercial route. Many old postcards depict both sides of the tunnel with customs officers. On these postcards, one can easily recognize the old road tracing the pass, which, on the Lorraine side, bypassed the tunnel and ascended slightly higher. The tunnel was dynamited in 1944 and was never rebuilt. for the Bussang-Urbès line.
Rail Tunnel Project Compared to the higher-altitude Swiss Alps, the Vosges mountains have historically been bypassed. Only one long rail tunnel,
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (6,950 meters), later converted for road use, crosses the massif. It opened to vehicles in 1976 after initially serving rail traffic. The
Col de Sainte-Marie was another passage between Lorraine and Alsace, accessible via the Meurthe Valley and often the
Col du Bonhomme. The historic Moselle route, with the Col de Bussang as its sole natural obstacle before reaching Basel, Switzerland, could have included a rail tunnel connecting the Benelux countries to Italy. A new 13.7-kilometer line was proposed from Bussang station to Fellering station. The Urbès–Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle tunnel, known as the Bussang Tunnel, would have spanned 8,287 meters, making it the longest underground structure in France in the mid-20th century. and
deportation. Approved on July 11, 1870, construction was canceled due to the
Franco-Prussian War and
Alsace's annexation by the
German Empire. Excavation began in 1932, but costs rapidly escalated amid worsening economic and political conditions, leading to the drilling company's bankruptcy in 1935. Most engineering structures on the Alsace side were completed, and nearly four kilometers of the tunnel were excavated, about half of its planned length on the Alsace side. The Vosges side lagged, a delay that ultimately proved advantageous. Local frustration grew as the project's revival dragged on.
World War II halted construction again.
In 1943, the Alsace-side tunnel section was repurposed as a labor camp, and annexed to the N
atzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, to produce aircraft engine components for
Daimler-Benz. The deportees, primarily Jews, came from
Dachau or
Struthof camps and were mostly Russian and Polish, with some Germans and
Luxembourgers. Today, there are numerous routes, via a great number of passes (one example being the Donon Pass), available for crossing between Lorraine and Alsace by road. == Sporting Activities ==