The area of the city of Phalsbourg, originally Pfalzburg, was originally part of the principality of
Lützelstein, under the overlordship of
Luxembourg, then the bishops of
Metz and of
Strasbourg, before becoming possessed by the Dukes of
Palantine Veldenz, all within the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In 1570, Duke
George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz founded the town of Pfalzburg as a refuge for Reformed Protestants expelled from the Duchy of
Lorraine, and as an administrative center of his holdings. But the cost forced him to sell the city and the surrounding district of Einarzhausen between 1583 and 1590 to Lorraine, the territory of which surrounded most of the area. In 1608, his successor Georg Gustav of Palantine Veldenz founded nearby
Lixheim for Reformed refugees, but was also forced to sell the new town in 1623 to
Lorraine. From 1629 to 1660, Pfalzburg and Lixheim were combined as the
Principality of Pfalzburg, for duchess Henriette of Lorraine (1605-1660) and her three successive husbands. The principality was acknowledged by Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II in 1629. After the death of Henriette, the principality returned to Lorraine. But the next year, Lorraine had to cede it to France in the Treaty of Vincennes in 1661, at a time when most of Lorraine was occupied by French troops since 1634. The famous French military engineer
Vauban reconstructed the town's fortifications in 1680. The town was of military importance as commanding one of the passes of the
Vosges. The fortifications of Phalsbourg resisted the Allies in 1814 and 1815, and the Germans commanded by Taillant for four months during 1870, but they were taken on 12 December of that year, and have since been razed. The town was German again from 1871 to 1918, with its old name of Pfalzburg. The
United States Air Forces in Europe built an
air base near the city in 1953. The base was returned in 1967 to the French government, which redesignated it as "Quartier La Horie". The base is currently used by the French military's
1er Régiment d'Hélicoptères de Combat. == Culture ==