History of Alsace
The history of Alsace , a region on the western edge of the German-speaking area , is shaped by the fruitful influence of two of the great cultural areas of Europe: the Germanic (German) and the Romance (French). After the Great Migration, it was first Germanized and incorporated into the cultural currents of German history , but since modern times it has increasingly come under the political control of the French kingdom, with various external forms. The Duchy of Alsace (7th – 8th centuries), the two counties of Alsace (12th – 17th centuries) and the early modern French province of Alsace (17th – 18th centuries) should be mentioned. With the emergence of the nation state after the French Revolution , tensions increased and the region finally changed its political affiliation four more times between 1850 and 1950.
_de.svg)
Brief overview
For a quick overview, see Alsace #History
Today's Alsace was first settled by humans around 700,000 years ago, and by Homo sapiens for around 50,000 years . In the 6th millennium BC The Neolithic was introduced. The first finds that indicate a political upper class date from around 2000 BC. BC, and around 600 BC The Celtic period began . Alsace was one of the core regions of the Celts. At the end of the Celtic era, Ariovistus ruled for a short time . Thereafter, Romans ruled what is now Alsace for about 450 years (approx. 58/52 BC to approx. 405/406 AD).
After a period of unclear and changing power relations, Alsace became part of Alemannia . Alemannia fell to the Frankish Empire in two steps : 496/507 the northern part, which only touches Alsace; 536/537, after a short Ostrogothic protectorate, the remaining part with Alsace. Alemanni had been permanently settling in the Sundgau since about 350, and in the rest of Alsace since the 5th century. These were initially assimilated, but from the 5th century onwards they kept their religion and language.
Until the 7th century, Alsace belonged to the Duchy of Alemannia , which was a more or less autonomous administrative district of the Franconian Empire. Subsequently, perhaps in connection with the fall of Merovingian power, Alsace formed an independent duchy under the Etichones until the middle of the 8th century . As part of the Carolingian penetration of power, the two Alsatian districts of Nordgau and Sundgau were founded in the 8th century . Between 843 and 925, as part of the Franconian division of the empire, there was a multiple change of sovereignty, from 925 Alsace remained with the East Franconian Empire (later the Holy Roman Empire ).
In 988 at the latest, Alsace became part of the Duchy of Swabia , with which it remained until the end of 1250. A landgrave office was set up for North and Sundgau before 1130 , and they existed until the 17th century. After 1250, a large number of different territories developed, most of which came under French rule between 1633 (first French protection treaties and the stationing of the military) and 1697/1714 (peace treaties confirm the French conquests). The French province of Alsace was established, its borders partially differing from those of the earlier landgravates.
At the beginning of the French Revolution , all special political rights were abolished in 1789 and the two departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin were created in 1790 . Its borders soon no longer coincided with those of the former province of Alsace: in 1794, the county of Saar Werden came to Bas-Rhin ( Crooked Alsace ), in 1795 the canton of Schirmeck moved from Bas-Rhin to the Vosges department, and in 1798 Mulhouse , which had been Swiss until then, came to be Haut-Rhin, in 1800 the Département Mont-Terrible came to Haut-Rhin (1814 to the canton of Bern ) and in 1814 Landau of Bas-Rhin came to Austria and in 1816 to Bavaria .
Between 1871 and 1918, Alsace, as part of Alsace-Lorraine, belonged to the German Empire led by Prussia . The French departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin became the Alsace-Lorraine districts of Lower Alsace and Upper Alsace . The borders were changed: the Haut-Rhin region around Belfort remained as Territoire de Belfort in France, and smaller parts of the Vosges department (especially the upper Breuschtal ) came to the Lower Alsace district.
In 1918 the two Alsatian districts came back to France as departments, but the borders have not been changed. 1940–1944 Alsace was occupied by the Wehrmacht, subordinated to German civil administration and part of the NSDAP district of Baden-Alsace , in fact annexed . With the liberation of Alsace by American troops in the spring of 1945, it returned to France.
“ My ancestors , said Streib, at least the Germans, came, as far as I know, from Alsace. This is the tip that sometimes belongs to Germany and sometimes to France - depending on who just won the last war. ( Tony Hillerman : ghost dancer .) "
In 1972, the Alsace region was founded from the two Rhenish departments. For the first time since the abolition of the French provinces at the end of the 18th century, the name "Alsace" became the name of a political territory of France. In 1979, Strasbourg became the seat of the European Parliament . The border controls with Germany fell away in 1995. On January 1, 2016, as part of a territorial reform, the Alsace region was dissolved and incorporated into the Grand Est region .
Until 1250: The creation of Alsace
Until approx. 58 BC Chr .: prehistory and early history
The prehistory and early history are shaped by the appearance of humans, several sharp climatic changes with cold periods and the establishment of Celtic and Germanic population groups.
Today's Alsace region was first settled by humans around at least 700,000 years ago, and Homo sapiens around 50,000 years ago . After the last glacial period , around 10,000 BC. A landscape that essentially existed until the 18th century . The Neolithic Revolution (beginning of sedentarism and the introduction of agriculture and cattle breeding) lasted in the 6th millennium BC. Chr. Indentation. The first finds that indicate a political upper class date from the Bronze Age (around 2000 BC).
For the approximately 550-year-old Celtic period in the Iron Age , which began in Alsace from around 600 to 58/52 BC. Lasted, one assumes the predominance of small territories. Evidence of this time are the remains ( Odilienberg , Frankenburg , Taennchel ) called mur païen ("pagan wall" ). Around 110 BC The Cimbri and other Germanic groups moved through what is now Alsace. In the first century BC, the Germanic Tribocians also settled in the middle and north . The south of Alsace was part of the Celtic Sequani , whose center was around Besançon .
About 71 BC The German Ariovistus crossed the Upper Rhine as a mercenary leader. As a result, he expanded his position of power in Alsace and neighboring regions. Other Germanic groups settled in his domain.
Approx. 58 BC BC – 451 AD: Roman Empire and Huns
The Roman epoch is characterized by the Latinization of the Celtic and Germanic groups, the location on the outer border of the Roman Empire and the associated disputes with newly inflowing Germanic groups.
After the Sequans asked the Romans for support against Ariovistus, Julius defeated Caesar in 58 BC. BC, probably near Mulhouse, Ariovistus. Until 52 BC Caesar conquered what is now called Gaul . Alsace was now part of Roman dominion , which it remained with until the 5th century. During these 450 years or so, the Rhine was initially the Roman imperial border and then again since the 3rd century (gain and loss of the agri decumates ). Through the latinization of the Celtic groups, a Gallo-Roman population developed, which also assimilated the first Germanic groups from the first century AD. Also, since about 350 permanently settled Alemanni merged for the time being with the Gallo-Roman culture. Only in today's Sundgau did they develop a kind of pre-state (and pre-Franconian) independence.
Initially, the conquered areas were under military administration. In the year 89 or 90 the province Germania superior (Upper Germany) was founded, to which also today's Alsace came. In the course of the Diocletian reform of the Empire , southern Alsace was assigned to the province of Maxima Sequanorum in 297 , and the northern to the province of Germania prima (Germania I). The provincial border drawn (Landgraben south of Schlettstadt) largely corresponds to the later or current borders between Sundgau (southern "Upper Rhine ", later Haut-Rhin ) on the one hand and Nordgau ("Lower Rhine ", later Bas-Rhin ) on the other . Both provinces belonged to the diocese of Gaul . Military camps, civil settlements and roads were built under the Romans. In the year 12 BC For example, Argentoratum , the predecessor settlement of Strasbourg, was founded.
Since the middle of the 3rd century the Alemanni broke in at irregular intervals, with whom Roman armies had to cope with some armed conflicts. The Rhine had to be repeatedly re-established as a border. In 405 and 406 the Roman army master Stilicho withdrew the Roman troops from the Upper Rhine in order to be able to counter the Visigoth attack on Italy. Later other Alemanni immigrated (further north, Burgundy ), this time keeping the language and religion. To what extent the Germanic population has already predominated over the Gallo-Roman population is open. The way they live together is also not examined in more detail.
In 435 the Roman army master Aëtius, in alliance with the Huns, brought Gaul back under Roman sovereignty. The actual power over Alsace in the following years, however, lay more with the Huns than with the Romans. Since 441 the Huns were led by Attila . After the Roman-Frankish-Visigoth victory over Attila and the Alemanni allies in the battle of the Catalaunian fields in 451, the Hunnic rule in Alsace ended.
451–925: Alemannia and Franconian empires
The main features of this period are the loose establishment of Alemannia (initially independent, but then quickly as part of the Franconian Empire), the short-term existence of an Alsatian duchy, the Carolingian power organization through the Gugrafschaften and the eventual assignment of Alsace to Eastern Franconia.
After the withdrawal of the Huns, Alsace was now presumably controlled by the Alemanni and, in some cases, by Gallo-Roman groups, as the Romans no longer established any rule in Alsace. Presumably since the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the last possibly remaining Roman influence ended.
Alemannia , the area inhabited and controlled by the Alemanni, extended in the north to the Main area . When and under what conditions Alsace can be regarded as part of Alemannia is open, probably in 451 at the earliest. The Alemannic leaders, who mostly ruled over different areas of Alemannia at the same time, were called rex (king) or dux ( duke ) by Roman chroniclers . From around 500 there was a strong immigration of Germanic settlers into Alsace, which by now at the latest gradually outweighed the Gallo-Roman population.
According to Gregory of Tours, a conflict with the neighboring Franconian Empire of the Merovingians led to a decisive defeat of the Alemanni against the Franks at some point between 496 and 507 in the Battle of Zülpich . The northern Alemannia (in Alsace the part located roughly north of the Hagenauer Forest ) then became Franconian. The southern part, to which the name “Alemannia” is reduced, became an Ostrogothic protectorate . In 536/537 this Alemannia also fell to the Franconian Empire.
The Alemanni were now Christianized. The dioceses and episcopal cities of Strasbourg (since 614), Basel , Speyer and Metz as well as the first Alsatian monasteries played an important role ( Haslach , Maursmünster , Münster , Weißenburg , Hohenburg , Ebersheimmünster , Honau , Murbach ). One of the more or less welcome missionaries among the population was Columban the Younger .
The border between the diocese of Strasbourg and the diocese of Speyer am Hagenauer Forst probably goes back to the new northern border of Alemannia, which was drawn after the Battle of Zülpich (536/537) and which, west of the Rhine, also represented the northern border of Alsace at that time. But even before Zülpich, the northern areas on the left bank of the Rhine were probably not under Alemannic (but Burgundian?) Control ( Speyergau ).
The oldest known mention of the Alsace name is the name Alesaciones , which was handed down to Fredegar and which is dated to 610.
With the subjugation of the Alemanni by the Franks, their sovereignty ended and the Franconian king appointed dukes for the Alemannic area at irregular intervals. Including Gundoin / Gunzo, which was barely comprehensible in writing from the year 628 . Until the middle of the 7th century, Alsace was part of the Duchy of Alemannia , which existed until 746 , after which an Alsatian duchy existed under the Etichones until the middle of the 8th century . Since the beginning of the 7th century, Alemannia or Alsace enjoyed extensive autonomy due to the fall of power of the Merovingians .
As part of the renewal of the Franconian Empire by the Carolingians , this independence ended in the 8th century. In order to strengthen the central power, the Franconian Empire was divided into administrative districts, the gauges . The Nordgau and the Sundgau (Südgau) were established in Alsace . The naming suggests that the idea of a unified Alsace existed, which may have been created by the Etichonische Duchy of Alsace.
In both the Merovingian and Carolingian times, the Frankish Empire was repeatedly divided into various sub-kingdoms. In Merovingian times, for example, Austrasia existed, and in Carolingian times Alemannia existed as a partial kingdom. It is unclear whether Alsace was always part of the Alemannic part of the empire.
At the time of Charlemagne (ruled 768–814) Alsace was one of the central regions of the Frankish Empire. During the reign of Ludwig I (r. 814-840), there was a violent dispute between him and his sons about the division of power. In 833 Ludwig's troops defected to those of his sons on the Rotfeld between Colmar and Turckheim , which is why this place was later called Lügenfeld . The agreements and oaths of loyalty concluded in 842 between the sons Ludwig II and Karl II , the so-called Strasbourg oaths , were presented to the troops of the two in Old French and Old High German , as these were either in Romansh or Germanic.
As a result of the Franconian division of the Empire, Alsace changed its national political assignment four times between 843 and 925: 843 to the Middle Franconian Empire ( Treaty of Verdun ), 870 to Eastern France ( Treaty of Mersen ), 913 to Western Franconia and finally in 925 to Eastern Franconia again. From 877 onwards, Hugo , the illegitimate son of Lothar II, tried unsuccessfully to establish an independent rule in Alsace. At an unclear point in time, the originally Alsatian areas in the Jura (south to the Aare ) and in the Burgundian Gate ( Ajoie ) were separated from Alsace and incorporated into Burgundy .
925–1250: Post-Carolingian imperial dynasties of the High Middle Ages
This epoch is characterized by the consolidation of Eastern Franconia into what will later become the so-called Holy Roman Empire (HRR) and - in the form of some imperial dynasties such as the Hohenstaufen - the still relatively strong, but already eroding central power.
Again in Eastern Franconia (925), Alsace initially played a special political role. In 936 or 950 the Hungarians penetrated into Alsace. Eastern Franconia slowly became the conglomerate of the Holy Roman Empire (HRR). By 988 at the latest, Alsace was part of the Duchy of Swabia , which existed until 1250 . With the transition of the Kingdom of Burgundy to the Empire in 1033, Alsace ceased to be a border country for the time being. Strasbourg developed into the second largest city in the empire after Cologne.
In the 12th century, Alsace became one of the heartlands of the Staufer Empire. The Hohenstaufen founded numerous cities and castles. A Hohenstaufen Palatinate , the Alsatian regional court and a central administrative office were installed in Hagenau . Before 1130, a landgrave office was created for the Nordgau and the Sundgau, the landgrave dignity in the Sundgau was transferred to the Habsburgs . In 1212 Alsace was established as a province (procura) . The cultural and economic heyday lasted until the 14th century.
1250–1789: diversity of territories
General
This epoch is also characterized in the neighboring regions by the further decline in central power in the empire in favor of various political territories that were establishing themselves, the system of which basically outlasted the change of national rule from the empire to France in the 17th century.
Especially due to the end of the Staufer dynasty between 1250 and 1268 and the related quasi-dissolution of their Duchy of Swabia, but also due to the slow general disintegration of central power in the empire, many different political territories emerged, not only in Alsace. In these, as everywhere else, territorial rights ( territorialization ) were consolidated . These territories (monarchical dominions, city republics and others) quickly became the actual bearers of the main political powers of government. They acted under the roof of the Reich ( Reichstag ), since the 17th century the majority under that of the Kingdom of France, and were tied to the Reich and France to very different degrees. Regional political institutions are the estates and the imperial circles , in French times the Intendance , the governor and the Conseil souveraign .
The most important powers of Alsace of this era can be counted: the ducal houses of Habsburg (only until 1648), Hanau-Lichtenberg , Württemberg and Rappoltstein , the city of Strasbourg and the cities of the ten- city league (Dekapolis), the secular dominions of the dioceses of Strasbourg and Basel and of the Murbach Monastery and the possessions of the Lower Alsatian knighthood. The imperial city of Mulhouse joined in 1515 as facing site of the older Swiss Confederation and thus remained one of the few structures without French sovereign rights (to 1798).
From around the 13th century, the two Landgraviates of Upper and Lower Alsace began to develop differently. While the Habsburgs, who had held the title of Landgrave since around 1130, became the dominant territorial power in Upper Alsace and brought large parts of Upper Alsace under their rule, the title of Landgrave in Lower Alsace lost more and more of its political importance. Formally, the Bishop of Strasbourg acquired the title in 1359 through purchase (confirmed by an express royal award in 1384 by Wenzel von Luxemburg ), but even then it was hardly associated with any sovereign rights. Due to the lack of a central authority in Lower Alsace, the regional parliament, which meets regularly, acquired greater importance as an assembly of estates. The knighthood of Lower Alsace largely broke away from territorial rule and became imperial immediately .
Late Middle Ages
In 1439, 1444 and 1445 Alsace was also roamed by mercenary troops (the Armagnaks ) who had become unemployed . A little later, Alsace came into the focus of Charles I ( Charles the Bold ), who intended to connect the territories of his New Burgundian state in Burgundy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands via Alsace and Lorraine. In 1469 the Habsburg territories of Alsace and Breisgau were pledged to him. However, the empire of Charles came to a quick end. Decisive was the Lower Association , which consisted of the Swiss Confederation, the Alsatian imperial cities, the diocese of Basel and Duke Sigismund of Austria. After the death of Charles in 1477, his empire fell apart and the deposit areas in Alsace fell back to the Habsburgs. Between 1493 and 1525 there were repeated peasant revolts ( Bundschuh movement , German peasant war ).
Imperial circles
-de.svg)
After the division of the Holy Roman Empire into imperial circles at the beginning of the 16th century, many Alsatian powers were organized in the Upper Rhine Empire , which also included the Palatinate, Lorraine, Hessian and Savoy regions. The Rhine formed the approximate border to the Swabian District. The Habsburg areas belonged to the Austrian Empire , the federal areas remained outside the district division.
Reformation and Counter Reformation
Strasbourg became the first city to join the Reformation in 1523/1524 and became a Protestant center through Martin Bucer . Together with the other West Upper German cities of Constance , Lindau and Memmingen , Strasbourg wrote the Confessio Tetrapolitana in 1530 . Numerous other Alsatian territories became Protestant in the 16th century (the Württemberg, Hanau and Palatinate areas, Mulhouse and many others). Alsace also became a center for the Mennonites .
The Isenheim Altarpiece is a symbol of the economic and cultural heyday of the early 16th century. In 1538 Johannes Sturm founded the Protestant grammar school in Strasbourg (1556 Academy, 1621 University of Strasbourg ). The cathedral chapter of the diocese of Strasbourg also fought for the introduction of the Reformation in the Strasbourg chapter dispute from 1583–1604. As part of the Counter Reformation , Jesuit colleges were set up in Hagenau, Molsheim, Schlettstadt and Ensisheim in the 17th century .
Thirty Years War and transition to France (1633-1714)
Between 1633 and 1697/1714 the Kingdom of France gradually took over control of most of the Alsatian regions , partly through treaties (de iure) and partly through annexation (de facto). The rights below the level of sovereignty remained partially with the traditional owners.
In 1633, the French expansion into Alsace began through the conclusion of protection treaties and subsequent military occupations of some Alsatian territories. At first it was a question of areas that wanted to protect themselves from the advance of the Swedish troops under the Rhine Count Otto Ludwig von Salm-Kyrburg-Mörchingen , but after the Swedish defeat of Nördlingen in 1634 , France also took over Protestant towns, which protected themselves from being taken over by the re-strengthened Habsburgs were looking. France thus initially entered the Thirty Years' War indirectly, and officially from 1635 . It supported the Protestant Prince Bernhard von Weimar , who conquered large parts of Alsace in 1638 and wanted to claim this as his own rule within the empire. However, after his death in 1639, France took over its troops and the territories it occupied. The Thirty Years War brought countless horrors to Alsace. Half of the population was killed in the war and some areas were depopulated.
In the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Habsburg ceded all of its Alsatian rights and possessions, including the rights under national sovereignty. Likewise, Habsburg ceded all rights of the empire in Alsace in the name of the empire. However, these rights (Vogteirechte over the Decapolis and other imperial territories, such as the Reichslandvogtei administered from Hagenau) were indefinite sovereign rights, which should subsequently lead to conflicts between France and the former imperial cities of the Decapolis. Exactly how far the French rights to the ceded imperial cities extended, the text of the treaty left open, which left room for interpretation on both sides. Although France read the treaty in its mind and exercised the bailiwick more restrictively than was usual in the empire, the city constitution of these former imperial cities was retained in parts until 1789 despite the prevailing absolutist doctrine. This result is sometimes attributed to the Imperial Plenipotentiary Isaak Volmar .
France carried out further conquests, especially as part of its so-called reunification policy . For this purpose, Reunion chambers were set up in 1680, which were supposed to ensure the “reunion” of the Alsatian and other territories, but under the umbrella of France. In the following years, these chambers decreed the "reunion" of non-French territories with territories that were already part of France. It is unclear whether Strasbourg was conquered in 1681 as a reunion.
Many conquered Protestant territories came under the influence of the Catholic Church again. The Lutheran cathedral in Strasbourg had to be handed over to the Catholics during the French occupation of the city in 1681 and became the cathedral of the Strasbourg bishop again. Between 1671 and 1711, many Anabaptists immigrated, especially from the canton of Bern , which made Strasbourg a center of the early Anabaptist movement. The persecution of Protestants in central France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 did not take place in Alsace in this way, but the French authorities favored Catholicism wherever possible.
In 1689 the empire decided to go to war against France, which had also invaded the Palatinate in 1688 ( War of the Palatinate Succession ). One of the war aims was the elimination of the reunions. However, in the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697, the empire recognized the Alsatian reunions of the French. France evacuated the places occupied on the right bank of the Rhine ( Breisach am Rhein , Freiburg im Breisgau, etc.) and the reunions in neighboring Lorraine , but kept Alsace. Numerous fortifications were built under Vauban , including the citadel around Strasbourg and across from Breisach the fortress Neuf-Brisach (1699–1703).
In 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession broke out. The Archduchy of Austria, which had meanwhile risen to become a major power during the Turkish Wars, not only tried to prevent an Anjou from taking over the Spanish throne , but also to win back Alsace for Austria and the empire. In the Peace of Rastatt in 1714, however, the emperor once again recognized the status quo in Alsace.
Due to the peace treaties of Rijswijk and Rastatt, France now also took over de jure political power in the conquered areas. In these peace treaties and the wars and decades that preceded them, a weakness of the empire and the Habsburg central authority in the west had become apparent, which was due, among other things, to internal conflicts and the wars with the Ottoman Empire in the east.
18th century
At the beginning of the 18th century , tens of thousands of Alsatians emigrated to the deserted areas in what was then southern Hungary, mainly to the Banat and Batschka . These areas had previously been conquered from the Turks by the Habsburgs .
In 1753, Count Kaunitz-Rietberg became head of government in the Archduchy of Austria. He ended the enmity with France, so the efforts of the Habsburgs for Alsace also ended.
France had not drawn the newly won territories to its own customs territory. The French customs border continued to run across the Vosges. Many rulers were only under French sovereignty , some of them could continue to act more or less autonomously and self-administered. The combination of unified sovereignty, relative independence and the retention of the traditional customs and economic area were some of the factors of the cultural and economic heyday that Alsace experienced in the 18th century.
Since 1789
1789–1815: Revolutionary period
The revolutionary period was marked by the ongoing integration of Alsace into the French central state.
At the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, as part of the standardization and centralization of France, the traditional rights of the Alsatian rulers were abolished (e.g. the city constitution of Strasbourg) and the two departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin were founded in 1790 . Many Alsatians identified with the goals of the revolution. In 1791 the civil constitution came into force for all of France, postulating human rights, the right to private property and the right to vote in the census ( Code civil ).
In 1793 and 1794 the Lorraine counties (Ober-) Salm (1793, Département Vosges , part of Obersalm became Alsatian in 1871) and Saar Werden (1794, asked for denominational reasons despite its location on the Lorraine region ) came to France Successful plateau around the connection to Bas-Rhin, now called Crooked Alsace ). After the prohibition of Christian rites among the Jacobins in 1794, parts of the population went into temporary exile. For baptisms and marriages, Sundgau residents made the pilgrimage to Mariastein in Solothurn . The Strasbourg cathedral is said to have narrowly escaped demolition.
In 1795, the canton of Schirmeck moved from the Bas-Rhin department to the Vosges department, perhaps for linguistic reasons. The Helvetic Republic was founded in 1798 , with Mulhouse losing its allies. The city was blocked from trade, after which it decided to join the French Republic in the same year. Thus all areas of Alsace were now part of France. In 1800, the dissolved Mont-Terrible department with the arrondissements Porrentruy and Delémont came to the Alsatian department of Haut-Rhin. With the introduction of the Civil Code 1800, the traditional common law was abolished. In particular, expropriated Alsatians emigrated en masse to Russia in 1803, 1804 and 1808 .
After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna also negotiated the future of Alsace. The French diplomat Talleyrand managed to keep Alsace under the re-established French monarchy. The only minor changes to the border established the French external borders, which are still valid today: in 1814 the areas around Porrentruy and Delémont, which had belonged to Haut-Rhin since 1800, became part of the canton of Bern , in 1815 Landau and other smaller areas in Northern Alsace came to the Bavarian Palatinate , Weißenburg ( Wissembourg ) remained as a border town with France ( Second Peace of Paris ).
1815-1870
This phase of the 19th century was characterized throughout Europe by the onset of industrialization, monetization and the growth of nationalist movements.
In 1834 a canal was built from Mulhouse to Strasbourg. The population explosion, which lasted until 1846, led to famine and waves of emigration. Many emigrated to America, especially to Texas (see Castroville ). In 1840 the construction of the railway began . The Strasbourg-Mulhouse line was opened in 1841, Mulhouse-Basel in 1844, Strasbourg-Nancy in 1851 and the Strasbourg- Ludwigshafen and Mulhouse-Belfort-Besançon routes in 1855 . A mechanical engineering industry emerged in the Mulhouse area.
1870-1914
These 44 years were marked by belonging to the German Empire and its lack of integration ability, advancing nationalism and expanding industrialization.
-de.svg)
In 1870 France and the North German Confederation, led by Prussia , came to what was later to be called the Franco-German War , in which the southern German states also took part. When Strasbourg was bombed by Prussian artillery, some buildings and cultural treasures were destroyed (for example the Hortus Deliciarum ).
In the subsequent Peace of Frankfurt of 1871 , parts of eastern France were ceded to the German Empire, founded during the war in 1871 and led by Prussia, and established in this as the realm of Alsace-Lorraine . These were mainly the majority of the two departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin and roughly the northern half of neighboring Lorraine. The Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin departments became the Alsace-Lorraine districts of Lower Alsace and Upper Alsace .
The demarcation was made primarily from an economic and military point of view. Belfort, which belongs to Haut-Rhin, and its surroundings (today's Territoire de Belfort ) remained with France due to the wishes of the Prussian military (shortest possible border line between Vosges and Jura). Small parts of the Département Vosges, which were mostly east of the ridge line of the Vosges in the upper Breuschtal or west of it in the upper valley of the Plaine , came to the district of Lower Alsace, namely the canton Schirmeck , which belonged to Haut-Rhin until 1795, and parts of the canton Saales . As early as 1872, the municipalities of Raon-lès-Leau and Raon-sur-Plaine came back to France, but with a strange division of their municipal areas, in that the forest areas on their landmarks remained largely in Alsace-Lorraine.
Within the German Empire, which was organized as a princes' union, the ceded areas did not form an area of equal rank to the other sub-states, but were administered by authorities of the Reich and Prussia similar to a colony. It was not until 1911 that Alsace-Lorraine was constitutionally equated with the other German states and received state administration, parliament (Landtag), state government and state constitution.
The Peace of Frankfurt also included the so-called “option”: by October 1872, the inhabitants of the new country Alsace-Lorraine could decide whether they wanted to remain French citizens (which meant having to leave Alsace-Lorraine). For around a tenth of the population of Alsace-Lorraine, i.e. around 161,000 people, options were given to the authorities, and around 50,000 citizens ultimately took advantage of them.
In 1872 Alsace-Lorraine was also included in the German Customs Union . Due to industrialization, the big cities in particular grew rapidly. Typical Wilhelminian-style neighborhoods were created in Strasbourg and Mulhouse . In rural areas, on the other hand, there was a partial population decline. With the introduction of the Civil Code in 1900, the Code Civil expired.
A nationalist revanchism movement emerged in France, which was also fed by events such as the Schnäbele Affair in 1887. In the context of the war guilt debate , a legend later arose which said that the government under the revanchist Raymond Poincaré campaigned for a war to regain Alsace-Lorraine. The Zabern affair again poisoned the relationship between the Alsatians and the civil administration in 1913. In 1914, Wilhelm II appointed Johann von Dallwitz, an imperial governor for Alsace-Lorraine , who rejected the 1911 constitution.
1914–1918: First World War
At the beginning of the First World War , a state of war was declared for Alsace-Lorraine on July 31, 1914. This meant the almost complete disempowerment of the Alsatian-Lorraine state government in favor of an often arbitrary German military dictatorship. Despite the course of the western front through Upper Alsace, the region did not become a main theater of war.
Both the German and the French armies showed great distrust of the Alsatians, which was expressed in numerous repression on both sides. In August 1914, Mulhouse was briefly captured twice by French troops, and numerous civilians were deported to internment camps in France. After the allegation of having shot at German soldiers, six Alsatians were executed and 60 houses destroyed in the Mülhaus suburb of Burzweiler. However, the subsequent investigation showed that German troops had shot at each other.
The soon-to-be rigid western front with its trench warfare ran from the Swiss border west of Mulhouse through the Sundgau and across the southeastern Vosges, through the Munster valley to the Col du Bonhomme . A little further north, the front left the Vosges ridge towards Lorraine and Belgium. Massive fighting took place only in 1914 and 1915, including in the Münstertal and on the Hartmannsweilerkopf . Many places were destroyed, including the city of Münster . Numerous military cemeteries are evidence of this war today.
In his last speech to the Reichstag in Berlin in 1918, the Alsace-Lorraine MP Haegy spoke of "foreign rule" in connection with the Prussian-German period and of "dogged tenacity" and "poisonous self-confidence" with regard to the political treatment of Alsace-Lorraine.
In November 1918 workers and soldiers' councils were formed in the German Reich , including in Strasbourg. The Republic of Alsace-Lorraine , proclaimed at the end of 1918, had neither great support nor a real historical perspective in view of the imminent invasion of French troops. In the armistice on November 11, 1918 , the French dictated the terms to the Germans; Among other things, they had to evacuate all occupied territories as well as the realm of Alsace-Lorraine within 15 days.
1918-1945
This 27-year period 1918–1945 was shaped by the increasing nationalism of that time and the occupation by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War.
After the First World War, the area ceded in 1871 came back to France. The Territoire de Belfort , which until 1871 had been part of the now re-established Haut-Rhin , was not reunited with it. The Reich German officials and those who moved there after 1871 and their descendants (300,000 people in total) had to leave Alsace. In return, many people who had moved to France in 1871 returned. Political life was largely shaped by pre-war patterns. In addition to two liberal parties, the Center Party was re-established as the Union populaire républicaine (UPR).
The emerging ideas of regional autonomy within France were unsuccessful: the Alsace-Lorraine National Council , founded in 1918, soon dissolved. The General Commissariat formed in 1919 also quickly lost its importance. After 1924 an autonomy movement emerged that first demanded confessional, then more cultural (including linguistic) autonomy. Members of the autonomy movement founded the Autonomist State Party in 1927 . After the so-called “plot process” of Colmar (the four convicts were pardoned after two months), the bipartisan alliance of the Popular Front under the law of the homeland was created , whose representatives were elected mayor in Colmar and Strasbourg in 1929. Due to the sympathy of the Autonomist State Party with the NSDAP , the alliance broke up in 1933 when the UPR left.
Two days after the start of the German invasion of Poland , which triggered World War II in 1939 , France declared war on Germany and evacuated regions near the border.
During the French campaign in 1940, the German Wehrmacht occupied Alsace, placed it under Imperial German civil administration and attached it to the NSDAP district of Baden-Alsace . There were no significant fighting in Alsace. An assignment of the area by France under international law did not take place. 45,000 people were expelled from Alsace. In 1941 the Nazis established the Struthof concentration camp in the Vosges . A symbolic figure of the politics of the NSDAP in Alsace is Robert Wagner ("Robert Backfisch") .
Of the approximately 130,000 people from Alsace and Lorraine who were drafted into the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS between 1942 and 1944 (100,000 Alsatians and 30,000 Lorraine people), around 42,500 perished. The confiscation was contrary to international law , as nationals of the war opponent may not be confiscated. Most of these so-called Malgré-nous were used on the Eastern Front. Conversely, many Alsatians had previously been drafted into the French army, had joined them voluntarily or later belonged to the French resistance ( Résistance ).
Between November 1944 and February 1945, Alsace was captured by Allied troops and then placed back under French administration.
Since 1945: contemporary history
The era after 1945 is characterized by the enormous global economic development, the associated European integration and French decentralization measures.
Alsatians who were captured by the Soviets as members of the Wehrmacht or the Waffen SS continued to be treated as German prisoners of war by the Soviet Union . Few were able to return immediately after the war ended. The last prisoners did not return until 1952. In the 1980s, the German federal government provided compensation for Alsatians who were drafted during the Nazi era: an average of a little more than DM 3,000 per entitled person.
Since the end of the war, the Alsatian language and culture has been marginalized officially and politically - it was not until 1973 that German-language teaching was permitted again in schools, so that a large part of the population switched to French as the standard language. Due to the structural change in agriculture, urbanization, and immigration from other parts of France as well as Italy, Portugal, Turkey and the Maghreb is also the composition of the population changed.
In 1972 France received 21 regions as local authorities (see regions of France ). From then until 2015, the two departments on the Rhine formed the “Alsace Region” ( Région Alsace ). For the first time since the abolition of the French provinces at the end of the 18th century, the name "Alsace" became the name of a political territory of France. The historical information Landgraviate and the province of Alsace and 1871 the department Haut-Rhin belonging de Belfort Territoire joined in the region forming the region of Franche-Comté on.
Regionalism and environmental movements emerged in the 1970s . Alsatian and Baden movements worked together against the French and German reactor plans on the Rhine. The Wyhl nuclear power plant planned on the Baden side was not built, but the Fessenheim nuclear power plant was built on the Alsatian side from 1974 to 1977 .
The regional capital, Strasbourg, was chosen to host the European Parliament in 1979, making Alsace, together with the Benelux , a core region of the EU . Following the Single European Act (1987), the Upper Rhine Conference emerged , which has since coordinated cross-border projects within the framework of the EU's INTERREG programs. Close economic ties to neighboring regions can be found above all in the Regio Basiliensis . The European region RegioTriRhena was founded there in 1995 . In the course of the implementation of the Schengen Convention , border controls between France and Germany ceased to exist on March 26, 1995 in the newly created Schengen area .
Since 2005, Alsatian and neighboring organizations and communities have been working with the Trinational Atomic Protection Association (TRAS) (French: L'Association trinationale de protection de la population des alentours de Fessenheim - ATPN ) to shut down the nuclear power plant in Fessenheim.
The merger of the two Alsatian departments has been discussed since the 2000s. However, a referendum on the creation of an Alsatian regional authority in 2013 failed because of the overwhelming rejection in Upper Alsace ( Haut-Rhin ) and the low turnout. Finally, the French central government, under President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls , developed the idea of creating a larger region including Alsace, Lorraine and the Champagne-Ardenne region as part of a territorial reform designed to reduce the costs of local government . Despite fierce protests from Alsatian citizens and politicians, it was created on January 1, 2016 and was officially named Grand Est in summer 2016 .
Timetable
| date | event |
|---|---|
| approx. 600–58 BC Chr. | Celtic era |
| 71-58 BC Chr. | Ariovistus |
| 58 BC Chr. – 406 AD | Roman epoch , latinization of the Celts to " Gallo-Roman " population, immigrant Germans are assimilated, Christianization |
| 405/406 | Withdrawal of the Roman troops, later Alemanni immigrants retain pagan rites and language |
| 435-441 | Hunnic- Roman rule |
| 441-451 | Reign of Attila |
| 451 approx. – 496/537 | Alsace part of Alemannia |
| 496 / 537-843 | Alsace Part of the Franconian Empire or its partial empires , Christianization of the pagan Alemanni |
| 6-7 century | Alemannic dukes |
| Beginning 7th-8th century | Alemannia and Alsace relatively autonomous and independent |
| 7th-8th century | Alsatian dukes |
| 8th century | Carolingian counties of Nordgau and Sundgau |
| 843-869 | Middle Franconian Empire |
| 869 | Hugos (son of Ludwig II ) attempted an Alsatian rule |
| 870-913 | East Franconian Empire |
| 913-925 | West Franconian Empire |
| 925-1633 / 1794 | East Franconian Empire / Holy Roman Empire (HRR) |
| 936 or 950 | Hungary |
| 988–1250 at the latest | Duchy of Swabia |
| before 1130 | Establishment of the landgrave offices for Nordgau and Sundgau |
| 1138-1250 | Staufer Kaiser, Alsace Staufer heartland, Staufer territories and administrative institutions, heyday (until the 14th century) |
| 12th Century | Count dignity in Sundgau to Habsburgs |
| after 1250 | Further decentralization of rulership rights and development of various political territories ( territorialization ), this territorial structure existed in principle until 1789/1794 |
| 1349 | Pogroms against the Jews a. in Basel and Strasbourg |
| 1354 | Ten cities |
| 1439/1444/1445 | Armagnak incursions from France |
| 1456 | First millet journey from Zurich to Strasbourg; Repetition in 1576 |
| 1469-1477 | Habsburg territories to the empire of Charles the Bold |
| 1493 | Bundschuh movement |
| 1500 ff. | Imperial circles |
| early 16th century | Heyday |
| 1515 | Mulhouse federal |
| 16th Century | Reformation , Mennonites |
| 1523/1524 | Strasbourg reformed |
| 1525 | German Peasants' War |
| 1530 | Confessio Tetrapolitana |
| 1538 | Foundation of the Protestant grammar school in Strasbourg (1556 Academy, 1621 University of Strasbourg ) |
| 1552 | Henry II's “ Voyage d'Allemagne ” from France to Haguenau and before Strasbourg |
| 1583-1604 | Strasbourg chapter dispute |
| 17th century | Counter-reformation |
| 1633-1697/1714 | Through conquests and treaties, the greater part of Alsace and neighboring areas in the north came to France |
| 1648 | Peace of Westphalia : Habsburg territories and imperial rights to France |
| 1671-1711 | Arrival of Anabaptists |
| 1680 | Establishment of the Reunionskammer |
| 1681 | French military conquered Strasbourg |
| 1685 | Repeal of the Edict of Nantes |
| 1688-1697 | War of the Palatinate Succession |
| 1697 | Peace of Rijswijk : Alsace remains with France |
| 1701-1714 | War of the Spanish Succession |
| 1714 | Peace of Rastatt : Alsace remains with France |
| Early 18th century | Emigration to what was then Hungary |
| 18th century | Heyday |
| after 1753 | End of the Habsburg claim to Alsace |
| 1789 | Beginning of the French Revolution , abolition of all remaining special political rights and constitutions |
| 1790 | Foundation of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin departments |
| 1791 | Civil Constitution |
| 1793 | Grafschaft (Ober-) Salm to the Département Vosges (1871 some villages of Obersalms to the District of Lower Alsace) |
| 1794 | County of Saar become the department of Bas-Rhin ( Crooked Alsace ), the last time a territory of the HRR to Alsace |
| 1795 | Canton Schirmeck moves from the Bas-Rhin department to the Vosges department |
| 1798 | Mulhouse joins France (last non-French territory) |
| 1800 | Département Mont-Terrible with the arrondissements Porrentruy and Delémont to the Département Haut-Rhin |
| 1800 | Code civil |
| 1803-1808 | Emigration to Russia |
| 1814-1815 | Congress of Vienna : Alsace remains with France. |
| 1814 | Arrondissements Porrentruy and Delémont of the Haut-Rhin department to the canton of Bern |
| 1815 | Second Paris Peace : Landau and the surrounding area to Bavaria |
| 1st half of the 19th century | Population explosion, famine, emigration to America |
| 1870 | Franco-Prussian War and Siege of Strasbourg |
| 1871-1918 | Alsace-Lorraine (without Territoire de Belfort , with canton Schirmeck and parts of the canton Saales) becomes part of the German Empire , districts of Lower Alsace and Upper Alsace , without its own constitution until 1911 |
| 1872 | The municipalities of Raon-sur-Plaine and Raon-lès-Leau partially back to France |
| 1872 | Alsace-Lorraine to the German Customs Union |
| 1900 | Civil Code |
| 1911 | Alsace-Lorraine Constitution |
| 1913 | Zabern affair |
| 1914-1918 | First World War , front line through the district of Upper Alsace |
| November 1918 | Proclamation of the Republic of Alsace-Lorraine without consequences |
| 1919 | Alsace becomes part of France again. |
| 1927 | Establishment of the regional autonomist party |
| 1940–1944 / 1945 | Occupation by the Wehrmacht during World War II |
| 1944-1945 | Captured by allied troops |
| 1952 | Foundation of the coal and steel union |
| 1950s / 1960s | Economic boom (global) |
| 1972 | Foundation of the Région Alsace |
| 1974-1977 | Occupation of the building site in Marckolsheim (bleaching chemical plant), " Dreyeckland " movement against nuclear power plants in Breisach, Wyhl , Gerstheim, Fessenheim (built), and Kaiseraugst |
| 1979 | Strasbourg becomes the seat of the European Parliament . |
| 1995 | Establishment of the European region RegioTriRhena |
| 1995 | Elimination of border controls under the Schengen Agreement |
| 2005 | Foundation of a trinational organization to shut down the Fessenheim nuclear power plant |
| 2009 | Debate about the abolition of the departments and association with the administration of the region |
| 2016 | Dissolution of the region and merger with Lorraine and Champagne to form Grand Est |
References to literature and sources
Sorted chronologically within the sections.
- Source editions
- Sources on the history of the Alamanni , I – VII, translated by Camilla Dirlmeier, commented by Gunther Gottlieb, 1978–1987.
- Documents d'histoire de l'Alsace , edited by Philippe Dollinger, 1972.
- Reference works and atlases
- Michael Erbe (Ed.), Das Elsass , Stuttgart 2002.
- Encyclopédie imaginare d'Alsace , 1998.
- Encyclopédie de l'Alsace , I-XII, 1982-1986.
- Handbook of the Alsatian Churches in the Middle Ages , edited by Médard Barth, 1963.
- Alsace-Lorraine Atlas , edited by Georg Wolfram and Werner Gley, 1931.
- The realm of Alsace-Lorraine. Location description , 1901–1903.
- Across epochs
- Alsace, terre rhénane - porte de l'Europe (= Historiens et géographes. Revue de l'Association des professeurs d'Histoire et de Géographie, No. 347), 1995 [statistical and cartographic material]
- François-Georges Dreyfus, Histoire de l'Alsace , 1979.
- The Alsace from 1870–1932 , I – V, ed. by Joseph Rossé, 1936–1938.
- Daniel Gerson, The Downside of Emancipation in France. Anti-Semitism in Alsace 1778–1848 , Essen 2005.
- Histoire de l'Alsace , ed. by Philippe Dollinger, 1979.
- Histoire de l'Alsace , I – IX, ed. by Francis Rapp, 1976–1979.
- Fernand L'Huillier, Histoire de l'Alsace , ³1965.
-
Adam Walther Strobel : Patriotic history of Alsace, from the earliest times to the revolution in 1789, edited from sources .
- Volume 1, Strasbourg 1841 ( e-copy )
- Volume 2, Strasbourg 1842 ( e-copy )
- Volume 3, Strasbourg 1843 ( e-copy ), 2nd edition, continued from the revolution from 1789 to 1815, by L. Heinrich Engelhardt, Strasbourg 1851 ( e-copy )
- Volume 4, Strasbourg 1843, ( e-copy )
- Volume 5, 2nd edition, continued from the revolution from 1789 to 1815, by L. Heinrich Engelhardt, Strasbourg 1851 ( e-copy )
- Volume 6, 2nd edition, continued from the revolution from 1789 to 1815, by L. Heinrich Engelhardt, Strasbourg 1851 ( e-copy )
- Bernard Vogler, History of Alsace , 2012.
- Bernard Vogler, Histoire culturelle de l'Alsace , 1993.
- Bernard Vogler, Histoire politique de l'Alsace , 1995.
- Bernard Vogler and Michel Hau, Histoire economique de l'Alsace , 1997.
- Alfred Wahl and Jean-Claude Richez, La vie quotidienne en Alsace entre France et Allemagne 1850–1950 , 1993 ( La vie quotidienne ).
- Prehistory and early history
- Christian Jeunesse and Bernadette Schnitzler, Les premiers agriculteurs. Le neolithique en Alsace , 1993.
- Gertrud Lenz-Bernhard and Helmut Bernhard, The Upper Rhine region between Caesar's Gallic War and the Flavian occupation , in: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein der Pfalz 89 (1991).
- Bernadette Schnitzler and Jean Sainty, Aux origines de l'Alsace. Du Paléolithique au Mésolithique , in: Editions des musées de la ville de Strasbourg, 1992.
- Jean-Jacques Wolf, Contribution à l'étude des établissements gaulois du Rhin supérieur , in: Revue d'Alsace 109 (1983).
- Roman epoch
- Robert Forrer, L'Alsace romaine , 1935.
- Jean-Jacques Hatt, L'Alsace celtique et romaine 2200 av. JC à 450 ap. JC , 1978.
- Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
- The Alamanni , ed. from the Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg, exhibition catalog, 1997.
- André Marcel Burg, The Alsatian Duchy , in: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine 117 (1969).
- Dieter Geuenich: On the continuity and the limits of the Alemannic in the early Middle Ages , in: Pankraz Fried u. a. (Ed.): The historical landscape between Lech and Vosges , 1988.
- High and late Middle Ages
- Hektor Ammann, From the economic validity of Alsace in the Middle Ages , in: Alemannisches Jahrbuch 3, 1955.
- Benoît Jordan, La noblesse d'Alsace entre la gloire et la vertu , 1991.
- Gerd Mentgen, Studies on the History of the Jews in Medieval Alsace , 1995
- Dieter Mertens, Maximilian I. and Alsace , in: O. Herding u. a. (Ed.), The Humanists in their Political and Social Environment, 1976.
- Thomas Seiler, The Early Hohenstaufen Territorial Policy in Alsace , 1995.
- Hans-Peter Sütterle: The Salians and Alsace. Studies on the power relations and the political forces in a "peripheral region" of the empire (1002–1125) . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-631-39641-4 (European university publications, series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences, vol. 1058).
- Early modern age
- Peter Brugger, The Access of the Kings. An Alsatian story from the 17th century , in: "Badische Heimat", issue 4/2015, pp. 586–598
- François Burckard, Le conseil souverain d'Alsace au XVIIIe siècle , 1995.
- Moritz Kirchner, Alsace in 1648, A Contribution to Territorial History , 1878 (with map).
- Georges Livet, Du Saint Empire romain germanique au Royaume de France. L'intendance d'Alsace de la guerre de Trente Ans à la mort de Louis XIV (1634-1715) , 1956, ²1991.
- Georges Livet and Nicole Wilsdorf, Le conseil souveraign d'Alsace au XVIIe siècle , 1997.
- Erich Pelzer, The Alsatian Nobility in Late Feudalism , 1990.
- Wolfgang Hans Stein, Protection Royale. A study of the protection conditions in Alsace at the time of Richelieu , 1978.
- Period 1789–1871
- Ludwig Heinrich Engelhardt : History of Alsace during the Revolution and the Empire up to 1815, edited from sources , Strasbourg 1849 ( e-copy )
- Johannes Friese: New Patriotic History of the City of Strasbourg and the former Alsace. From the earliest times to the year 1791 . Volumes 1–2, 2nd edition, Strasbourg 1792 ( e-copy )
- Roland Oberlé and Michel Péronnet, La Révolution en Alsace 1789–1799 , 1989.
- Le Français en Alsace , ed. by Gilbert-Lucien Salmon, 1985. (19th century)
- Roland Marx, L'Alsace de la Révolution à l'Annexion 1789–1871 , 1978.
- Period 1871-1918
- Thomas Höpel : The Franco-German border area: Border area and nation building in the 19th and 20th centuries , in: European History Online , ed. from the Institute for European History (Mainz) , 2012, accessed on: December 17, 2012.
- François Igersheim, L'Alsace des notables 1870–1914 , 1981.
- Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The "Reichsland" Alsace-Lorraine from 1870 to 1918 , in: the same, trouble spots of the Empire, ²1979.
- Period 1918–1945
- Alfred Döblin, November 1918 , Vol. 1: Citizens and Soldiers , 1939.
- François-Georges Dreyfus, La vie politique en Alsace 1919–1936 , 1969.
- Christopher J. Fischer: Alsace to the Alsatians? Visions and Divisions of Alsatian Regionalism, 1870–1939 , Studies in Contemporary European History, Volume 5; Berghahn Books, New York / Oxford 2010.
- Institut du droite local alsacien-mosellan , 1997.
- Lothar Kettenacker, National Socialist Volkstumsppolitik in Alsace , Stuttgart 1973.
- The fascist occupation policy in France (1940–1944). Document selection , edited and introduced by Ludwig Nestler, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-326-00297-1 (especially introduction to the factual annexation of the eastern French départements , pp. 40–52 as well as keywords "Robert Wagner" and "Josef Bürckel")
- Pierre Rigoulot, L'Alsace-Lorraine pendant la guerre de 1939-1945 , 1997.
- Period since 1945
- Jean-Jacques et Michèle Dayries, La régionalisation , ³1986.
- Pierre Pflimlin and René Uhrich, L'Alsace, destin et volonté , 1963.
- Bernard Wittmann, The History of Alsace: An Interior View , 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bruno Krusch (ed.): Fredegarii et aliorum Chronica. Vitae sanctorum , MGH SS rer. Merov. 2, p. 138 line 6, Hahn, Hanover 1888
- ^ Alfred Overmann : The cession of Alsace to France in the Peace of Westphalia . Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. New episode. Volume XIX. Heidelberg. Winter's University Bookstore. 1904. Digitalisat (Google) , p. 79 ff
- ^ Stefan Schmidt: France's foreign policy in the July crisis 1914. A contribution to the history of the outbreak of the First World War. (= Paris Historical Studies 90) Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-59016-6 , p. 185.
- ↑ Like the whole section after Erbe 2002, pp. 144–146.
- ↑ Michael Erbe (ed.): The Alsace. Stuttgart 2002, p. 146.
- ↑ Christiane Kohser-Spohn: “Christian people! [...] The hour of resistance has struck! ”Church and minority issues in Alsace 1918–1933 . In: Rainer Bendel u. a. (Ed.): Church and group formation processes of German minorities in East Central and Southeastern Europe 1918–1933 . Lit, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-643-11806-6 , pp. 63–79.
- ↑ Cf. Caspar Ehlers: Review of: Sütterle, Hans-Peter: The Salier and the Alsace. Studies on the power relations and the political forces in a "peripheral region" of the empire (1002–1125). Frankfurt am Main 2009 . In: H-Soz-u-Kult , March 17, 2010.