Alsace-Lorraine
The people of Alsace-Lorraine were caught in a tug of war game between Germany and France from 1871 to 1919. When the Treaty of Frankfurt officially established the German Empire’s control of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 the people were suddenly imposed with Germanization. The German government proclamation concerning the conditions of the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871 explained that Alsace had been restored to its rightful place, the newly founded German Empire. The Germans opinion was that France had tried to suppress the German language and German culture in Alsace, therefore it was Germany’s “national duty” to wean the people from the French. However, King Lois XIV reign of Alsace-Lorraine from 1641 to 1715 established strong citizen loyalty and identity to France. As Germany began attempts to suppress the Alsace’s cultural identity with France, the citizens retaliated with small steps of defiance. Jean-Jacques Waltz’s “The History of Alsace As Told to......
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Approximate Word Count: 1434
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |