After the Franco-Prussian the territory of Alsace Lorraine was transfered to the now newly
created German Empire. Many of its citizens were German speaking but didn't want to
become part of a larger Germany. What about political resistance and how did the German
Kaiser dealt with all this? That and more in an episode
about life in German Alsace Lorraine, also known as the Imperial Territory of Elsass Lothringen.
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In the Summer of 1870 the Franco-Prussian broke out. France lost and Germany was now united
as the German Empire with Prussian King Wilhelm I as Kaiser of Germany. The Treaty
of Frankfurt (1871) was the peace treaty with France. The Alsace-Lorraine region (in German:
Elsass Lothringen) was ceded to the newly created German Empire. The territory encompassed almost
all of Alsace and over a quarter of Lorraine. The proces of nationbuilding wasn't over however.
The German Reich remained a federation. It comprised four kingdoms, six grand duchies,
five duchies, seven principalities, three free cities and one ‘imperial territory’ (Reichsland):
Alsace-Lorraine. A distinctive German national identity had yet to be developed among
the Germans from different states but also among non-Germans: think of the Danes of
northern Schleswig and over two million Polish subjects in Prussia’s eastern provinces. And
then there was the newly acquired territory of Alsace-Lorraine and it inhabitants. What
about them? The inhabitants were given a choice: remain French and leave or become German and stay.
Religion was an issue that not only caused trouble in Elsass but also throughout the
German Empire. When the unification took place around 2/3 of the population were Protestants (25
million people) and 1/3 were Catholics (around 15 million people). In some states Roman- Catholicism
was the majority. Also in Alsace-Lorraine. The conflict between Reichschansellor Otto
von Bismarck and the Catholic Church was called Kulturkampf ('culture
struggle'). Catholics in Alsass where treated as secondary citizens and Catholic newspapers
were censored. The division between Catholics and Protestants was something
that occured also elsewhere in areas of mixed confession.
“Catholics were on average poorer than Protestants; they were less likely to
complete secondary school; and they were far less likely to attend university or to work in one of
the ‘liberal’ professions. […] These structural differences lent an appearance of permanence
and intractability to the confessional divide. They meant that confessional difference
correlated—in many areas—with differences in mentality, attitude, wealth, and opportunity.”
And then the Prussian government also enforced the German language in schools in 1887.
This didn't sit well with the French-speaking people of Alsass.
Looking at economy the territory had many textile factories. These textile
factories now had to compete with the textile producers elsewhere in the German Reich.
The territory became a so-called ‘imperial territory’ and was under direct
control of Berlin. Initially it had no autonomy whatsoever, but in later years it was granted some
consessions. In 1911 a new constitution for Alsace-Lorraine included universal
manhood suffrage for the provincial assembly. In 1913 a political crisis named the Zabern
Incident occured. This was caused by unrest in Zabern (today Saverne), where two battalions
of Prussian infantry were stationed in one barracks. Here a second lieutenant had to classify
the new Alsatian recruits as 'Wacker' (sluggish people), a derogatory German name for 'Alsatians'.
As a result, there are riots and protests among the locals. The army intervened but the unrest
spread. Kaiser Wilhelm II chose the side of his army officers. In the Reichstag, however, there
are also protests against these measures. In both the German and the French press the affair was
heavily discussed. The result was that the image of Wilhelm II, already severely damaged by visible
scandals, deteriorated even further. Prussian militarism also came under further attack. The
aversion of many Alsatians to the annexation of their territory by the Empire in 1871 was given
a new impulse, but before this could escalate any further, the First World War broke out.
This proved that the region of Alcase-Lorraine was never fully integrated into the German Empire.
Then the First World War broke out. The French tried to advance into the area.
Just like we saw elsewhere on the WW1 Western Front the fighting resulted
into a stalemate with 30,000 deaths and it was nicknamed 'Little Verdun'. There
is much more to be said about this of course, but I wanted to focus on what happened to the citizens
of the region in terms of military draft. From the 350,000 recruits around 17,000 deserted to
join the French Army. Thousands more fled to neutral Switserland. German High Command feared
problems when stationed Alsass draftees on the Western Front. Many of them were therefore shipped
to the Eastern Front or served in the navy or logistics behind the frontline. During the war
anti-militarism, and even outright hostility to the Reich were openly given expression.
Early in the war there were several cases of 'uttering incitements to rebel'. For example
in August 1914 a steel worker was sentenced to six months in prison because he had shouted:
'Down with the war, down with Prussia! . . . Vive la France, merde la Prusse.'
“In reality, opposition to Germany was expressed only by individuals, and left
traces only when they came into conflict with the state. Only a small proportion of anti-German
incidents therefore came before the courts, but the absolute number is high,
given that courts could only try persons who were overheard and denounced.
By the end of the war there had been at least 2,389 prosecutions for 'showing an anti-German
attitude' (paragraph 9b, state of siege law, 1851), about 80 per cent of them successful.”
In 1918 the First World War ended and the French retook the area. There was the very short-lived
Alsace-Lorraine Soviet Republic, but thát is something for a future episode.