Do you know what find interesting? If you've been a follower of this channel, I think you know it by now:
Short-lived states! There are well known examples, there are lesser know examples, unknown examples,
non existing examples... And there was the Alsace-Lorraine Soviet Republic.
Ever heard of that? Exactly! That's what we're gonna talk about today.
Good to have you back on the channel. If you're new, I'm Stefan, I'm a Dutch history teacher
and I like to cover history on location for you. And if you like that consider subscribing
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To understand how this short-lived state came to be, we need to go back to 1870. Because
then the Franco-Prussian War broke out. And in the following year the Germans proclaimed
victory and they annaxed the Alsace-Lorraine region from France. From now on this region
and also its cities such as Colmar, Mulhouse and Strasbourg were now part of the German
Empire.
The territory encompassed
all of Alsace and over a quarter of Lorraine. The region was never fully integrated into
the German Empire. There were issued about religion, economics, politics – since the
region was directly governed by Berlin and had barely any autonomy although there was
the 1911 constitution. A year before the outbreak of WW1, in 1913, there was the Zabern Affair,
which I explained in a previous video. Please check the top-right corner if you haven't
already.
And then in 1914 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'. 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 stationing Alsace draftees on the Western Front. Many of them were therefore
sent to the Eastern Front or served in the navy or logistics behind the frontline.
Flash forward to 1918, September. When Bulgaria left the war German Kaiser Wilhelm II had
a meeting with German generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff. Ludendorff argued the war
was lost. He argued that left wing politicians were to blame, not the army command. Basically
the stab-in-the-back-myth was born here. Also a process of democratization was set in motion.
This was done te subdue revolutionary sentiments and also it might give a democratic Germany
a better position at the negotiable table with American president Woodrow Wilson who
had presented his Fourteen Points Plan. Wilson wanted to negotiate with a Germany that was
represented by the people and not by a despotic Kaiser of Army Command. Wilson rejected this
offer, since he did not believe Germany was now represented by the people, but still by
despotes. The German high command now cried for a fighting till the last man. It never
came that far. At the end of October Germany had transformed into a parlementairy democracy
with Bavarian prince Maximilian von Baden as Reichschanselor. Von Baden was supported
by a large degree of political parties. Also by Wilhelm II. Ludendorff was fired. Hindenburg
could remain, because his resignation could lead to a moral collapse of the army. Yet,
Hindenburg was side tracked to make way for new first quartermaster Wilhelm Groener. Yet,
a revolution still occured. In the wake of that revolution the Alsace-Lorraine Soviet
Republic was born.
In Kiel a mutiny broke out (3rd Nov), led by socialists and communists. Soon uprisings
at other naval cities like Bremen, Lübeck, Hamburg and Tilsit occured.
On the 7th the revolution spread inland. The German government resigned and a new social
democrat government with Friedrich Ebert as Reichschanselor was appointed. (9th Nov)
The new German government declared a republic (9th Nov)
The German Kaiser went into exile in the Netherlands
On 10 November 1918 the Alsace-Lorraine Soviet Republic was proclaimed. How did that happen?
Well, Marxist councils of workers and soldiers were formed. And not only in Strasbourg, also
in Colmar and Mulhouse. These were imitations of Russian soviets. This happened because
of a power vaccum. See, German annexed Alsace-Lorraine was under direct control of the Kaiser, but
the Kaiser had abdicated. It was the Soviet of Strasbourg that claimed the foundation
of a Republic of Alsace-Lorraine. This was done by Alsacian soldiers who were already
against German control of their territory and now saw the chance to revolt and they
moved to the region. The revolution spread to other cities too.
In Strasbourg red flags appeared in the city. An amnesty was declared, and freedom of the
press was proclaimed. Factory workers went on strike, demanding higher wages; the Soviets
(councils) raised wages by decree against the opposition of the factory owners. The
Social Democratic Party leader in Strasbourg, Jacques Peirotes wanted none of this and since
it was more than likely that the region would be incorporated by France, he requested French
generals to send in troops to restore order. 11 days later the French soldiers moved in.
Strikes occured and were ended by force and several agitators
were arrested. The French took control of Alsace-Lorraine. And so the very short-lived Alsace-Lorraine Soviet Republic was no more.
It had barely existed two weeks.
Because Alsace-Lorraine was incoporated into France, it didn't see much post-war violence as we
saw throughout the former German Empire after WW1.
However troubled returned. In May 1940 Germany attacked France once again and proclaimed victory after a short campaign.
And Alsace-Lorraine was re-annaxed into the German Reich. But that is a story for another time.