{"id":18538,"date":"2013-03-31T14:43:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T12:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=18538"},"modified":"2017-10-20T14:36:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T12:36:02","slug":"alsace-lorraine-french-or-german-originally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/alsace-lorraine-french-or-german-originally\/","title":{"rendered":"Alsace-Lorraine: French or German Originally?"},"content":{"rendered":"

No region has caused a more serious headache to both France and Germany than that of the<\/span> Alsace-Lorraine<\/strong>, or as the Germans call it: <\/span>Elsass-Lothringen<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

To this day, some people still wonder: Is it originally\u00a0French<\/strong> or German<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Starting from the mid-seventeenth century, the Alsace-Lorraine was French<\/strong>, no question about it.<\/p>\n

That is, until it was lost to Germany<\/strong> between 1871<\/strong> and 1919<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The temporary loss of this mineral-rich territory proved to be a rather traumatic experience for many a French person.<\/p>\n

So much that it provoked a corresponding temporary loss of sanity of national proportions. This was the pathetic social phenomenon known in French history as “revanchisme<\/strong><\/em>” (from the French word “revanche<\/strong><\/em>“, meaning “revenge<\/strong>.”)<\/p>\n

The root causes of the territorial dispute, however, go way back in time.<\/p>\n

The Alsace-Lorraine region was part of a “messy inheritance<\/strong>“, so to speak, between the grandsons of Charlemagne<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, as King of the Franks, Charlemagne, whose realm stretched over the European heartland, can easily be claimed by France.<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, it was the Franks who gave France its name: “la France<\/strong><\/em><\/span>“, land of les Francs<\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(the Franks), long before Charlemagne was even born.<\/p>\n

But the Holy Emperor<\/strong> can also be claimed by the Germans as one of their own, since the Franks are technically Germanic<\/strong> people, as opposed to the native people of France, who are\u00a0gaulois<\/em><\/strong>, and therefore of Celtic<\/strong> stock.<\/p>\n

But wait, ce n’est pas tout<\/strong><\/em> (that’s not all.)<\/p>\n

Another way to see things, still in a narrow “national perspective”, is to highlight the significance of le<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0lieu de naissance <\/em><\/strong>(the birthplace) of Charlemagne: <\/span><\/p>\n

Neither in modern France, nor in modern Germany, but in <\/span>la Belgique<\/em><\/strong>, in a town called <\/span>H\u00e9ristal, <\/strong>not too far from\u00a0<\/span>Li\u00e8ge<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair enough.<\/p>\n

Alors, que retenir de cela?<\/strong><\/em> (what to retain from this?)<\/p>\n

To simplify matters, just remember that both France and Germany come originally from the division of Charlemagne’s empire between three of his grandsons (a fourth one had died in the meantime): Louis<\/strong>, Charles le Chauve <\/em><\/strong>(meaning “the Bald<\/strong>“; he just liked to be clean-shaven), and Lothair<\/strong>.<\/p>\n