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ALSACE (Ger. Elsass)
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See also:ALSACE (Ger. Elsass) , a former See also:province of See also:France, divided after the Revolution into the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, and incorporated since the See also:war of 1870 with the See also:German See also:empire (see ALSACE-See also:LORRAINE). It is bounded on the See also:north by the Rhenish See also:Palatinate, on the See also:east by the See also:Rhine, on the See also:south by See also:Switzerland and on the See also:west by the See also:Vosges Mountains; and it comprises an See also:area of 3344 See also:English sq. m. The See also:district possesses many natural attractions, and is one of the most fertile in central See also:Europe. There are several ranges of hills, but no point within the province attains a See also:great See also:elevation. The only See also:river of importance is the See also:Ill, which falls into the Rhine after a course of more than roo m., and is navigable below See also:Colmar. The hills are generally richly wooded, chiefly with See also:fir, See also:beech and See also:oak. The agricultural products are See also:corn, See also:flax, See also:tobacco, grapes and various other fruits. The See also:country has a great See also:wealth of minerals, See also:silver having been found, and See also:copper, See also:lead, See also:iron, See also:coal and See also:rock-See also:salt being wrought with profit. There are considerable manufactures, chiefly of See also:cotton and See also:linen. The See also:chief towns are See also:Mulhausen and Colmar in the upper district and See also:Strassburg in the See also:lower. The province is traversed from east to west by the railway from Strassburg to See also:Nancy, and the See also:main See also:line north and south runs between See also:Basel and Strassburg. See also:History.—From a very See also:early See also:period Alsace has been a disputed territory, and has suffered in the contentions of See also:rival races. Inhabited by the Rauraci and the See also:Sequani, it formed See also:part of See also:ancient See also:Gaul, and was therefore included in the See also:Roman empire in the provinces of Germania See also:Superior and See also:Maxima Sequanorum. The See also:Romans held it nearly five See also:hundred years, and on the See also:dissolution of their See also:power it passed under the sway of the See also:Franks. In the Merovingian period it formed a duchy attached to the See also:kingdom of See also:Austrasia, and was governed by the descendants of See also:duke Eticho, one of whom was St Odilia. After the See also:death of See also:Charlemagne, Alsace, like the See also:rest of the empire, was divided into countships. But the duchy was re-established after the death of the German See also: It was ordered that these territories should be at once restored to that province under the See also:crown of France, and several See also:independent sovereigns were cited to appear before two See also:chambers of inquiry, called chambees de See also:reunion, which Louis had established at Brisach and See also:Metz. The princes appealed to the emperor and to the See also:diet; but the previous See also:wars had so exhausted the power of the former that nothing could be done to resist the aggression. In 1681 the French troops under See also:Louvois seized Strassburg, aided by the treachery of the See also:bishop and other great men of the See also:city. A further war See also:broke out, but by the treaty of Ratisbon (See also:Regensburg) in 1684, Strassburg was secured to France. The war was renewed in 1688 and continued until 1697, when the peace of See also:Ryswick confirmed definitively the See also:annexation of Strassburg to France. Some remaining territories of small extent were acquired by the French after the revolution of 1789, including Mulhausen, which had been a See also:republic allied to Switzerland. Originally See also:Celtic, the population was modified during the Roman period by the arrival of a Germanic See also:people, the Triboci. In the 5th century came other German tribes, the See also:Alamanni, and then the Franks, who drove the Alamanni into the south. Since that period the population has in the main been See also:Teutonic; and the French conquests of the 17th century, while modifying this See also:element, still left it predominant. The people continued to use a German See also:dialect as their native See also:tongue, though the educated classes also spoke French. Protestantism was professed by a large number of the inhabitants; and in many respects their characteristics identified them rather with the See also:race to the east than that to the west of the Rhine. In See also:process of See also:time, however, they considered themselves French, and lost all See also:desire for reannexation to any of the German states. Alsace suffered a See also:good See also:deal in the war of 1870-71. The earlier battles of the See also:campaign were fought there; Strassburg and other of its fortified towns were besieged and taken; and its people were compelled to submit to very severe exactions. The See also:civil and military See also:government of the province, as well as that of Lorraine, was assumed by the Germans as soon as they obtained See also:possession of those parts of France, which was very shortly after the commencement of the war. The Alsatian See also:rail-ways were reorganized and provided with a See also:staff of German officials. German stamps were introduced from See also:Berlin; the occupied towns were garrisoned by the See also:Landwehr; and requisitions on a large See also:scale were demanded, and paid for in cheques which, at the See also:close of the war, were to be honoured by whichever See also:side should stand in the unpleasant position of the conquered. The people, notwithstanding their German origin, showed a very strong feeling against the invaders, and in no part of France was the enemy resisted with greater stubbornness. It was evident from an early period of the war, however, that See also:Prussia was resolved to reannex Alsace to German territory. When the preliminaries of peace came to be discussed at See also:Versailles in See also:February 1871, the cession of Alsace, together with what is called German Lorraine, was one of the earliest conditions laid down by See also:Bismarck and accepted by See also:Thiers. This See also:sacrifice of territory was afterwards ratified by the See also:National See also:Assembly at See also:Bordeaux, though not without a protest from the representatives of the departments about to be given up; and thus Alsace once more became German. By the See also:bill for the See also:incorporation of Alsace and German Lorraine, introduced into the German See also:parliament in May 1871, it was provided that the See also:sole and supreme See also:control of the two provinces should be vested in the German emperor and the federal See also:council until the 1st of See also:January 1874, when the constitution of the German empire was established. Bismarck admitted the aversion of the population to Prussian See also:rule, but said that everything would be done to conciliate the people. This policy appears really to have been carried out, and it was not See also:long in bearing See also:fruit. Many of the inhabitants of the conquered districts, however, still clung to the old connexion, and on the 30th of See also:September 1872—the See also:day by which the people were required to determine whether they would consider themselves German subjects and remain, or French subjects and See also:transfer their See also:domicile to France—45,000 elected to be still French, and sorrowfully took their departure. The German See also:system of compulsory See also:education of every See also:child above the See also:age of six was introduced directly after the annexation. ALSACE-LORRAINE (Ger. Elsass-Lothringen), a German imperial territory (since 1871), consisting of the former French province Alsace (then divided into the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin), together with its See also:capital Strassburg, and German Lorraine (which included the See also:department of the Moselle and portions of the departments of Meurthe and Vosges), together with the capital and fortress of Metz. The imperial territory (Reichsland) is bounded S. by Switzerland; E. by See also:Baden, from which it is separated by the Rhine; N.E. and N. by the Bavarian Palatinate, the Prussian Rhine Province and See also:Luxemburg, and W. by France. Its area is 5601 sq. m. The maximum length from N. to S. is 145 m.; the maximum breadth E. to W. 105 m., and the minimum breadth, on a line See also:drawn through See also:Schlettstadt, 24 M. In respect of its See also:physical features, Alsace-Lorraine falls into three parts—mountain land, See also:plain and See also:plateau. The first, practically co-extensive with the western See also:half of Alsace, consists of the Vosges range, which See also:running in a northerly direction from the deep See also:gap or pass of See also:Belfort (lrouee de Belfort) forms in its highest ridges the natural frontier line between Germany and France. Between this See also:mountain See also:chain and its spurs, which fall steeply to the E., and the Rhine, stretches a fertile plain forming the eastern half of Alsace. In the N.W. a high and undulating plateau, which gently descends in the W. to the valley of the Moselle, occupies nearly the whole area of Lorraine. The drainage of the Vosges valleys and of the Rhine valley is collected and carried into the Rhine about to m. below Strassburg by the Ill, which has a course of more than too m. and is navigable below Colmar. With the exception of a few streams which run to the See also:Rhone, all the See also:waters of Alsace flow into the Rhine. The See also:climate is on the whole temperate—warmest in the lowest districts (46o ft. above See also:sea-level) of N. Alsace, and coldest on the summits of the Vosges, where See also:snow lies six months in the See also:year. The mean See also:annual temperature at Strassburg is 49.8° F., at Metz 48.20; the rainfall at Strassburg 264 in., and at Metz 271 in. The Rhine valley is in great part fertile, yielding good crops of potatoes, cereals (including See also:maize), See also:sugar See also:beet, hops, tobacco, flax, See also:hemp and products of oleaginous See also:plants. But grapes and fruit are amongst the most valuable of the crops. The cereals chiefly grown are See also:wheat, oats, See also:barley and See also:rye. Great quantities of See also:hay are harvested. This description embraces also the See also:production of Lorraine, where See also:agriculture is less strenuously carried on, and the fertility of the See also:soil is less. But Lorraine possesses, in See also:compensation, greater riches in the See also:earth, in coal and iron and salt mines. Cows are grazed on the S. Vosges in summer, and large quantities of See also:cheese (See also:Munster cheese) are made and exported. See also:Total population (1905) 1,814,626. The farms in Alsace are mostly small and are held partly as aprivate possession, partly on the communal system; in Lorraine there are some larger occupations. The manufacture of cottons, and on a smaller scale of woollens, is See also:special to Alsace, the chief centres of the See also:industry being Mulhausen, Colmar and the valleys of the Vosges. The territory has always been the centre of an active See also:commerce, owing to its situation on the confines of Germany, France and Switzerland, and alongside the great See also:highway of the Rhine. The communications embraced some 1249 M. of railway (1903), of which 1108 m. belonged to the state, a good system of roads, and several canals (notably the Rhine-Rhone, the Rhine-See also:Marie and the See also:Saar Canals), in addition to the See also:rivers. Administratively the territory is divided into the following three districts, showing a See also:density of population of about 316 to the sq. m.: Area in sq. Population. Districts. See also:miles. 1885. 1945- Upper Alsace 1354 462,549 512,709 Lower Alsace . . 1845 612,077 686,359 Lorraine . 2402 489,729 615,558 On the See also:sex See also:division, 935,305 were in 1905 See also:males, and 879,321 See also:females. The percentage of See also:illegitimacy is about 7.. The rural population embraces 51% of the whole, the See also:urban population 48 %. The largest towns are Strassburg (the capital of the territory), Mulhausen, Metz, Colmar, all above 20,000 inhabitants each. Classified according to See also:religion there were, in 1904, 372,078 Protestants, 1,310,391 Roman Catholics, and 32,379 See also:Jews. Education is provided for at the university of Strassburg, in 21 classical and See also:pro-classical See also:schools, in 18 See also:modern schools, and in nearly 4000 elementary schools. Over 85 % of the people speak German as their See also:mother-tongue, the rest French, or a See also:patois of French. The annual See also:revenue and See also:expenditure are each somewhat in excess of £3,000,000. Customs and indirect taxes yield more than three-fifths of the total revenue,. and See also:direct taxes less than one-See also:fourth. The state forests give about one-ninth of the whole. The higher See also:administration of See also:justice is devolved upon six provincial courts and a supreme See also:court, sitting at Colmar. Moreover, there are purely See also:industrial tribunals at Mulhausen, See also:Thann, See also:Markirch, Strassburg and Metz. The See also:fish-breeding See also:establishment at See also:Huningen in Upper Alsace should be mentioned. Constitution.—The See also:sovereignty over the territory was by a See also:law (Reichsgesetz) of the 9th of See also:June 1871 vested in the German emperor, who, until the introduction of the imperial constitution on the 1st of January 1874, had, with the assent of the federal council (Bundesrat) and, in a few cases, that of the imperial diet (Reichstag), the sole right of initiating legislation. In See also:October of this last year a See also:committee (Landesausschuss) of the whole territory was appointed to deliberate on See also:laws proposed to it before they received the final See also:sanction of the emperor. On the 2nd of May 1877, the Landesausschuss was itself empowered to initiate legislation within the competence of the territory, and in 1879 the imperial See also:viceroy (Statthalter), representing the imperial See also:chancellor, who had until then been the responsible See also:minister, took up his See also:residence in Strassburg. He is assisted in the government by 4 ministers of departments, See also:tinder the See also:presidency of a secretary of state, and, when occasion demands the extraordinary discussion of legislative proposals, by a council of state (Staatsrat), consisting of the secretary of state, under secretaries, the See also:president of the supreme court of justice of the territory and, as a rule, of 12 nominees of the emperor. The Land esausschuss, a constitutional See also:body with See also:parliamentary privileges, consists of 58 members, 34 being appointed out of their number by the various district See also:councils (Bezirkstage), 4 by the large towns, and 20 by the rural districts. Alsace-Lorraine is represented in the Bundesrat by two commissioners, who have, however, but one See also:voice; and the territory returns 15. members to the Reichstag. See A. See also:Schmidt, Rlsass and Lothringen (Leip., 1859) ; Spach, Histoire de in basse Alsace at de la ville de Strasbourg (Stras., 1860) ; von Mullenheim See also:Rechberg, See also:Die Annexion See also:des Elsass dumb See also:ALSATIA-See also:ALSTROMER 757 Frankreich and Ruckblick auf die Verwaltung des See also:Landes, i648-'697 (Stras., 1897) ; Du See also:Prel, Die deutsche Verwaltung in Elsass, 187o-1879 (Stras., 1879); L. Petersen, Des Deutschlum in Elsass- Lothrinen (See also:Munich, 1902). (P. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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