Alsace

Abstract

In contemporary European history, the name Alsace evokes conflicts and wars. Unlike other French regional minorities, this area in eastern France had not experienced continuous French political control since the Revolution: it came under German rule in 1870, returned to France in 1918 and was once again occupied by the German Reich in 1940. The geographical area of present-day Alsace extends from the Vosges Mountains in the west to the Rhine River in the east. In fact, its location on the banks of the Rhine River makes Alsace the only French region which is in direct contact with the German political, economic, cultural and linguistic world. The northern limit of Alsace is the Lauter River, a tributary of the Rhine, and its southern limit is set at the French département of Territoire de Belfort. Alsace therefore shares a border with Germany on the north and the east and a border with Switzerland in the south, and it is isolated from the rest of France by the Vosges Mountains through which there are a limited number of passes.