I would like to open with a quote:
"History is written by the victors" ~ Latin Proverb
So now we follow the events one by one:
-2013 Alsace and Lorraine are two of the 27 regions of the French Republic.
-1945 After the failure of Unternehmen Nordwind the U.S. 7th army and the French 1st army 'liberated' the full territory of Elzaß-Lothringen from Nazi 'occupation'.
-1940 With the French resignation as the Wehrmacht march into Paris Adolf Hitler installs a civil administration in the region opposed to the military administration over (the rest of) the French republic. Hitler did not previously claim Alsace-Lorraine in his unification of Großdeutschland.
-1919 The treaty of Versailles, signed in the hall of mirrors, 'returns' the region to France because Germany lost the first world war. France is granted the former Reichsland Elzaß-Lothringen of which 86.8% speaks German and only 11,5% French.
-1871 In the treaty of Frankfurt ending the Franco-Prussian war which includes that Reichsland Elzaß-Lothringen is 're-united' with das Deutsches Reich. Furthermore Wilhelm I crowns himself to Kaiser of his new 'Großdeutsches' Reich in the hall of mirrors in Versailles, France.(Remember back in 1919?) This act sows the seeds of deep hatred among the French population because of this incredible humiliation.
-------This is how far most Franco-German relations go (thus putting the blame on Germany) ------------
-------Disclaimer: this is also where it gets complicated----------------------------------------------------
-1648 The treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, more commonly referred to as the peace of Westphalia marks the end of the thirty-years war. This was a religious conquest between just about ALL of Europe, but specifically the catholic Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of France. At this time Elzaß-Lothringen was part of the Catholic League, which belonged, in turn, to the Holy Roman Empire. The kingdom of France and the protestant nations won the thirty-years war and so decided the terms of both treaties. This is where somehow without any reason other than imperialism of the notorious Sun King (Louis XIV) Alsace-Lorraine was dubbed French.
------So, *pfff* crisis explained it was France's fault (Lous XIV) but then again not really as it was their cruel ruler that was later guillotined by the French people(1789). WRONG!-----------------------------
-814 Emperor Charles the Great dies after ruling his Carolingian empire that stretched across Europe and the continent is divided amongst his three sons. East of the Rhine is passed on to Louis, West of the Rhône to Charles II and the centre to, guess who... Lothar! Unfortunately Lothar dies the same year and Charles II and Louis fight over the centre strip that was devoted to Lothar containing Alsace-Lorraine. Lothar's Empire has been disputed between Charles(French) and Louis(German-speaking nations) ever since in the many wars that have ravaged trough Europe.------This means we should blame Charles (which was also Great?) for dying?-----------------------------
From this we can conclude:
"War may sometimes be a necesarry evil. But no matter how necesarry, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn together in peace by killing each other's children."
~ Jimmy Carter 39th U.S. President
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