- Joined
- 11 March 2012
- Messages
- 3,057
- Reaction score
- 2,817
WW1 could have been avoided if the French and Germans were not still squabbling over Alsace and Lorraine.
France had most recently lost A-L in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War.
Ever 1871, A-L had been awkward citizens of the German Reich. Meanwhile, Paris wanted to avenge those losses and stabilize the border along the Rhine River. That required pushing German soldiers from the Vosgues Mountains eastwards past the Rhine River.
During the WW1 occupation(?) Suspictious German soldiers frequently fined A-L citizens for speaking French. Even worse, they frequently fined A-L citizens for speaking both languages in the same sentence (common-practice in modern-day Quebec and Acadia).
Even when I visited A-L during the 1980s, they were very much bilingual, with citizens as likely to address me German (my third language) as in French (my second language) or English (my mother tongue).
Bottom line, if the French had not been pressing to "liberate" A-L, Germany would have been less enthusiastic about striking Westwards at the strart of WW1.
France had most recently lost A-L in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War.
Ever 1871, A-L had been awkward citizens of the German Reich. Meanwhile, Paris wanted to avenge those losses and stabilize the border along the Rhine River. That required pushing German soldiers from the Vosgues Mountains eastwards past the Rhine River.
During the WW1 occupation(?) Suspictious German soldiers frequently fined A-L citizens for speaking French. Even worse, they frequently fined A-L citizens for speaking both languages in the same sentence (common-practice in modern-day Quebec and Acadia).
Even when I visited A-L during the 1980s, they were very much bilingual, with citizens as likely to address me German (my third language) as in French (my second language) or English (my mother tongue).
Bottom line, if the French had not been pressing to "liberate" A-L, Germany would have been less enthusiastic about striking Westwards at the strart of WW1.