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76-458: During periods when Alsace-Lorraine was part of Germany (1871–1918, 1940–1945) the commune was known by its German name, Illkirch-Grafenstaden, with a single 'f' in place of the French 'ff'. Among French speakers from outside Alsace the commune is sometimes known colloquially as the shorter 'Illkirch'. Illkirch-Graffenstaden is the third most populous commune in the urban community of Strasbourg,

152-428: A German business between 1871 and 1918 . Although heavy engineering still plays a part in the local economy, the second half of the twentieth century saw a massive decline in the sector and much of the old industrial site is today covered by a large shopping centre, offices and even residential developments. Today it is the tertiary sector that provides most of the employment in the area. Another important employer

228-412: A strategic railway line from Berlin to Metz in order to integrate the new Imperial Territory militarily and strategically. The "cannon railway" was completed in the 1870s. The railways of the private French Eastern Railway Company ( Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'Est ) – a total of 740 km of lines – were bought by the French state and then sold to Germany for 260 million gold marks. The purchase price

304-642: A French-language motion in the Reichstag requesting that a plebiscite be held on the Imperial Territory's state affiliation: "May it please the Reichstag to decide that the population of Alsace–Lorraine, which has been incorporated into the German Empire by the Treaty of Frankfurt without having been consulted, be called upon to express its opinion on this annexation." The motion was rejected by

380-643: A budget. From 1879 it was allowed to initiate legislation, although the Bundesrat in Berlin had to approve the laws before they were formally enacted by the emperor. Also in 1879, the office of imperial governor in Alsace–Lorraine ( Reichsstatthalter ) was introduced. He represented the Imperial Territory on behalf of the emperor. The state secretary of the Imperial Office for Alsace–Lorraine headed

456-512: A climax when, on 3 August 1873, a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Nancy-Toul calling for prayers for the reunification of Alsace–Lorraine with France was read in the Alsace–Lorraine districts of Château-Salins and Saarburg, which still belonged to his diocese. The German authorities reacted with police measures, arrests and disciplinary proceedings as well as a ban on the Catholic press. After

532-410: A defensible border with their long-standing enemy. Any additional hostility earned from territorial concessions was downplayed as marginal and insignificant in the scheme. The annexed area consisted of the northern part of Lorraine and Alsace . This area corresponded to the present French départements of Bas-Rhin (in its entirety), Haut-Rhin (except the area of Belfort and Montbéliard), and

608-708: A developmental progression that takes them from heavy reliance on agriculture and mining, toward the development of manufacturing (e.g. automobiles, textiles, shipbuilding , steel) and finally toward a more service-based structure. The first economy to follow this path in the modern world was the United Kingdom . The speed at which other economies have made the transition to service-based (or " post-industrial ") economies has increased over time. Historically, manufacturing tended to be more open to international trade and competition than services. However, with dramatic cost reduction and speed and reliability improvements in

684-645: A first-level of hierarchy that reflects whether the economic goods are tangible or intangible. For purposes of finance and market research , market -based classification systems such as the Global Industry Classification Standard and the Industry Classification Benchmark are used to classify businesses that participate in the service sector. Unlike governmental classification systems, the first level of market-based classification systems divides

760-430: A given company is part of the secondary or the tertiary sector. It is not only companies that have been classified as part of a sector in some schemes, since governments and their services (such as the police or military), as well as nonprofit organizations (such as charities or research associations), can also be seen as part of that sector. To classify a business as a service, one can use classification systems such as

836-548: A hoped-for united Germany in the future, despite what the French parts of their population wanted. We Germans who know Germany and France know better what suits the Alsatians than the unfortunates themselves. In the perversion of their French life, they have no exact idea of what concerns Germany. In 1871, the newly created German Empire's demand for Alsace from France after its victory in the Franco-Prussian War

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912-655: A large majority in the Reichstag. The population was also not asked for its opinion on state affiliation in 1918 when it returned to France. The Protesters rejected both cooperation with the German authorities and constructive political work in the Reichstag. They did not attend its sessions after their election (some Lorraine deputies were not able to do so because of their lack of command of German). There were also people in political life who, for various motives, pleaded for an "attitude of reason". The so-called Autonomists were more or less either pro-German or pro-French and strove for

988-642: A local autonomy of the Imperial Territory that was as far-reaching as possible. The Protestant minority population voted predominantly for the Autonomists from the 1877 Reichstag election onwards. Over time, however, the population of Alsace–Lorraine turned more and more to the German parties, such as Catholics to the Centre Party , the Protestant bourgeoisie to the Liberals and Conservatives, and

1064-428: A majority. The introduction of an upper house in parliament was criticized across party lines in Alsace–Lorraine. While upper houses had historical reasons in the other parts of Germany, there was no noble class in Alsace–Lorraine to be integrated in an upper house. It was thus a purely honorary body. The emperor's right to appoint members was particularly criticised. The upper house was composed of representatives of

1140-510: A quarter of Lorraine (26%), while the rest of these regions remained parts of France. For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in the form of a " local law in Alsace–Moselle ". Due to its special legal status since reversion to France, the territory has been referred to administratively as Alsace–Moselle . ( Alsatian : 's Elsàss–Mosel ; German : Elsaß–Mosel or Elsass–Mosel ). Since 2016,

1216-467: A small northeast section of the Vosges département , all of which made up Alsace , and most of the départements of Moselle (four-fifths of Moselle) and the northeast of Meurthe (one-third of Meurthe), which were the eastern part of Lorraine . The remaining two-thirds of the département of Meurthe and the westernmost one-fifth of Moselle , which had escaped German annexation, were joined to form

1292-412: A term of three years by majority vote in the 60 electoral districts. It was called the "People's Parliament" ( Volksparlament ) in distinction to the upper house, which consisted of notables. The minimum age for eligibility was 25. Male citizens aged 25 and over had the right to vote. For the late nineteenth century, the constitution was both conservative in defining the first chamber and progressive in

1368-424: A westward shift in the French border was necessary for strategic military and ethnographic reasons. From a linguistic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. At the time, ethnic identity was often based primarily on language, unlike today's more multifaceted approach focusing on self-identification. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting

1444-728: Is Leclerc barracks ( Quartier Leclerc ), home to the French 2nd Armoured Brigade and the German 291st Light Infantry Battalion, a unit of the Franco-German Brigade . Alsace-Lorraine Alsace–Lorraine ( German : Elsaß–Lothringen ), officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine (German: Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen ), was a territory of the German Empire , located in modern-day France. It

1520-612: Is located on the part of the University of Strasbourg campus lying in the territory of Illkirch-Graffenstaden. Illkirch is believed to be a Frankish foundation. The town, like Alsace , takes the first syllable of its name from the river that crosses it: the second syllable is simply the German word for a church. The spelling of the name has changed as language developed: Ellofanum (720 AD; see fanum ), Illechilechen (826), Illenkirche (845), Illekiriche (920), Illachirecha (1163) and Illenkirchen (1172) which mutated into

1596-851: The United Nations ' International Standard Industrial Classification standard, the United States ' Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code system and its new replacement, the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) in the EU and similar systems elsewhere. These governmental classification systems have

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1672-545: The University of Strassburg was re-founded and in 1877 given the name "Emperor Wilhelm University" (after Emperor Wilhelm I ). Through generous expansion measures, it developed into one of the largest universities in the Empire. Professional training in Alsace developed as a result of stimuli from Germany. The German administration promoted the education of young Alsatian artists at German universities and academies, giving rise to

1748-638: The XXI Army Corps . The recruiting districts of the corps were outside Alsace–Lorraine, as was the case with the Upper and Lower Alsatian and Lorraine regiments that were established later within the corps as part of army enlargements. The corps were not always stationed in the Imperial Territory. Alsatians and Lorrainers who were called up for military service were distributed among all Prussian Army units, as were active and passive social democrats , who were also considered to be politically unreliable. It

1824-628: The 17th century, while Lorraine was incorporated from the 16th century under Henry II to the 18th century under Louis XV (in the case of the Three Bishoprics , as early as 1552). These border changes at the time meant more or less that one ruler (the local princes and city governments, with some remaining power of the Holy Roman Emperor ) was exchanged for another (the King of France). German nationalism, on

1900-546: The Alsatian population in a speech to soldiers and called for rebellious Alsatians to be stabbed. In what came to be known as the Zabern Affair , the military reacted to the protests with arbitrary acts that were not covered by law. The assaults led to a Reichstag debate on the militaristic structures of German society and strained the relations between Alsace–Lorraine and the rest of Germany. Planning began in 1871 for

1976-591: The Catholics frequently identified with the French Catholic state and feared disadvantage in Prussian hands, the local Protestants were in favour of becoming part of Germany. The Evangelical Lutheran Church professed allegiance to Germany, hoping to reduce French-influenced Catholic "paternalism". The rural population in particular supported their efforts, while quite a few critics of unification spoke out in

2052-463: The Cercle de Saint-Léonard, an artists' association that sought to combine German and Alsatian art. Although the proportion of native speakers of German dialects in the new Imperial Territory was around 90%, Catholics in Alsace–Lorraine tended initially to be sceptical about the ethnographic unification with Germany, which had come about under the leadership of predominately Protestant Prussia . While

2128-477: The Empire (Social Democrats, Centre, National Liberals , Left Liberals and Conservatives) found more and more supporters. In the countryside and the predominantly French-speaking electoral districts of Lorraine, the Autonomists remained strong, while in the cities, especially Strassburg, they increasingly played only a subordinate role, with the Social Democrats dominating. The election results, showing

2204-648: The Franco-Prussian War, the French had maintained a long-standing desire to establish their entire eastern frontier on the Rhine. Thus, most 19th-century Germans viewed them as aggressive and acquisitive people. In the years before 1870, the Germans feared the French more than the French feared the Germans. Many Germans at the time thought that the unification of Germany as the new Empire would in itself be enough to earn permanent French enmity and thus desired

2280-473: The German annexation. In the decades after 1871, the fortress of Metz was expanded under German rule to become the largest fortification in the world, with a ring of outworks, some of which were located far in advance of the fortifications themselves. Metz became a majority German-speaking city due to the influx of military personnel and other immigrants from the rest of Germany. When the German Army

2356-476: The Illkirch capitulation document. In 1681, facing the prospect of imminent French invasion, Hans Georg von Zedlitz, mayor of Strasbourg, tried to obtain imperial support to turn back the advancing French army from Strasbourg, which enjoyed privileged status as a free imperial city . Imperial support did not materialize, however, and von Zedlitz was finally obliged to surrender on 30 September 1681. Graffenstaden

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2432-630: The Separation of the Churches and the State ) also led to alienation from France in Catholic circles. Germany had granted the region significantly more freedom, and the region's economic situation had developed positively. Especially the younger inhabitants who no longer had any contact with France saw themselves as Germans as a matter of course. In French foreign policy, the demand for the return of Alsace and Lorraine faded in importance after 1880 with

2508-480: The Territorial Committee was enlarged to 58 members who were indirectly elected by the district assemblies (Lorraine 11, Upper Alsace 10, Lower Alsace 13), the autonomous cities (1 member each from Strassburg, Mülhausen, Metz and Colmar) and the counties (20 members). Initially the Territorial Committee had only an advisory function. In 1877 it was granted a legislative function and the right to create

2584-614: The beginning of the 20th century, opposition to German authorities played hardly any role. There were no longer major social groups that advocated a return to France. The Protestants traditionally had a positive image of Germany, while after the Dreyfus affair , the Jewish population regarded France with extreme suspicion. Catholics also turned away from France. The rise of socialism there permanently unsettled Catholic sentiments in Alsace–Lorraine. France's laicist policy from 1905 onwards ( Law on

2660-564: The cities of Strassburg and Mülhausen. After the Kulturkampf – the conflict between the state and the Catholic Church driven by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck – reached Alsace–Lorraine in 1872/73, the Catholic Church became a vehicle of resistance against the German authorities. In all of the Reichstag elections from 1874 to 1912, between three and seven of the 15 Alsace–Lorraine deputies were Catholic priests. The dispute reached

2736-482: The contemporary name, Illkirch . When Rudolf of Habsburg was elected King of the Romans in 1273, he urgently needed military help from his leading supporters against his rival, Ottokar II of Bohemia , who was reluctant to accept Rudolf as emperor. As a reward for their services, Rudolf in 1284 elevated several leading Strasbourgers to the knighthood. To his favoured supporter, Bernhard von Müllenheim, he also granted

2812-452: The crowned escutcheon of Alsace–Lorraine in the upper left corner. On 25 June 1912, the parliament of the Imperial Territory unanimously approved the proposal for a state flag consisting of the red and white striped flag of Alsace bearing a yellow Lorraine cross in the upper left corner. The decision to adopt the flag was never implemented by government authorities in Berlin. The flag was often raised privately and on semi-official occasions. It

2888-410: The decline of the monarchist element. When World War I broke out in 1914, recovery of the two lost provinces became the top French war goal. The increased militarization of Europe and the lack of negotiations between major powers led to harsh and rash actions taken by both sides in respect to Alsace–Lorraine during World War I . As soon as war was declared, both the French and German authorities used

2964-738: The economy in the Western world , and is also the fastest-growing sector. In examining the growth of the service sector in the early nineties, the globalist Kenichi Ohmae noted that: In the United States, 70 per cent of the workforce works in the service sector; in Japan, 60 per cent, and in Taiwan, 50 per cent. These are not necessarily busboys and live-in maids. Numerous of them are in the skilled category. They are earning as much as manufacturing employees, and often more. Economies tend to follow

3040-402: The economy into functionally related markets or industries. The second or third level of these hierarchies then reflects whether goods or services are produced. For the last 100 years, there has been a substantial shift from the primary and secondary sectors to the tertiary sector in industrialized countries. This shift is called tertiarisation . The tertiary sector is now the largest sector of

3116-413: The emerging working class to the Social Democrats. The Protesters no longer played a significant role after the election of 1890. The majority of Alsace–Lorraine's inhabitants were sceptical of the German Empire during the first two decades and voted for regional parties (Alsace–Lorraine Protesters and Autonomists). After Chancellor Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, the party landscape loosened, and parties of

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3192-492: The ford at Grafenstaden , with the right to levy tolls on travelers: the value of the concession was enhanced by the absence of any bridge. Hitherto the citizens of Strasbourg had been able to use the Grafenstaden ford without payment, and in 1391 ownership of the ford reverted to the city: from that year, there was a requirement weekly to transfer money collected from tolls to Strasbourg . Historians know of Illkirch from

3268-497: The fourth largest in the département and the sixth largest taking together the two departments comprising Alsace . The larger adjacent communes, like Illkirch-Graffenstaden, are effectively outer suburbs of the Strasbourg conurbation. These include Strasbourg-Meinau , Ostwald and Geispolsheim . Illkirch-Graffenstaden is crossed by the river Ill which here runs from south to north, parallel with and roughly ten kilometres to

3344-492: The frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks. Due to the annexation, the Germans gained control of the fortifications of Metz and Strasbourg (Strassburg) on the left bank of the Rhine and most of the iron resources of Lorraine. The possibility of granting Alsace–Lorraine the status of a constituent state of the German Empire with its own sovereign and constitution

3420-483: The government of the Territory. On 22 June 1877, Eduard von Moeller, the first governor of Alsace–Lorraine, decreed that 90 place names in the district of Lorraine were to be changed from their French to the German forms. When the constitution of the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine of 31 May 1911 was enacted, a directly elected state parliament ( Landtag ) replaced the Territorial Committee. Alsace–Lorraine

3496-460: The historical territory has been part of the French administrative region of Grand Est . Alsace–Lorraine had a land area of 14,496 km (5,597 sq mi). Its capital was Straßburg . It was divided into three districts ( Bezirke in German): The largest urban areas in Alsace–Lorraine at the 1910 census were: The modern history of Alsace–Lorraine was primarily influenced by

3572-406: The inhabitants of Alsace–Lorraine as propaganda pawns. Tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy , generally known as the service sector , is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials ) and the secondary sector ( manufacturing ). The tertiary sector consists of

3648-520: The major religious communities (Catholics, Lutherans, Protestant Reformed and Jews), the chambers of agriculture and commerce, the trade unions, the judiciary, the cities of Strassburg, Metz, Mülhausen and Colmar, and the University of Strassburg. There were also 18 members appointed by the emperor at the recommendation of the Bundesrat. The lower house consisted of 60 deputies who were elected for

3724-509: The new French département of Meurthe-et-Moselle . The new border between France and Germany mainly followed the geo-linguistic divide between French and German dialects, except in a few valleys of the Alsatian side of the Vosges mountains , the city of Metz and its region and in the area of Château-Salins (formerly in the Meurthe département ), which were annexed by Germany although most people there spoke French. In 1900, 11.6% of

3800-520: The other hand, which in its 19th century form originated as a reaction against the French occupation of large areas of Germany under Napoleon , sought to unify all the German-speaking populations of the former Holy Roman Empire into a single nation-state . As various German dialects were spoken by most of the population of Alsace and Moselle (northern Lorraine), these regions were viewed by German nationalists to be rightfully part of

3876-467: The percentage of votes and the number of seats won (in parentheses), were as follows: The flag used officially in the Imperial Territory was the black-white-red flag of the German Empire . A modified imperial service flag of the Foreign Office was adopted on 29 December 1892 for use at state institutions in Alsace–Lorraine. It was the imperial tri-colour with the imperial eagle in the centre and

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3952-587: The population of Alsace–Lorraine spoke French as their first language (11.0% in 1905, 10.9% in 1910). That small francophone areas were affected was used in France to denounce the new border, since Germany had justified the annexation on linguistic grounds. The German administration was tolerant of the use of the French language (in sharp contrast to the use of the Polish language in the Province of Posen ), and French

4028-428: The population of Alsace–Lorraine. The approximately 110,000 optants who had not emigrated by 1 October 1872 lost their option of French citizenship, although they were not expelled by the German authorities but retained German citizenship. Some estimates of the total number of optants, however, are as high as 280,000, with the number who left for France set at about 130,000. After the Franco-Prussian War, Alsace–Lorraine

4104-408: The process of providing the service, as happens in the restaurant industry. However, the focus is on people by interacting with them and serving the customers rather than transforming the physical goods. The production of information has been long regarded as a service, but some economists now attribute it to a fourth sector, called the quaternary sector . It is sometimes hard to determine whether

4180-502: The provision of services instead of end products . Services (also known as " intangible goods ") include attention, advice, access, experience and affective labour . The tertiary sector involves the provision of services to other businesses as well as to final consumers. Services may involve the transport , distribution and sale of goods from a producer to a consumer, as may happen in wholesaling and retailing , pest control or financial services . The goods may be transformed in

4256-650: The rivalry between French and German nationalism . France long sought to attain and then preserve what it considered to be its "natural boundaries" , which is regarded as the Pyrenees to the southwest, the Alps to the southeast, and the Rhine to the northeast. These strategic claims led to annexing territories west of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire . What is now known as Alsace was progressively conquered by France under Louis XIII and Louis XIV in

4332-616: The sizeable industry in Mulhouse. Karl Marx also warned his fellow Germans: Bismarck and the South German industrialists proposed to have Alsace ceded to Switzerland, while Switzerland would compensate Germany with another territory. The Swiss rejected the proposal, preferring to remain neutral between the French and Germans. The German Emperor , Wilhelm I , eventually sided with army commander Helmuth von Moltke , other Prussian generals and other officials who argued that

4408-613: The total population, took the option. The proportion was particularly high in Upper Alsace, where 93,109 people (20.3%) declared that they wished to retain French citizenship, and much lower in Lower Alsace (6.5%) and Lorraine (5.8%). Originally it was envisaged that those who chose French citizenship would have to leave Alsace–Lorraine. They were allowed to either take their property with them or sell it. Ultimately only about 50,000 people left for France, corresponding to 3.2% of

4484-514: The transportation of people and the communication of information, the service sector now includes some of the most intensive international competition, despite residual protectionism . Service providers face obstacles selling services that goods-sellers rarely face. Services are intangible, making it difficult for potential customers to understand what they will receive and what value it will hold for them. Indeed, some, such as consultants and providers of investment services, offer no guarantees of

4560-561: The universal and equal manhood suffrage for electing the second chamber. The representation of trade unions in the first chamber was also remarkable since they were not yet legally recognized as workers' representatives. The first and only elections to the parliament of the Imperial Territory took place on 22 and 29 October 1911. The strongest parties were the Alsatian Centre and the Social Democrats with 31.0% and 23.8% of

4636-419: The value for the price paid. Since the quality of most services depends largely on the quality of the individuals providing the services, "people costs" are usually a high fraction of service costs. Whereas a manufacturer may use technology, simplification, and other techniques to lower the cost of goods sold, the service provider often faces an unrelenting pattern of increasing costs. Product differentiation

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4712-607: The vote respectively, followed by the Lorraine Autonomists with 16.3%. In 1874, Alsace–Lorraine was granted 15 seats in the German Reichstag . Between 6 and 10 of the 15 Alsatian–Lorraine deputies elected in each of the Reichstag elections from 1874 through 1887 were counted as "Protest Deputies" because of their opposition to the annexation. Shortly after the 1874 election , the Protesters introduced

4788-799: The war, but already annexed in practice at the war's end in 1918. Geographically, Alsace–Lorraine encompassed most of Alsace and the Moselle department of Lorraine . The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River , east of the Vosges Mountains ; the section initially in Lorraine was in the upper Moselle valley to the north of the Vosges. The territory encompassed almost all of Alsace (93%) and over

4864-551: The west of the river Rhine : the two finally converge a short distance to the north of Strasbourg. The town also lies by the Rhône-Rhine Canal which here runs between the two rivers. Graffenstaden station has rail connections to Strasbourg and Colmar. Extensive quarrying has been undertaken in the area for many years, giving rise to a number of small lakes in the region, a couple of which have been adapted for recreational swimming. The International Space University

4940-587: Was a village bordering Illkirch: the two communes were merged for economic reasons between 1790 and 1794. After the First World War the largest employer was the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM), a heavy engineering business that specialised in the manufacture of railway locomotives and machine tools . The factory had originally been built before the annexation of Alsace by Germany , but had been operated separately as

5016-514: Was directly annexed to the German Empire as an imperial territory and was not a state in its own right. It was not until the decree of Emperor Wilhelm I on 29 October 1874 that a popular representation was established, the Territorial Committee ( Landesausschuss ). The members of the Territorial Committee were not elected by the people but appointed by the district assemblies ( Bezirkstagen ). The three district assemblies for Lorraine, Upper Alsace and Lower Alsace each appointed ten members. In 1879

5092-427: Was established in 1871 by the German Empire after it had occupied the region during the Franco-Prussian War . The region was officially ceded to the German Empire in the Treaty of Frankfurt . French resentment about the loss of the territory was one of the contributing factors to World War I . Alsace–Lorraine was formally ceded back to France in 1920 as part of the Treaty of Versailles following Germany's defeat in

5168-433: Was formed after the foundation of the Empire, the XV Prussian Army Corps was created from existing troops. The corps' district was the new "Border Region" Alsace–Lorraine, as was that of the XVI Army Corps , which was formed in 1890. The southern regions of the Imperial Territory belonged to the districts of the XIV Army Corps , which was made up in 1871 of troops from Baden . From 1912, the northeastern regions belonged to

5244-424: Was granted its own constitution, a freely elected parliament and three representatives in the Bundesrat, the German federal council. Since the Bundesrat represented the interests of the states in Berlin, the members from each state were required to vote as a bloc. In Alsace–Lorraine, the governor determined how its three representatives voted. The votes were not counted if they gave an otherwise defeated Prussian motion

5320-425: Was not considered, in part because Prussia was convinced that the population of the territory would first have to be Germanized, i.e., accustomed to the new German-Prussian form of government. The Imperial Territory ( Reichsland ) created on 28 June 1871 was therefore treated initially as an occupied territory and administered directly by an imperial governor ( Oberpräsident ) appointed by Wilhelm I. Although it

5396-405: Was not simply a punitive measure. The transfer was controversial even among the Germans: The German chancellor , Otto von Bismarck , was initially opposed to it, as he thought (correctly) that it would engender permanent French hostility toward Germany. Some German industrialists did not want the competition from Alsatian industries, such as the cloth makers who would be exposed to competition from

5472-585: Was not technically part of the Kingdom of Prussia , in practical terms, it amounted to the same thing since the emperor was also king of Prussia and the chancellor its minister-president . Memory of the Napoleonic Wars was still fresh in the 1870s. Wilhelm I himself had had to flee with the Prussian royal family to East Prussia as a nine-year-old in 1806 and had served in the Battle of Waterloo . Until

5548-530: Was not until 1903 that a quarter of Alsatian recruits were assigned on a trial basis to troops stationed in their native region. In 1910, 4.3% of the local population – about 80,000 men – were military personnel, which made Alsace–Lorraine the region in Germany with the highest concentration of troops. At the end of 1913, protests broke out in the Alsatian town of Zabern , where two battalions of Prussian infantry were stationed. A young German lieutenant insulted

5624-418: Was not welcomed by German authorities and the military but was tolerated in part even in wartime. It was also used as the flag of the independent Republic of Alsace–Lorraine of 12 November 1918 to 21 November 1918. Unofficially, the traditional red and white territorial flag was popular in Alsace and was often used decoratively and as a postcard motif. It was also sometimes taken as a sign of protest against

5700-538: Was offset against the war compensation to be paid by France. The Imperial Railways in Alsace–Lorraine was the first railway owned by the German Reich. Until the First World War, the Imperial Territory experienced a great economic boom, and many new socio-political benefits such as social security and health insurance were introduced in line with developments in the rest of the German Empire. In 1872,

5776-502: Was permitted as an official language and school language in those areas where it was spoken by a majority. This changed in 1914 with the First World War . Under the provisions of the Treaty of Frankfurt , the inhabitants of the annexed areas received Alsace–Lorraine citizenship unless they had migrated directly from France. Until 1 October 1872, they had the option of retaining French citizenship. A total of 160,878 people, or about 10.4% of

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