As a German-French guy living next to Colmar on the German side of the Rhine, 95% on both sides don't want to change the status quo and that's okay. Germans go to Alsace for good restaurants, Christmas markets, festivals and good wine. French or Alsation folks come over to Germany for good and cheap beer, grocery shopping, bars, casinos and brothels, the EU making it possible nowadays (Great huh?😂) What I noticed is that Alsatian is really close to the Allemanic dialect in Baden-Württemberg (the German federal state neighbouring Alsace), since Alsatian is an Allemanic dialect. It's sad that only old people speak it fluently, although it is regaining popularity, escpecially on the countryside, but a lot of people only understand some words. A lot of things in Alsace are similar to the German-Alemanic side, like the towns and traditions. Still, more people in Alsace tend to learn German in school than in the rest of France and a lot of students in Baden-Württemberg have French classes from an early stage (sometimes it even starts in elementary school). But yeah, those are the cards we are dealt with. If it takes that to have peace and no more wars between good neighbours, that's perfectly fine with everybody.
The wars drove my family (Kocher) from the Alsace. We left Seltz in 1852 for the USA. My 4th great grandparents refused to have their sons conscripted into the French military. They were German in heart and knew that war was on the horizon. Our cousins still live in Niederroedern and operate a company there. 400+ documented years of living in this area. Our oldest documents, dates prior to the thirty years war, were destroyed in WWII. I have another great grandfather, Antoine Hahn (documented), who fought in Napoleons Grand Armee. He served during the Peninsular Wars (1812) and was taken captive by the Spanish. 1,200 soldiers were captured that day, and the Spanish were told not to take any prisoners, so they started cutting down their captives. As death neared for Antoine, he does to his knees and started singing "Our Father" in Latin, which suddenly caused the Spanish to stop killing. They talked amongst themselves, then exclaimed "this man must be a righteous man of God!" (They were all Catholic.) Antoine was subsequently taken as a prisoner and remained as one until wars end, at which he immediately returned home, packed his belongings, and found his way to a very remote area in Illinois, USA where I was born and raised.
Alsace-Lorraine is actually not an acurate name. You would call this area Alsace-Moselle. Or Elsass-Moselland in German. Lorraine is much bigger than this.
Alsace-Moselle seems to be a more recent denomination. Back in the 19th century it was commonly called Alsace-Lorraine in France (even in songs) and Elsaß-Lothringen was the official name in the German Empire. I’d guess it’s because "Lorraine" was a vague historical region back in the days (administrative regions were only created under the 5th Republic), and people considered Moselle a large enough chunk of that region to represent it.
My great grandmother was born in Nassau, Baden-Wurttemberg in 1839. After arriving in the U.S. she listed her parents as being from Alsace Lorraine. So that was the name almost 200 years ago.
Historic note: The Romans called what is now France, "Gallia"; the Franks called it "Gaul" but it was pronounced "wall". It cognates with the place names Wales, Cornwall, and Wallonia. It is an old Germanic word that basically means foreigners. So the French took their names from the Franks, but the Franks themselves called the French foreigners.
Modern northern Italy was known as Gallia Cisalpina ("Gaul on this side of the Alps") because the region was inhabited by Celts before the Roman conquest. It was a Roman province from c. 81 BCE until 42 BCE, when it was de jure merged into Roman Italy with cities like Mediolanum (later known as Milano). The first Roman province north of the Alps was known Gallia Transalpina ("Gaul on the far side of the Alps") that included e.g. Massalia (later known as Marseille).
Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni were all German tribes that moved west when the Roman western empire collapsed. The Alemanni kept their language - the Franks and Burgundians did not, the invaders adopted the local latin based languages. French was much later standardised by what was basically the "Frank" region and imposed as national language to the whole country.
Except the population was Gallo-Roman, not French. In fact, If we play on anachronisms, the Franks were in reality more "French" than the population. The term itself is a derivate word for "Frank" ("Frenk" in Old English), and then the Angevin dialect brought in England the sound "ch" for "French" in Middle-English later. Franks + Gallo-Romans = French, when they were no more frontiers between them, after centuries of assimilation.
@@DLYChicago J'imagine même pas à quel point il faut être con pour sortir une telle phrase Les français sont des francs C'est comme ça qu'ils étaient appelés jusqu'à 19 siècle , surtout par leurs ennemis . Le mot france signifie littéralement le pays des francs Et avec l'évolution de la langue française Le mot franc est devenu français . C'est en 1214 que les francs sont devenus définitivement des français .
@@AdamFR9075 Vous seriez historiquement plus précis, si vous appeliez votre pays "Gallia" ! Les Français modernes, en plus du sang gaulois, ont aussi du sang germanique qui coule dans leurs veines!
After Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, a French painter produced a painting, with the words "mane thecel phares" on it, which means "his days are numbered". A few decades later, all German dynasties fell.
Some remarks: The narrator carefully avoids calling an unjustified robbery by King Louis XIV a robbery. Up to this point, no Frenchman had ever lived on the banks of the river Rhine. There was no justification for the annexation. He took it because he could, since his opponent was weak. The war of 1870/71 did not simply “break out”. The French Emperor Napoleon III and his government DECLARED war on Prussia. And yes, after the Germans refrained from taking back the stolen territories in 1815, which they could have done but didn't in order not to weaken the Bourbon dynasty within France, they finally took them back after 1871. The Bourbons had been forced to abdicate, the Napoleonic dynasty was resurrected, and the country transformed into a republic during the war. Normally, a country that lost a war had to cede land to the victorious enemy. But according to the concept of a nation state, the Germans only took areas that were predominantly inhabited by Germans. 4:14 It is interesting that Hitler is accompanied by two artists during his visit to Paris. Civilians instead of military personnel. On the left is Albert Speer, then nothing other than an architect, and on the right is Arno Breker, a sculptor. Both were hastily put into some kind of uniform and taken on the journey. Conclusion: Today the population is assimilated by the French. Younger generations no longer speak German. Some may learn it in school, but only as a second language, without even becoming fluent but keeping a strong French accent. What appears “German” today are cultural remnants of earlier centuries. A German culture no longer lives there. There are only a few memories left.
No Alsacian ever wanted to be german simply because of their germanic culture, the same way the Swiss don't want it. If Alsacians, who have been happily French for 400 years, are "assimilated", how far back do we go? Are you aware that most germans are "assimilated slavs" from hundreds of years ago? Where do we draw the line?
"Rien ne justifiait l'annexion." Ces propose sont lamentable car la France n'a pas annexée l'Alsace. L'Alsace (à part Strasbourg) s'est mise volontairement sous la protection du roi de France. En conséquence l'Alsace à gardée sa liberté religieuse et sa liberté culturelle.
Biaised History. In all wars the winner takes a part of the loser territory. In 1648 France took the imperial rights over Alsace. With another victory Louis XIV took Strasbourg. They were no French before that conquest? Let me laugh. Alsace was a part of the kingdom on the Franks in the 5th century. Kingdom of the Franks = Frankreich. History can be always used to justify any pretention, on both sides. Of course France took Alsace when she was stronger. Germany did the same in 1871!!! Why complaining against France using her strength, but not when Germany does it. You’re totally biaised. At least recocnise it!
"DECLARED" war, a war that was an idea from Bismarck, who was smart and machiavelian. With a French declaration all the other German states were on his side.
The French gov't didn't want the children my age and younger to speak Alsatian to homogenize the nation to one language. Once they got home their parents and grandparents spoke to them in Alsatian. Now my cousins children may understand some of the words but don't speak it the old timers still do. The food , wine and schnapps were Germanic.
This was also the case for all languages in France: Occitans and Provençals's dialects, Basque, Breton, Arpitan, etc... Even patois accents from the Oïl languages had been in the process of being annihilated to correspond to the speech of the Parisian bourgeoisie.
@@tibsky1396 There were a lot of regional languages, France is a small country. Everyone had to be able to understand each other. Like many other countries, French was learned at school, but Alsatian continued to be spoken outside of school and in families. All countries have done the same. During the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, Alsatian was forbidden, everyone had to speak German and was forcibly conscripted into the German army.
En tant qu'Alsacien, je peux vous dire que plus personne dans la région ne veut retourner à l'Allemagne. C'est une histoire ancienne, maintenant. Tous les Alsaciens se sentent Français, exceptés quelques groupuscules autonomistes folkloriques, qui font 0,1% des voix aux élections locales. l'Alsace-Moselle est définitivement française. 1:28
Justement J'ai remarqué que ça commence à agacer les alsaciens de lier l'Alsace à l'Allemagne Les alsaciens ne veulent pas et se sentent pleinement français .
The Sun King acted like nothing else than a reprehensible neighbor taking advantage of an ailing neighbor and thieving his front lawn. The world looks the other way.
Even though today the majority of the population feels French after centurys of aculturation, the fact is that they are ethnic Germans. Alsace Lorraine has always been a German region where Germans lived. The French took advantage of a Germany divided into small states and imposed their force to annex the territory. Most of the inhabitants' family surnames are German. The French did the same when they stole Corsica from the Italians, which is an ethnically Italian region where Italian is spoken.
@@coztarcan2174 Stole ? Ce mot prouve et montre énormément votre stupidité,votre malhonnêteté , et votre ignorance sur l'histoire de France. La corse n'a pas été volée , elle a été vendue par les gênois .
@@AdamFR9075 Before insulting, first go study history. Corsica was taken by force by the French after several battles against the Republic of Corsica. The Corsicans also did not want to be under the rule of Genoa, which sold its claim to the French because it was unable to dominate it. As with Alsace, the French took advantage of an Italy divided into small states without strength to conquer a territory that did not belong to them, where Italians, who spoke Italian, lived.
@@coztarcan2174 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 We know that it was in 1768 that Corsica was ceded by treaty to France. But, in 1789, when the Revolution broke out, it was the Corsican people who chose to be part of the “French empire” Source : l'histoire .fr Un conseil , ne raconte pas des bêtises 😂
@@coztarcan2174 Au lieu de faire le malin , va toi d'abord étudier bien l'Histoire *We know that it was in 1768 that Corsica was ceded by treaty to France. But, in 1789, when the Revolution broke out, it was the Corsican people who chose to be part of the “French empire”* Source: l'histoire. fr Parler de l'Italie à cette époque c'est une connerie sans nom , car l'Italie en tant que pays unifié n'existe pas à cette époque. Et pour les alsaciens , ils sont français et ils sont pleinement français et ça devient une insulte pour eux de les attacher à l'Allemagne . Allez bisous bisous 😘
The Alsatians spoke Alsatian, which is a Germanic language, a little different from German. In Switzerland, there are French-speakers, German-speakers, Italian-speakers. In Belgium, there are French-speaking, Dutch-speaking and German-speaking.
Yeah, the people are Germans (Germanic) at least the natives are. They have been coerced to forfeit their culture, and language, and adopt that of the French. So it makes sense. In America many people kept their last names and just gave their children American names. Although, also in America many people of German descent changed their last names to not draw attention in times of anti-German sentiment. So Müller became Miller, and Schmidt became Smith.
@@marieadriansen2925 If I am not mistaken, I am no expert, but wouldn't Alsatian be classified as a dialect of German, like Bavarian, or Hessian would be. I do think that there is little difference between a dialect and a language in a lot of cases like between Standard German and Bavarian, Hessian, or Dutch for example. Where Bavarian, and Hessian are classified as dialects, but yet Dutch which is probably just as different is classified as its own language. In Switzerland there is four language groups. There is Italian, German which is the largest, there is French, but there is also Romansch which is a dying, and endangered language. There is many countries with different languages based on region. The Ukraine was an example where most of the nation spoke Ukrainian but the border regions, and Crimea spoke Russian. In the Netherlands in the border regions with Germany northern German dialects are spoken, etc.
Dans ma famille la plupart des patronymes sont allemands (Muller, Walter, Ebel, Minck, Schmitt...). Les anciens sont bilingues français-dialecte germanique: dialecte alémanique (Bas-Rhin) ou francique rhénan (Moselle) mais les moins de cinquante ans sont de langue maternelle française. L' école donne des cours d'allemand précoce aux petits-enfants (comme pour le breton en Bretagne) mais ça ne fera pas revenir la langue traditionnelle dans ses usages quotidiens comme c'était le cas dans ma jeunesse, il y a plus d'un demi-siècle. Essayez pour voir de parler alsacien dans les magasins à Strasbourg ou le lothringer-platt à Sarreguemines. C'est dommage. Awer do kenne mir nix mache! 😥
@@cegesh1459 les gens dans les commentaires se prennent pour des historiens et commencent à dire n'importe quoi 😂 Il en y a qui ont le culot de parler au nom des alsaciens également et décider à leur place qui ils sont et à qui ils doivent appartenir 😂
@@AdamFR9075 Il y a surtout une différence entre être Germanique d'origine, et être Allemand dans le sens moderne. Je ne crois pas qu'un Danois, ou un Neerlandais serait très content d'être appelé "Allemand" sous prétexte d'être Germaniques.
@@tibsky1396 Exactement Par exemple les premiers roi de France était des francs , un peuple germanique Est ce que ça veut dire qu'ils étaient allemands ? Pas du tout .!!!!!
@@tibsky1396 En revanche, les groupes ethniques de toutes origines vivant en France doivent se laisser appeler « Français ». Peu importe qu'ils soient bretons, corses, basques, flamands, catalans, italiens ou allemands.
@@tibsky1396 Quand même l'alsacien est un dialecte de l'allemand. Je suis de l'Allemagne du nord et je comprend l'alsacien parfaitement (ou disons, pas plus mal que les dialectes du Baden-Württemberg, et mieux que l'allemand suisse). Le fait que en France aujourd'hui on appelle l'alsacien une langue est surtout à cause de la politique.
Charlemagne's three grandsons divvied up his empire. What are now France and Germany grew out of the western and eastern thirds. The middle third included the Low Countries and Burgundy. France and Germany, long bitter enemies, are cousins who had a falling out. For an interesting historical vignette, watch the World War One movie The Blue Max, and look closely at the image of the medal in the opening credits. This German military decoration bears the French-language legend "Pour Le Merite."
Alsace doesn't speak German nor learn especialy German at school - I mean it's not mandatory. Alsacians speak a dialect called Alsatian, which is hard to understand to German people. As a proof, when Hitler annexed Alsace in 1940, he let 6 months to Alsacians to learn German...
Somethings like town names are mostly German, lots of tall, blonde, blue eyed people around, but the music, food, and language is all French. That's what I noticed when I visited Strasbourg many years ago, anyway...
The town names are in Alsatian, not in German. The Alsatians did not speak German but Alsatian. The people of Alsace and Lorraine wanted and still want to remain French, they feel French in their hearts. they suffered from being annexed to Germany during the war. In the northern half of France, not only in Alsace and Lorraine, there are more blondes.
@@marieadriansen2925 ahhhhh ok, so the bavarians don´t speak german, they speak bavarian; the swabians don´t speak german, they speak swabian, the francs don´t speak german they speak franconian, the saxons don´t speak german, they speak saxon, the berliners don´t speak german they speak berlinerish....etc. etc. etc....please think before writing such a nonsense !
It is a great tragedy for the world that the Habsburg dynasty failed to unite Germany. They were much less militaristic, and they fully supported French rule in Alsace-Lorraine after 1814.
I was born in Colmar, Middle Alsace, from Alsatian-Jewish parents. We're French through and through! Both my Grandfathers fought WWI in the Kayser's armies, on the Eastern front because the Germans weren't daft enough to send them to the Western one, where they would have been forced to kill family members fighting on the French side. Instead, they were tasked to kill Russian Empire coreligionists. Both came back, with immense sadness, disgust, and PTSD. While my maternal Granddad was busy machine-gunning Russian-uniformed Yiddish speakers in the Mazurian Marshes, my Grandma was in the Alsatian underground teaching French language: the Alsatian population always felt French, the German-imperial rule, while not exceedingly tyrannical, was uniformly despised, and France never lost the political high ground in the region.
The wisdom of the annexation by the German Empire in 1871 has been a central theme of much that was to come later. Bismarck was originally opposed to the idea on the grounds that it would guarantee French enmity. He wanted more of a settlement similar to the one with Austria in 1866. It was Moltke and the Prussian General Staff that pushed hard for the secession. Taking a very narrow military view, they wanted a buffer region on the far side of the left bank of the Rhine to protect Germany in any future war with France. The Kaiser sides with Moltke. The nationalist aspect is overplayed I think, at least from the German side. The very way Germany treated the region, ‘Imperial Territory’ status rather than a state, continuation of trade barriers between the territory and the rest of the German Empire, and a special Alsace-Lorraine citizenship.
the king of Prussia was a man of extremely low intellect, like his father. But Germans were forced to call him "the pride of humanity". He was also cold-blooded and reactionary. He showed little mercy towards defenceless people, like the people of Strasbourg in 1870 and people of Berlin in 1848.
During World War I, the British Kennel Club officially changed the breed name of German Shepherd Dogs to Alsatian Dogs. [Even though the breed originated near the Black Forest.] In the United Satates, with an already large percentage of German immigrants, the name never changed. The Brits have since changed the breed name back to the original.
@@dagmarvandoren9364 Even though King Charles III is ancestrally German. During the Great War, the Royal Family changed their name from Saxe-Coburg und Gotha to Windsor. I don't think they'll change it back..
When Peugeot bought Opel-Vauxhall in 2017 the brand has been in deficit for the past 10 years. In 2018, one year after, Opel was profitable. Michael Lohscheller, Managing Director of Opel GmbH: "When we compared the production costs per car at Opel and Peugeot we realized that we were really bad: ours were sometimes twice as high." Frédéric Laganier, director of industrial strategy at PSA: "The organization has been completely revised with the creation of clusters which bring together factories by type of product. In the GM era, Opel used ten engine families, compared to four now. Opel used nine different platforms (chassis and running gear), almost one per model. Today, there are only two, shared with the brands of Peugeot.... There were 26 different steering wheel finishes for the Insignia sedan. Opel now only offers nine. And, like at PSA, it has narrowed its range to focus on the most popular models." Peugeot saved Opel-Vauxhall from oblivion.
I don't know anything about the quality of French cars but in the US German cars are perceived as quality and a sign of luxury but everyone who's ever owned one has complained about how expensive maintenance is and how unreliable the cars are.
You ought to mention that, even though Alsace was conquered by Louis the XIV in the 17th century, Lorraine was only annexed to France in 1766. And unlike Alsace, which was unquestionably German ethnically, only half of Lorraine was Germen-speaking even then. The hyphenated term Alsace-Lorraine only came into use following the 1870-71 war, to denote the territory conquered by Germany then, which consisted of all of Alsace and only half of Lorraine, including the important city of Metz but not the traditional capital Nancy.
Alsatians are distinctly both Latin and Germanic, as a language and ethnic group. They would be considered politically French, culturally a distinct Germanic speaking ethnic group coming from both Germanic and Latin backgrounds. I don't think Alsatians are truly Germans, but nor are they ethnically and culturally French, they're neither one, they're Alsatian. (politically French)
The Alsatians were just as German as the other Alemanni east of the Rhine and in Switzerland. They have now been Frenchized and no longer belong to German culture. On a map you can easily find which villages originally had German names, although the official spelling has since been converted to French. Place names ending in -ange or -willer/-viller are initially German. And also any settlement whose name contains a K or a W, since the French language does not use these letters. North of Metz there is even a creek called Nied, which has two tributaries. The western one is called Nied Française, the eastern one Nied Allemande. So even the French admit that this creek should be German. By the way: Many Alsatians cross the Rhine for work, because on the German side of the Rhine, Baden is one of the most prosperous regions in the country. This cannot really be said for the French side of the Rhine.
@@thkempe False. The Triboci are the original group from there, they're considered Gauls. (Gaul = France) The second group is Julius Caesar. Alemanii are from further East.
@@JohnDove-d8d In the 9th century AD, the Triboci were long forgotten when the Frankish Empire was divided into a French and a German part. Nobody spoke a Gaulish language anymore. They spoke either a very late Vulgar Latin or a Germanic dialect. Furthermore, Gaul is not identical to France. Herodotus tells us that the source of the river Istros (= Danube) is located in the land of the Celts. This is east of the Rhine and undoubtedly in Germany. The modern Germans have Celtic ancestors, too. The Alsatian dialect, like Badish, Swabian and Swiss German, belongs to the Alemannic German dialect group. Thus, the Alsatians were clearly German when the French King Louis XIV conquered the region.
@@thkempe That's an intentional distortion of events. The region was originally populated by the *Triboci* , a *Gallic* or *Gaulish* people, until the era of *Julius Caesar* when those people were latinized. During which time, they spoke Roman Latin, and even their Alemaniic and Frankish descendants which intermarried with these people over time, spoke the post-Roman *Vulgar Latin* of the medieval era. Alsace, as a Duchy, was part of *Carolingian* and *Merovingian* eras of history. During which time, they clearly spoke the Germanicized Vulgar Latin dialect which is the precursor to the French language. Which remained to be predominantly the case until the 18th century, when the majority of the German developers of the Alsatian speak had *moved into Alsace from other parts of Germanic speaking countries* such as those that you mentioned. During this time, the fusion of French and Alemaniic resulted in Alsatian, a Latin influenced Alemaniic, but this is a recent development.
Living along the border I can say that the rural areas are getting more german and in school around 1/3 of my class where from Alsace. The french government is not developing the region at all, leading to crime and depopulation. They have ethnically cleanesed the region over centuries by now, by restricting access to language classes and investment. The german youth is moving to germany as it is as easy as ever and If I go over there to get groceries people will understand the allemanian dialect tho.
@@pierre-armandbarbieri2908 when you are more likely to meet Algerians or Moroccans in Strasbourg than Alemannic Alsacians, than something has happened demographically.
What a load of rubbish……my god !!! The astonishing thing in Alsace is that people, young people, do not speak alsacian any more. I remember in 1981 getting off the train in Colmar, scores of older people were speaking the local dialect. Young locals don’t even speak German. As to ethnic cleansing in Alsace and Lottringen for that matter, this is pure madness
So you thought every historians and all consumers of the 😊history that they present, are all firmly committed to the truth no matter who may be presented in a bad light, no matter the tedium or the discomfort?
Does anyone think the Alsace-Lorraine centuries-old dispute is really and truly over? The only true solution would be for Alsace-Lorraine to become an independent nation. That way, neither France nor Germany owns it.
Croyez moi , j'habite en Alsace Et aucun alsacien ne sent allemand et ne veut être attaché à l'Allemagne . Les alsaciens se sentent pleinement français et veulent être attachés à la France définitivement .
@@dagmarvandoren9364 Est ce que j'ai dit que nous les français , on n'aime pas les allemands dans mon commentaire ? Non J'ai dit tout simplement qu'il faut arrêter d'assimiler les Alsaciens aux Allemands et à l'Allemagne . C'est vraiment une offense pour eux et c'est très irrespectueux, surtout que les Alsaciens sont les français les plus patriotiques de toute la France ! J'ai pas manqué du respect aux Allemands . Mais apparemment beaucoup manquent du respect aux alsaciens il me semble ! Les ancêtres des alsaciens se sont sacrifiés pour la France et pour rester français ,donc s'il vous plaît un peu de respect !
Now that France and Germany are in the European Union, what role does it play if Alsace or Mosel belong to one or the other country? No role at all. Then, why not hand over those regions to Germany, where they belong culturally? Today, they are subject in France to specific regulations inherited from the German Empire, one more sign that those regions are not historically French, even if the French authorities managed to successfully replace the original population with imported groups.
@@chrigaud Dire à un alsacien qu'il est allemand C'est comme dire à un mahorais qu'il est Comorien Ou à un corse , italien ! Pour les Alsaciens c'est littéralement une insulte et une offense pour eux de les assimiler aux Allemands , Les Alsaciens sont définitivement français en âme et en cœur . Comprenez ça par pitié .
@@soppal_1697 I had family that stayed there before the war. German villages and they spoke a German dialect. When the French returned in 1945 anyone they suspected of being “pro German” had to leave. If Germany had won the war Alsace would have been part of Germany, much like the Saarland story but the French didn’t hold it long enough to rewrite history. PS: anyone who writes “Bruh bro” should really return to school.
@@marieadriansen2925 no one with a brain is arguing for france ceding the territory to germany lmao, doesn't change that alsatian is a german dialect and the scientific consesus supports this fact but go on argue against the whole scientific community to cope with the fact that france conquered a foreign people with the conquest of alsace lorraine in the 17th century - or just accept a historic fact, it's not like it would change anything at all france and germany are brothers now and all this nationalistic denial of reality only serves to harm the relationship and helps people like nazis to try and destroy the friendship that replaced the rivalry
We are not in 1870, we are not in 1914 and even less in 1939. It’s time to realize this so please stop with the historically absurd and even racists comments.
Yeah right. Actually, Alsace missed the opportunity to join the Helvetic Confederation, and although this was never offered by the latter, becoming a couple of Swiss Cantons would have made the Alsatians considerably richer...
@@dagmarvandoren9364 No hate, in fact we got on very well with each other, she would call me all sorts of names because I was English and a male. In banter we had I would respond regarding her nationality. That day I did say something wrong, and I immediately apologised. Apology accepted and at the end of the shift she done her customary cuddle before departing home.
No human being speaks of the year 1949, to give one example from the narration, as one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine. I guess we are not worthy of having a human narrator.
Alsace and a part of Moselle did not speak French, like Brittany, Roussillon, Basque region, Lille region, Nice region, Corsica and a good half of south of France. So what? Still, they feel and are French since ages in fact. That is the way it is, through wars or politics. Who cares now. If people don't want to speak Alsacian, Breton, Catalan, Basque, Flemish, Occitan or Corsican, it is their choice (but yes, French language has killed these regional tongues). The number one problem in France today (and Europe) is Islam which is an ideology, not a religion. So please folks, stop your blahblah on these are Celts, or these are Germanic, or these are what God knows and see and fight the real danger !
The involvement of the Alsatians in the Revolution and the process after sealed their attachment to the French Republic, before an unified Germany as a Geo-political force was even a thing.
A proof of Alsace not having a German culture today can be found also within simple things. Walk on the streets of Strasbourg, for instance, look at the shops or notice boards glued on the walls, etc. ALL of them are in French, extremely few also have German translations. However, crossing the Rhine into Kehl, almost every shop has bilingual information, the electronic registers also display the welcome in French and so on. The conclusions are yours to take.
Its a city, but now go to the towns and youll see they are german, 1/3 of my grade in school was from alsace, cuz the schools in alsace are not allowed to teach german more than one hour a week and the region is getting no investment, except Straßbourg, because it is the french outpost in alsace.
@@lecrabesavant4435 My coworkers and classmates told me otherwise. They are all from near the Taubergießen and say the schools over there are horrible thats why they went to the Heimschule which has over 2000 students cuz it has a dorms attached where you can live during buissness days. Just that my small town has two gymnasiums and is still bloated with students speaks a lot in my opinion and that so many germans from alsace go to german schools... over there are no jobs, even during my holiday jobs in school in the europapark I constantly heard alsace dialect. Our experiences may differ, but it does not make my wrong.
I live in the Thur Valley, and the names of the streets are written in French AND in Alsatian. Not standard German indeed, but Alsatian. Seems all the Germans who comment here only know the towns (Strasbourg, Colmar, and the horrible Mulhouse), and never put a single foot in rural Alsace.
@@ME-eu9sf well, i am not German (not 100% at least) and visiting villages is a luxury due to lack of time, however i will do this as well at some point or another. Coming back to your reply, the topic is about German culture remnants, not Alsacian ones. In Strasbourg there are street names in French and Alsacian, but I didn't mention this as I tried to follow the question of the topic. In my initial months of living here i thought using German in shops would be a breeze. Can't be further from the real situation, only older sales persons know it and speak it in the city. They might speak more downtown due to the tourists flow but I didn't visit those shops so much and when I did I was with non-German speakers and I used English...as far as that one gets you in most cases ^^
The region has been successfully ethnically cleansed by the French regime, but does that justify the occupation? I understand that population structure can change over time, but this regions history and culture is clearly germanic, you notice that with the traditional architecture and dialects.
In Switzerland, there are French-speakers, German-speakers, Italian-speakers. In Belgium, there are French-speaking, Dutch-speaking and German-speaking. The Alsatians spoke Alsatian, which is a Germanic language, a little different from German. There are German speakers in the north of Italy.
This territory belongs to France, because it was historically part of Gaul, not Germania. When Louis XIV annexed it, he recovered it and extended his kingdom to its natural border, the Rhine.
By that sort of reasoning, the whole left Bank of the Rhine, including Cologne, ought to belong to France. And the Revolutionary Government did conquer and annex it; but after Napoleon's fall, it was definitively given to Prussia. Following both World Wars, France tried to re-gain Saar, but the inhabitants soundly rejected the idea as soon as they were given a choice (1934, 1957).
L'ironie du sort c'est que La France qui était la 2ième puissance Coloniale a perdu toutes ses colonies car elle était obsédé par ces 2 territoires et a gaspillé tant de ressources et d'hommes pour les récupérer. La rancune a un prix !!! Bof!! Regardez la Russie et l'Ukraine. On verra si la Chine va profiter.
France did not start WW1 to recover these 2 regions, France had to fight because it was attacked by Germany. As to the price of resentment, tell that to the Prussians. They were the most Francophobic people in Europe and deliberately fanned the flames of hatred to keep the German people united behind the emperor. Austria, Russia and Spain suffered more than Prussia in the Napoleonic war, yet all 3 countries quickly reconciled with France, unlike angry Prussia. Resentment has a price. Who owes East Prussia now? Who owes Silesia now? Who owes most of Pomerania now? The Prussian royals and nobles were expropriated by the Soviets in 1945.
The Rhinelanders provided most of the teachers to brainwash the students of Alsace-Lorraine, who taught them to love and worship the Prussian Kaisers, who taught them to admire the military exploits of Wilhelm 1 (who was responsible for the bombing of Strasbourg) ! The Rhinelanders grovelled before the Kaiser, they were not the friends of France. So forget about them, they are NOT worth it.
A deep insulte is to pronounce Metz « m-e-t-ss », which is the fuckin’ german pronunciation, rather than « m-e-s-s » (like « mess ») which is the french and right one
Interesting video, but next time please use a human narrator instead of computer-generated voice.
It does sound like a computer generated a bit.
But a few years ago they weren't as sharp and sounded more artificial.
I came here to say the same thing. The AI voice is terrible.
Yeah, the writing is pretty stilted too.
My first thought as well. It detracts from an otherwise interesting topic.
Many of the French names are pronounced with a Spanish accent
As a German-French guy living next to Colmar on the German side of the Rhine, 95% on both sides don't want to change the status quo and that's okay. Germans go to Alsace for good restaurants, Christmas markets, festivals and good wine. French or Alsation folks come over to Germany for good and cheap beer, grocery shopping, bars, casinos and brothels, the EU making it possible nowadays (Great huh?😂) What I noticed is that Alsatian is really close to the Allemanic dialect in Baden-Württemberg (the German federal state neighbouring Alsace), since Alsatian is an Allemanic dialect. It's sad that only old people speak it fluently, although it is regaining popularity, escpecially on the countryside, but a lot of people only understand some words.
A lot of things in Alsace are similar to the German-Alemanic side, like the towns and traditions. Still, more people in Alsace tend to learn German in school than in the rest of France and a lot of students in Baden-Württemberg have French classes from an early stage (sometimes it even starts in elementary school). But yeah, those are the cards we are dealt with. If it takes that to have peace and no more wars between good neighbours, that's perfectly fine with everybody.
The wars drove my family (Kocher) from the Alsace. We left Seltz in 1852 for the USA. My 4th great grandparents refused to have their sons conscripted into the French military. They were German in heart and knew that war was on the horizon.
Our cousins still live in Niederroedern and operate a company there. 400+ documented years of living in this area. Our oldest documents, dates prior to the thirty years war, were destroyed in WWII.
I have another great grandfather, Antoine Hahn (documented), who fought in Napoleons Grand Armee. He served during the Peninsular Wars (1812) and was taken captive by the Spanish. 1,200 soldiers were captured that day, and the Spanish were told not to take any prisoners, so they started cutting down their captives. As death neared for Antoine, he does to his knees and started singing "Our Father" in Latin, which suddenly caused the Spanish to stop killing. They talked amongst themselves, then exclaimed "this man must be a righteous man of God!" (They were all Catholic.) Antoine was subsequently taken as a prisoner and remained as one until wars end, at which he immediately returned home, packed his belongings, and found his way to a very remote area in Illinois, USA where I was born and raised.
Alsace-Lorraine is actually not an acurate name. You would call this area Alsace-Moselle. Or Elsass-Moselland in German. Lorraine is much bigger than this.
Alsace-Moselle seems to be a more recent denomination. Back in the 19th century it was commonly called Alsace-Lorraine in France (even in songs) and Elsaß-Lothringen was the official name in the German Empire. I’d guess it’s because "Lorraine" was a vague historical region back in the days (administrative regions were only created under the 5th Republic), and people considered Moselle a large enough chunk of that region to represent it.
My great grandmother was born in Nassau, Baden-Wurttemberg in 1839. After arriving in the U.S. she listed her parents as being from Alsace Lorraine. So that was the name almost 200 years ago.
Historic note: The Romans called what is now France, "Gallia"; the Franks called it "Gaul" but it was pronounced "wall". It cognates with the place names Wales, Cornwall, and Wallonia. It is an old Germanic word that basically means foreigners. So the French took their names from the Franks, but the Franks themselves called the French foreigners.
Modern northern Italy was known as Gallia Cisalpina ("Gaul on this side of the Alps") because the region was inhabited by Celts before the Roman conquest. It was a Roman province from c. 81 BCE until 42 BCE, when it was de jure merged into Roman Italy with cities like Mediolanum (later known as Milano). The first Roman province north of the Alps was known Gallia Transalpina ("Gaul on the far side of the Alps") that included e.g. Massalia (later known as Marseille).
Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni were all German tribes that moved west when the Roman western empire collapsed.
The Alemanni kept their language - the Franks and Burgundians did not, the invaders adopted the local latin based languages.
French was much later standardised by what was basically the "Frank" region and imposed as national language to the whole country.
Except the population was Gallo-Roman, not French. In fact, If we play on anachronisms, the Franks were in reality more "French" than the population. The term itself is a derivate word for "Frank" ("Frenk" in Old English), and then the Angevin dialect brought in England the sound "ch" for "French" in Middle-English later.
Franks + Gallo-Romans = French, when they were no more frontiers between them, after centuries of assimilation.
@@DLYChicago
J'imagine même pas à quel point il faut être con pour sortir une telle phrase
Les français sont des francs
C'est comme ça qu'ils étaient appelés jusqu'à 19 siècle , surtout par leurs ennemis .
Le mot france signifie littéralement le pays des francs
Et avec l'évolution de la langue française
Le mot franc est devenu français .
C'est en 1214 que les francs sont devenus définitivement des français .
@@AdamFR9075 Vous seriez historiquement plus précis, si vous appeliez votre pays "Gallia" ! Les Français modernes, en plus du sang gaulois, ont aussi du sang germanique qui coule dans leurs veines!
After Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, a French painter produced a painting, with the words "mane thecel phares" on it, which means "his days are numbered". A few decades later, all German dynasties fell.
Some remarks: The narrator carefully avoids calling an unjustified robbery by King Louis XIV a robbery. Up to this point, no Frenchman had ever lived on the banks of the river Rhine. There was no justification for the annexation. He took it because he could, since his opponent was weak.
The war of 1870/71 did not simply “break out”. The French Emperor Napoleon III and his government DECLARED war on Prussia. And yes, after the Germans refrained from taking back the stolen territories in 1815, which they could have done but didn't in order not to weaken the Bourbon dynasty within France, they finally took them back after 1871. The Bourbons had been forced to abdicate, the Napoleonic dynasty was resurrected, and the country transformed into a republic during the war. Normally, a country that lost a war had to cede land to the victorious enemy. But according to the concept of a nation state, the Germans only took areas that were predominantly inhabited by Germans.
4:14 It is interesting that Hitler is accompanied by two artists during his visit to Paris. Civilians instead of military personnel. On the left is Albert Speer, then nothing other than an architect, and on the right is Arno Breker, a sculptor. Both were hastily put into some kind of uniform and taken on the journey.
Conclusion: Today the population is assimilated by the French. Younger generations no longer speak German. Some may learn it in school, but only as a second language, without even becoming fluent but keeping a strong French accent.
What appears “German” today are cultural remnants of earlier centuries. A German culture no longer lives there. There are only a few memories left.
No Alsacian ever wanted to be german simply because of their germanic culture, the same way the Swiss don't want it. If Alsacians, who have been happily French for 400 years, are "assimilated", how far back do we go? Are you aware that most germans are "assimilated slavs" from hundreds of years ago? Where do we draw the line?
"Rien ne justifiait l'annexion." Ces propose sont lamentable car la France n'a pas annexée l'Alsace. L'Alsace (à part Strasbourg) s'est mise volontairement sous la protection du roi de France. En conséquence l'Alsace à gardée sa liberté religieuse et sa liberté culturelle.
Biaised History. In all wars the winner takes a part of the loser territory. In 1648 France took the imperial rights over Alsace. With another victory Louis XIV took Strasbourg. They were no French before that conquest? Let me laugh. Alsace was a part of the kingdom on the Franks in the 5th century. Kingdom of the Franks = Frankreich.
History can be always used to justify any pretention, on both sides.
Of course France took Alsace when she was stronger. Germany did the same in 1871!!! Why complaining against France using her strength, but not when Germany does it.
You’re totally biaised. At least recocnise it!
Alsace was so German that the Nazi had to build a concentration camp to remind them how much they loved Germany. Natzweiler-Struthof.
"DECLARED" war, a war that was an idea from Bismarck, who was smart and machiavelian. With a French declaration all the other German states were on his side.
The French gov't didn't want the children my age and younger to speak Alsatian to homogenize the nation to one language. Once they got home their parents and grandparents spoke to them in Alsatian. Now my cousins children may understand some of the words but don't speak it the old timers still do. The food , wine and schnapps were Germanic.
This was also the case for all languages in France: Occitans and Provençals's dialects, Basque, Breton, Arpitan, etc... Even patois accents from the Oïl languages had been in the process of being annihilated to correspond to the speech of the Parisian bourgeoisie.
@@tibsky1396 i know - it was a shame.
When Germany annexed Alsace and Lorraine, it forbade them to speak Alsatian and forced them to speak German.
@@marieadriansen2925 They also forced them into the German army.
@@tibsky1396 There were a lot of regional languages, France is a small country. Everyone had to be able to understand each other. Like many other countries, French was learned at school, but Alsatian continued to be spoken outside of school and in families. All countries have done the same. During the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, Alsatian was forbidden, everyone had to speak German and was forcibly conscripted into the German army.
En tant qu'Alsacien, je peux vous dire que plus personne dans la région ne veut retourner à l'Allemagne.
C'est une histoire ancienne, maintenant.
Tous les Alsaciens se sentent Français, exceptés quelques groupuscules autonomistes folkloriques, qui font 0,1% des voix aux élections locales.
l'Alsace-Moselle est définitivement française. 1:28
je pense que c'est bien plus que 0,1%
@@kategogy German.
@@kategogy
Les alsaciens sont ethniquement germaniques
Il n'y a pas d'ethnie française
La France est composée de plusieurs ethnies
Justement
J'ai remarqué que ça commence à agacer les alsaciens de lier l'Alsace à l'Allemagne
Les alsaciens ne veulent pas et se sentent pleinement français .
Groupuscule folklorique? 🤨
The Sun King acted like nothing else than a reprehensible neighbor taking advantage of an ailing neighbor and thieving his front lawn. The world looks the other way.
Très juste
The world did not look the other way! They formed coalition after coalition against France.
@@kategogy Today they look the other way.
Just like every european country?
Even though today the majority of the population feels French after centurys of aculturation, the fact is that they are ethnic Germans. Alsace Lorraine has always been a German region where Germans lived. The French took advantage of a Germany divided into small states and imposed their force to annex the territory. Most of the inhabitants' family surnames are German. The French did the same when they stole Corsica from the Italians, which is an ethnically Italian region where Italian is spoken.
In Corsica they speak Corse, close to Italian.
@@coztarcan2174
Stole ?
Ce mot prouve et montre énormément votre stupidité,votre malhonnêteté , et votre ignorance sur l'histoire de France.
La corse n'a pas été volée , elle a été vendue par les gênois .
@@AdamFR9075 Before insulting, first go study history. Corsica was taken by force by the French after several battles against the Republic of Corsica. The Corsicans also did not want to be under the rule of Genoa, which sold its claim to the French because it was unable to dominate it. As with Alsace, the French took advantage of an Italy divided into small states without strength to conquer a territory that did not belong to them, where Italians, who spoke Italian, lived.
@@coztarcan2174
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
We know that it was in 1768 that Corsica was ceded by treaty to France. But, in 1789, when the Revolution broke out, it was the Corsican people who chose to be part of the “French empire”
Source : l'histoire .fr
Un conseil , ne raconte pas des bêtises 😂
@@coztarcan2174
Au lieu de faire le malin , va toi d'abord étudier bien l'Histoire
*We know that it was in 1768 that Corsica was ceded by treaty to France. But, in 1789, when the Revolution broke out, it was the Corsican people who chose to be part of the “French empire”*
Source: l'histoire. fr
Parler de l'Italie à cette époque c'est une connerie sans nom , car l'Italie en tant que pays unifié n'existe pas à cette époque.
Et pour les alsaciens , ils sont français et ils sont pleinement français et ça devient une insulte pour eux de les attacher à l'Allemagne .
Allez bisous bisous 😘
I noticed French first names and German family names, like Jean Marie Mueller.
The Alsatians spoke Alsatian, which is a Germanic language, a little different from German. In Switzerland, there are French-speakers, German-speakers, Italian-speakers. In Belgium, there are French-speaking, Dutch-speaking and German-speaking.
Yeah, the people are Germans (Germanic) at least the natives are. They have been coerced to forfeit their culture, and language, and adopt that of the French. So it makes sense. In America many people kept their last names and just gave their children American names. Although, also in America many people of German descent changed their last names to not draw attention in times of anti-German sentiment. So Müller became Miller, and Schmidt became Smith.
@@marieadriansen2925 If I am not mistaken, I am no expert, but wouldn't Alsatian be classified as a dialect of German, like Bavarian, or Hessian would be. I do think that there is little difference between a dialect and a language in a lot of cases like between Standard German and Bavarian, Hessian, or Dutch for example. Where Bavarian, and Hessian are classified as dialects, but yet Dutch which is probably just as different is classified as its own language.
In Switzerland there is four language groups. There is Italian, German which is the largest, there is French, but there is also Romansch which is a dying, and endangered language. There is many countries with different languages based on region. The Ukraine was an example where most of the nation spoke Ukrainian but the border regions, and Crimea spoke Russian. In the Netherlands in the border regions with Germany northern German dialects are spoken, etc.
Unbearable AI narration
Dans ma famille la plupart des patronymes sont allemands (Muller, Walter, Ebel, Minck, Schmitt...). Les anciens sont bilingues français-dialecte germanique: dialecte alémanique (Bas-Rhin) ou francique rhénan (Moselle) mais les moins de cinquante ans sont de langue maternelle française. L' école donne des cours d'allemand précoce aux petits-enfants (comme pour le breton en Bretagne) mais ça ne fera pas revenir la langue traditionnelle dans ses usages quotidiens comme c'était le cas dans ma jeunesse, il y a plus d'un demi-siècle. Essayez pour voir de parler alsacien dans les magasins à Strasbourg ou le lothringer-platt à Sarreguemines. C'est dommage. Awer do kenne mir nix mache! 😥
Oh, das verstehe ich.....den dialekt.....is och ejal! Det is berlinerisch.....hihi. Bon!
It's French now and in a short while the German heritage will be just history.But this happened and still happening to a lot of European regions.
As a Frence, not very German at all. Most young people don't speak German.
@@cegesh1459 les gens dans les commentaires se prennent pour des historiens et commencent à dire n'importe quoi 😂
Il en y a qui ont le culot de parler au nom des alsaciens également et décider à leur place qui ils sont et à qui ils doivent appartenir 😂
@@AdamFR9075 Il y a surtout une différence entre être Germanique d'origine, et être Allemand dans le sens moderne. Je ne crois pas qu'un Danois, ou un Neerlandais serait très content d'être appelé "Allemand" sous prétexte d'être Germaniques.
@@tibsky1396
Exactement
Par exemple les premiers roi de France était des francs , un peuple germanique
Est ce que ça veut dire qu'ils étaient allemands ?
Pas du tout .!!!!!
@@tibsky1396 En revanche, les groupes ethniques de toutes origines vivant en France doivent se laisser appeler « Français ». Peu importe qu'ils soient bretons, corses, basques, flamands, catalans, italiens ou allemands.
@@tibsky1396 Quand même l'alsacien est un dialecte de l'allemand. Je suis de l'Allemagne du nord et je comprend l'alsacien parfaitement (ou disons, pas plus mal que les dialectes du Baden-Württemberg, et mieux que l'allemand suisse). Le fait que en France aujourd'hui on appelle l'alsacien une langue est surtout à cause de la politique.
Not the Alsace I lived in. Almost completely French speaking. German use was largely taboo after the abuses and shame of the Third Reich.
Where did you live and how long ago? My family is still there.
Oh stop....see today 😭
Charlemagne's three grandsons divvied up his empire. What are now France and Germany grew out of the western and eastern thirds. The middle third included the Low Countries and Burgundy. France and Germany, long bitter enemies, are cousins who had a falling out.
For an interesting historical vignette, watch the World War One movie The Blue Max, and look closely at the image of the medal in the opening credits. This German military decoration bears the French-language legend "Pour Le Merite."
Alsace doesn't speak German nor learn especialy German at school - I mean it's not mandatory.
Alsacians speak a dialect called Alsatian, which is hard to understand to German people.
As a proof, when Hitler annexed Alsace in 1940, he let 6 months to Alsacians to learn German...
It is not hard to understand at all.....wake up
Skip to for an actual answer to the title question: 04:47
Somethings like town names are mostly German, lots of tall, blonde, blue eyed people around, but the music, food, and language is all French. That's what I noticed when I visited Strasbourg many years ago, anyway...
town names and last names of the people; further more, when they are among them, they speak german not french !
You also have Blonde, Blue eyed people in all of France.
I went to alsace no more blondes or Blues eyes or tallers people than others french régions
It is a complet non sens
The town names are in Alsatian, not in German. The Alsatians did not speak German but Alsatian. The people of Alsace and Lorraine wanted and still want to remain French, they feel French in their hearts. they suffered from being annexed to Germany during the war. In the northern half of France, not only in Alsace and Lorraine, there are more blondes.
@@marieadriansen2925 ahhhhh ok, so the bavarians don´t speak german, they speak bavarian; the swabians don´t speak german, they speak swabian, the francs don´t speak german they speak franconian, the saxons don´t speak german, they speak saxon, the berliners don´t speak german they speak berlinerish....etc. etc. etc....please think before writing such a nonsense !
It is a great tragedy for the world that the Habsburg dynasty failed to unite Germany. They were much less militaristic, and they fully supported French rule in Alsace-Lorraine after 1814.
I understand the family of Captain Drefus was from Alsace-Lorraine, which gave a further reason to doubt his loyalty.
My great grandmother was born in Metz, her parents were Germans from Baden Baden.
They are Frenchified Germans, and it makes for a nice part of Europe too, best of two cultures.
All of this is why I always give it to Luxemburg in strategy games, also because it's looks better and it's keeps the two from getting in war.
I was born in Colmar, Middle Alsace, from Alsatian-Jewish parents. We're French through and through! Both my Grandfathers fought WWI in the Kayser's armies, on the Eastern front because the Germans weren't daft enough to send them to the Western one, where they would have been forced to kill family members fighting on the French side. Instead, they were tasked to kill Russian Empire coreligionists. Both came back, with immense sadness, disgust, and PTSD. While my maternal Granddad was busy machine-gunning Russian-uniformed Yiddish speakers in the Mazurian Marshes, my Grandma was in the Alsatian underground teaching French language: the Alsatian population always felt French, the German-imperial rule, while not exceedingly tyrannical, was uniformly despised, and France never lost the political high ground in the region.
Despised.....ok, that was nice......but I don't think so......whatever
The wisdom of the annexation by the German Empire in 1871 has been a central theme of much that was to come later. Bismarck was originally opposed to the idea on the grounds that it would guarantee French enmity. He wanted more of a settlement similar to the one with Austria in 1866. It was Moltke and the Prussian General Staff that pushed hard for the secession. Taking a very narrow military view, they wanted a buffer region on the far side of the left bank of the Rhine to protect Germany in any future war with France. The Kaiser sides with Moltke. The nationalist aspect is overplayed I think, at least from the German side. The very way Germany treated the region, ‘Imperial Territory’ status rather than a state, continuation of trade barriers between the territory and the rest of the German Empire, and a special Alsace-Lorraine citizenship.
the king of Prussia was a man of extremely low intellect, like his father. But Germans were forced to call him "the pride of humanity". He was also cold-blooded and reactionary. He showed little mercy towards defenceless people, like the people of Strasbourg in 1870 and people of Berlin in 1848.
Delacroix's painting is from a different French revolution. 1830.
During World War I, the British Kennel Club officially changed the breed name of German Shepherd Dogs to Alsatian Dogs. [Even though the breed originated near the Black Forest.] In the United Satates, with an already large percentage of German immigrants, the name never changed. The Brits have since changed the breed name back to the original.
England never liked us ....yellous
@@dagmarvandoren9364 Even though King Charles III is ancestrally German. During the Great War, the Royal Family changed their name from Saxe-Coburg und Gotha to Windsor. I don't think they'll change it back..
One of Peugeots most important factories is in this area, the germanic influence did wonders to the otherwise lousy manufacturing quality
NOPE! the historic headquarters of Peugeot is in Sochaux in Franche-Comté.
Sochaux is located in the Elzas
maps.app.goo.gl/YgfrwM2yMLNCUtma6
@@Martin-oy2cw to my knowledge the only car manufacturer established in Alsace is Bugatti founded by an Italian immigrant...
When Peugeot bought Opel-Vauxhall in 2017 the brand has been in deficit for the past 10 years. In 2018, one year after, Opel was profitable. Michael Lohscheller, Managing Director of Opel GmbH: "When we compared the production costs per car at Opel and Peugeot we realized that we were really bad: ours were sometimes twice as high." Frédéric Laganier, director of industrial strategy at PSA: "The organization has been completely revised with the creation of clusters which bring together factories by type of product. In the GM era, Opel used ten engine families, compared to four now. Opel used nine different platforms (chassis and running gear), almost one per model. Today, there are only two, shared with the brands of Peugeot.... There were 26 different steering wheel finishes for the Insignia sedan. Opel now only offers nine. And, like at PSA, it has narrowed its range to focus on the most popular models."
Peugeot saved Opel-Vauxhall from oblivion.
I don't know anything about the quality of French cars but in the US German cars are perceived as quality and a sign of luxury but everyone who's ever owned one has complained about how expensive maintenance is and how unreliable the cars are.
some of my ancestors are from lorraine.
Seems very French to sneak it away from HRE and then state that it’s always been French.
Seems very German to think it is their destiny to expand towards the East.
You ought to mention that, even though Alsace was conquered by Louis the XIV in the 17th century, Lorraine was only annexed to France in 1766. And unlike Alsace, which was unquestionably German ethnically, only half of Lorraine was Germen-speaking even then. The hyphenated term Alsace-Lorraine only came into use following the 1870-71 war, to denote the territory conquered by Germany then, which consisted of all of Alsace and only half of Lorraine, including the important city of Metz but not the traditional capital Nancy.
Alsatians are distinctly both Latin and Germanic, as a language and ethnic group. They would be considered politically French, culturally a distinct Germanic speaking ethnic group coming from both Germanic and Latin backgrounds. I don't think Alsatians are truly Germans, but nor are they ethnically and culturally French, they're neither one, they're Alsatian. (politically French)
German* not Germanic !!!!! you bastard
The Alsatians were just as German as the other Alemanni east of the Rhine and in Switzerland.
They have now been Frenchized and no longer belong to German culture.
On a map you can easily find which villages originally had German names, although the official spelling has since been converted to French.
Place names ending in -ange or -willer/-viller are initially German. And also any settlement whose name contains a K or a W, since the French language does not use these letters. North of Metz there is even a creek called Nied, which has two tributaries. The western one is called Nied Française, the eastern one Nied Allemande. So even the French admit that this creek should be German.
By the way: Many Alsatians cross the Rhine for work, because on the German side of the Rhine, Baden is one of the most prosperous regions in the country. This cannot really be said for the French side of the Rhine.
@@thkempe False.
The Triboci are the original group from there, they're considered Gauls. (Gaul = France) The second group is Julius Caesar.
Alemanii are from further East.
@@JohnDove-d8d In the 9th century AD, the Triboci were long forgotten when the Frankish Empire was divided into a French and a German part. Nobody spoke a Gaulish language anymore. They spoke either a very late Vulgar Latin or a Germanic dialect.
Furthermore, Gaul is not identical to France. Herodotus tells us that the source of the river Istros (= Danube) is located in the land of the Celts. This is east of the Rhine and undoubtedly in Germany. The modern Germans have Celtic ancestors, too.
The Alsatian dialect, like Badish, Swabian and Swiss German, belongs to the Alemannic German dialect group. Thus, the Alsatians were clearly German when the French King Louis XIV conquered the region.
@@thkempe That's an intentional distortion of events.
The region was originally populated by the *Triboci* , a *Gallic* or *Gaulish* people, until the era of *Julius Caesar* when those people were latinized. During which time, they spoke Roman Latin, and even their Alemaniic and Frankish descendants which intermarried with these people over time, spoke the post-Roman *Vulgar Latin* of the medieval era.
Alsace, as a Duchy, was part of *Carolingian* and *Merovingian* eras of history. During which time, they clearly spoke the Germanicized Vulgar Latin dialect which is the precursor to the French language. Which remained to be predominantly the case until the 18th century, when the majority of the German developers of the Alsatian speak had *moved into Alsace from other parts of Germanic speaking countries* such as those that you mentioned. During this time, the fusion of French and Alemaniic resulted in Alsatian, a Latin influenced Alemaniic, but this is a recent development.
This AI voice is terrible, I had to stop listening. I should have stopped at “King Lewis”
Living along the border I can say that the rural areas are getting more german and in school around 1/3 of my class where from Alsace. The french government is not developing the region at all, leading to crime and depopulation. They have ethnically cleanesed the region over centuries by now, by restricting access to language classes and investment. The german youth is moving to germany as it is as easy as ever and If I go over there to get groceries people will understand the allemanian dialect tho.
Ethnically cleansed? Do you realize what you are currently saying?
You are completely out of mind man. 😂
I lived in Alsace my whole life and this guy is just wrong
@@pierre-armandbarbieri2908 when you are more likely to meet Algerians or Moroccans in Strasbourg than Alemannic Alsacians, than something has happened demographically.
What a load of rubbish……my god !!!
The astonishing thing in Alsace is that people, young people, do not speak alsacian any more.
I remember in 1981 getting off the train in Colmar, scores of older people were speaking the local dialect.
Young locals don’t even speak German.
As to ethnic cleansing in Alsace and Lottringen for that matter, this is pure madness
Incredible! I didn't know that history has always been 'changeable'. 🤣
So you thought every historians and all consumers of the 😊history that they present, are all firmly committed to the truth no matter who may be presented in a bad light, no matter the tedium or the discomfort?
Does anyone think the Alsace-Lorraine centuries-old dispute is really and truly over? The only true solution would be for Alsace-Lorraine to become an independent nation. That way, neither France nor Germany owns it.
We have the same problem. Portugal owned CEUTA anda OLIVENÇA but today they're sapanish territory instead of portuguese.
Croyez moi , j'habite en Alsace
Et aucun alsacien ne sent allemand et ne veut être attaché à l'Allemagne .
Les alsaciens se sentent pleinement français et veulent être attachés à la France définitivement .
La france a bien eu ce qu'elle veut débochiser une terre allemande et y prendre son or germanique :/
Oh, tres gentile....Vous n aime pas allemande? Je suis allemande .....domage...... frieden. Bitte.......pas la guere
@@dagmarvandoren9364
Est ce que j'ai dit que nous les français , on n'aime pas les allemands dans mon commentaire ?
Non
J'ai dit tout simplement qu'il faut arrêter d'assimiler les Alsaciens aux Allemands et à l'Allemagne .
C'est vraiment une offense pour eux et c'est très irrespectueux, surtout que les Alsaciens sont les français les plus patriotiques de toute la France !
J'ai pas manqué du respect aux Allemands .
Mais apparemment beaucoup manquent du respect aux alsaciens il me semble !
Les ancêtres des alsaciens se sont sacrifiés pour la France et pour rester français ,donc s'il vous plaît un peu de respect !
Now that France and Germany are in the European Union, what role does it play if Alsace or Mosel belong to one or the other country? No role at all. Then, why not hand over those regions to Germany, where they belong culturally? Today, they are subject in France to specific regulations inherited from the German Empire, one more sign that those regions are not historically French, even if the French authorities managed to successfully replace the original population with imported groups.
Bruh bro really thinks alsace Moselle ever wanted to be german
The French are salty soy boys who can't loose land
Tell that to the Alsaciens! See how they react!!!!!
@@chrigaud
Dire à un alsacien qu'il est allemand
C'est comme dire à un mahorais qu'il est Comorien
Ou à un corse , italien !
Pour les Alsaciens c'est littéralement une insulte et une offense pour eux de les assimiler aux Allemands ,
Les Alsaciens sont définitivement français en âme et en cœur .
Comprenez ça par pitié .
@@soppal_1697 I had family that stayed there before the war. German villages and they spoke a German dialect. When the French returned in 1945 anyone they suspected of being “pro German” had to leave. If Germany had won the war Alsace would have been part of Germany, much like the Saarland story but the French didn’t hold it long enough to rewrite history. PS: anyone who writes “Bruh bro” should really return to school.
I have often wondered how German and/or French the provinces were. Like, if they had a plebiscite, who would have won.
In small villages of the Vogezen, the mountains, many still speak a german dialect.
@@henkvandervossen6616even by speaking german we fell french
@@soppal_1697that is ok, why not.
@@marieadriansen2925 the french coping and calling their imperialism something else is always funny
@@marieadriansen2925 no one with a brain is arguing for france ceding the territory to germany lmao, doesn't change that alsatian is a german dialect and the scientific consesus supports this fact
but go on argue against the whole scientific community to cope with the fact that france conquered a foreign people with the conquest of alsace lorraine in the 17th century - or just accept a historic fact, it's not like it would change anything at all
france and germany are brothers now and all this nationalistic denial of reality only serves to harm the relationship and helps people like nazis to try and destroy the friendship that replaced the rivalry
We are not in 1870, we are not in 1914 and even less in 1939. It’s time to realize this so please stop with the historically absurd and even racists comments.
What racists comments?
To know nothing of history is like a child walking upon the earth -Cicero I believe
My Father's side of the family came from this area
same - the southern part
It really is a shame Alsace wasn’t made independent in 1871 or 1918, it would’ve been right at home along side the neutral Benelux
Yeah right. Actually, Alsace missed the opportunity to join the Helvetic Confederation, and although this was never offered by the latter, becoming a couple of Swiss Cantons would have made the Alsatians considerably richer...
Elsaß-Lothringen ❤️
I worked with a lady from Lorraine, she got very cross with me when I jokingly suggested she was German. Whoops.
So new hate ...what a shame. Wonder who starts this
@@dagmarvandoren9364 No hate, in fact we got on very well with each other, she would call me all sorts of names because I was English and a male. In banter we had I would respond regarding her nationality. That day I did say something wrong, and I immediately apologised. Apology accepted and at the end of the shift she done her customary cuddle before departing home.
@@clivemortimore8203 na toll. Frieden
No human being speaks of the year 1949, to give one example from the narration, as one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine. I guess we are not worthy of having a human narrator.
Alscessions are the people of these area
I hate these AI channels
He stole it from the german Channel "Clever Camel"
They’re bilingual… French and German ( German dialect = ELSACE GERMAN ) ,
Alors c'est une région pour france!?
Pierre butzbach
Oh Hecker, why didn't you succeed in 1848? Why?
Bullshit. You forget an important period. The Verdun Treaty period where it was part of the Lotharinging kingdom.
Alsace and a part of Moselle did not speak French, like Brittany, Roussillon, Basque region, Lille region, Nice region, Corsica and a good half of south of France. So what? Still, they feel and are French since ages in fact. That is the way it is, through wars or politics. Who cares now. If people don't want to speak Alsacian, Breton, Catalan, Basque, Flemish, Occitan or Corsican, it is their choice (but yes, French language has killed these regional tongues). The number one problem in France today (and Europe) is Islam which is an ideology, not a religion. So please folks, stop your blahblah on these are Celts, or these are Germanic, or these are what God knows and see and fight the real danger !
Elsaß und Lotringen are German lands!
The involvement of the Alsatians in the Revolution and the process after sealed their attachment to the French Republic, before an unified Germany as a Geo-political force was even a thing.
Many Slavic people could argue that Brandenburg and Saxony are Slavic lands.
And Cologne ( Köln ) is Roman, ha ! ha !.
A proof of Alsace not having a German culture today can be found also within simple things. Walk on the streets of Strasbourg, for instance, look at the shops or notice boards glued on the walls, etc. ALL of them are in French, extremely few also have German translations. However, crossing the Rhine into Kehl, almost every shop has bilingual information, the electronic registers also display the welcome in French and so on. The conclusions are yours to take.
Its a city, but now go to the towns and youll see they are german, 1/3 of my grade in school was from alsace, cuz the schools in alsace are not allowed to teach german more than one hour a week and the region is getting no investment, except Straßbourg, because it is the french outpost in alsace.
@@lecrabesavant4435 My coworkers and classmates told me otherwise. They are all from near the Taubergießen and say the schools over there are horrible thats why they went to the Heimschule which has over 2000 students cuz it has a dorms attached where you can live during buissness days. Just that my small town has two gymnasiums and is still bloated with students speaks a lot in my opinion and that so many germans from alsace go to german schools... over there are no jobs, even during my holiday jobs in school in the europapark I constantly heard alsace dialect.
Our experiences may differ, but it does not make my wrong.
@@lecrabesavant4435 Idk when you can take those courses, but elementary education in german is bad and it gets worse in higher grades as I was told.
I live in the Thur Valley, and the names of the streets are written in French AND in Alsatian. Not standard German indeed, but Alsatian. Seems all the Germans who comment here only know the towns (Strasbourg, Colmar, and the horrible Mulhouse), and never put a single foot in rural Alsace.
@@ME-eu9sf well, i am not German (not 100% at least) and visiting villages is a luxury due to lack of time, however i will do this as well at some point or another.
Coming back to your reply, the topic is about German culture remnants, not Alsacian ones. In Strasbourg there are street names in French and Alsacian, but I didn't mention this as I tried to follow the question of the topic. In my initial months of living here i thought using German in shops would be a breeze. Can't be further from the real situation, only older sales persons know it and speak it in the city. They might speak more downtown due to the tourists flow but I didn't visit those shops so much and when I did I was with non-German speakers and I used English...as far as that one gets you in most cases ^^
Ve vill get zit bak one day!
Marriage
Alsace is occupied territory.
Germany forget Alsace . Your problems have just started .
we have problems, please elaborate.....
still, this area belongs to Germany, no, I am not german
The region has been successfully ethnically cleansed by the French regime, but does that justify the occupation? I understand that population structure can change over time, but this regions history and culture is clearly germanic, you notice that with the traditional architecture and dialects.
@@cristivali5787 les Alsaciens ne veulent pas et veulent être français.
Et l'Alsace est d'origine germanique pas allemande .
It literally belongs to France.
In Switzerland, there are French-speakers, German-speakers, Italian-speakers. In Belgium, there are French-speaking, Dutch-speaking and German-speaking. The Alsatians spoke Alsatian, which is a Germanic language, a little different from German. There are German speakers in the north of Italy.
@@cristivali5787
This area belong to France
So shut your mouthe and don't speak in the name of alsatiens again .
Rude
Isn't AI wonderful! Gag city
Nie, to jest AI
Ale dość fajne
The AI generated vice is unbearable. Use a human being.
AI generated video
Ai trash
It's not the history that changable. It's the relationship. Invest in learning englishes.
Warum?
This territory belongs to France, because it was historically part of Gaul, not Germania. When Louis XIV annexed it, he recovered it and extended his kingdom to its natural border, the Rhine.
This is not a valid explanation! You have a biased and chauviniste vison! For example, Basel in on the Rhine and speaks German.
By that sort of reasoning, the whole left Bank of the Rhine, including Cologne, ought to belong to France. And the Revolutionary Government did conquer and annex it; but after Napoleon's fall, it was definitively given to Prussia. Following both World Wars, France tried to re-gain Saar, but the inhabitants soundly rejected the idea as soon as they were given a choice (1934, 1957).
L'ironie du sort c'est que La France qui était la 2ième puissance Coloniale a perdu toutes ses colonies car elle était obsédé par ces 2 territoires et a gaspillé tant de ressources et d'hommes pour les récupérer. La rancune a un prix !!! Bof!! Regardez la Russie et l'Ukraine. On verra si la Chine va profiter.
France did not start WW1 to recover these 2 regions, France had to fight because it was attacked by Germany.
As to the price of resentment, tell that to the Prussians. They were the most Francophobic people in Europe and deliberately fanned the flames of hatred to keep the German people united behind the emperor. Austria, Russia and Spain suffered more than Prussia in the Napoleonic war, yet all 3 countries quickly reconciled with France, unlike angry Prussia. Resentment has a price. Who owes East Prussia now? Who owes Silesia now? Who owes most of Pomerania now? The Prussian royals and nobles were expropriated by the Soviets in 1945.
France did not win WW I. Germany only agreed to a cease fire!
Good news Dummkopf ! Your proctologist called, they found your head. Now you might be able to hear about the Treaty Of Versailles.
Au contraire. Look up Treaty of Versailles.
The Second German Reich surrendered, refer to the Treaty of Versailles.
Vive la Rhenanie francais !
The Rhinelanders provided most of the teachers to brainwash the students of Alsace-Lorraine, who taught them to love and worship the Prussian Kaisers, who taught them to admire the military exploits of Wilhelm 1 (who was responsible for the bombing of Strasbourg) ! The Rhinelanders grovelled before the Kaiser, they were not the friends of France. So forget about them, they are NOT worth it.
A deep insulte is to pronounce Metz « m-e-t-ss », which is the fuckin’ german pronunciation, rather than « m-e-s-s » (like « mess ») which is the french and right one
don't blame a machine
Spam trash