Can you tell me about the history of Alsace?

Question

Was it ever a part of Germany?

Answer 1

Yes, Alsace was part of Germany several times.

Please read the following links for more details:

http://www.tourisme-alsace.com/en/alsace...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The history of Alsace, and Rhine River History, is well documented to 58 BC and the Celts.  Through the centuries it has been the object of multiple invasions by a succession of Germanic tribes.   During the 5th century, the Alemanni tribe successfully invaded the region.  In 496, the Merovingien Franks, under Clovis I, conquered the Alemanni, making Alsace a Frankish duchy.    

During the decline of the Merovingien Dynasty, the area that resembles that of today’s départements of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin was taken.

In 842 AD the Strasbourg Oath, an accord written in Romance (a French language forerunner) and Teutonic (old German), created the Treaty of Verdun.  This became the basis, some time after Charlemagne's death, for dividing his Holy Roman Empire among the three sons of Louis I  [See: Holy Roman Empire Timeline, some of the Holy Roman Empire's Emperors and the Map of the Holy Roman Empire.]

In 843, Alsace was integrated into Lothair’s kingdom of Lotharingia with other German territories belonging to the Carolingians and was Christianized.  From the Treaty of Mersen, in 870, to the 17th century, it was ruled by Holy Roman Empire Emperors, becoming part of the duchy of Swabia [Alemannia] when Charles the Bald and Louis the German divided Lotharingia.  The ten major cities of Alsace then flourished, under the sponsorship of the Holy Roman emperors, as free imperial cities.

In the medieval period, Colmar, Haguenau and Strasbourg took on greater importance and became free imperial cities.  During the Reformation, Strasbourg became the center of Alsatian Protestantism.  The attempts, by the Catholic Habsburgs to eradicate the heresy, only served to make the Protestants more resolute.

During the Wars of Religion, of the late 16th century, French influence in the region grew.  With the Thirty Years’ War, Alsatian cities appealed to the French crown to aid against the Catholics.  In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia made Alsace an informal French protectorate  and then a French province.  In 1681, under Louis XIV, the French occupied Strasbourg and took complete control of Alsace.  By the beginning of the French Revolution, Alsace had been completely incorporated into France by its division into the two départements of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin in 1789.  

Between the years 1815 and 1870 the ties between Alsace and the rest of France were tightened through the establishment of universal suffrage in 1848 and the building of the railroads.  But, France’s defeat, at the hands of the Germans in 1871, removed Alsace and part of Lorraine, from the French map, annexing it to Germany until 1918.  

In 1940, the German Blitz outflanked the French fortifications along the Maginot Line.  Under the armistice of 1940, Germany again occupied Alsace.  France regained her lost provinces following the Allied victory in World War II.

One-third of Alsace’s population lives in Colmar, Mulhouse and Strasbourg.    

This is the region of viticulture and the production of such wines as Auxerrois, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pino Gris, Muscat Ottonel, Riesling and Sylvaner.