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Wars of conquest and changing nationalities
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The frequent wars
under the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the Empire
(1804-1814) resulted in endless troop movements through
the area now covered by the Reserve. Under the French
First Empire, Landau and the cantons north of Lauter were
part of Bas-Rhin County.
Strategic strong-points such as Phalsbourg and Landau
had to defend themselves regularly, in particular in 1814
and 1815. Erckmann and Chatrian's novels give an excellent
idea of life in the area during these troubled times.
Sound the charge!
Given Bismarck's attitude while attempting to unite
the German States under Prussia, and to particular events
linked to the succession to the Spanish throne (a cousin
of the Prussian King was proposed as heir; the French
vetoed this; both sides grew steadily more aggressive)
Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870.
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French helmet - Woerth Museum,
© Yvon Meyer |
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Initially a Franco-Prussian war the other German States
immediately rallied the Prussian cause, and fighting broke
out on 4 August 1870 with a French defeat near Wissembourg.
Mac Mahon, commander of the French troops, withdrew to
Froeschwiller. There, a terrible, very bloody battle took
place two days later, on 6 August 1870, in the area lying
between Woerth, Froeschwiller and Morsbronn. Known by
the Germans as the Battle of Woerth, it is perhaps more
widely known as the Battle of Reichshoffen after the famous
French charge, and for the town from which the telegram
announcing the French defeat was dispatched.
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Prussian helmet - Woerth Museum,
© Yvon Meyer |
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The French defeat resulted in the Paris Commune uprising
(18 March to 28 May 1871) and the unification of Germany.
In fact King William of Prussia had already been crowned
Emperor of Germany in Versailles on 18 January 1871. Another
consequence was that Alsace-Lorraine became part of the
new German Empire as the Reichsland Alsace-Moselle which
it remained until 1918. A preliminary peace was signed
in Versailles on 1 March 1871, the final agreement in
the Treaty of Frankfurt signed on 10 May 1871.
Although no fighting of any significance took place in
the Reserve during the First World War, the death-toll
amongst soldiers called up from the area was high.
In the inter-war period each country built a long defensive
"wall" to protect itself from the other, the
French building the Maginot Line, named after the French
Minister for War at the time, and the Germans the Westwall.
Traces of these fortifications are still very much part
of the landscape.
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| Fort Schoenenbourg in the Maginot Line - Ingolsheim, © SYCOPARC |
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Wars of conquest and changing nationalities 