Elsagne

In a previous blog, I mentioned the territorial restructuring in France, where the government wants to reduce the number of "regions" from 22 to 13. This should, in principle, economize administrative expenditures.

The "classical" 22 regions in France (©Plavius, Wikipedia)

From the beginning, the formation of a greater Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne region was unpopular. Still, the opposition in neighboring Alsace became virulent when Minister-President Valls said, "There are no Alsatian people; there is only a French nation." Once more in history, the Alsatians saw their identity compromised.

Before the French King Louis XIV occupied Alsace following the Thirty Years' War, the region belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. The inhabitants on the other side of the Rhine River spoke, and some still speak a German dialect, "Do werd noch elsassisch gredd (We still talk Alsatian here)."

Touche pas à l'Alsace (©AFP)

Napoleon could not care less about languages when he recruited some of his best generals (Kellermann, Ney, Scherb, Walther) in Alsace. They were welcome as long as they fenced like the French. 

The situation became stressed after the annexation of the region by the German Reich in 1871, Germany forced its Germanisation. As they freely used their language again, most of the population appreciated the change until the Alsatians noticed they were treated as second-class Germans. 

In the Great War, the Alsatians fought in the German and French armies against each other. After the war, when the French took over Alsace again, their policy was to force the French language and culture. With the reconciliation between France and Germany after the Second World War, the Alsatians started to define their identity as the hinge between the two cultures.

The plan of the Paris administration to throw Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne into one basket was felt by the Alsatians as a slap in the face, in particular since the government did not touch the regional borders of Corsica and Brittany. Ils appellent le rattachement de l'Alsace à la Lorraine et à la Champagne-Ardenne un Anschluss forcé. Would it be better for Alsace, instead of the ménage à trois (love triangle), to be married only to Lorraine, or is this combination a reminiscence of the region's affiliation with the Second Reich?

In the meantime, the Alsatians have abbreviated the name of the new region to Elsagne (Alsagne).

**