dose anybody know why germany wanted to take over alsace-loraine in WWI?

Question

please help me

Answer 1

The short answer is that they wanted it back. They had lost it during a previous war, and considered that the district and culture was German. (Does Strasbourg sound French to you??). Have a look at http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm for some maps of Europe through the wars

Answer 2

The people of Alsace-Lorraine (now in France) speak German as their first language and prefer to speak German than French. During the expansion of the Prussian empire under the leadership of Chancellor Otto von Bismark, between 1850 and 1872, there was a general feeling among German speaking people that they needed to consolidate into one large federal state (empire) to avoid being gobbled up by large countries surrounding them. (This sense of nationalism based on a common language is also what caused Empires like those of Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans to break up as they contained many different linguistic groups)

Alsace-Lorraine, being German speaking, was ceded to Prussia after the Franco-Prussian War of 1872. As stated by another respondent, it contained natural resources of value to an industrialising nation but the inhabitants were also happy to join a German speaking union. At the end of WW1, Germany sued for peace and in the Treaty of Versailles, France took Alsace-Lorraine back. It was and remains unpopular with the inhabitants but with open EU borders it really is no longer so important.

Answer 3

Germany had lost it to France, after having taken it over just before the turn of the century. It contained a lot of France's induustrial facilities, and was heavy in minerals etc. This meant it could vastly improve Germany's industry should factories be manned for Germany and resources taken

Answer 4

They needed Alsatians from Alsace for their concentration camps in World War II.

Answer 5

I do not know.