Detail from Cram's 1903 Railway Map of the German Empire with the states of the Empire: Elsass and Lothringen, or Alsace and Lorraine, the regions taken from France after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
Alsace and Lorraine were part of eastern France seized by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 to become the the Imperial Territory of Elsaß-Lothringen. Revanchism — revenge — and the return of the lost territories was a central part of French politics until they were re-integrated in 1918.The French Army went to war in 1914 guided by its Plan XVII, attacking along the Franco-German border. German military planners had correctly anticipated the attack. In the Battle of the Frontiers, the French advanced, then were driven back to a line from Verdun south to the Swiss border. Compared to the front westward from Verdun then north to the Channel coast, Alsace was relatively quiet after the battles of 1914.
Alsace-Lorraine is a region in Germany.
