The Treaty of Frankfurt (french: Traité de Francfort; german: Friede von Frankfurt) was a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...
signed in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
on 10 May 1871, at the end of the
Franco-Prussian War.
Summary
The treaty did the following:
* Established the frontier between the
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 194 ...
and the
German Empire, which involved the ceding of 1,694 French villages and cities to Germany in:
**
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it ha ...
: the French
departments
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...
and
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...
, except for the city of
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terr ...
and its
territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
;
**
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...
: most of the French department of
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
, one-third of the department of
Meurthe, including the cities of
Château-Salins
Château-Salins (; , from 1941–44 ''Salzburgen'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Until 2015, Château-Salins was a subprefecture of the Moselle department.
History
The town is relatively recent. T ...
and
Sarrebourg, and the
cantons Saales and
Schirmeck in the department of
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
.
* Gave residents of the
Alsace-Lorraine region until 1 October 1872 to decide between keeping their French nationality and emigrating, or remaining in the region and becoming German citizens.
* Set a framework for the withdrawal of German troops from certain areas.
* Regulated the payment of France's war
indemnity
In contract law, an indemnity is a contractual obligation of one party (the ''indemnitor'') to compensate the loss incurred by another party (the ''indemnitee'') due to the relevant acts of the indemnitor or any other party. The duty to indemni ...
of five billion francs (due within five years).
* Recognized the acceptance of
Wilhelm I of Prussia
William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the ...
as
German Emperor
The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the off ...
.
* Required military occupation in parts of France until the indemnity was paid (France paid the indemnity quicker than the agreed time).
The treaty also established the terms for the following:
* The use of navigable waterways in connection to Alsace-Lorraine
* Trade between the two countries
* The return of prisoners of war
Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France in the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...
, 1919.
Factors that influenced the boundary
Strategy
The German military spoke up for control of the Alsace region, up to the Vosges (mountain range) and the area between Thionville (Diedenhofen) and Metz as a requirement for the protection of Germany. Most importantly, the German military regarded control of the route between Thionville and Metz as the most important area of control if there were ever to be a
future war with France.
Politics
Without a westward shift in the boundary, the new empire's frontier with France would have been largely divided between the states of
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
whose governments were less than enthusiastic with the prospect of having a vengeful France on their doorstep. It also would have necessitated the stationing of substantial imperial forces within these states' borders, possibly compromising their ability to exercise the considerable autonomy that the southern states were able to maintain in the
unification treaty
Unification or unification theory may refer to:
Computer science
* Unification (computer science), the act of identifying two terms with a suitable substitution
* Graph theory#Subsumption and unification, Unification (graph theory), the comput ...
. A shift in the frontier alleviated these issues.
Nationalism
The new political border largely (though not entirely) followed the linguistic border. The fact that the majority of the population in the new Imperial Territory (''Reichsland'') territory spoke
Germanic dialects
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
, and had previously been a part of the German-focused
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
until they had been gradually obtained by France over the previous two centuries, allowed Berlin to justify the annexation on nationalistic grounds. However, the conquest of French-speaking areas such as the city of
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est ...
sparked outrage in France, and was used as one of the main arguments for French
revanchism
Revanchism (french: revanchisme, from ''revanche'', " revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. As a term, revanchism originated in 1870s F ...
.
Economy
Natural resources in
Alsace-Lorraine (iron ore, and coal) do not appear to have played a role in Germany's fight for the areas annexed. Military annexation was the main stated goal along with unification of the German people.
At the same time, France lost 1,447,000 hectares, 1,694 villages and 1,597,000 inhabitants. It also lost 20% of its mining and steel potential.
The treaty of trade of 1862 with Prussia was not renewed but France granted Germany, for trade and navigation, a
most-favoured nation clause. France would respect the clauses of the Treaty of Frankfurt in their entirety until 1914.
France also had to pay a full payment of 5,000,000,000 francs in gold, with one billion in 1871, before any German forces withdrawal (which occurred in September 1873).
Treaty of Francfort Full Text (fr)
/ref>
Legacy
This treaty polarized French policy towards Germany for the next 40 years. The reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine, the "lost provinces," became an obsession characterized by a revanchism
Revanchism (french: revanchisme, from ''revanche'', " revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. As a term, revanchism originated in 1870s F ...
which would be one of the most powerful motives in France's involvement in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
In 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...
addressed the issue as Point 8 in his Fourteen Points
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace ter ...
speech, expressing the will of the United States to the restitution of the region to France. Thus Alsace-Lorraine returned to the French Republic under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. The Germans accepted to surrender under the term of the American proposal.
Notes
References
*Hartshorne, Richard (Jan, 1950). "The Franco-German Boundary of 1871", World Politics, pp. 209–250.
*Eckhardt, C.C. (May, 1918). "The Alsace-Lorraine Question", The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 431–443.
{{Authority control
1871 in France
1871 in Germany
Franco-Prussian War
Peace treaties of France
History of Frankfurt
History of Alsace
History of Lorraine
Treaties involving territorial changes
1871 treaties
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
France–Germany border
19th century in Frankfurt
May 1871 events