Return of Alsace to France, 1918-1939

In 1918, the end of the First World War triggered the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France after almost fifty years of annexation into the German Empire. Enthusiastic crowds in Paris and Alsace celebrated the return of the ''lost provinces,'' but return proved far more difficult than expected. Over the following two decades, politicians, administrators, industrialists, cultural elites, and othe...