HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

A major witness to our European history

Alsace and the Rhine region at the heart of European issues

Torn between two political entities resulting from the division of the Carolingian Empire, Alsace gradually became a political issue with the French annexation of 1643 and the rise of nationalism after the French Revolution. The totally divergent political evolutions of the two countries and Germany’s aspiration for unification led to the three modern wars, which were internationalized by the interplay of alliances and colonial empires.
The Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II in Mutzig, whose construction began in 1893, is an absolutely key witness to the inexorable spiral that led to the First World War. The first concrete, armored and electrified fortification, it was to become the largest and most powerful fortification built before the war. Designed to protect the southern flank of the future Schlieffen offensive, it would protect Alsace from terrible destruction and have a massive impact on French staff plans.