AlsaceLorraine Under German Rule Author:Charles Downer Hazen General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1917 Original Publisher: H. Holt and Company Subjects: Alsace-Lorraine question History / Europe / France History / Europe / Germany Political Science / General Political Science / Government / International Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the origina... more »l. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III WHY GERMANY ANNEXED ALSACE- LORRAINE "let us take, after that we shall always find lawyers enough to defend our rights," said Frederick the Great, with his customary frankness and cynicism. Frederick is the greatest national hero of Germany. But in the case of Alsace-Lorraine the procedure followed was not quite that used in the seizure of Silesia. In this instance jurists, professors, editors, statesmen, warriors, even scientists were prolific in finding reasons for the act before it was committed, and they have been prolific since, despite the official dictum that since 1871 there has been nothing to discuss. Let us examine these German apologetics for this famous achievement. Ethnology has been invoked, and that too in no intentional spirit of humor or persiflage. Skulls found in the gravel deposits of Alsace and Lorraine are of the German type, dolichocephalic. Considering the number of invasions from the east to the west which these regions have experienced in the course of the ages, we must admit the fact. In the resolve to show ourselves true scholars, lovers of a somewhat dubious science, we must also note the fact that in the excavations Celtic reminders, brachycephalic in character, are also abundantly discovered. All of which proves, we take it, one well-attested fact of history, that the Germans have frequently emigrated into Alsace, interposing themselves among the pri...« less