Alsace–Lorraine instance of administrative territorial entity
"If Alsace and Lorraine are taken, then France will later make war on Germany in conjunction with Russia. It is unnecessary to go into the unholy consequences."Bismarck and the South German industrialists proposed to have Alsace ceded to Switzerland, while Switzerland would compensate Germany with another territory. The Swiss rejected the proposal, preferring to remain neutral between the French and Germans.The German Emperor, Wilhelm I, eventually sided with army commander Helmuth von Moltke, other Prussian generals and other officials who argued that a westward shift in the French border was necessary for strategic military and ethnographic reasons. From a linguistic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. At the time, ethnic identity was often based primarily on language, unlike the more multifaceted approach focusing on self identification in use today. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting the frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks. Due to the annexation, the Germans gained control of the fortifications of  Metz and Strasbourg (Straßburg) on the left bank of the Rhine and most of the iron resources of Lorraine.
On 28 June 1871, the territories Germany just annexed from France became an imperial territory. Creating a new Imperial Territory (Reichsland) out of formerly French territory would achieve this goal: Although a Reichsland would not technically be part of the Kingdom of Prussia, being governed directly by the Empire (headed by the King of Prussia as Emperor, and the minister-president of Prussia as Imperial Chancellor) would in practical terms amount to the same thing. Thus, by annexing Alsace–Lorraine, Berlin was able to avoid complications with Baden and Bavaria on matters such as new fortifications."May it please the Reichstag to decide that the populations of Alsace–Lorraine that were annexed, without having been consulted, to the German Reich by the treaty of Frankfurt be asked to adjudicate on this annexation."The abusive and oppressive behaviour by the German military towards the population of the town of Saverne (the Saverne Affair, usually known in English-language accounts as the Zabern Affair) led to protests not just in Alsace, but in other regions, which put a severe strain on the relationship between the people of Alsace–Lorraine and the rest of the German Empire.
Under the German Empire of 1871–1918, the annexed territory constituted the Reichsland or Imperial Territory of Elsaß–Lothringen (German for Alsace–Lorraine). The area was administered directly from Berlin, but was granted limited autonomy in 1911. This included its constitution and state assembly, its own flag, and the Elsässisches Fahnenlied ("Alsatian Flag Song") as its anthem.
type of example of manifestation of representation of