The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1914-09-02
AIsace-Lorraine and the
Buffer States
HAVE HAD TROUBLED HISTORY
A Contest That Has Lasted
More Than 1000 Years
Many Changes.
TBE WAX oF THREE BEOTHEEs

r-rz more l- ne -lE Cg-llGl 49,
rhe Frsreh zn1 Gs--1zrs are tat
tlfrz ID Alszee z1d Lorraine. bu9e'
ststes and prizes q var. for mors
rhz. thousand yezrs- Alzos'
Zines nit1oat number. since ths
rear $40 4. D.. the p~oDle % raz-
is now Germany and France have
fOuKht Tor the possession q Alsscs
AID Lorraine. that territory ehz-z-
fag from one fzz 70 another with
Astonishing fregue-cy-
TIE history Of France and Ger
mary. a. separate nations. begins n
s45. 1919 yesrs ago. and the his
tor - The wOes and tribulztiOns o.
llszce ana Lorraine - the bone q
ao1tentiou between the tEO. and -
oonq1ered hrEt b. the one and then
~ the other. began sOon after that
same year 50
Tie present campaign that Franc
= Fzginz against the Germans in
Aizzes IL therefore only the eOniinu-
zti0n % = struggle over .ee0 years
Old. The facts Of geographical po-
sitlon have created the problem
It IL problem which sill remain
uusOlyed and unsOlrzole a. long As
the Rhine Hoxs and the yosges
mountains stssd- France says that
the Rhine j. her true Eastern from
tier. Germany says that the frontier
lies beside the mountains
Ii wzs 10 80 that the three
zrzndsons Of Chsrlemzgne. lighting
among themselves. decided 70 end
the controversy b. dividing their
grandfather possessions among
themselves. They acted on the an
Gent DrinsipIe that the lands and
the people dwelling upon them. till
Ing the soil in peace and fighting the
battles In var. were the private
property % The sovereign. ruling by
the divine rights OF kings" Charlie
msgne had ruled all Of Europe
as one united government. with the
exception alone Of the private pos
sessions Of the Pope of Italy. His
capital was a. Aachen. the AK la
ChaDelle Of modern times. which is
now possession Of Prussia.
Charlemagne's son. Louis la
DebOnair, was too weak TO hold to-
gether such Heterogeneous empire OF
peoples Of different race and temp
erament, and speaking different ton
CUES, their only bond being an official
religion. that OF their sovereign. and
a common government. He was too
weak even 10 rule in his own family,
and long before his death his three
sons were quarreling over their pros
pectiye Inheritance. The one who
was the strongest. called Louis. the
German, had the first choice in the
division, and he took Northern Eu-
rope and became King OF the Ger
mans. The second brother. Charles
the Bold, took Southwestern Esrope
and became the King OF the Franks.
In the main, the descendants OF the
people OF these two kingdoms are
the Germans and French OF to-day.
These two brothers took land
which formed compact whole and
which could easily be defended. The
people OF Louis all spoke one Ian
guage. and the people OF Charles,
now the French. all spoke another.
The third brother. Lothair, the
weakest, had 10 take what was left
Of his fathers empire That includ-
ed what is now Holland. Belgium,
Luxembourg. Alsace. Lorraine and a
strip OF Northern Italy. IL was peo-
pied by many different nationalities.
II could not be easily defended, be-
cause the Alps broke IL into two
parts. aud the narrow strip along the
Rhine, from the Alps TO the North
Sea, which kept the possessions OF
Louis from touching those of
Charles, was too great prize not
TO be coveted by both the stronger
brothers, and thsy soon began TO
fight one another about IL. each TO
take IL away from Lothair. Thus
the troubles Of the bsfter States be-
gan.
The mountaineers OF Switzerland
wrested themselves free from 10th
airs Kingdom in the thirteenth CEN
fury and have been a republic ever
since. The people OF Holland gained
their independence under the lead |
ership Of William OF Orange in 164S,
but the successors of Charles the |
Bold, ruling IN France. conquered
Them later. and II was not until 1916
that they were free again. Belgium
then formed part Of Holland. but
The combined countries were too