Scottish Geographical Magazine

ISSN: 0036-9225 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsgj19

The problem of Alsace-Lorraine

Marion I. Newbigin D.Sc.

To cite this article: Marion I. Newbigin D.Sc. (1918) The problem of Alsace-Lorraine, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 34:3, 81-90, DOI: 10.1080/14702541808555202

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14702541808555202

Published online: 30 Jan 2008.

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Download by: [University of California, San Diego] Date: 28 June 2016, At: 16:40 THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL

MAGAZINE.

THE PROBLEM OF ALSACE-LORRAINE. ~

By MARION I. NEWBIGIN, D.Se. (With Sketch-Maps.)

IT has, perhaps, b~eome a commonplace--though one which i~ seems worth while to repeat--that the conflagration which has extended to and beyond the confines of the c:,vilised world owed the rapidity of its spread to the pre-existence, in the Europe of peace, of four areas in which passions had been smouldering for years. The flames first leapt up along the belt where Europe proper meets the East in the Balkan Peninsula; but, in Alsace-Lorraine, in the Trentino, in Poland, especially Prussian Poland, human material was already near the ignition point. That the final outburst started from Sarajevo, and not from Zabern, should not blind us to the fact that the latter was al~o a danger point. At pre- sent, though the Balkan conflagration is far from being yet burnt out, it se~ms possible to say that there are indications, if as yet indistinct ones, tha~ it is not beyond human capacity to devise a political scheme which will at least lower the flash-point in future in that still-vexed area. But, it seems almost certain, bearing in mind the difference in social and industrial development between the East generally and ~he Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 rest of Europe, that the world must reckon on the possibilities of explosions there for a long period of time. It is essential, therefore, that so far as possible we should guard against a new catastrophe by t~king care that such a chance leaping up of smouldering fires should

1 A lecture delivered at an afternoon meeting of the Society on February 7, 1918. The maps aeeompanyiugthis article, ~vith the exception of Fig. 5~ have been drawn by my sister, Miss Florence N.ewbigin, from my own rough sketches. For the block of Fig. 5~ I am indebted to the Society of Eugineers. The map was originally drawn for a paper by Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, of Sheffield University, who has kindly consented to its repro-. duetion here. VOL. XXXtV. G 82 SCOT'FISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE,

not find inflammable material elsewhere, and once more spread across Europe and the world. O[ the three other disturbed areas already named, the conditions in two cannot, at the moment, be profitably discussed. At first sight i~ may seem that the third problem, that of the political destiny of Alsace-Lorraine, is so simple as hardly to merit detailed consideration. It is, however, in point of fact one of considerable complexity, with bearings upon" many others which press for solution. On this account, therefore, it appears justifiable to set forth the elements of the situation in, so far as may be, a compact and convenient form, from the geograpM-- cal side. More than this will not be attempted here, for, though the object is to attempt to lay the basis for a political settlement, that settlement is in itself outside the sphere marked out.

THE FRONTIERS OF FRANCE. It is not possible to appreciate fully the significance of the Alsace- Lorraine problem without a brief reference to the frontiers of France generally. The essential points are clearly brought out on the accom- panying sketch-map (Fig. 1), which shows that, with one notable excep- tion, the boundaries of the country are for the most part natural: natural because, save in the north-east, they are made by steep-sided mountains of recent origin, or by the sea. In the tract which extends from the vicinity of the town of B£le to the North Sea, however, high land is either absent, or, where present, is not composed of young folded mountains. The contrast between the two types of high land is important, and to realise its significance it is necessary to glance for a moment at the general character of the Pyrenees, the Alps proper, and the Jura, which all play so important a part in demarcating France. To such bounding chains we may justly apply the term "natural," and that for two reasons whose relative value has changed in historical time. The first depends upon a fact of human geography, the second upon strategical needs. Pyrenees, Alps, Jura, alike, whatever their relative height, resemble one another in the steepness of their slopes, and therefore of their stream valleys ; in the rapidity with which erosion takes place, and therefore in the tendency to display bare ro~k surfaces and masses of coarse d6bris ; in the rapid change of slope in the valleys, and in the frequency of gorges. Generally, they show all the characters Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 of areas which have undergone marked and geologically recent elevation. In consequence they tend, on the whole, to repel settlement, to constitute areas with a low density of population. Further, where settlement does take place, the peopled areas are isolated, and thus combination is diffi- cult, patriotism is local rather than national, and complex communities are not likely to arise. Such areas, therefore, are naturally marginal, not central, and seem to be set apart by nature as boundary zones. At a later stage in human history, when complex organised States have arisen in the plains which such mountains separate, these acquire a new importance, depending upon military needs. Lines of eommunica- THE PROBLEM OF ALSACE-LORRAINE. 83

tion across them are necessarily few, and they can be artificially blocked with greater or loss ease, for they are commanded by neighbouring heights. It is to the interest of the States on the near and hither side to strive to keep an invading army away from the accumulated wealth of the plains, and the physical features of the mountains facilitate this.

Fro. 1.--Structural "Map of France showing boundaries in 1870 and in 1914. The young Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 folded mountains (Pyrenees, Alps) are indicated by one type of shading, the plateau regions, built up of old, hard rocks, by another. The unshaded areas are regions of mffolded, younger rocks, whose dip is for the most part slight. The area annexed by Germany from France in 1871 is dotted lightly. (I~pa~t after BurrOs,)

Both of these are, of course, elementary points, but it is well to emphasise the close connection between the geological structure and history of such mountain belts, and their significance as natural frontier zones. The fact that, as the map suggests, they do not, as is sometimes !oosely supposed, consist of a single chain of crests, but of a series of 84 S()OTTIS H GEOGRAPBLICAL MAGAZI~ It;.

folds (indicated by black lines) which may exercise marked influence on the course of the rivers, is of much importance in connection with their frontier function. Th3ir great elevation has also, o[ course, a marked effect on climate, and, in temperate latitudes, the mountain climate is unfavourable to settlement. We have next to consider the character of the uplands which occur, in two separate masses, on the north-eastern frontier of France. But, before doing this, it is important to note that, as the map shows, these share certain characters with other highlands, found well within the boundaries of France. The upland of Brittany, the irregularly shaped mass known to geographers as the Central Plateau, alike resemble the marginal highland s of the north-east in their geological structure and in their history. All are composed of old, hard rocks, sometimes mingled with volcanic beds belonging to a much later period. In all the surface has been worn down by long-continued erosion, so that, except-where recent faulting has taken place at their' margins, their slopes are gentle, their river valleys far less anomalous in character than those of the folded mountains. There are no true mountain peaks, and exposed rock surfaces do not occur over extensive areas. On the other hand, the soil is often infer- tiie or shallow, sometimes impermeable, and the areas tend to be covered with dense forest, or with upland bogs, or with upland pastures, or with a combination of all three, long after the lower grounds have been cleared for tillage. It is obvious then that, though to a less extent, they share the character of the true mountain belts in tending to repel settlement, and to be, whatever their position as regards the country as a whole, marginal in relation to its densely peopled lands. In all, therefore, we find human groups which have stood more or less aloof from the historical development of the lower grounds. The Breton language in Brittany, the persistence of German on the eastern slopes of the Vosges and in part of Lorraine, the non-Catholic communities of parts of the Central Plateau, are all indications of this fact. Thus, where such uplands occur within the country proper, their absorpticn in the general community is a slow and partial process; where they are placed at its edges they may be expected to show, at least for a long period, divided allegiance. At the same time, however, the facts that communication between them and the surrounding plains is much easier than in the mountains proper, and that settlement can, with advancing civilisation, be pushed steadily upwards from the plains Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 towards their summit levels, means that their aloofness is of a far less permanent character than in the case of the mountains. Agai~, for reasons which also depend upon their topographical features, they are of less value as strategic boundaries, even when continuous, than the Alps o1" Pyrenees, Their absorption in the general community has, however, been, within the last hundred years or so, facilitated by a geological fact which, though not shown on the map, can be deduced from it. It has been prolonged to include the southern part of England and Wales, in order to suggest the general similarity of structure between Northern THE PROBLEM OF ALSACE-LOR~AINI~. 85

France and the former. Thus we see on it the greater part of the English plain, with the marginal uplands of Wales and of Devon and Corn.wall. Now we all know that Cornwall and Wales, no less than Brittany or the Central Plateau of France, were for a long period regions which led a life more or less apart from that of the plain. But, in the case of ~Vales, once an independent political entity, amalgamation in the general community has been within recent times greatly accelerated by the fact that on the margin of the old worn-down upland coal-beds crop out, just as they also crop out in the midst of the English plain in isolated masses, forming the Midland coalfields. The industrial type of life has grown up, alike at the margin of the upland, and in the heart of the plain, on the basis of the coal-beds. Without at the moment laying stress on the point, it may be noted that in France and its borderlands also coal-beds sometimes occur at the margin of the uplands, and have brought a new density of population, a new type of life, a new complication also, to the once isolated com- munities of the uplands. Coal occurs especially at the north-western and south-eastern margins of that upland mass whose western extremity is named Ardennes on the map. Let us look next in a little detail at the bordering highlands of France. The smaller, roughly triangular in shape, is named Vosges on the map. But it does not correspond to the whole of the Vosges Mountains of the atlas map, for, as we shall see later (Fig. 2), the actual nucleus of the Vosges, as represented here, is prolonged northwards by rocks of a different type, younger in age, different in character, and forming land lying at a lower elevation. The patch shown here~ the High Vosges of French geographers, indicates land which over a considerable area rises considerably above 3000 feet. The highest peak, the Ballon de Gueb- willer, is comparable fia height to Ben ±Nevis, for it rises to 4670 feet, or some 200 feet higher than the great Ben. The second patch of highland is the left bank part of the Rhine Highlands, and is itself divided into three parts. To the south-east of the Moselle river is the Hunsriick ; then comes an area in which volcanic rocks are intermingled with the old sedimentary beds, forming the desolate Eifel region. Separated from the Eifel by two small river valleys, not shown here, is the region of the Ardennes. The heights here are throughout considerably lower than in the High Vosges. The area which attains 2000 feet is small, and no peak reaches the 3000-foot limit. Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 A point of very oonsiderable importance, well shown on the map, is that ~he younger rocks, and therefore the lowlands, interpenetrate the ma.ssifto the south-west in a great bay, lying on the left bank of the Moselle. This bay is called the Gulf of Luxemburg by the geologists (Fig. 2) ; politically it constitutes the nucleus of the Duchy of Luxemburg, From the standpoint of human geography it forms an area in which a fairly dense population is possible in the midst of a forested, infertile upland. The fact that the Vosges and the Rhine Highlands are discontinuous means that three gaps, of very unequal size and character, mark the north-eastern frontier of France. Of these the southernmost, the Gate 86 SCOTTISlt GEOGRAPHICAL MAGIAZINE,

of Burgundy, or gap between the Jura and the south end of the Vosges, is the narrowest. It is also commanded by the strong place of Belfort, which resisted gallantly in the crash of 1870, and has not been seriously threatened during the present war. We need hardly, therefore, regard it as a weak spot in the frontier zone It is worth note in passing, however, that iu that it permits of easy intercommunication between the Rhine valley, or rather, the Ill valley, and France proper, it has a considerable bearing upon the problem of Alsace. The second gap, with the qualification already made, extends from the northern end of the High Vosges to the Hunsrfick. Politically it includes a part of Alsace, and the High Plain or Plateau of Lorraine. Here it was that Germany, in 1871, thrust herself across what on any scheme of frontier-drawing must be regarded as the natural boundary of France, and, against the will of the inhabitants, established herself at Metz, and even beyond the Moselle. It is the problem of the political destiny of the whole belt, stretching from the Gate of Burgundy to the point where the Moselle enters the Highlands, which constitutes the Alsace-Lorraine problem proper. The third gap is that which extends from the western end of the Ardennes to the sea, and here the actual conditions are almost as simple as they appear on this map. In other words, no natural feature, important either from the point of human geography or of strategy, separates the French and Belgian sectors of the coastal plain. Here, therefore, France is open to the foe, or at least was open according to all the older conception of strategists ; we do not yet know how far the experiences of the present war may modify these conceptions. The establishment of the neutral state of Belgium was, from one point of view, an attempt to draw a moral barrier where no material one existed. In August 1914 the world saw the regard which the military Super-state of Prussia paid to a moral obligation.

THE RAMPARTS OF PARIS. To understand the temptation which, given the German code of morality, justified the violation of a solemn pledge, it is necessary to look for a moment at the Basin of Paris. In Fig. 1 the surface features of that basin have been omitted, though to some extent they can be deduced from the courses of the Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 rivers as shown. Paris is the true heart of France, in a far more precise sense than London is the heart of England. Upon it, as the map shows, converges a whole network of rivers, draining from the uplands and their continuations. Two eastern rivers, how.ever, escape the attractive influence of the basin, and by an apparent anomaly, after itowing northwards for a time, break through the marginal highlands to reach the one the Rhine direct, the other the Rhine delta. These two rivers are of course the Moselle and the Meuse, and the nature of the course of each shows that there must be topographical features in the Paris Basin of which this map tells us nothing. What these features Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016

RDENNE'~

,Reims

i

"2

Fro. 2.--The Ramparts of Paris. The shading ill this map shows the upland areas of NE. France and the neighbouring~ regions. It will be seen that the 1871 frontier brought Gcrma~ly across the low forested uplands (Low Vosgcs and Hardt) which extend from the plateau region of the tIigh ,Vosgcs to the Hunsdick plateau, as far as the crest of the heights of.the Moselle near Metz, and beyond this point farther north. The broken lines indicate diagrammatically the outcrops of more resistant rock which eonstihlte the natural dcfcnces of Paris from the east. - - - - Frontier of 1914. -I -4 -4 -4 Frontier of 1870. 88 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICALMAGAZINE.

are has been indicated on Fig. 2, on which are plotted diagrammatically what may be called the ramparts of Paris. The first point is that the rocks of the Basin and its margins are geologically younger as one proceeds from east to west. Triassic beds--the oldest of the Secondary rocks--form that continuation of the High Vosges which northwards expands into the Hardt region, itself topographically, though not geologically, continuous with the Rhine Highlands. On the other hand Paris, like London, lies in a Tertiary basin. Between these two extremes we have successively Jurassic (oolitic) and Cretaceous (chalk) beds. All these beds are geologically young, all are relatively soft. They never form lofty or continuous uplands. But--and this is the important point--they are not uniformly soft. Softer beds often alternate with harder ones, and where there is a marked difference in consistency between two adjacent beds, the softer rocks tend to be worn out by rivers and thus to form valleys, above which the harder beds rise in escarpments. Parts of the courses of the Moselle and the Meuse, the peculiar east-to-west line followed by the Seine during a short tract, are all alike determined by the outcrop of easily eroded beds, and in each case therefore a scarp, or steep-sided hill, bounds one side of the river valley. The more important of the scarps so produced are indicated in a quite general fashion on the sketch-map, and their significance is perhaps best realised by naming the towns which mark their course. Almost all these scarp towns will be found to have played an important part in the present war, and thus to have become household words for thousands here. Paris, as already stated, lies in an area composed of Tertiary rocks. These are harder than the Cretaceous clays, etc., which form the next aureole to the east, and thus the margin of the Tertiary zone is marked by an eastward-facing scarp, marked I on themap, through which the rivers cut their way. The position of the towns of Leon and Reims near this scarp is important. The next ring consists of chalk, but this chalk is generally soft, and the sharp alternation of beds of different character, necessary to produce a definite scarp, is usually absent. Only in the case of the Argonne, a low forested upland, is there anything in the way of a distinctly defined elevation, and this over only a short longitudinal distance. As we approach the Meuse we pas s from Cretaceous to Jurassic beds, and these show a very sharp alternation, generally of hard limestones with soft Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 calcareous beds or clays, the first giving rise to definite scarps. Two of these are noticeable and are indicated on the sketch-map. One occurs in the vicinity of the Meuse river (II on map). Immediately to the east of the fortified town of Verdun the outcrop of hard limestones is well marked, forming the C6tes or Heights of the Meuse, which played so important a part in the Verdun fighting. St. Mihiel, which has also appeared in many bulletins, is another scarp tow~, lying to ~he south of Verdun. The Moselle, for a part of its course, runs in the soft Lias clays which mark the base of the Jurassic series. Westwards of these soft THE PROBLEM OF ALSACE-LORRAINE. 89

clays a bed of hard limestone crops out, and forms, to the west of Metz, another important scarp, the C6tes of the Moselle (III on map). That at the base of this scarp rich iron-containing beds occur adds, as we shall see, a new complication to the Alsace-Lorraine problem. The scarp towns here are numerous; we would emphasise Metz, lying in the plain at the base of the limestone hills, and Nancy; both are strongly fortified. East of the Lias clays we come to the Upper Trias beds, chiefly marls, like those which floor much of Cheshire, and, lille those, salt- bearing. These underlie the high plain or plateau of Lorraine. Farther east appear the Lower Trias beds, mostly grits and sandstones, harder therefore than the marls, and forniing higher ground. These grits are, as it were, plastered on the sides of the High Vosges; in reality they have been removed from the summit levels by erosion, but we speak here of appearances only. Further, they continue the chain of the High Vosges into the Low Vosges, which expand in breadth and rise in height as they pass north-eastwards into the Hsrdt. Crystalline Vosges, continued into the grits of the Low Vosges and the Hardt, may be said therefore to form ~he fourth rampart of Paris to the east, though their structure and origin are different from that of the scarps which we have described as formin~g- th-e-other -three ramparts. On the sketch-map a pass is marked as the Col de Saverne. Saverne is of course the Zabern of the Germans, and the name and its significance should be carefully noted. Broadly speaking we may say that the Saverne pass lies near the end of the Crystalline Vosges. It is the region where the elevated forested belt which stretches from the High ¥osges to the Hardt is lowest and narrowest. Strasburg, on the Ill, lies almost directly east of l~Tancy, on the Meurthe, a tributary of the Moselle; the Col de Saverne is the natural line of communication between the two; between what was till 1871 French Alsace and France proper; between the present German Reiehsland and France. Here runs the great main railway route to Paris rid l~ancy, here the canal which connects the Marne and the Rhine ; here also, in conquered land, on a highway of invasion, German officers gave the world before the war an exhibition of Deutsche Kultur. Let us briefly connect these facts with the events of the war. Why did the Germans adopt as their main line of invasion in 1914 the valley line following the north-western margin of the Rhine High- lands, the line which follows the course of the Meuse, then that of its Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 tributary the Sambre, and is continued into the else valley ? Because thus, and thus only, could they turn all the four ramparts of Paris. Why, in 1871, did they establish themselves at Metz and beyond? For more than one reason, as we shall see, but among others because they were thus able to seize the outermost rampart at the point where it was most widely breached, and ~he next rampart at its most im- portant point. Their purpose was definitely aggressive, not defensive. Note also the chief incidents of their offensive during the present war. Their treachery in invading Belgium seemed at first to pay, for yon Kluek in September 1914 was within reach of Paris, and had evaded 90 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

all its fortified lines. The battle of the Marne has often been described as a miracle; eyen the geographer may be excused for saying that it suggests that might lies not only in the sword and in the fort, but in something deeper. Turned back from Paris, the German armies estab- lished themselves on the Aisne, and to-day still hold Laoi~, on the edge of the westernmost barrier. The Argonne played its part in the battle of the Marne, despite its relative insignificance. On September 8, 1914, the Chief War Lord stood waiting, wrapped in his .martial cloak, we are told, to make that triumphant entry into Nancy which was to mark the conquest of the continuation of the rampart which runs north and south from Metz. That triumphant entry has been indefinitely postponed. The siege of Verdun was in part an attempt, due to the failure of the first offensive, to make that direct western attack on Paris from which the German staff shrank in August 1914. Summary as these notes are, they may serve to suggest the strategic value of the moderate elevations which guard Paris from the east, and are themselves due to differential erosion in the rocks of the Paris Basin and its margins. (To be continued.)

NOTES ON THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF ARRAN. By ALEXANDER SCOTT, M.A., D.Se. FROM the point of view of both geological structure and physiography the island of Arran may be divided into two parts of approximately equal area. The contrast in scenery is very pronounced, the northern portion consisting of a number of rugged peaks and ridges, rising to almost 3000 feet and interspersed with deep valleys; while the southern portion is mainly moorland with rounded hills which seldom exceed 1500 foot in height. The geological structure of the former has been described in detail by the Geological Survey (Gunn, 1903), and although no systematic description of the latter has appeared, several papers on the sedimentary and intrusive rocks have been pub- lished in recent years (Gregory, 1915 ; Tyrrell, 1915). Apart from the Glacial and Raised Beach deposits, the .youngest rocks in the island are the Cainozoic dykes and sills, and these are not later than Miocene. The northern half of the island consists of a great Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 16:40 28 June 2016 circular dome of granite surrounded on the north, west, and south by metamorphic rocks of pre-Cambrian age; while on the east it abuts transgressively on Palmozoie sediments. The mountains, all of which are found in the granite area, are divided into two groups by the long north and south depression which runs up Glen Easan Bioraeh from Loch Ranza and down Glen Iorsa, culminating at Loch Iorsa. The eastern group comprises a number of ridges radiating from Cir Mhor, one running north-north-west over Caisteal Abhait to Creag Dubh, one south-south-east to Goatfell, and one south-south-west over A' Chir and Beinn Tarsuinn to Beinn Nuis. Subsidiary ridges branch off from