Les strates d'occupation militaire en Alsace entre les deux conflits mondiaux — Die Ausbaustufen der militärischen Besatzung im Elsass zwischen den zwei Weltkriegen (original) (raw)

2017, Alemanisches Jahrbuch 2015/2016

The period between 1871 and 1918 was marked by a considerable expansion in the number and size of military installations in Alsace-Moselle. Alsace, a frontier zone, was now the focus of a considerable concentration of troops. In a turbulent geopolitical context, it was not only a question of providing accommodation solutions, but also of keeping pace with strategic, technological and urban developments. Briefly, these military spaces include the following infrastructures: barracks, maneuvering areas, fortifications and their glacis, quartermaster's buildings, gunpowder and ammunition depots, the many buildings assigned to garrisons (garrison offices, administrative infrastructure, right up to the sumptuous palace of the military governor). All these spaces represent the different strata of contemporary military occupation in Alsace. The surface areas involved are considerable, and interactions between the civilian population and the militarized space often require a certain amount of compromise: this cohabitation necessarily generated a number of potential or actual points of friction, particularly in suburban areas. Moreover, while in many cities the German period allowed the city's straitjacket to be loosened - i.e., the old bastioned fortifications of Vauban and his successors - the problem remained acute in Strasbourg. Although the city's periphery was considerably enlarged, it was still marked by the construction of a vast Germanic fortification wall and its adjoining glacis (Kernumwallung). The article was written in French and German and the two are complementary.