Alsace

Alsace ... border of France, on the west bank of the Upper Rhine, adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. Its capital and largest city is Strasbourg. Alsace, previously a part of the Holy Roman Empire, changed hands between France and Germany several times between the 17th and 20th centuries. Although it was traditionally a German-speaking region, every Alsatian today speaks French, although about 25% of the local population is fluent in Alsatian or German (as a second language). In the course of the 17th century, the entirety of Alsace was gradually annexed under King Louis XIV of France and made one of the provinces of France. Alsace is frequently (although now informally) mentioned in conjunction with Lorraine, because possession of these two régions (as Alsace-Lorraine) has been often contested in 19th and 20th century history, following a division among the successors of Charlemagne in the 9th century.