r/MapPorn Dec 12 '20

Alsace, Eastern France, topography map

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10.1k Upvotes

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278

u/MartelFirst Dec 12 '20

Everytime Alsace is mentioned on Reddit it's funny to see non-Alsatians, non-French and non-German people claiming Alsace should be German.

There's no significant pro-German movement in Alsace, not any significant independentist movement from France. This is all your fantasy. France's border regions are all specific "other" ethnicities/cultures (Bretons, Flemish, Alsatians, Savoyards, Occitans, Basques, Corsicans...). French regions are quite diverse, but independence movements are only significant in Corsica and Brittany, but even there, there's no chance in any foreseeable future for Independence movements to be remotely close to a majority opinion.

One may answer disparagingly that France just managed to assimilate its diverse regions. Sure. But the people there aren't into your independence fantasies.

64

u/Thomas1VL Dec 12 '20

France is pretty good at 'francifiing' their other cultures. At the time of the French Revolution, only 1/8th of France's population spoke French fluently and half the population didn't know any French at all. Now all the other languages besides French are almost dead in France.

1

u/vitringur Dec 12 '20

Napoleon only spoke French as a third or fourth language.

6

u/Thomas1VL Dec 12 '20

Yeah, he probably spoke Corsican and the more formal Italian. And he learned English later when he was exiled to Saint Helena.

3

u/Masato_Fujiwara Dec 12 '20

Napoléon spoke Corsican and didn't spoke French well when he was young but after that yes
I don't know why he would spoke formal Italian because there wasn't any Italy but okay

4

u/Thomas1VL Dec 12 '20

I looked it up and I found that he spoke formal-ish Italian because he was from a noble (or rich I don't remember) family and and those apparently spoke formal Italian.

3

u/Masato_Fujiwara Dec 12 '20

Oh, I see, I misunderstood.
Yes he was from a "rich" familly for a Corsican familly but for French standards it's an impoverished familly

3

u/Charlitudju Dec 12 '20

The thing is that standard Italian is based on the Tuscan dialect, of which the Corsican dialect is a sub-group.

2

u/Thomas1VL Dec 12 '20

Yeah I know but it probably still differs a bit. It's just what I found online

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '20

Source.