The Vosges[30] uplift has been until recent times the means of barring intercourse between the plains facing its eastern and western slope. The chain has prevented communication on account of the height of its passes, its thickly forested slopes and the sterility of its soil. The influence of these mountains on European history deserves contrast with that of the Alps where nature’s provision of passes and defiles has at all times facilitated land travel in and out of the Italian peninsula. Primitive wandering tribes found but scant inducement to settle in the mountainous area of the Vosges. Pastoral Celts settled in its environing plains long before they attempted to occupy the rocky mass itself. The Teutonic tribes which followed the Celts likewise found little to attract them to the Vosges, and generally migrated southward around its northern and southern extremity, the former route being that of the Franks while the Goths, Burgundians and Alemanni invaded France through the Belfort gap. Alsace was a province of German speech throughout the Middle Ages as well as after Louis XIV’s conquest of the land. French took a solid foothold mainly after the revolution and during the nineteenth century. An enlightened policy of tolerance towards Alsatian institutions cemented strong ties of friendship between the inhabitants and their French rulers. Alsatian leanings towards France were regarded with suspicion by the victors of 1870, who proceeded to pass prohibitory laws regarding the use of French in primary schools, churches and law courts. These measures of Germanization were attended by a notable emigration to France. In 1871 there were 1,517,494 inhabitants in Alsace-Lorraine. The number had decreased to 1,499,020 in 1875 in spite of 52.12 per cent excess of births over deaths. Nancy, by its situation, was destined to welcome Alsatians who had decided to remain faithful to France. The number of immigrants to this city after the Franco-Prussian war was estimated at 15,000.[31] Pressing need of workingmen in the city’s growing industrial plants intensified this movement. Alsatian dialects were the only languages heard in entire sections of the urban area. Peopled by about 50,000 inhabitants in 1866, Nancy’s population jumped to 66,303 in 1876. Metz, on the other hand, with a population of 54,820 inhabitants in 1866, could not boast of more than 45,675 in 1875. The census taken in 1910 raised this figure to 68,598 by the addition of the garrison maintained at this point. Altogether it was estimated that, in 1910, French was spoken by 204,262 inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine, out of a total population of 1,814,564.[32]