The French Revolution was enthusiastically welcomed by the democratically inclined Alsatians. This event in fact consolidated Alsace’s union with France. French military annals of the period contain a high proportion of Alsatian names. A community of ideas and interests had come into being. The study of French was taken up with renewed enthusiasm in Alsace because the language was the agency by which the new spirit of the time was propagated. It became the medium of communication among thinkers. The revolution of 1848 accentuated this tendency. By that time every Alsatian who could boast of any schooling knew French. This linguistic conquest of Alsace was the result of sympathy with French thought and ideals. The German method of imposing the rival tongue was distinctly different. All the brutality which attends misconceptions of efficiency among petty officials was given free rein in the process of replacing French by German. A stroke of the pen on April 14, 1871, suppressed teaching of French in the primary schools of the annexed territory. In other educational establishments the study of the language was relegated to the position of minor courses. It is worth mentioning that Alsace and Lorraine are the only territorial units of the German Empire in which the study of French has met opposition on the part of the government. The interest shown for the Romance language elsewhere in the Kaiser’s land contrasts with the efforts made to root it out of Alsatian soil. The unrelenting activity of the Prussian officials stationed in Alsace-Lorraine has borne fruit, for the use of French by the inhabitants is on the wane. This is partly due, however, to the emigration of a large number of native-born Alsatians and the swarm of settlers brought from other sections of Germany. In one respect the results of the Germanizing propaganda have differed from expectations. They have tended to foster the development of Alsatian dialects as well as the spirit of nationality among the people. Alsatians preferred to become proficient in their own tongue rather than in German. At the same time, if Alsace is to be German, they are united in the desire to see their native province form part of the Empire on a footing similar to that of other German states. They apprehend eventual absorption by Prussia as much as the prolongation of the present “Reichsland” status of their native land.