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Alsace-Lorraine is a region now located in northeastern France, on the French-German border. It is made up of two historic provinces, Lorraine and Alsace, over which France and Germany fought for hundreds of years.
About 300 to 400 A.D., Teutonic bands drove out the Celtic tribes that lived in the region. Alsace-Lorraine became part of Charlemagne's empire in the 700's, but it fell to Germany when the empire was divided by Charlemagne's grandsons.
Alsace and Lorraine were under German rule until the 1500's, when France again regained control of the area. In 1871, the area again became under German control. Germany lost the area in World War I, but regained it in World War II. France again took control of the area in 1945.