The origin of Metz dates back to the Celtic epoch; it was the
capital of the Mediomatrice. The Romans fortified it to defend the
frontiers of the Empire against the Barbarians. Thus Metz became
the starting point of the six great Roman roads which led to the
distant provinces, two roads from Metz to Reims, two roads from Metz
to Treves, one by the right bank, the other by the left bank of the
Moselle: the road from Metz to Strasbourg and the road from Metz to
Mayence.
Being a very rich and densely populated town, it was embellished with
numerous Roman monuments, of which excavations have brought to light
important traces: the _Amphitheatre near the Porte Mazelle_, and
especially the _Aqueduct of Gorze_ dating from the 4th century, which
was 22 kilometres long, bringing to Metz the waters of Gorze. _There
are splendid remains to be seen at_ JOUY-AUX-ARCHES.
The Roman Emperors during their stay at Metz lived in the palace of
the governors which stood on the Place Sainte-Croix.
METZ was captured and devastated by the Huns in 451 A. D.
A half-century later the ruins were restored and the city became,
on the death of Clovis (in 511 A. D.) the capital of Austrasie and
the cradle of the Carolingian branch. Louis-le-Débonnaire was buried
in the Abbey of Saint-Arnout. The treaty of Verdun (843 A. D.) gave
it to Lothaire who made it the capital of his kingdom, Lotharingia,
which became, later on, Lorraine. But thirty years later the treaty
of Mersen (870 A. D.) assigned it to Louis-le-Germanique.
In the name of the Emperor it was first administered by counts and
then by bishops. In 1220, on the death of Count Thiébault, the town
was raised to a kind of republic under the title of "Imperial free
town" and until 1552 was administered by sheriffs.
Under Henry II, the French, lead by Montmorency, occupied the town
after a treaty had been concluded with Maurice de Saxe. The Duc de
Guise, appointed governor, skilfully and energetically defended Metz
to which the Emperor Charles V had laid siege (October 19th, 1552).
On January 1st 1553, Charles V withdrew after losing 30,000 men. The
kings of France for a long time held the title of Protector. Henry
III was the first to be called the sovereign lord. The Parliament of
Metz, constituted in 1633, finally brought about the downfall of its
municipal independence and the treaty of Westphalia (1648) definitely
made it part of France. It became the capital of the province of
Trois-Évêchés, composed of Metz, Toul and Verdun.
Up to the Revolution, METZ escaped the horrors of war, though on
every occasion the town suffered from the consequences. Troops were
continually passing through and the barracks were used as a place of
muster. Turenne, Villars, the Marquis de Créqui, and Marshal Villeroi
encamped within its walls, and at Metz, Louis XV, in August 1744,
fell seriously ill, and the whole of France prayed and fasted for the
"Well-beloved".
In 1790, METZ became the headquarters of the new department of
Moselle. Two sieges in 1814 and 1815 were successfully repulsed.
The year 1870, however, marked a sad date in the history of Metz,
till then nicknamed Metz the Virgin City.
[Illustration: _The French army of Moselle, beaten at the frontiers,
fell back on Metz. Intending to rejoin the army of Mac-Mahon at
Châlons, it began a slow and uncertain retreat. The Germans hindered
this retreat (Borny, August, 14th), crossed the Moselle south of Metz
and stopped the French columns on the march to Verdun. (Rezonville,
Mars-la-Tour, August 16th), narrowed the circle round Metz and
surrounded Bazaire (Gravelotte, Saint-Privat, August 18th.)_]
The battles of Borny (August 14th), Rezonville (August 16th),
Saint-Privat (August 18th) forced Marshal Bazaine to fall back on
the walls of the town. He put up a feeble resistance, being content
to await developments, without even attempting a serious sally which
might have saved his military honour. On October 28th, he put his
name to the capitulation, and on the following day he handed over
173,000 men, 60 generals, 6000 officers, 58 standards, 622 field
guns, 876 heavy guns, 72 machine guns, 137,000 chassepots, 123,000
other rifles and masses of untouched munitions. Six months later,
the treaty of Frankfort (May 10th 1871) ceded to Germany Metz and a
part of the department of Moselle. Metz became the capital of German
Lorraine.
Marshal Fabert, Generals Custine, Richepanse and Lasalle, the
composer Ambroise Thomas and the poet Paul Verlaine _were born at
Metz_.
=The fortifications of Metz.=
The situation of METZ destined it to become a stronghold of first
importance. The Romans fortified the town, which had been built
by the Gauls, and constructed the first citadel. The walls were
preserved for a considerable time, and Bishop Robert in the 10th
century, again utilised their outline. It was only in the 12th
century that the new circumvallation was extended to the island
formed by the two arms of the Moselle; it was composed of a high
rampart protected by 68 towers. In 1532 the Duc de Guise ordered the
engineer Pierre Strozzi to restore these fortifications which had
undergone two sieges (1444 and 1552) and were in a pitiable state.
Four years later (1556), Marshal de Vieilleville had a citadel
flanked with four bastions constructed on the site of the ancient
monastery. This citadel (which lasted till 1802) was on the spot now
occupied by the Esplanade.
Vauban, nearly a century later, realised the strategic worth of
Metz and conceived a vast project which the engineer Cormontaigne,
in the 18th century, was to realise. At all events Vauban was able
to construct a "horned redoubt" and to add eleven new bastions to
those which already guarded the citadel, but it was Cormontaigne who
carried out the plan of the inundation of the valley of the Seille,
by using the vast waters of the pool of Lindre.
METZ became one of the most formidable fortresses of Europe. Under
Louis-Philippe the fortifications were entirely remade and in
1866 preparations were in hand to reconstruct them on a new plan
in accordance with the requirements of the then existing military
armament. Of the four separate forts of Saint-Quentin, Plappeville,
Queuleu and Saint-Julien, only the first two were completed in 1870.
[Illustration: METZ.--THE FORT OF SAINT-QUENTIN. _View taken from the
Esplanade._ (Cliché Prillot.)]
The Germans considerably strengthened the wall of circumvallation by
the addition of 19 bastions surrounded with moats, and themselves
protected with 13 advance works. The extent of the zone of forts
reached 30 kilometres and 11 new forts were added.
=METZ DURING THE WAR=
Before the War the Germans had drawn up their famous "black
lists" in which were recorded numbers of manufacturers, political
men, journalists, priests and members of Lorraine societies. The
inhabitants of Metz were not spared in these lists; many were
arrested on the suspicion of exercising "a provocative action and
a pernicious influence over the population". Among them were M.
Prevel, M. Winsback, secretary of the "Souvenir alsacien-lorrain",
league which was dissolved in 1913; M. Gangloff, whose two sons and
his brother-in-law, as French officers, laid down their lives for
France. Some were able to escape, as occasion offered, and get back
to France, like Paul Piquelle, editor-in-chief of the _Messin_, and
the canon Collin, director of the _Lorrain_.
Before mobilisation had begun or hostilities declared, the "suspects"
were forcibly torn from their families and confined in cells, without
trial, in the military prison of Metz. A few days after they set
out, without saying goodbye to their families, for Coblentz. When
taken to the fort of Ehrenbreitstein they only escaped the frenzy
of an excited populace on account of thirty German bayonets which
surrounded them. Worn out with exhaustion, they were shut up in the
casemates which were used some years before the war for confining to
barracks soldiers undergoing disciplinary punishment and which had
been evacuated under the orders of the authority on account of their
unhealthy condition.
For months they existed in these dungeons under the most deplorable
physical and moral conditions. Some of them, by depositing a surety
of 30,000 marks, left to go and live under a kind of penal regime
in the Prussian Rhineland. The less submissive element stayed where
they were more than two years and were then subjected to the same
regime as their comrades who had already left. They were absolutely
forbidden to enter the fortress of Metz.
These "suspects" never knew the reasons for their arrest until August
1917. Permission to return to their town was given them in November
1918 by the "Soldiers Council" which had replaced the Imperial
Government.
Several inhabitants of Metz were promptly seized and drafted into the
units sent up to the front, especially the Russian front. Among them,
one of the brothers Samain, president of the "Lorraine Sportive" was
sent to the French front in the batteries most exposed to danger.
When crippled in the legs he was brought back from the front and
thrown into prison.
The Germans subjected Metz to a regime of terror. The German
inquisition was not confined to the street, but it intruded into the
homes. Everything that reminded them of France, books, sacred family
relics, had to disappear.
Speaking French became a provocation.
To say "Merci, Monsieur" and "Bonjour, Madame" were court-martial
offences at the courts--ordinary and extra-ordinary--which sat
permanently at Metz. Sentences never stopped. All the French
newspapers were suppressed and only the official German papers were
allowed.
The German authorities instituted an organ, _La Gazette de Lorraine_,
to be modelled on the infamous _Gazette des Ardennes_ and to further
the same purpose, the demoralisation of the French nation. In this
gazette, the Germans carefully published, in the first issues all the
sentences pronounced by the courts-martial, in the hope of terrifying
and cowing the inhabitants of Metz. It was a vain hope: it had the
opposite effect of strengthening their resistance. The system of
spies and informers was widespread under official orders.
A young girl, slily exhibiting surprise at seeing a squadron of
French aeroplanes pass overhead, shouted in front of her house: "Oh
Kolossal!" Denounced by a loyal German woman, she was called before
the court-martial (the first of three appearances).
To the military judges who tried to force her to admit to her
anti-German sentiments, she replied: "My father who was imprisoned
in a fortress is exiled with my mother in Prussia. My two brothers,
French officers, are no doubt dead by this time, and I cannot yet
love Germany". She was set free this time, but a stricter watch was
kept on her.
Orders were given to celebrate the "great German victories". The
"Mutte" of the Cathedral was rung. The Germans noisily showed their
delight on the Esplanade round the statues of the "idols". The mayor,
a noted German naturally, read the bulletin of victory from a window
of the Hôtel de Ville decorated and illuminated.
The inhabitants shut themselves up in their homes. "Though we live
side by side we shall never meet one another", they said. When forced
to fly flags, they hoisted, as far as they could, the decorated
emblem of the cross of Lorraine.
The bombardment of Verdun was audible at Metz and caused much
anxiety. But the people of Metz saw the return of the "feldgrau" who,
once mad with enthusiasm, now had fear in their eyes at the mention
of Verdun.
Russia succumbed. Could they still hope? The most obstinate did not
give up hope and they buoyed up the falling spirits. Pious families
prayed in the churches.
1918.--The inhabitants of Metz felt that the end was near. Hunger
held the German population in its grip, though the natives of Metz
managed, by every known and unknown ruse, to conceal food which
their friends in the country obtained for them almost under the
noses of the police. The allied squadrons of aeroplanes came every
night to bombard the station of Metz-Sablons. Forts thundered, bombs
burst, and munition trains blew up. The Germans proclaimed with loud
shouts the offensive that was to bring peace. At the end of July
the newspapers, which had been extolling the German attack, started
talking about defending themselves.
The people of Metz knew that they were certain of becoming French
again. And now the battle drew near the fortress. With feverish haste
the Germans manned and equipped the forts. Were they to undergo the
devastation of a bombardment? Already American shells were falling
on the south suburb of the town. "At what price shall we buy our
liberty" was the feeling in every heart. Events moved swiftly and at
the same time the iron discipline of the imperial army crumbled. In
the numerous barracks soldiers grumbled, argued and refused to obey
orders.
Threatened with an offensive in Lorraine, the Germans ceased holding
some of the defences of the fortress.
The catastrophe was quite near. Mutiny broke out, and lead by the
insurgent sailors who had come from Kiel, a howling mob of soldiers
rushed headlong through the streets, seizing their officers, tearing
their ensigns and smashing their rifles. Council of workmen and
soldiers drove out the imperial government, proclaimed a republic and
hoisted the red flag. The men of Lorraine who had been brigaded in
the German army demobilised themselves and returned to their homes.
The Germans were reduced by all this to a standstill and signed
the armistice. The inhabitants of Metz waited with silent pent up
feelings for their deliverers.
The sad hours were finished and done with: the "wonderful hours of
Freedom" sounded.
[Illustration: AFTER THE ARMISTICE, THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE FRENCH
TROOPS. (NOVEMBER 19TH 1918).]