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Most of the region was attached to France in 1648, and by the time of the French Revolution, the Alsatian people felt more connected to France than to Germany. But Germany still held out hope for a foothold on the western bank of the Southern Rhine, and in 1870, the Franco-Prussian war was launched. It was a humiliating defeat for France, who was forced to cede Alsace and the northern part of Lorraine to the Second Reich. During the time of German rule, citizens were forbidden to speak French and all books, signs and other references to France were destroyed.