Battles & Campaigns · 1914
Battle of Mulhouse
Mulhouse, Alsace, France
What happened
In the first French attack of the war, troops advanced from Belfort and entered Mulhouse on 8 August. A German counterattack retook the city two days later. A second French attack took Mulhouse again on 19 August, but the French withdrew on 26 August.
Why it matters
France wanted to win back Alsace, which it had lost to Germany in 1871. The attacks failed to hold the region.
What came next
The French force in Alsace was broken up and its units sent to other armies; Alsace returned to France after the war ended in 1918.
Did you know?
Historian Holger Herwig argued that the French fought here in the wrong place and for the wrong reason: prestige.
Timeline
- 1871Alsace and Mulhouse become part of the German Empire.
- 8 Aug 1914French troops enter Mulhouse.
- 10 Aug 1914Germans retake the city.
- 19 Aug 1914French troops return.
- 26 Aug 1914French withdraw.