Strasbourg in Transition 16481789 Author:Franklin L. Ford In 1648, when the treaties of Westphalia were signed, bringing to an end thirty years of fighting in central Europe, Strasbourg was a free city within the Holy Roman Empire --- German in speech, Lutheran in faith. Because of its strategic location on the Rhine, it has ever since been intimately linked with French-German border problems. — Profess... more »or Ford concentrates on the critical century and a half ushered in by the Peace of Westphalia and brought to a violent close by the French Revolution.« less