Northeastern Lorraine's people have been at the centre of conflict for centuries. The region, originally an independent kingdom, passed to France in 1766, only to be ceded, along with Alsace, to Germany a century later, following the Franco-Prussian War. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 returned Lorraine to France, but the Second World War saw its occupation once again, this time by the Nazis. General Patton successfully liberated the region in 1944. Lorraine is home to France's largest American cemetery, where veterans make daily pilgrimages to the sides of the fallen.

A horrible battle at Verdun during the First World War resulted in 700,000 casualties, and the haunting Memorial Ossuaire protects the remains of 130,000 unidentified soldiers. Bereaved families sought solace at the Gothic Cathedrale St-Etienne in Metz, the region's capital, and Nancy 's museums house objets d'arts from Lorraine's intriguing past. Lorraine's resilience birthed France's remarkable martyr, Joan of Arc, and in the tiny village of Domremy-la-Pucelle her modest childhood home, the Maison Natale de Jeanne d'Arc, remains.