Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Strasbourg emerged from a linguistic collision between Celtic and Germanic roots. Before the fifth century, Roman milestones recorded the settlement as Argentoratum, which combined arganto meaning silver or precious metal with rati denoting fortified enclosures. By 590, Bishop Egidius of Reims was exiled to this city where Gregory of Tours described it as Strateburgus derived from the Germanic words Straße for street and Burg for fortress.
Citizens violently rebelled against episcopal rule during the Battle of Hausbergen in 1262. For nearly nine centuries prior bishops governed the region with their authority reinforced in 873 and again in 982. The uprising transformed Strasbourg into a free imperial city granting it autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire.
General Leclerc liberated the city in November 1944 with his 2nd French Armoured Division. Nazi forces had captured Strasbourg in June 1940 during the Battle of France annexing it formally under Gauleiter Robert Wagner. The war years brought atrocities including Jewish skull collections and bombing raids by British and American forces.
Strasbourg became the seat of over twenty international institutions starting in 1949. The Council of Europe established its headquarters there that same year followed by the European Parliament in 1952. Other organizations located here include Eurocorps the European Ombudsman and the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine since 1920.
Sandstone Gothic cathedrals stand beside timber-framed buildings painted black and white along the Ill river. German administration after 1871 added the Neustadt district featuring seven-story buildings with eclectic styles mixing Neo-Egyptian Neo-Greek and Neo-Babylonian motifs. Historic bridges like Ponts Couverts coexist with futuristic structures such as Zaha Hadid's Hoenheim-Nord tram station opened in 2004.