It was famous as the scene of the battle of 18 August 1870 between the Germans under King William of Prussia and the French under Marshal Bazaine.

The battlefield extends from the woods which border the Moselle above Metz to Roncourt, near the river Orne.

After the Armistice of 1918 and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, the village of Gravelotte became French again.

Between 1940 and 1944, as in the rest of the annexed Moselle, many young people, who were forcibly enlisted into the German army, were sent to the Eastern Front, some of them never returned.

The commune was liberated by General Patton's troops in 1944, during the battle of Metz.