Salm-Salm was created as a partition of Salm-Dhaun in 1574, and was raised from a County to a Principality in 1739 after being inherited and renamed by Count Nicholas Leopold of Salm-Hoogstraten.

In 1790, after the French Revolution, the princes of Salm fled the territory and moved to their castle in Anholt, Westphalia.

Some years later, in 1802/1803, together with Salm-Kyrburg, the prince of Salm-Salm was granted new territories formerly belonging to the Bishops of Münster (Westphalia).

It was separated from the main part of the Holy Roman Empire when most of Alsace was ceded to France in the 17th century.

After Lorraine became a part of France on 24 February 1766, Salm-Salm formed an exclave of the Holy Roman Empire surrounded by French territory.