Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles
The German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on 18 January 1871, in a French palace, during a siege of Paris. The choice of place was not accidental and was resented for the following seventy-five years, which is why the treaty of 1919 was signed in the same room. The proclamation was the last step of a process that had been running since 1866. The North German Confederation already existed with its constitution and its parliament; what the war with France added was the four southern states — Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse — which joined under treaties negotiated in November 1870, with Bavaria extracting reserved rights over its own army in peacetime, its own post and railways, and its own diplomatic representation. Bismarck also paid Ludwig II of Bavaria a private subsidy out of confiscated Hanoverian funds to write the letter inviting Wilhelm to accept the imperial title. Wilhelm did not want it. He regarded the Prussian crown as older and better and the imperial one as an invention of professors and revolutionaries, and quarrelled with Bismarck to the last hour over whether he was to be Emperor of Germany or German Emperor — the second, which implied no sovereignty over the other princes, is what was used. He is said not to have spoken to Bismarck afterwards on the day. The date was chosen as the anniversary of the first Prussian coronation in 1701. Paris capitulated ten days later. Anton von Werner painted the scene three times over twenty-five years, changing the composition each time as the politics required, and the version everyone reproduces was made in 1885 as a birthday present for Bismarck, who stands in the centre in white.
- Year: 1871 CE
- Category: Political
