jan 1, 1682 - Versailles

Description:

The small town of Versailles, just a few miles outside of France, would come to be one of the most influential, richly decorated and important in European history.

Originally a hunting lodge for King Louis XIII of France that was so modest by aristocratic standards it "would not inspire vanity in even the simplest gentleman" the lodge would grow into a behemoth palace of extraordinary opulence, being the heart of French government for a century.

When Louis XIV came of age to rule alone, his experiences of conflicts with the nobility, disenchanted him with the traditional power structure of France.

Versailles would be expanded again and again at his whim until the royal court was moved there in 1682, making it the de facto capital of France. Nobles flocked to Versailles and in doing so, effectively left behind their own power-bases, allowing Louis to secure his grip on his kingdom as an absolute monarch. His reputation as "The Sun King" who wielded a magnificent and powerful Kingdom which dominated European politics, would last well after his death and aid the reputation of Versailles as a place of magnificence.

Decades later during the french Revolution, it would become a symbol of aristocratic opulence, and after the King and Queen were forced to move to Paris by a revolutionary mob, the palace would become abandoned and would be picked apart by scavengers. It would take decades for it to eventually be fully restored.

In 1871 it would be occupied by the Prussian General staff and it was there that the German Empire was officially declared, intended as a deliberate statement on German dominance of France.

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