Western Civilization II / Unit 11 WC2 1014 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Sedan, Versailles, and the German Empire, 1871
Captions available
The idea
Napoleon III led in person, sick, and was captured at Sedan on the first of September eighteen seventy. With Paris under siege, Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in January eighteen seventy-one. The smaller kingdoms joined.
In practice
The myth of French military supremacy destroyed.
Where people slip
Sedan is named on the witness, not the anchor.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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