Catastrophic consequences

“A HATRED THAT WILL HAVE
NO END AND KNOW NO BORDERS”

“One hundred and fifty years ago, on January 18, 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, which the troops of the German states had just captured in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.”

“The choice of January 18 for the proclamation that marked Germany’s birth as a unified nation was not accidental: it was the anniversary of the coronation in 1701 of the first king of Prussia.”

Tsar Alexander II of Russia warned Wilhelm, the Prussian king, that if the Germans forced France to concede long-held territory it would instill “a hatred between peoples that will have no end and know no borders” with “catastrophic consequences for all of Europe.”

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