In order to achieve German unity under Prussia, Otto von Bismark maneuvered Napoleon III of France into starting the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The French lost it, as Bismark thought they would. And to add insult to injury, the new Prussian kaiser was crowned in the Halls of Mirror in the palace of Versailles. Versailles was a palace that King Louis XIV had moved to from Paris in 1682, in order to get some distance from the physical presence of his subjects. It became the unofficial capital of the kingdom of France. Crowning the new kaiser there would be like (to Americans) crowning him in the White House. There, take that, France! It was a calculated and total insult to the French.
So when the French beat the Germans in World War I, they arranged for the harsh treaty against the Germans to be dictated from Versailles. There, take that Germany! The initial armistice that ended the war was a humiliating procedure for the Germans that was conducted in a rail road carriage in Compiègne Forest.
When the Germans beat the French at the start of World War II, Hitler insisted that the French sign their armistice in that very same railroad carriage in that very same Compiègne Forest. There, take that France!
Sometimes great nations behave like petty persons. And suffer for it.
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