On January 18, 1871 the princes and generals of Prussia and the German states gathered in the famous Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris to proclaim the Prussian King Wilhelm as first emperor of a newly unified Germany. This proclamation was in the wake of Prussia's stunning defeat of France during the Franco-Prussian War. French Emperor Napoleon III was actually captured during the Battle of Sedan, leading to the complete collapse of the French war effort. The war, the Prussian victory, and the creation of Germany was the brainchild of the Prussian Minister President, later German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (center, in white). The Hall of Mirrors would later be the scene of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 which punished a humbled and defeated Germany for its role in the First World War.
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