An anecdote and reflection.
In his Chronicles and Dispatches to the Roman Senate, Julius Caesar made continual
reference to the difficulty/cost of maintaining order in Gaul and Germania, which he
attributed to the ancient and enduring tribal enmity between the Gauls and the Saxons.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Gaul transitioned to a unified France in 500 AD,
while Germania remained fragmented till Von Bismarck in 1870.
The Treaty signing, ending the Franco-Prussian War was held in the Hall of Mirrors/Versalilles.
Purposely, Bismarck removed all seating forcing the French Diplomats and Officers to
stand for some 2 hours.
Then he entered the Hall, w/privates carrying a table and single chair, sad down and read
the terms and conditions of the Treaty to them which included the payment of substantial
war reparations as well as the indefinite occupation of Alsace-Lorraine.
After finishing, he told them that from Clovis to the present, some 1400 years, France had
treated Germany and its people w/abuse and contempt but that day was over and they
would never set foot on German soil again.
Gallic pride could/would not bear that insult and, as Sir John Keegan asserted, at that
moment French Revanchism and the seeds of WW1 were planted!
