The palace of versailles in France is in the shape of a "pin", and the main rooms visited by tourists such as the Hall of Mirrors, the suites of kings and queens are in the "mouth" above the word "pin", and the two "mouths" below, the right side is the "North Wing", which is mainly a church, and the left side is the "South Wing", which was once the residence of the princes. In the southwest corner of the south wing (upper left corner of the map) there is a main hall, known as the "Hall of Battleship/Galerie Des Batailles" or "God of War Promenade" because of the collection of paintings on the subject of war.
After Louis XVI was sent to the guillotine, the Palace of Versailles was abandoned until 1833, when Louis Philippe I of orléans (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) restored the Palace of Versailles and converted it into a French History Museum. He designed a series of historical galleries, the War Hall being the most important, which began construction in the first year of restoration and was completed and opened on June 10, 1837.
The War Hall is 120 meters long and 13 meters wide, covering almost the entire first floor of the south wing, with a transparent glass roof enhancing the interior lighting, and the Greek marble columns and gold-carved vaults add a bit of solemnity, which is one of the highlights of the visit to the Palace of Versailles. Unfortunately, many tourists only know the Hall of Mirrors, after all, so many large mirrors with polished tiles and "blingbling" crystal chandeliers can be seen without using their brains. In fact, the War Hall is one of the most important rooms in the Palace of Versailles.
Through 33 oil paintings of major battles in French history and the busts of 82 famous generals martyred on the battlefield, it shows a series of the greatest battles that have influenced French history: from Clovis's victory at Tolbiac in 496 AD to Napoleon's victory at Wagram in 1809, the Meromeuvian dynasty, carolingian dynasty, Capetian dynasty, Valois dynasty, Bourbon dynasty, as well as the French Revolution and Napoleon I, all have a place here. These include the Merovins, Carolingians, Capetians, Valois, and Bobians. Of course, the display is incomplete, because all the paintings depict victorious battles.
Louis Philippe hoped to incorporate the depiction of revolution and imperial victory, after he had just experienced a turbulent period in France when he ascended the throne, and he hoped that the War Hall would inspire his subjects and show his attitude. He declared that France had come its way through numerous civil and foreign wars, and that from now on this country was glorious, glorious, stable and ready to enter a new era based on peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, Louis Philippe stepped down in 1848, and his grand plans to build the Palace of Versailles were halted. But the War Hall was preserved as an essential part of the Route of the Palace of Versailles. Another set of rooms on the ground floor was also converted into the court gallery of Louis XIV, displaying furniture, paintings and sculptures.
One of the largest, center,and most famous paintings in the God of War Gallery is Battle of Austerlitz, written by François Gérard in 1810. Its importance is not only in its historical significance, but also in the famous sights seen in the city of Paris today, which is also related to this battle.
Engels once described the battle as "the most glorious battle in Napoleon's life, even in the history of France, and even one of the most glorious victories in the history of human warfare." In March 1805, the 36-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte was further crowned King of Italy after his coronation at Notre Dame Cathedral, a move that angered the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II. In that year, Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia organized the Third Anti-French Alliance, which was claimed to be the "Holy Alliance" against the French Revolution. In August the Austrian and Russian armies pressed on Ulm in Bavaria, Germany. Unexpectedly, the Russian calendar was two weeks later than the European calendar, so the Russian army did not converge with the large troops as planned (in this way, Qin Shi Huang's unified text currency and weights and measures were not enough, and the unified calendar had to be unified). Taking advantage of the fact that the armies of various countries were not yet concentrated, Napoleon led 73,000 troops (65,000 actually participated in the battle), marched 800 kilometers in 50 days, suddenly surrounded the German Army Group and forced it to surrender on October 20. The French took advantage of the victory to pursue, and the soldiers occupied vienna, the capital of Austria, without bloodshed.
In the painting, the Austrian army is wearing a white military uniform, and the fish rushes out of the city to surrender. In the distance, the tallest church in Europe, Ulm, can be seen.
I will not dwell on the course of the war here. The battle took place on 2 December, 150 km north of the city of Vienna, in austerlitz in the Czech Republic today, because the participants were Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of the French Empire, Tsar Alexander I of the Russian Empire, the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, and the Emperor of the Three Kingdoms, so it was also called the "Battle of the Three Emperors". This battle is a typical example of Napoleon's military genius, Napoleon desperately, deliberately showing weakness to the enemy, luring the Russian-Austrian army to attack. The French army totaled 56,000 people, and the Russian-Austrian army increased to 86,000 after converging on the reinforcements, and more than 100,000 were on the way. The battle lasted for a full day, killing 16,000 allied men and capturing 20,000.
This battle changed the landscape of Europe and the direction of world history. On 4 December, Franz II met with Napoleon to reach a ceasefire. On 27 December, Austria and France signed the Peace of Presburg. Austria withdrew from the Coalition, and Franz II revoked his title of "Holy Roman Emperor". At this point, the Third Coalition collapsed, the history of the Holy Roman Empire came to an end, and Napoleon became the hegemon of Europe.
The French Rapp returns to the highest point of pratzen Heights to report to Napoleon (the white horse rider), who is wounded by a sword on the head and wears a broken saber, presenting the emperor with the captured flag and the commander of the Russian Guards squadron he captured, and the white horseman is Duke Nikolai Repnin Volkonsky.
After this battle, Napoleon became the god of war, and he ordered the construction of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to commemorate the battle.
It was also ordered that the 1,200 cannons captured in this battle be cast into a 37-meter-high memorial column topped with a bronze statue of him, placed in the center of the Place Vendôme in Paris. On one side of the square is the most luxurious Hotel Ritz in Paris, where Princess Diana and her boyfriend lived before the car accident.
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【Author:Desert Rose】
Global travel expert, travel experience engineer, freelance writer, guest host. He has traveled to nearly 50 countries and more than 200 cities on five continents.