Meher Baba's Life & Travels
1931
On December 15th, they went to Versailles in a Rolls Royce limousine. They saw the Hall of Mirrors where the treaty of Versailles was signed ending the First World War. Then they went through the rest of the kings' palace and saw Marie Antoinette's suite. In the gardens, they all skipped happily in a line holding hands. Afterward, they had tea in a cafe where Delia accidentally spilled her cup on the tablecloth, much to the amusement of Baba. During that night, they stayed in their hotel rooms and relaxed. Baba played tiddly-winks, carroms and marbles with Ali, and the two children, John and Zillah.
Lord Meher Volume
4, Page 1504
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The following photos were taken by Anthony Zois, 2010
Official Versailles tourist brochure, 2010
Marie Antionette's Suite
Other than the painting, you'll notice the decadent decor, chintzy-looking wall paper and bedspread . Well, all that chintz are solemn reminders of Marie Antoinette actually. Apparently, the floral patterns were in vogue in Austria at that time so it's no surprise that the Austrian-born queen had her bedroom was decorated in the same style...
The Treaty of Versailles
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/1920s/VersaillesTreatyCarlos.htm
http://www.ctevans.net/Versailles/Menu.html
| Treaty of Versailles | |
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| Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany | |
Cover of the English version
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Signed Location |
28 June 1919 Versailles, France |
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Effective Condition |
10 January 1920 Ratification by Germany and three Principal Allied Powers. |
| Signatories |
Central Powers German Reich
Allied Powers
Others[show]
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| Depositary | French Government |
| Languages | French, English |
 Treaty of Versailles at
Wikisource
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The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I were dealt with in separate treaties.[1] Although the armistice signed on 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on October 21, 1919, and was printed in The League of Nations Treaty Series.
Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany to accept responsibility for causing the war (along with Austria and Hungary, according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Trianon) and, under the terms of articles 231–248 (later known as the War Guilt clauses), to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. The total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion Marks (then $31.4 billion, £6,600 million) in 1921 which is roughly equivalent to US $442 billion and UK £217 billion in 2011, a sum that many economists at the time, notably John Maynard Keynes, deemed to be excessive and counterproductive and would have taken Germany until 1988 to pay.[2][3] The final payments ended up being made on 4 October 2010,[4] the twentieth anniversary of German reunification, and some ninety-two years after the end of the war for which they were exacted.[5] The Treaty was undermined by subsequent events starting as early as 1932 and was widely flouted by the mid-1930s.[6]
The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was compromise that left none contented: Germany was not pacified or conciliated, nor permanently weakened. This would prove to be a factor leading to later conflicts, notably and directly the Second World War.