Room of 1792 - The Battle of Valmy

The Room of 1792 commemorates the year the monarchy fell and the republic was established in the wake of the French Revolution. Enormous paintings hang high at each end of the room; the one nearest the entrance depicts the Battle of Valmy. In September 1792, Prussia and Austria invaded France with a massive army, fearing that their own populations might rise up against the crown just as the French had. In response, untrained French citizens quickly rallied and marched to Valmy. The French forces were made up largely of poorly trained citizen soldiers, while their opponent was widely considered Europe's finest fighting force. Everyone expected a French defeat, but instead of fleeing in fear, the French citizens cried "Long live the nation!" and stood their ground. Overwhelmed by their resolve, the Prussian army ultimately retreated. The battle is regarded as the first modern engagement in which ordinary citizens — fighting for their own nation rather than as mercenaries obeying a king — became the protagonists of history.

At the same time, suspicion was mounting within France that King Louis XVI was secretly conspiring with the enemy. Believing their king had betrayed them, the people of Paris stripped Louis XVI of his power and imprisoned him in the Temple Tower — the moment when more than a thousand years of French monarchy came to an end. The republic that followed laid the roots of modern French democracy. There is a striking historical irony in the fact that, at the very heart of Versailles — built as a monument to the absolute rule of Louis XIV — hangs a painting of the battle that helped trigger the monarchy's downfall.