2-752-321 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Toppled equestrian statue of Wilhelm I, Metz, France, 1918, (c1920). 'What Alsatians did to the Statue of William I at Metz: the memorial overturned by the inhabitants on the entry into the town of the French troops'. The city of Metz, which had been annexed into the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, was returned to France following the armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended World War I. After the defeat of Germany, a statue of German emperor Wilhelm I was removed from its plinth. From "The Great World War: A History", Volume IX, edited by Frank A Mumby. [The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd, London, c1920]