Editing Versailles, Yvelines (section)

===19th century to the present day===
The [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870 put Versailles in the limelight again. On 18 January 1871, the victorious Germans proclaimed the king of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[Wilhelm I]], emperor of [[Empire of Germany|Germany]] in the very [[Hall of Mirrors]] of the castle, in an attempt to take revenge for the conquests of Louis XIV two centuries earlier. Then in March of the same year, following the insurrection of the [[Paris Commune]], the [[French Third Republic]] government under [[Adolphe Thiers|Thiers]] relocated to Versailles, and from there directed the military suppression of the insurrection.

Restoration of a monarchy almost occurred in 1873, with parliament offering the crown to [[Henri, comte de Chambord]], but his refusal to accept the [[Flag of France|tricolour flag]] that had been adopted during the Revolution made the restoration of monarchy impossible for the time being. Versailles became again the political centre of France, full of buzz and rumours, with its population briefly peaking at 61,686 in 1872,<ref name=ehess /> matching the record level of population reached on the eve of the French Revolution 83 years earlier. Eventually, however, left-wing republicans won a string of parliamentary elections, defeating the parties supporting a restoration of the monarchy, and the new majority decided to relocate the government to Paris in November 1879. Versailles then experienced a new population setback (48,324 inhabitants at the 1881 census).<ref name=ehess /> After that, Versailles never again functioned as the seat of the capital of France, but the presence of the [[National Assembly (France)|French Parliament]] there in the 1870s left a vast hall, built in one aisle of the palace, which the French Parliament uses when it meets in [[Congress of the French Parliament|Congress]] to amend the French Constitution, as well as when the [[President of France]] addresses the two chambers of the French Parliament.

[[File:Versailles Cour Royale Sud.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The [[Château de Versailles]] (Pavillon Dufour) in the spring of 2006.]]
Only in 1911 did Versailles definitely recover its level of population of 1789, with 60,458 inhabitants at the 1911 census.<ref name=ehess /> In 1919, at the end of the First World War, Versailles came into the limelight again as the [[Treaty of Versailles|various treaties]] ending the war were signed in the castle proper and in the [[Grand Trianon]]. After 1919, as the suburbs of Paris continued to expand, Versailles was absorbed by the urban area of Paris and the city experienced a strong demographic and economic growth, turning it into a large suburban city of the metropolitan area of Paris. The role of Versailles as an administrative and judicial centre has been reinforced in the 1960s and 1970s, and somehow Versailles has become the main centre of the western suburbs of Paris.

In the present times, the centre of the town has kept its very bourgeois atmosphere, while more middle-class neighbourhoods have developed around the train stations and on the outskirts of the city. Versailles is a chic suburb of Paris, well linked with the centre of Paris by several train lines. However, the city is extremely compartmentalized, divided by large avenues inherited from the monarchy which create the impression of several small cities ignoring each other. Versailles was never an industrial city, even though there are a few chemical and food-processing plants. Essentially, Versailles is a place of services, such as public administration, tourism, [[business]] congresses, and festivals. From 1951 until France's withdrawal from the NATO unified command in 1966, nearby [[Rocquencourt, Yvelines|Rocquencourt]] functioned as the site for [[SHAPE]]. Versailles is an important military centre, with several units and training schools headquartered at the [[Satory]] military base, which hosted the headquarters of the famed [[2nd Armored Division (France)|2nd French Armored Division]] until 1999, and where a military exhibition is organized{{by whom|date=August 2019}} annually.