'Like Sarajevo, Belfast and Dallas, Compiègne [site of British Army HQ in the end-game stages of WWI] would seem to be one of the strangely doom-laden minor cities in history: my 1920 Guide to Belgium and the Western Front notes that not only was Joan of Arc captured and turned over to the English there in 1430; Marie Antoinette, aged 15, met her future husband the Dauphin there in 1770; and Tsar Nicholas and the Tsarina were received by President Loubet at the famous nearby château in 1901.'
--From Terry Castle, The Professor ('Courage, Mon Amie')
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