Europe, 1815
From World History Map Activities
© J. Weston Walch.
Teacher Background
Once Napoleon was captured and sent off to Elba, the victorious allies had to reorganize Europe. The conference that redrew the map of Europe met in Vienna, Austria, and ran from October 1, 1814, to June 9, 1815. During that time, kingdoms were reshaped or abolished, alliances made, and the future of Europe decided. This was a gathering of royalists. Democracy was not a goal of these people. Four of the major decision makers were representatives of monarchs and one was a monarch. The host of the Congress of Vienna was Prince Metternich of Austria. Prussia was represented by Hardenberg. Britain sent in its foreign minister, Castlereagh. The Russian czar, Alexander I, acted as his own negotiator. These were the victorious allies in the war against Napoleon. The fifth negotiator was Talleyrand, who represented King Louis XVIII, the restored Bourbon king of France. Each of the five powers had its own agenda.
The biggest conflict was over Poland. Alexander I wanted to rule Poland. He had some idealistic plans for a Polish constitution. Prussia was willing to agree if Russia supported Prussia's annexation of Saxony. But other powers saw this as allowing Russia to claim too much territory. Eventually the powers worked out a compromise. Russia received a smaller Poland than the czar had requested, and Prussia received only a part of Saxony.
France itself was an issue. The allies had restored Louis XVIII to the throne of France and given him the borders of 1792. The victors even let France keep artworks taken during Napoleon's wars. Talleyrand argued all this was fair because Louis XVIII was a king and deserved generous treatment. It was the usurper Napoleon who deserved punishment, not France. This argument became much weaker when Napoleon escaped from Elba and was welcomed back by the French. Louis XVIII fled from his kingdom. After again defeating Napoleon, the allies wrote a new treaty with France. French borders were moved back to a line closer to 1789 or 1790. This cost Louis XVIII significant territory. France was required to pay an indemnity of 700 million francs. The allies put an army of occupation in France. It was entitled to stay for up to five years. The allies also took back the artworks.
France clearly could not be trusted, so the allies set about guarding against her future expansion. France was ringed by strong countries along her borders. Belgium and Holland were combined into a strong Netherlands. Prussia got the Rhineland, thus giving it a border with France. On France's southern border, the Kingdom of Sardinia received Genoa. The allies also signed the Quadruple Alliance to further strengthen the limits on France. The four allies agreed to use force if necessary to resist future French expansion, and further agreed to meet from time to time to maintain the peace of Europe. This was in effect an early version of the collective security seen in the later League of Nations and United Nations.
The German area needed to be tidied up. Before Napoleon, Germany had been broken up into about 300 countries. Napoleon had abolished the Holy Roman Empire and replaced it with the Confederation of the Rhine. In the process, he drastically reduced the number of German countries. Some of the old rulers hoped to be restored. More than 200 ex-rulers were in Vienna for the congress. The surviving German states were represented by 32 rulers. None of these had a voice in the decision. The congress decided to establish a German Confederation that had 39 states.
Austria had some claims she wanted recognized in compensation for her agreement to gains made by Russia and Prussia and her loss of Belgium. Austria was awarded Salzburg, Tyrol, the Illyrian provinces (also called Dalmatia), Venice, and Lombardy.
The British had asked for no territory on the continent. Castlereagh was satisfied that two diplomatic goals were achieved. Britain wanted a "just equilibrium" of powers in Europe--in other words, a balance of power. Britain also wanted the coast of the Low Countries in friendly hands. Given British control of the seas, these conditions provided security for Britain. Castlereagh also got recognition of the British colonies, including Cape Colony in Africa, Malta, and Ceylon. He also got agreement to ban the slave trade.
There were some less controversial agreements. Denmark's king had been too friendly to Napoleon. As a result, Denmark lost control of Sweden to Norway. Bourbon dynasties were restored in Spain and Naples. The czar of Russia had one idea that was a bit of a puzzle. His "Holy Alliance" called on all parties to conduct their policies upon Christian principles. The parties signed it, but what it meant was a bit of a mystery.
The Congress of Vienna did its work amid a series of balls and parties. Once the diplomats took a week off to leave town for shooting--hunting wild game on a country estate. At one concert, Beethoven conducted a new piece he had just written. Yet the diplomats worked hard and resolved issues through compromise. The clock could not be entirely turned back to remove all traces of the French Revolution and Napoleon. Revolutions broke out in 1830 and even bigger ones came in 1848. But the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna signed a treaty in 1815 that would not be broken by a major war until 1914. A century of relative peace is no small achievement.
Key:
7. Vienna
8. Russian Empire, Great Britain, Austrian Empire, Prussia, France
9. Russian Empire
10. Russian Empire, Great Britain, Austrian Empire, Prussia
Weight: 20 points
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