Laval University

From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi

September 14, 2020

The Congress of Vienna of 1814Fathi Habashi

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/fathi_habashi/655/

Congress of Vienna Introduction

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was serving as an artillery officer in the French Royal Army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. Through his battles in Europe he was thought of propagating the essence of French Revolution cause "liberty, equality, fraternity" and was welcomed in every country. When he, however, became emperor in 1804 and a dictator, he was disliked by many. He was responsible for killing at least a million soldiers beside the civilians, was considered an outlaw when he escaped from Elba after his abdication to become the French Emperor again. His loss at Moscow in 1812, Leipzig in 1813, and Waterloo in 1815 ended by his second abdication and exile in Saint Helena. The Congress in Vienna was held during his first abdication.

Napoleon’s empire in 1810

The Congress

A modern photo of the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Vienna where the Congress was held

The Congress of Vienna was one of the most important international conferences in European history after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon. It was a meeting of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859), and held in Vienna for seven months, from November 1814 to June 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars. The leaders were conservatives who did not want to upset the status quo in Europe. Most of the discussions occurred in informal sessions among the Great Powers of Austria, Britain, France, Russia, and sometimes Prussia, with limited or no participation by other delegates. It was the first occasion in history where national representatives came together to formulate treaties.

Negotiations continued despite the outbreak of fighting triggered by Napoleon's return from exile and resumption of power in France during the Hundred Days of March to July 1815. The Congress's final act was signed nine days before Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815.

Participants

The Congress in session

Duke of Wellington

Tsar Alexander I

Karl von Hardenberg

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm III

Talleyrand

• Austria was represented by Prince Klemens von Metternich, the Foreign Minister, and by his deputy, Baron Johann von Wessenberg. Emperor Francis was kept closely informed. • Great Britain was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh, then by the Duke of Wellington, after Castlereagh’s return to England in February 1815. In the last weeks it was headed by the Earl of Clancarty after Wellington left to face Napoleon during the Hundred Days. • Tsar Alexander I headed the Russian delegation formally led by the foreign minister, Count Karl Robert Nesselrode. The tsar had three main goals: to gain control of Poland, to form a league that could intervene and stop revolutions against monarchies, and to promote the peaceful coexistence of European nations. • Prussia was represented by Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, the Chancellor, and the diplomat and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia was also in Vienna. Hardenberg and earlier in his career implemented a variety of liberal reforms. To him and Baron von Stein, Prussia was indebted for improvements in its army system, the abolition of serfdom and feudal burdens, the opening of civil service to all classes, and the complete reform of the educational system. During his late career he agreed to reactionary policies. • France was represented by its foreign minister, Talleyrand, as well as the Minister Plenipotentiary the Duke of Dalberg. • Congress Secretary was Friedrich von Gentz. Other Participants1

• Spain – Marquis Pedro Gómez de Labrador • Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves – Plenipotentiaries: Pedro de Sousa Holstein,

Count of Palmela; António de Saldanha da Gama, Count of Porto Santo; Joaquim Lobo da Silveira.

• Sweden – Count Carl Löwenhielm • Denmark – Count Niels Rosenkrantz, foreign minister. King Frederick VI was also

present in Vienna. • The Netherlands – Earl of Clancarty, the British Ambassador at the Dutch court, and

Baron Hans von Gagern • Switzerland – Every canton had its own delegation. Charles Pictet de Rochemont

from Geneva. • The Papal States – Cardinal Ercole Consalvi • Republic of Genoa – Marquise Agostino Pareto, Senator of the Republic • Bavaria – Maximilian Graf von Montgelas • Württemberg – Georg Ernst Levin von Wintzingerode

1 Condensed from Internet

• Hanover, then in a personal union with the British crown – Georg Graf zu Münster. • Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Leopold von Plessen

Virtually every state in Europe had a delegation in Vienna – more than 200 states and princely houses were represented at the Congress. In addition, there were representatives of cities, corporations, religious organizations (for instance, abbeys), and special interest groups (e.g. a delegation representing German publishers, demanding a copyright law and freedom of the press). • Denmark – Count Niels Rosenkrantz, foreign minister. King Frederick VI was also present • The Netherlands – Earl of Clancarty, the British Ambassador at the Dutch court, and Baron

Hans von Gagern • Count Carl Löwenhielm • Switzerland – Every canton had its own delegation. Charles Pictet de Rochemont from Geneva • Kingdom of Sardinia - Marquis Filippo Antonio Asinari di San Marzano • The Papal States – Cardinal Ercole Consalvi • Republic of Genoa – Marquise Agostino Pareto, Senator of the Republic • Grand Duchy of Tuscany – Neri Corsini • Bavaria – Maximilian Graf von Montgelas • Württemberg – Georg Ernst Levin von Wintzingerode [de] • Hanover, then in a personal union with the British crown – Georg Graf zu Münster • Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Leopold von Plessen Virtually every state in Europe had a delegation in Vienna – more than 200 states and princely houses were represented at the Congress. In addition, there were representatives of cities, corporations, religious organizations (for instance, abbeys) and special interest groups – e.g., a delegation representing German publishers, demanding a copyright law and freedom of the press. The Congress was noted for its lavish entertainment. The Congress functioned through formal meetings such as working groups and official diplomatic functions; however, a large portion was conducted informally at salons, banquets, and balls.

Entertainment in Vienna during the Congress

Final Act

The Final Act was signed on 9 June 1815, a few days before the Battle of Waterloo in which France lost all its recent conquests. The main conclusions:

• Prussia was given three-fifths of Saxony, parts of the Duchy of Warsaw (the Grand Duchy of Posen), Danzig, and the Rhineland/Westphalia. It was also given most of the Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) and was allowed to keep Finland (which it had annexed from Sweden in 1809 and held until 1917).

• A German Confederation of 39 states was created from the previous 300 of the Holy Roman Empire, under the presidency of the Austrian Emperor.

• The Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands (approx. modern-day Belgium) were united in a monarchy, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the House of Orange-Nassau providing the king.

• To compensate for the Orange-Nassau's loss of the Nassau lands to Prussia, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were to form a personal union under the House of Orange-Nassau, with Luxembourg (but not the Netherlands) inside the German Confederation.

• Swedish Pomerania, given to Denmark a year earlier in return for Norway, was ceded by Denmark to Prussia. France received back Guadeloupe from Sweden in return for yearly installments to the Swedish king.

• The neutrality of the 22 cantons of Switzerland was guaranteed and a federal pact was recommended to them in strong terms. Bienne and the Prince-Bishopric of Basel were incorporated into the Canton of Bern.

• Hanover gave up the Duchy of Lauenburg to Denmark, but was enlarged by the addition of former territories of the Bishop of Münster and by the formerly Prussian East Frisia, and made a kingdom.

• Bavaria gained control of the Rhenish Palatinate and parts of the Napoleonic Duchy of Würzburg and Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. Hesse-Darmstadt, in exchange for giving up the Duchy of Westphalia to Prussia, received Rhenish Hesse with its capital at Mainz.

• Austria regained control of the Tyrol and Salzburg; of the former Illyrian Provinces; of Tarnopol district (from Russia); received Lombardy-Venetia in Italy and Ragusa in Dalmatia. Former Austrian territory in Southwest Germany remained under the control of Württemberg and Baden, and the Austrian Netherlands were also not recovered.

• Ferdinand III was restored as Grand Duke of Tuscany. • Archduke Francis IV was acknowledged as the ruler of the Duchy of Modena, Reggio

and Mirandola. • The Papal States were under the rule of the pope and restored to their former extent, with

the exception of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin, which remained part of France. • Britain was confirmed in control of the Cape Colony in Southern Africa, Tobago, Ceylon,

and various other colonies in Africa and Asia. Other colonies, most notably the Dutch East Indies and Martinique, were restored to their previous overlords.

• The King of Sardinia was restored in Piedmont, Nice, and Savoy, and was given control of Genoa (putting an end to the brief proclamation of a restored Republic).

• The Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla were taken from the Queen of Etruria and given to Marie Louise for her lifetime.

• The Duchy of Lucca was created for the House of Bourbon-Parma, which would have reversionary rights to Parma after the death of Marie Louise.

• The Bourbon Ferdinand IV, King of Sicily was restored to control of the Kingdom of Naples after Joachim Murat, the king installed by Bonaparte, supported Napoleon in the Hundred Days and started the Neapolitan War by attacking Austria.

• The slave trade was condemned. • Freedom of navigation was guaranteed for many rivers, notably the Rhine and the

Danube.

Final document of the Congress

Later criticism

The Congress of Vienna became known as the Conservative Order, in which the democracy and civil rights associated with the American and French Revolutions were de-emphasized. Although the Congress preserved the balance of power in Europe, it could not check the spread of revolutionary movements across the continent some 30 years later. Liberal historians have criticized the Congress for causing the subsequent suppression of the emerging national and liberal movements, and it has been seen as a reactionary movement for the benefit of traditional monarchs.

Epilogue

It was Metternich who negotiated the marriage of the 19-years old Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Franz of Austria, to Napoleon in 1810, and an alliance with France in 1812 but his extreme conservation on the theory that peace and order could be secured by the maintenance of the status quo. Censorship and armed repression were features of his policy but did not recognize that the world is changing and the people have rights. He was ousted by the revolution in Vienna of 1848 and exiled to England but returned to Vienna in 1851 where he died few years later.