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The Remapping of Europe
On September 1814, the Congress of Vienna began. All the powers of Europe sent delegates to decide the issue of the day: the reorganization of the chaotic Europe Napoleon's conquest had left behind.
The members of the Congress were all afraid of a strong France, so they created strong border states, including the Netherlands and the Italian Kingdom of Piedmont. Prussia got the left bank of the Rhine, while Austria took territory in northern Italy, including Tuscany and Milan. The Bourbons were restored in Spain, but restoring Germany to its previous status as the chaotic, fragmented Holy Roman Empire served no one’s purposes. Instead, the relatively large kingdoms of Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Saxony remained as Napoleon created them. However, a unified Germany would not emerge just yet
The Problem of Poland
The future of Napoleon’s Polish Grand Duchy of Warsaw remained the most problematic issue. Alexander had desired the territory for years, but Austria and Prussia both held parts of the old Polish kingdom. As a compromise, the Prussians entered an agreement with Russia, under which Russia would support Prussia’s bid for Saxony, and Prussia would support Russia’s bid for Poland. In addition, Prussia would hand over its share of Poland to Russian. Metternich, however, feared that Russia would become too powerful in this deal. To combat the Russian-Prussian alliance, on January 3, 1815, Austria, Britain, and France signed a secret treaty agreeing to oppose the Prussians and Russians. In the end, the Congress of Vienna created a small Poland with Alexander installed as the king. With Russia satisfied, Prussia lost its ally and was only able to get a minor piece of Saxony.
Napoleon’s Escape and the Hundred Days
As these details were being ironed out in Vienna, another problem suddenly arose. On March 1, 1815, Napoleon appeared in France, having escaped from exile in Elba. Promising to return France to glory, Napoleon swept through the country and raised an army. Louis XVIII quickly fled, and Napoleon made a last-ditch effort at conquest in a period called the Hundred Days. Shocked, the Congress of Vienna immediately declared Napoleon an outlaw.
The Hundred Days reached its climax and conclusion at the Battle of Waterloo, where the British army under Wellington was joined by a revitalized Prussian force under Blücher. Together, they managed to defeat Napoleon. A second Treaty of Paris was signed, and Napoleon was exiled much farther away this time, to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, were he lived out the last six years of his life. The four victorious powers (Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia) agreed that no Bonaparte would ever be allowed to rule France again.
After the Hundred Days, the finishing touches were put on the Congress of Vienna. Tsar Alexander I, still looking for a collective security system that would prevent anyone from ever building such a large European empire again, convinced most European nations to sign a Holy Alliance. Under the terms of this agreement, which was taken seriously by few besides Alexander himself, the nations promised to strive for the Christian virtues of charity and peace.
The Workings of the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was one of the most important international summits of European history. It determined the future boundaries of Europe, boundaries that still impact Europe today. The major powers of the day dominated negotiations, sending their most eminent statesmen, each with their own goals. Prussia wanted to enlarge its territory. Russia wanted Poland, but it also wanted collective security. Austria and Britain simply wanted a balance of power that would maintain stability and the status quo in Europe. Although the French Revolution and Napoleonic Rule spread the forces of modernization and change, the Congress of Vienna, which determined the future of Europe beyond Napoleon, was dominated by members of the old regime and aristocracy. Their hope was to design a political landscape wherein no one power could dominate.
The secret Austrian-British-French alliance to stop Russia and Prussia from combining to gain all of Poland and Saxony just shows how complicated the negotiations were. Europe had just spent two decades dealing with the French menace, and already, the anti-French coalition was split up, with Britain actually allying with France! Still, despite the efforts to minimize Russian and Prussian encroachment in Central Europe, both countries did manage to extend their influence west through the Congress of Vienna.
The Impact of the Congress of Vienna
For all the trouble France had caused, the Congress was remarkably mild towards France, which was allowed to keep its traditional, pre-Revolution boundaries. The Congress also stopped potentially explosive issues from getting out of hand, such as the question of what to do with Poland. While nationalists were not always happy with established borders, which served to maintain the balance of power rather than unifying any given group of a shared language and culture, the Congress still created remarkable stability in Europe. It created enough powers of similar strength and influence that none of them could go too far without being overwhelmed by a coalition of the others, preventing wars for the century to come. Not until World War I broke out in 1914 did another massive, Europe-wide conflict occur. In that sense, the Congress of Vienna was a triumph of diplomacy.
