Key Players of Congress of Vienna

  • The “Host”  Prince Klemens von Metternich (Aus.)
  • Foreign Minister,   Charles Maurice de Tallyrand (Fr.)
  • Tsar Alexander I (Rus.)
  • King Frederick William III (Prus.)
  • Foreign Minister, Viscount Castlereagh (Br.)

Main Objectives

  • Its job was to undo everything that Napoléon had done:
  • Reduce France to its old boundaries -> frontiers were pushed back to the 1790 level.
  • Restore as many of the old monarchies as possible that had lost their thrones during the Napoléonic era.
  • Supported the resolution: There is always an alternative to conflict.

Key Principles Established at Vienna

  • Balance of Power
  • Legitimacy
  • Compensation
  • Coalition forces would occupy France for 3-5 years.
  • France would have to pay an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs.
READ:
Felix Markham’s Napoleon: Biography & Analysis

Changes Made at Vienna

  • France was deprived of all territory conquered by Napoléon.
  • Russia was given most of the Duchy
    of Warsaw (Poland).
  • Prussia was given half of Saxony, parts of Poland, and other German territories.
  • A Germanic Confederation of 30+ states (including Prussia) was created from the previous 300, under Austrian rule.
  • Austria was given back territory it had lost recently, plus more in Germany and Italy.
  • The House of Orange was given the Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands to rule.
  • Norway and Sweden were joined.
  • The neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed.
  • Hanover was enlarged and made a kingdom.
  • Britain was given Cape Colony, South Africa, and various other colonies in Africa and Asia.
  • Sardinia was given Piedmont, Nice, Savoy, and Genoa.
  • The Bourbon Ferdinand I was restored in the Two Sicilies.
  • The Duchy of Parma was given to Marie Louise.
  • The slave trade was condemned (at British urging).
  • Freedom of navigation was guaranteed for many rivers.

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