- After the first abdication of Napoleon I st on April 6, 1814, the victorious European powers met in Vienna to negotiate and redesign a new European order.
- These four great powers are the monarchies hostile to the Revolution and wishing to preserve a monarchical order in Europe; there are Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia.
- The UK and Austria want to balance Europe and create a buffer zone between the great powers; Russia and Prussia are rather expansionist and seek to extend their domination.
- If we can define two different strategies, there is however no real alliance:each nation plays for its own account with antagonistic ambitions.
- After the Hundred Days, the congress resumes:Castlereagh represents Great Britain, Metternich Austria, Nesselrode Russia, Hardenberg Prussia and Talleyrand the France of Louis XVIII.
September 18, 1814 - June 9, 1815
Characters
Robert Stewart
Klemens von Metternich-Winneburg
Karl Robert von Nesslrode
Karl August von Hardenberg
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Procedure
France is judged a little more harshly than in 1814, but retains larger borders than in 1789 thanks to England, which wants to use it as a buffer against Russian and Prussian expansionism.
England gains many French, European and West Indian islands.
The gigantic Austria loses the Netherlands, but extends a lot in Germany and Italy, which are not yet nations.
Russia wins Finland and expands west.
Prussia loses part of Poland, but gains part of Sweden and Germany.
Two important decisions for the future of Europe were validated during the congress:the birth of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, entrusted to William of Orange; and the birth of the Germanic Confederation, future Germany, under the domination of Austria and Prussia.
Consequences
- The Anglo-Austrian vision of a European balance prevails; the monarchical order is preserved to the detriment of the rights of peoples.
- Russia, Prussia and Austria form the Holy Alliance, a union of monarchies aimed at preserving Europe from political liberalism and France; England, the only liberal constitutional monarchy, is absent.
- This will allow Europe to experience forty years of peace, but the geographic redistricting also promotes the rise of nations and will lead to the Spring of the Peoples, the unification of nations and the constitutionalization of regimes.