The Congress of Vienna
First Treaty of Paris (May 1814, while Napoleon was exiled to Elba)
 establish position of France
 F forced to accept restoration of Bourbon monarchy, but
treated leniently in other respects (harsh treaty would cause
trouble in the future)
 F allowed to retain borders of 1792 & looted art treasures
Main problems dealt with in Vienna:
a) How was France to be controlled?
 creation of buffer states around F (Cordon Sanitaire)
b) How was the security of Italy and Germany to be assured?
 Italy: divided into separate states to break the strong French
influence imposed by Napoleon
 “Germany”: German Confederation (Deutscher Bund)
c) How did the powers resolve the issue of Poland?
 Poland: ‘Congress Poland’ (mostly R), own constitution; other
parts: Prussia & Austria
Second Treaty of Paris (November 1815):
 necessary due to Napoleon’s “100 Days” rule; rethinking lenient
treatment
 French frontiers reduced to those of 1790
 indemnity of 700 million francs
 F was to return all looted art treasures & to bear the costs of an
army of occupation (to remain until indemnity was paid off)
Territorial Reorganisation (main aspects)
Great Britain
 expanded
its
overseas Empire
 Ionian Islands in the
Adriatic = British
protection
(formerly Venetian
Republic)
 Malta, Tobago, St
Lucia from France,
Trinidad from Spain
etc. (acquisition)
Prussia
 territory extended on
the left bank of the
river Rhine and in the
old
Napoleonic
kingdom
of
Westphalia,
along
lower & middle Rhine
 Posen
 two-fifths of Saxony
 large
section
of
Pomerania
Russia
 most
of
Poland
(“Congress
Poland”)
(from: Europe 1760-1871 (Flagship History). London (Harper Collins) 2000, pp. 146-153.)
Austria
 northern
and
eastern
Italian
states of Lombardy
and Venetia (to
make up for loss of
Austrian
Netherlands
=>
Dutch King)
 restoration of the
Habsburgs in the
central
Italian
duchies of Parma,
Modena, Tuscany
 retained Galicia
 absorption
of
territories that had
been independent
before the wars
(e.g. Archbishopric
of Salzburg)
 Illyrian provinces
Piedmont-Sardinia
 formerly
independent
Republic of Genoa
 Nice & most of
Savoy