congress of vienna timeline

CONGRESS OF VIENNA TIMELINE

May 30, 1814: Peace of Paris; King Louis XVIII issues Constitutional Charter with Bill of Rights.September 30, 1814: First meeting of the Big Four in Vienna, plus Talleyrand.January-February 1815: Crisis over Poland; Austria, Britain, and France threaten war.March-June 1815: Napoleon returns from Elba for his Hundred Days (Battle of Waterloo on June 18).June 9, 1815: Final Act of the Congress of Vienna includes plan to create a German Confederation.November 20, 1815: Second Peace of Paris imposes indemnity of 700 million francs and an army of occupation (withdrawn in 1818).

Vernet, “The Clichy Gate: The Defense of Paris, 30 March 1814” (as 900,000 Allied troops converged on

the city)

THESE “LIBERALS” AGREED THAT RUSSIA SHOULD HAVE POLAND, AND PRUSSIA, SAXONY

Tsar Alexander I(1777-1825)

Prince Karl August von Hardenberg,

Chancellor of Prussia, 1810-22

Prince Clemens von Metternich (1774-1859)

CHAMPIONS OF THE “BALANCE OF POWER”

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh,

Foreign Secretary 1812-1822

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

(1754-1838):

1789-91, Bishop of Autun, leader of constitutional clergy;

1792-96, emigration;

1797-1807, foreign minister;

1814-15, saves France at Congress of Vienna;

1830-34, ambassador to Great Britain

L. P. Crepin, “Louis XVIII Elevates France from the Ruins,” 1814

“France, Amid Its

Royal Law-Givers and

Great Jurists, Receives the Constitutiona

l Charter from Louis

XVIII”(1827)

The Congress of Vienna, 1815: Wellington, Hardenberg (seated), Metternich (standing), Castlereagh, & Talleyrand

“The Return from the Island of Elba”(the soldiers of Louis XVIII acclaim Napoleon, March

1815)

“The Return of the Emperor” to Paris, March 20, 1815

“The Field of Waterloo the Morning after

the Memorable Battle” of June

18, 1815

Europe following the Congress of Vienna in 1815

KEY DECISIONS BY THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1814/15

FRANCE:Restore the Bourbon Dynasty, but with a “Charter of Liberty,” and borders of 1792

POLAND:Give Russia ¾ of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw

ITALY:Build up the “Kingdom of Sardinia” to block French expansion

PRUSSIA:Pressure it to accept the Rhineland to block French expansion

GERMANY:

Replace the old Holy Roman Empire with a loose “German Confederation”

Ignore claims to “national self-determination” in favor of the principles of “dynastic legitimacy” and the “balance of power.” The “Concert of Europe” should intervene in any country that experienced revolution.