Page 82 - Encyclopedia Of World History

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The skill of making, and maintaining commonwealths, consisteth in certain rules,
as doth arithmetic and geometry; not, as tennis-play, on practice only; which rules,
neither poor men have the leisure, nor men that have had the leisure, have hitherto
had the curiosity, or the method to find out. • Hobbes (1588–1679)

allied coalition that had defeated Napoleon. Britain was states.The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which included
represented by foreign secretary Viscount Castlereagh Belgium and Holland, was created as a strong state on
(Robert Stewart). Prussia was represented by foreign sec- France’s northeastern frontier. The Italian state of
retary and chancellor Prince Carl von Hardenberg, Rus- Piedmont-Sardinia played a similar role on France’s
sia by Czar Alexander I (1777–1825), and Austria by southeastern frontier. In central Europe Napoleon’s Con-
Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773–1859), who federation of the Rhine was abolished and replaced by
emerged as the architect of the Congress. The defeated thirty-nine German states grouped loosely together as the
French were represented by Charles-Maurice de Talley- German Confederation, with its capital in Frankfurt.The
rand (1754–1838). Confederation included German-speaking areas of Prus-
Although Metternich acted as host, there was no for- sia and Austria. It also superseded the three hundred-plus
mal opening of the Congress, and meetings began in Sep- German states that had existed under the auspices of the
tember as delegations arrived. While the major states Holy Roman Empire prior to the French revolution.
debated the key issues, delegates from lesser European Prussia was given land on the west and east banks of the
states dealt with issues such as navigation rights and Rhine river in order to garrison an army that could
attended lavish receptions held by the Austrian govern- march quickly on France in case of an emergency.Austria
ment. The Congress dissolved after the signing of the was meant to have the dominant role in the German
Final Act, 9 June 1815. Confederation and the Austrians were given presidency of
the Confederation. Austria was also to be the dominant
Preliminaries power on the Italian peninsula. Austria retained posses-
With his armies defeated Napoleon Bonaparte resigned sion of the wealthy northern Italian province of Lom-
as emperor of France on 11 April 1814 and went into bardy and was granted control over the neighboring and
exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba. Allied armies equally wealthy province of Venetia. Members of the
occupied Paris and the prerevolutionary Bourbon dy- Austrian royal family, the Habsburgs, were placed on
nasty was restored to the throne of France. Louis XVIII most of the thrones of the remaining Italian states to
(brother of the beheaded Louis XVI) became king, with ensure Austrian dominance and keep the French out.
Talleyrand as foreign secretary. The four allies signed a The Congress recognized British possession of several
peace treaty with the new French government on 30 May important overseas territories conquered during the
1814 known as the First Peace of Paris. Under the terms Napoleonic wars. Britain gained the island of Helgoland
of the treaty France’s borders were rolled back to what in the North Sea, Malta in the Mediterranean, the Cape
they had been in 1792.The final clause in the treaty also Colony of southern Africa, the island of Ceylon off
specified that all states engaged in the current war should India’s southern tip, the islands of Mauritius, Seychelles,
meet in Vienna to resolve outstanding territorial issues. and Rodriguez in the Indian Ocean, and the islands of
Saint Lucia, Trinidad, and Tobago in the Caribbean.
Territorial Arrangements Many of these possessions were economically lucrative
Metternich’s major objective at the Congress was to and gave Britain control over key shipping routes.
ensure that France was surrounded by states strong The Congress acknowledged the status of Switzerland
enough to contain any future French attempts at expan- as an independent and neutral state. Finally, territorial
sion. Metternich wanted to create a balance of power in changes were undertaken in Scandinavia. The king of
Europe that would maintain stability. The Congress of Denmark, too long an ally of Napoleon, lost his posses-
Vienna went on to formalize many territorial arrange- sion of Norway to Sweden. Sweden, in turn, was forced
ments previously agreed upon by the four major allied to give Finland to Russia.