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add details and bibliog
The '''Congress of Vienna''' was a conference held in [[Vienna]] between the major powers from September, 1814 to June, 1815; concluding days before the defeat of [[Napoleon]] at the battle of [[Waterloo]]. Present at the Congress were [[Castlereagh]] of Great Britain, [[Metternich]] of Austria, and [[Talleyrand]] of France.
The '''Congress of Vienna''' was a conference held in [[Vienna]] between the major powers from September, 1814 to June, 1815. In the middle [[Napoleon]] returned from exile. The conferees agreed to raise vast armies against him and, after 100 days, he was defeated at Waterloo. The Conference then resumed.
[[Alexander I]] of Russia was also present, although he communicated only through his foreign minister.
The victors decided how to liquidate the Napoleonic system and restore the conservatives to their thrones. Central players were Lord [[Castlereagh]] of Great Britain, Prince [[Metternich]] of Austria, and Prince [[Talleyrand]] of France. Many other dignitaries attended, including Emperor Francis I of Austria; Tsar Alexander I of Russia; King Frederick William III of Prussia; the Kings of Denmark, Bavaria, and Württemberg; the Duke of Wellington; and Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt, among many others. The [[Ottoman Empire]] and the United States were not invited, but all the other European nations were there.
The purpose of the Congress was to work out a peaceful solution to the disruptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (Napoleon was in exile on Elba when it started); and reinforce the pre-war status quo regarding the Balance of Power in Europe.
The backward-looking delegates seriously underestimated the emerging force of nationalism, which was transforming Europe. Metternich, the Austrian chancellor, considered nationalism a blind for revolution and sought to curb its development through reactionary repression.
==Decisions==
The main provisions of the final Treaty of Vienna were:
#. Austria would surrender Belgium to the [[History of the Netherlands|Netherlands]], receiving in compensation the Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, and the Illyrian provinces along the Adriatic Sea. Austria also regained the Tirol, but lost its Polish provinces.
#. Hapsburg royals were given the thrones of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany in northern Italy.
#. [[Prussia]] gained Swedish Pomerania, two fifths of Saxony, and additional territory along the Rhine River, in addition to recovering Posen (part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw) and some other territories which Napoleon had taken.
#. [[History of Russia|Russia]] took the lion's share of [[History of Poland|Poland]], later known as "Congress Poland," and obtained Finland from Sweden and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire.
#. Sweden was compensated with Norway, which was taken from Denmark to punish the latter for persistent loyalty to Napoleon.
#. Britain was permitted to retain nearly all her colonial conquests, securing Cape Colony in southern Africa, Ceylon, and part of Guiana from Holland, Helgoland from Denmark, part of Honduras, the Ionian Islands, and the islands of Malta, Mauritius, St. Lucia, Tobago, and Trinidad.
#. France, now under Bourbon King Louis XVIII, was dealt with in the second Treaty of Paris, in November 1815. All the Napoleonic imperial conquests were removed, and France returned to its 1790 frontiers. France was required to pay an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs and to support an occupation army for five years.
#. The Bourbon kings were restored in Spain and in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, while the Kingdom of Sardinia was permitted to incorporate the former Republic of Genoa.
#. The pope regained his temporal possessions.
#. The neutrality of Switzerland, an independent confederation of 22 cantons, was guaranteed.
#. The [[Holy Roman Empire]], which Napoleon ended in 1806, was not restored.
#. A Germanic Confederation was created, consisting of 38 states. It was to have a Diet of representatives chosen by the ruling princes and presided over by Austria, which largely dictated the policies of the Confederation.
#. The Congress expressed a desire for reforms relating to the abolition of the Atlantic [[Slavery|slave trade]], the opening of international rivers such as the Danube and the Rhine to free commerce and navigation, and the regulation of the rights of precedence among diplomatic representatives.
==Further reading==
* Kissinger, Henry. ''A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace 1812-22''. (1957)
* Kissinger, Henry. ''Diplomacy'' (1994)
* Lawday, David. ''Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand'' (2007) 386 pages [http://books.google.com/books?id=kJOxHeWgTOUC&pg=PA274&dq=%22congress+of+vienna%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2000&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES excerpts and text search]
* Nicolson, Harold. ''The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812-1822'' (1945); 320 pages; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZTC3IWC_py8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22congress+of+vienna%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2000&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=2009&num=30&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES excerpts and text search]
[[Category:European History]]
[[Category:European History]]
[[Category:Diplomacy]]
[[Category:Napoleonic Wars]]