The Congress of Vienna is known as the series of diplomatic meetings that took place between September 23, 1814 and June 9, 1815 in the city of Vienna between the victorious powers of Napoleon Bonaparte . The objective of this call was to reestablish European borders and politically organize the entire continent after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Napoleonic Wars .

Members of the ruling houses of almost all of Europe participated in the congress, although only representatives of the United Kingdom , Austria, Russia and Prussia had significant weight in decision-making. Therefore, a small group of monarchs and ministers, among whom the Austrian minister Klemens von Metterninch stood out , redefined the course that Europe would take during the period known as the Restoration .

The countries that participated in this congress formed an alliance in defense of the values ​​of the so-called Old Regime and against the advance of a new liberal revolution. For this, the members of this coalition agreed to a mutual aid to maintain an international balance under a conservative order .

Enhance your reading: Causes and of the conquest of Tenochtitlan in detail

Historic context

By the early 1810s, much of Europe was under the rule of the Napoleonic Empire . Many countries had had to face the advance of the emperor over their borders and even, some of them, the replacement of their ruling dynasties, questioned since the French Revolution , by members of the Bonaparte family. So, after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Leipzig (1813), the victorious states, in addition to redefining their borders, sought to reverse the consequences of those years of questioning the legitimacy of their monarchies. In France, for example, the Bourbon dynasty was restored in the figure of Louis XVIII.

Simultaneously, in the intellectual realm there was a reaction against the ideals of the Enlightenment . The notion of a “social contract” was replaced by an old concept, the “divine right” of the ruling monarchs.

However, the liberal ideals were still valid and made the fear of a new liberal revolution remain latent. As a consequence, the victorious powers focused their efforts on maintaining a new international balance that will guarantee peace within Europe.

Despite this, peace was soon interrupted when Napoleon Bonaparte, after fleeing his exile on Elba Island and regaining power for a hundred days, returned to face the coalition in Waterloo (Belgium), where he was finally defeated on 18 June 1815. A few days after the signing of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna .

Agreements of the Congress of Vienna

Some points included in the Final Act signed on June 9, 1815 were the following:

• The Treaty of Paris (1814) was ratified and with it the sovereignty of France was restored within its old territory of 1792.
• A Germanic Confederation presided over by Austria was formed.
• Part of the Italian territory was annexed to Austria .
• Sections of Saxony and Poland were annexed to Prussia .
• Parts of Poland and Finland were annexed to the Russian Empire .
• Territories corresponding to the Papal States were recognized .
• King Ferdinand IV was restored to the throne of Naples, recognizing his heirs as the legitimate successors of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• Established the free navigation of the rivers.

Principles of the Congress of Vienna

Three principles also emerged from the Congress of Vienna:

• The Principle of Legitimacy : affirmed the right of dynasties to rule over their territories.
• The European Concert Principle : agreed on the need to exercise constant diplomatic activity in order to maintain international balance.
• The Principle of the Right of Intervention : established that every European country could be intervened by its neighbors in case of detecting the emergence of a new revolution in it.

Consequences

Some of the consequences of the Congress of Vienna were the following:

• There was a change in the political and territorial map of Europe that favored, above all, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain.
• A diplomatic front was consolidated that made it possible to channel international tensions. The countries, by holding negotiations and meetings on a regular basis, managed to avoid the outcome of major armed conflicts.
• Despite the measures taken, new revolutionary waves could not be prevented from occurring .