What was Treaty of Vienna ?

The Congress was concerned with determining the entire shape of Europe after the Napoleonic wars, with the exception of the terms of peace with France between the belligerents, which had already been decided by the Treaty of Paris, signed a few months earlier, on May 30, 1814, returning the Bourbon monarchy and re-setting the borders to their 1792 locations.

Russia was given most of the Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) and was allowed to keep Finland (which it had annexed from Sweden in 1809, and held until 1917).

That outcome was widely unpopular with the population of France, and led indirectly to the resumption of power by Napoleon during the Hundred Days. The role of empire in the European space declined after the Congress.

The nation state emerged as the basic political unit. These smaller units proved to be ideal for the evolution of a view of government as having a responsibility for the welfare of all citizens, not just of the governing elite.

The most contentious subject at the Congress was the so-called Polish-Saxon Crisis. The Russians and Prussians proposed a deal in which much of the Prussian and Austrian shares of the partitions of Poland would go to Russia, which would create an independent Polish Kingdom in personal union with Russia with Alexander as king. In exchange, the Prussians would receive as compensation all of Saxony, whose King was considered to have forfeited his throne because he had not abandoned Napoleon soon enough.

The nation state saw the emergence of democracy and of the view of the state as the collective property of all citizens, not as the personal possession of the ruling emperor.

The Austrians, French, and British did not approve of this plan, and, at the inspiration of Talleyrand, signed a secret treaty on January 3, 1815, agreeing to go to war, if necessary, to prevent the Russo-Prussian plan from coming to fruition.

At the Congress, Britain was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh; after Castlereagh's return to England in February 1815, by the Duke of Wellington; and in the last weeks, after Wellington left to face Napoleon in the Hundred Days, by the Earl of Clancarty.

Austria was represented by Prince Clemens von Metternich, the Foreign Minister, and by his deputy, Baron Wessenberg.

Although none of the three powers was particularly ready for war, the Russians did not call the bluff, and an amicable settlement was set on October 24, 1814, by which Russia received most of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw as a "Kingdom of Poland" (called Congress Poland), but did not receive the district of Poznań (Grand Duchy of Poznań), which was given to Prussia, nor Kraków and became a free city.

The major Allies' indecision on how to conduct their affairs without provoking a united protest from the lesser powers led to the calling of a preliminary conference on protocol, to which both Talleyrand and the Marquis of Labrador, Spain's representative, were invited on September 30, 1814.

The Congress's principal results, apart from its confirmation of France's loss of the territories annexed in 1795-1810, which had already been settled by the Treaty of Paris, were the enlargement of Russia, (which gained most of the Duchy of Warsaw) and Prussia, which acquired Westphalia and the northern Rhineland.

Congress Secretary Friedrich von Gentz (1764-1832) would report that, "The intervention of Talleyrand and Labrador has hopelessly upset all our plans.

The consolidation of Germany from the nearly 300 states of the Holy Roman Empire (dissolved in 1806) into a much more manageable thirty-nine states was confirmed. These states were formed into a loose German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia and Austria.

Talleyrand protested against the procedure we have adopted and soundly [be]rated us for two hours. It was a scene I shall never forget

Representatives at the Congress agreed to numerous other territorial changes. Norway was transferred from Denmark to Sweden, which sparked the nationalist movement leading to the establishment of the short-lived Kingdom of Norway on May 17, 1814.

The embarrassed representatives of the Allies replied that the document concerning the protocol they had arranged actually meant nothing. "If it means so little, why did you sign it?" snapped Labrador.

Austria gained Lombardy-Venetia in Northern Italy, while much of the rest of North-Central Italy went to Habsburg dynasties (The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena, and the Duchy of Parma). The Pope was restored to the Papal States.

Russia was given most of the Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) and was allowed to keep Finland (which it had annexed from Sweden in 1809, and held until 1917).

Prussia was given two fifths of Saxony, parts of the Duchy of Warsaw (the Grand Duchy of Posen), Danzig, and the Rhineland/Westphalia.

The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was restored to its mainland possessions, and also gained control of the Republic of Genoa. In Southern Italy, Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, was originally allowed to retain his Kingdom of Naples, but following his support of Napoleon in the Hundred Days, he was deposed, and the Bourbon Ferdinand IV was restored to the throne.

A German Confederation of 38 states was created from the previous 300, under the presidency of the Austrian Emperor. Only portions of the territory of Austria and Prussia were included in the Confederation.

The Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands (roughly, modern-day Belgium) were united in a constitutional monarchy, with the House of Orange-Nassau providing the king.

A large United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created for the Prince of Orange, including both the old United Provinces and the formerly Austrian-ruled territories in the Southern Netherlands.

To compensate for the Orange-Nassau's loss of the Nassau lands to Prussia, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were to form a personal union under the House of Orange-Nassau, with Luxembourg (but not the Netherlands) inside the German Confederation.[6]