2. Background
French Revolution - Begins 1789 ( Louis XVI )
Constitutional Monarchy - 1791 – 1792 ( Louis XVI )
1st French Republic - 1792 – 1799
French Consulate - 1800 – 1804 ( Napoleon as 1st Consul )
French Empire - 1804 – 1814 ( Emperor Napoleon )
French Monarchy - 1814 – 1815 ( Louis XVIII )
100 Days 1815 ( Napoleon )
French Monarchy - 1815 - ( Louis XVIII )
From 1789 – 1815, 26 years, Europe had been in an almost constant state of war.
3. Background
1789 1812
The Map of Europe had changed considerably from the beginning of the French
Revolution through 1812 ( the zenith of Napoleon’s power )
4. Background
From 1799 – 1815, Napoleon had conquered and removed
kings, nobles and electors from their thrones:
King of Spain King of Holland King of Naples King of Sweden Duke of Westphalia
Republic of Lucca
Napoleon eliminated countries, principalities, dukedoms and electorates:
Tuscany Sardinia Venice Parma Spanish Netherlands
Holy Roman Empire The Papal States The Swiss Confederation
Napoleon created new countries, principalities and dukedoms:
Confederation of the Rhine Kingdom of Italy Grand Duchy of Warsaw
Halvetia
5. Background
Old Feudal laws were replaced with the Code Napoleon anywhere Napoleon conquered,
annexed or incorporated into the French Empire.
Napoleon spread the ideas of the French Revolution throughout Europe:
Nationalism Liberty Equality Fraternity
After his final defeat, Europe was in political, social, economic and cultural upheaval.
6. The Congress
Following Napoleon’s 1st abdication in 1814,
The Austrian Chancellor Klemens Von Metternich
Called for a meeting of the victorious European
powers “to provide a long-term peace plan for
Europe.”
The Four Great Powers:
Austria, Prussia, Russia & England
They had fought Napoleon 4 – 6 times each.
Representatives of these countries were meeting
in Vienna in 1815 when Napoleon returned to
power for 100 days.
The meeting continued after Napoleon’s final
abdication and exile.
Klemens Von Metternich
7. The Goals
Turning Back Time
1. Create a balance of power among the Four Great
Powers. No single nation would be able to defeat all
the others single-handed again.
2. Settle issues among the Four Great Powers to create an
Quadruple Alliance to maintain peace in Europe.
3. Legitimate rulers would be restored to their thrones.
4. France would be returned to her pre-revolution state.
5. Europe would be returned to a state of peace, as it was
prior to the French Revolution.
French Foreign Minister Talleyrand
“wormed” his way into the discussions
and France became part of the “Big Five”.
The Great Powers
8. The Final Agreement
The Four Great Powers would all gain
territory to make them “equal,” so they could
have a balance of power.
England gained no territory in Europe but
gained colonial possessions around the world.
The Bourbon monarchy was returned to
France.
The German Confederation would be created.
The remainder of Europe would be returned
to a pre-French Revolution state.
Switzerland would become neutral.
The Great powers would act in concert to
intervene to end any more revolutions.
9. The Effects
The conservative representatives at the Congress of Vienna wanted to “turn back time”
and return Europe to a pre-French Revolution Europe where monarchs and nobles ruled
over the common man.
The Congress of Vienna sought to suppress the French revolutionary ideas of liberty and
equality and the nationalism Napoleon had spread, but ideas can not
be eliminated.
The repression of nationalism lasted until the Revolutions of 1848.
The “Balance of Power” in Europe lasted until 1853.
The framework for international European politics remained until 1914.
10. The Legecy
Concert of Europe,
a system whereby
the major powers
agreed to solve
their differences
through a consensus
arrived at through
diplomacy,
negotiation, and
agreement, rather
than war. politics
and international
relations between
the major powers.
This was an
enormously
successful
innovation; there
was no large
European war for 99
years.
The Principal of
Intervention
justified military
action by foreign
governments to
suppress
revolutions.
11. The Legacy
The Establishment of the German
Confederation which included 39
independent kingdoms, principalities
and parts of Prussia and Austria,
will lead to conflict over control of the
independent states and eventual
unification into a single country.
