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Europe After Napoleon’s Fall From Power:
1815-1848
The Congress of Vienna
After countries of Europe had united to defeat Napoleon in 1814, they
began the task of creating and maintaining peace throughout Europe.
To accomplish this goal, the allies who had won the war against
Napoleon held a conference in Vienna, Austria in 1814, called the
Congress of Vienna.
Duke of Wellington
Hardenberg of Prussia
Metternich
Castlereagh of Britain
Talleyrand of France
These guys are the
major players. Who
are they?
The victorious countries included :
• Italy
Spain
• And the group that would come to be known as
• The Great Powers:
• Austria, Great Britain, Russia, and Prussia
The Congress took 2 steps to
stabilize Europe:
#1) it distributed Napoleon’s conquests ( land
the emperor had claimed for France ) among
the European nations to produce a balance of
power.
#2) returned the monarchs to power, restoring the
governments and values that had existed before the
French Revolution.
More Congress of Vienna
After Napoleon’s defeat, the
mood of the European
countries at Vienna was
conservative. To forestall any
future European empire they
reestablished a balance of
power, which meant that they
had to include France. They
also included some defensive
measures: Belgium and
Holland were united in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands
as a bulwark in the north.
Prussia (purple on the map)
was given more territory on
France’s eastern border, and a part of Saxony. Russia created a small kingdom of
Poland. Sardinia received the area shown in yellow. The great powers agreed to
meet regularly to prevent future wars through diplomacy. This "congress system"
was successful for most of the 19th century.
Congress’ 4 goals:
• 1.) Containment: To maintain peace in
Europe by strengthening the countries
surrounding France.
• They believed this would keep France
from invading neighboring countries in
Europe as it was done during Napoleon’s
reign.
1
More goals…
More Goals…
• The great powers also had to make sure that no single country
was stronger or weaker than any other European country.
• #2: Compensation: They took lands from those countries that
had helped Napoleon and gave land to those countries that
had opposed him. And, France paid costs to the great powers.
• #3) Balance of power:
• France was not completely taken apart (to
prevent France from seeking revenge)
• Smaller countries were made larger
• Each country agreed to defend the rights
of the other monarchies and promised not
to go to war. (to make sure peace lasted)
• For example, Austria gained some of the newly created German
Confederation of Sates, as well as some Italian territories. Poles were
placed under Prussian and Russian rules.
The Congress of Vienna was
a reactionary gathering
More goals…
• #4) Legitimacy: By returning power to the rulers
who had been conquered by Napoleon, political
stability would be restored.
• The Congress of Vienna put the old ruling
families of:
• France
• The German States
• Spain
• And Italy
• back on their thrones.
Why was it reactionary?
The congress returned the
monarchs to power,
restoring the governments
and values that had existed
before the French
Revolution.
The people react to the
Congress of Vienna’s
goals and steps:
Unfortunately, the congress paid little
attention to the feelings of those
people who suddenly found
themselves governed by a government
they did not choose.
Many of these people began
experiencing feelings of
nationalism. So, although the
congress had redrawn the map
for peace, it had also planted the
seeds of future conflict.
Monarchs Restored to Power
There were four big powers represented at the Congress of Vienna
Lord
Castlereagh,
foreign
secretary of
Great
Britain,
gained
overseas
countries
Alexander I
of Russia
expanded
his
country’s
borders
Frederick
William III of
Prussia was
also able to
add to his
country’s size
But wait, there’s
still two more
guys you need to
remember!
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand of France survived
both the French Revolution and the reign of
Napoleon.
He helped persuade the congress to restore the
French monarchy, in the person of Louis XVIII.
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Prince Klemens von Metternich was
Austria’s chief minister. He was the
dominant figure of the congress and
was a believer in absolute monarchy.
The Age of Metternich (1814-1848):
He opposed liberalism and backed the
reactionaries
.
Metternich System:
• Prince Klemens von Metternich was considered the
• most powerful leader at the conference
• So dominant a figure, that the period 1814-1848 is often
called the Age of Metternich.
Metternich used secret police to
suppress revolutionary groups
and liberalism in his own
country: this came to be known
as the Metternich System.
The Congress of Vienna scheduled
regular meetings called:
Austria
The Concerts of Europe.
Metternich used these meetings to
suppress liberal ideas.
Russia and Prussia favored the reactionary
position, but Great Britain was sympathetic to
people who wanted a representative government.
OK, so as soon as there were four major players in the Quadruple Alliance
Talleyrand, through skillful diplomacy, managed to make
France a major
player
The four major powers at the Congress of Vienna were known as
The Quadruple Alliance. They were:
And…
France joined
and then the
Russia
Great Britain
Prussia
Compromise…
France:
It didn’t take long
for the major
powers to
restore the
French
monarchy
Louis XVIII managed to
please both the royalists
and liberals. To do so, he
developed a compromise.
So the Quadruple Alliance quickly became the Quintuple Alliance
Unlike Louis, his brother, Charles X, was
determined to be an absolute monarch.
Needless to say, the French people didn’t put up
with him for long!
Louis Philippe became
king.
Pleased everyone
 kept Napoleonic Code (system of law that guaranteed
the people many rights)
 kept Napoleon’s Bank of France (government
supervised)
 kept a state-supported school system
He was a liberal, and while
he ended censorship and
guaranteed citizens trial by
jury…
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…MORE Louis Philippe
In the end, he really wasn’t that different from Charles X. He
limited the right to vote to men who owned property and he
kept tariffs (taxes on imported goods) high so French
manufacturers could avoid competition and charge higher
prices for their goods.
And so, in 1848 the French people threw him out and
declared the Second French Republic.
Louis
Napoleon
Meanwhile in Great Britain
England, in the 1830’s was ready for revolution.
Working conditions for working people were terrible. People
earned very little money, the price of food was high, products
made in Great Britain were too expensive and the king and church
continued to favor the needs of the rich over the poor.
Luckily, the Parliament enacted reforms that addressed some
of these problems and avoided revolution:
Ironically, the man they
chose to be president of
the new republic was the
nephew of Napoleon
Some important reforms:
1824: British workers were allowed to form unions.
1832 (1st reform bill) : gave the
middle class the right to vote for
members in the House of
Commons.
Men only,
…one more reform
1846: Parliament ended Corn
Laws, thus reducing the price of
bread.
No reforms for suffragists
Of course!
1833: slavery was
abolished in the
1833: limited child
British colonies
labor in the textile
industry
Not until 1918 did Parliament
finally grant suffrage to women
over 30.
Germany &
Austria:
Remember how
powerful
Metternich was at
the Congress of
Vienna?
Well, that scheming
rascal made sure
Austria was given
control over the
confederation of 39
German states
Metternich was
able to maintain
control because he
had the support of
the army
However, by 1848
nationalistic groups
in Austria and
Germany were tired
of the poor
conditions that were
imposed upon them
and revolted
Although the revolutions
weren’t successful, they
did lay the foundation for
major social changes that
would come in the future.
Important changes after the unsuccessful
revolution of 1848:
• Metternich resigned. This left the emperor without a
person who was wise enough to control the different groups
within the empire.
• The Austrian government put down the various nationalistic
At least Austria got a
leader, Francis Joseph,
with a cool mustache
revolts in its empire. The
revolutionaries, however, only
grew more and more angry at the Austrian emperor. They
continued to work towards revolution.
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The rise of Foreign Powers in Italy
And in
Greece…
In Italy, Austria was in political control of the Italian states (who
still couldn’t seem to unify themselves)
What do you think
the Italians wanted
at this time?
They wanted
Unification
and
freedom!
But, you guessed it…the attempted revolutions in 1848 were
suppressed by the beloved Austrians!
Why was this important?
• First, it gave Greeks independence!
• Second, it showed that the European powers could put
their reactionary ideas aside and help a country gain its
independence.
• Liberals were happy,
• and the nationalists everywhere hoped
that they, too, could have a country of their
own!
In 1830; with the
help of Britain,
France and
Russia, they
were able to
overthrow
Turkey (the
Turks) and
declare
independence!
All the decisions made by the Congress lead up to:
• Although most of the revolutions failed during this time, the
common people did not give up their revolutionary ideas!
• In their efforts at the Congress of Vienna to remake Europe
like it had been before the French Revolution, the countries
of the Quadruple Alliance had actually created a situation in
Europe that would lead to revolutions and eventually…
World War I
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