LETTER FROM THE DAIS CONGRESS OF VIENNA 2. Dear Delegates,

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2 LETTER FROM THE DAIS Dear Delegates, My name is Natasha Thondavadi, and I am excited to welcome you to YMUN XXXVIII and the Congress of Vienna simulation. I ll be acting as your moderator for the conference, along with fellow dais member Grayson Clary, and I hope to get to know all of you over the course of our weekend together. First, let us introduce ourselves. I m a sophomore from Barrington, IL in Jonathan Edwards College, the oldest (and best) of Yale s residential colleges. I m a Classics major and just love languages (like Tamil! You ve probably never heard of it, but it s awesome. All great viral YouTube videos can probably be traced back to Tamil movies). In addition to YMUN, I m the Architecture reporter for the Yale Daily News and work on a few other (read: nerdier) publications. Grayson Clary is from Rye, NY and is seriously as preppy as his name sounds yes, you can make fun of him for it. Grayson enjoys clothes from Vineyard Vines, playing squash, and analyzing the intensities of life by watching TV shows. He s also a sophomore in JE (I know! So lucky.) We re also happy to introduce our great staffers, Danny Roza and Evelyn Robertson. Danny is a freshman in Silliman College from Hagerstown, Maryland. He is undecided on his major, but is interested in Chinese, Biology, and European history. In addition to staffing YMUN, he is a student guide at the Yale Center for British Art and a member of the Independent Party of the Yale Political Union. Evelyn is a freshman in Trumbull College and is considering a major in linguistics, but also enjoys art classes. Her hobbies include ballet and reading fantasy novels. Now that you ve heard all about us, I want to emphasize how incredibly interesting the enormous potential of this committee as an exciting and significant simulation. It was at the Congress of Vienna that Europe as we know it was created, and the political ramifications still reverberate today. As delegates in this committee, you have the potential to completely change those decisions, and thereby change the landscape of European history. There could be no France! There could be no Germany! And I hope that when January 19th rolls around, you ll be as excited as we are. If you have any questions at all, don t hesitate to contact us. See you at YMUN! Natasha Thondavadi (natasha.thondavadi@yale.edu) Grayson Clary (grayson.clary@yale.edu) Danny Roza (daniel.roza@yale.edu) Evelyn Robertson (evelyn.robertson@yale.edu) 2

3 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE Taking place from September of 1814 to June of 1815, the Congress of Vienna was a tremendously significant gathering of representatives from across Europe. The objective of the meeting was to give Europe ravaged by years of war, and reeling from the dissolution of power structures that had been in place for centuries a chance at establishing a clear structure that could preserve peace and lead to a stable balance of power among the various European nations. The immediate backdrop for the Congress was the unrest incited by the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire Napoleon s initial surrender in May 1814 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris brought an end to a near quarter-century of ceaseless strife on the Continent, creating the opportunity for the Sixth Coalition (the countries allied against Napoleon) to convene a session to broker a more lasting peace. The timeline of this committee begins with the inception of the Congress, soon after Napoleon s presumable defeat, right when the delegates have begun discussions both formal and informal to decide what to do with the Europe he has left in his wake. The Congress hopes to define Europe s new power structure by settling all residual geopolitical issues involving France, parts of Germany, and other regions throughout Europe, many of which are not united into clear states, lack clear political structures, and have porous and undefined borders. All of the European powers major and minor have chosen their most skilled diplomats to attend the Congress and have invested them with the power to negotiate and authorize treaties of immense importance. Home governments are waiting anxiously to find out what settlements are produced and to see who will win and who will lose the negotiations, with huge amounts of land and power at stake. 3

4 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Congress of Vienna occurred as the result of centuries of complex European history, largely centered on France and Germany. France accepted and rejected revolutionary government after government before being swept up in Napoleon s charismatic expansionism. Germany, a collection of loosely bound self-governing units, faced years of warfare both internally and against the other European powers. It was this backdrop that set the stage for the Congress of Vienna, and these events that must be kept in mind to establish the context in which our committee will take place and attempt to redraw the map of Europe. Historical Context for France The French Revolution was a major turning point in European history that transformed France from a monarchy to a republic. This social, political, and economic upheaval began modestly and was meant to limit royal absolutism. Yet as the transformation continued, the revolutionaries became more violent and extreme in their aims. At first a campaign for constitutional monarchy, the revolution metamorphosed into ten years of turmoil that resulted in six consecutive governments, the execution of the king, and finally, a dictatorship that set the stage for the Napoleonic Era. THE ANCIEN REGIME The ancien régime, a phrase which first appeared during the revolution, refers to the structure of France before the French Revolution. At the top of the regime's hierarchy sat King Louis XVI, an absolute monarch who had succeeded to the throne in Second to the king came the clergy, or the First Estate; then the nobles, or the Second Estate; and finally the remaining French subjects, or the Third Estate. The Third Estate paid the taxes that kept the state running, since both the Catholic Church and the nobles were taxexempt. All three groups were included in the Estates-General, France's consultative body, but the king had not convened the assembly for more than 100 years. Many things contributed to the downfall of the ancien régime: among them were Enlightenment thought, the increasing criticism of absolute monarchy and an interest in republican ideals. Louis XVI Writers such as Voltaire, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau critiqued the monarchy and the Catholic Church and examined democratic forms of government. In 1789, in the aftermath of the American Revolution, France was laboring under a national debt of approximately 4 billion livres. Nearly 50% of people in urban areas were unemployed, and the lower classes were aggravated by their lack of power in government and indeed, by a perceived lack of say in all aspects of society, while continuing to shoulder a crippling tax burden. As a result of the social turbulence and growing financial trouble, Louis XVI 4

5 called the Estates-General to assembly for the first time since THE NATIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES The assembly began in May 1789, but the Third Estate and some other supporters split from the Estates-General on June 17, They declared themselves the French National Assembly and set to work on creating a national constitution. Rumors grew about an upper class conspiracy to do away with the Third Estate, and as soldiers Storming of the Bastille gathered around Paris, the angry crowd raided buildings, looking for weapons during a three-day frenzy. On July 14, the mob stormed the Bastille, the armory-prison that had become a symbol of the tyranny of the ancien régime. After taking over the building, the crowd slaughtered the overseers and freed the inmates. Outside of Paris, peasant uprisings known as the Great Fear coincided with the urban revolution. On August 4, prompted by the rioting of the common people, the National Assembly abolished serfdom, old feudal privileges, and ecclesiastical tithing. The National Assembly made into law the new civil equality on August 26 with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. As the revolution grew, the king rejected the abolition of feudalism and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In response, angry Frenchmen marched from Paris to Versailles on October 5. The marchers forced the royal family back to Paris and confined them. On October 21, the National Assembly declared martial law. The National Assembly passed a series of liberal reforms, among these abolishing the nobility and reorganizing the French bureaucracy. Louis was soon forced to accept the new Constitution of 1791 that provided for a limited monarchy. The Constitution also created a new legislature to replace the National Assembly. On October 1, 1791, the unicameral French Legislative Assembly convened. The Legislative Assembly's single year in power was characterized by friction between Louis XVI, who could veto any law passed by the assembly, and the majority of representatives who were wary of the king's intentions. Meanwhile, the revolution had begun to concern the other powers in Europe, as revolutionary supporters, known as Jacobins, were growing in number. In April 1792, Louis XVI, hoping that war with Austria and Prussia would result in a French defeat and allow him to reestablish his lost authority, asked the Legislative Assembly to declare war. The assembly, hoping to unify the nation with military victory abroad, acquiesced. France went to war against Austria and Prussia, the first in a series of conflicts known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Upset by several defeats in the war and suspecting Louis of betrayal, revolutionaries began demanding the overthrow of the monarchy. After successfully storming the Tuileries the royal palace on the banks of the River Seine on August 10, 1792, they imprisoned the royal family. In the following month, mobs 5

6 of Parisians invaded the city's prisons and massacred imprisoned clergy and nobles. The Legislative Assembly was dissolved and replaced by the French National Convention. After convening on September 20, the Convention abolished the monarchy and proclaimed a republic. THE REPUBLIC: CONVENTION AND THE REIGN OF TERROR The next phase of the French Revolution was characterized by political extremism. In December 1792, the Convention voted to try Louis XVI for treason. Convicted and condemned to death, the former king was beheaded on January 21, The execution sent shockwaves throughout Europe. In the spring of 1793, the Convention established the Committee of Public Safety (CPS), a 12-man committee that would function as the executive branch of the revolutionary government. The CPS began to use their broad powers to root out so-called enemies of the revolution. The counterrevolutionary tactics of the CPS soon became known as the Reign of Terror. Under the direction of Maximilien Robespierre, the CPS executed tens of thousands of people by guillotine in the name of the revolution. At least 300,000 suspects were arrested, 17,000 were officially executed, and many died in prison or without trial. Meanwhile, the Convention continued to pass legislative reforms. In August 1793, the revolutionary government imposed the levée en masse, a conscription of all able-bodied men between the Maximilien Robespierre ages of 18 and 25. Much of the old officer corps was either forced into exile or executed, which allowed new, nonaristocratic officers to rise rapidly through the ranks. The French Army grew to 1 million troops. In addition, in October 1793, as part of its goal to be a completely secular government, the Convention abolished the Gregorian calendar, which had Christian associations, and replaced it with what it viewed as a more scientific one. The 12 months were renamed, each month was divided into three so-called decades rather than weeks, and the year 1793 became known as year I. Finally, in July 1794, in what is known as the Thermidorian reaction (named after the revolutionary month Thermidor, as termed by the new calendar), the Convention overthrew Robespierre and put an end to the Reign of Terror. Moderates in the Convention hoped to revive the original principles of the revolution, but a power struggle ensued. DIRECTORY AND CONSULATE In 1795, wanting to decentralize power to prevent another Robespierre, the Convention drew up a new constitution that established the French Directory. Under this fifth revolutionary government, France was to be governed by five directors, chosen by a bicameral legislature divided into the Council of Five Hundred and an upper chamber of 250 "ancients." Ruled by the bourgeoisie, the Directory was plagued by the same problems encountered by the Convention. Struggles between revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries persisted, and war in Europe raged on. On November 9, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, a military hero of the revolutionary wars in Europe, overthrew the 6

7 Directory in a coup d'état. Emmanuel Sieyès, who had helped plan the coup, drew up the Constitution of 1799, which established the French Consulate, the sixth and final revolutionary government. As first consul, Napoleon used his broad, dictatorial powers to bring the turmoil of the 10-year revolution to a close. In 1802, he was appointed consul for life, and in 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor Napoleon I of France. The revolutionary dream of a French Republic would not be fully realized until 1871, after the fall of the Second Empire under Napoleon III. THE NAPOLEONIC WARS Napoleon I Napoleon I waged a series of wars to protect revolutionary France from its European enemies. At the height of his power, he controlled most of continental Europe. He defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo on June 14, Bringing an end to the French Revolutionary Wars, the Austrians made peace with France in February Great Britain and the rest of Europe followed suit with the Treaty of Amiens (1802) on March 25, France was finally at peace after 10 years of continuous warfare, and Napoleon's popularity soared. The peace lasted only until May 1803, when France returned to war with Great Britain. Austria and Russia soon entered on the side of the British. In the summer of 1805, Napoleon swiftly marched his army across Europe and orchestrated a stunning defeat of the Austrian Army at the Battle of Ulm. However, the victory was offset by British admiral Horatio Nelson's annihilation of a combined Franco-Spanish fleet during the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, Napoleon redeemed himself on December 2 during the Battle of Austerlitz, when his heavily outnumbered army defeated a combined Austrian and Russian force. As a result, the Russian troops retreated to Poland, and Austria made peace with Napoleon through the Treaty of Pressburg. In 1806, Napoleon turned his attention to Prussia and decimated the outdated Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena on October 14. Napoleon completed his conquest of Prussia and set his sights on Russia in under two months. After suffering a setback at the Battle of Eylau, Napoleon defeated the Russians at the Battle of Friedland. This defeat resulted in the Treaty of Tilsit, by which France and Russia became allies and divided Europe between them. Over the next several years, Napoleon's troops invaded Spain and Portugal, annexed the Papal States, and successfully defeated an uprising in Austria. After Napoleon conquered Spain and removed King Ferdinand VII in 1808, the 7

8 Spanish people rebelled with guerrilla warfare tactics, which led to the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal from 1808 to The Spanish won about 30 battles in the Peninsular War, the British and Portuguese won approximately 50 battles, and the French won more than 100, with about 10 undecided battles. During the Peninsular War, Napoleon notoriously erred by opening a second front in Russia. Napoleon invaded Russia with about 600,000 men in June Napoleon was unable to win decisively at the Battle of Borodino in September and was forced to retreat a month later since he was lacking supplies. The Russians savagely attacked the retreating French forces, and the bitter cold froze many of Napoleon's troops. Fewer than 100,000 of Napoleon's men made it back to France alive. The next challenge to Napoleonic France was the War of Liberation, which pitted Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden against France in At the Battle of Leipzig in Saxony in October 1813, Napoleon's 185,000 troops were pitted against an allied force of more than 350,000 troops in what was the single largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars. After three days of fierce fighting and after suffering substantial losses, the French were forced to retreat. In January 1814, France was being attacked on all its frontiers. The allies cleverly announced that they were fighting not against the French people but against Napoleon alone, since in November 1813 he had rejected the terms offered by the Austrian foreign minister Klemens, Prince von Metternich, which would have preserved the former territory of France. The Legislative Assembly and the Senate were now asking for peace and for civil and political liberties. By the Treaty of Chaumont in March 1814, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain bound themselves together for 20 years, undertook not to negotiate separately, and promised to continue the struggle until Napoleon was overthrown. When the allied armies arrived before Paris on March 30, Napoleon had moved east to attack their rear guard. The Parisian authorities, no longer overawed by the emperor, lost no time in negotiating with the allies. As president of the provisional government, Talleyrand proclaimed the deposition of the emperor and, without consulting the French people, began to negotiate with Louis XVIII, the brother of the executed Louis XVI. Napoleon abdicated on April 6. By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the allies granted him the island of Elba as a sovereign principality, an annual income of two million francs to be provided by France, and a guard of 400 volunteers. He also retained the title of emperor. He arrived at Elba on May 4. In France, however, the Bourbon Restoration was soon exposed to criticism. Though in 1814 the majority of the French people were tired of the emperor, they had expressed no wish for the return of the Bourbons. They were strongly attached to the Louis XVIII 8

9 essential achievements of the Revolution, which Louis XVIII s influence seemed to threaten. The apathy of April 1814 quickly gave way to mistrust. The Congress of Vienna is set to begin in Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain, the four powers chiefly instrumental in the overthrow of Napoleon, had concluded a special alliance among themselves with the Treaty of Chaumont, on March 9, 1814, a month before Napoleon s first abdication. The subsequent treaties of peace with France, signed on May 30 not only by the four but also by Sweden and Portugal and on July 20 by Spain, stipulated that all former belligerents should send plenipotentiaries to a congress in Vienna. Nevertheless, the four still intended to reserve the real making of decisions to themselves. Two months after the sessions began, however, Bourbon France was admitted to the four. The four thus became the five, and it was the committee of the five that formed the core of the Congress of Vienna. Sweden were represented. The rulers of the minor states of Europe put in an appearance. With them came a host of courtiers, secretaries, and ladies to enjoy the magnificent social life. Illustration of the Congress Representatives began to arrive in Vienna toward the end of September Klemens, prince von Metternich, principal minister of Austria, represented his emperor, Francis II. Tsar Alexander I of Russia directed his own diplomacy. King Frederick William III of Prussia had Karl, prince von Hardenberg, as his principal minister. Great Britain was represented by its foreign minister, Viscount Castlereagh. When Castlereagh had to return to his parliamentary duties, the Duke of Wellington replaced him, and Lord Clancarty was principal representative after the duke s departure. The restored Louis XVIII of France sent Talleyrand. Spain, Portugal, and 9

10 Historical Context: Germany From its very beginnings, German society could not be considered a modern state with a national identity, as we know it to be today, but merely a geographic expression. For example, in ancient Germany, with the exception of loose military alliances, society was organized into independent and competitive heritagebased clans. The expansion of Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire into Germany in the 8 th and 9 th centuries posed the first challenge to this system. Charlemagne instituted a series of Charlemagne reforms to promote unity throughout his empire. For example, Charlemagne forcibly converted his territories to Christianity and standardized currency, education and the Bible. After Charlemagne s death, the Frankish Empire splintered, and the German region became the Holy Roman Empire in the twelfth century. Although the Holy Roman Empire was at first a relatively unified state, German leaders managed to establish independent authority for their respective cities, bishoprics, dukedoms and principalities. Emperors were elected by diets, or legislative assemblies of the leaders of the various states, and generally had very little power. Indeed, as time passed, the Holy Roman Empire resembled an actual empire less and less. Feudalism became the political and societal modus operandi, decentralizing power to an even greater extent. In the 1500 s, the Lutheran Reformation stripped the Holy Roman Empire of even more unity. Ambitious northern German princes saw the Reformation as a means to assert their political and economic sovereignty over not only their emperor, but the Pope as well. Bitter and devastating religious wars ensued throughout the German states. In 1555, most of the fighting was temporarily brought to an end by the Peace of Augsburg, which gave German princes a choice between Lutheranism and Catholicism. The political ramifications of the Peace of Augsburg were profound. After this, the nearly 300 German states that composed the Holy Roman Empire were not only nearly entirely politically independent of each other, but they also lacked a common religion. In this sense, the Holy Roman Empire was a stark contrast to states such as France, England and Austria, whose central governments were becoming stronger as their leaders centralized power. The Holy Roman Empire s lack of central authority and unifying institutions rendered it incapable of containing smallscale conflicts. Religious fighting between and within various German states was ubiquitous after the 1550s, and set the stage for the most wide-spread and destructive war on the European continent yet: the Thirty Years War. The Holy Roman Empire became witness to unprecedented 10

11 warfare as religious conflict among the states grew more acute and the major powers of Europe, such as Austria, France and Sweden, capitalized on the Empire s weakness by incessantly pillaging it and using it as their battleground. The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and shaped foreign affairs on the European continent for the next century. The peace agreement gave German princes the rights to choose any religion and to conduct their own foreign affairs. The Thirty Years War left the Holy Roman Empire ravaged and decimated. All told, the war had reduced the German population by nearly a third, and caused severe economic depression, population dislocation and property damage. The German states of the Holy Roman Empire now had unrestrained freedom to recover from the Frederick William abject destruction left in the wake of the Thirty Years War. The Kingdom of Prussia emerged as the leading state of the Empire. Under the leadership of the great elector Frederick William (r ), Prussia relentlessly pursued strengthened absolutism at home and Europe-wide influence abroad. Frederick William was a savvy nobleman from the prominent Calvinist Hohenzollern family of Berlin and knew that the key to asserting Prussia s dominance amidst a time of extreme political upheaval was through centralized power and a strong military. His plan came to fruition through cunning politicking and support from the Junkers, the class of Prussian nobility. A string of Fredericks and Frederick Williams succeeded him, each one fortifying Prussia s position on the international stage. In time, Prussia became a highly centralized, cultured and bureaucratic state. Multiple wars with Austria over possession of the province of Silesia earned Prussia a formidable reputation. Prussia was indeed the only new power to rise to prominence after the Thirty Years War. This was seen as a threat by the already-established states of Europe, notably Austria and France. The tension between the powers resulted in the Seven Years War, which pitted Prussia and Britain against France and Austria in a continent-wide struggle for dominance. King Frederick II (r ) won the war, in part due to tactical brilliance, in part due to the incredible luck of gaining Russia s support midway through the war. Prussia emerged from the war not only with land gains but also with a staying presence in European affairs. Prussia, along with the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, was on the cusp of entering a glorious age of centralized, absolutist rule. Therefore, Frederick William II (r ), King Leopold II (r ), the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and King Francis II (r ), his successor, paid strict attention to the Charles William Ferdinand 11

12 tumultuous revolutionary activity in France. Intimidated by the Revolution s radical ideologies and fearful of the prospect of those ideas spreading across borders, German leadership decided to release two statements. First, King Frederick II issued the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791, threatening France with Prussian intervention if the Royal family was ever harmed. Second, in 1792, Charles William Ferdinand, the Duke of Brunswick, released the Brunswick Manifesto, which reiterated the sentiments of the Declaration of Pillintz. These two documents outraged the French citizenry, and eventually led to war between France and an Austrian-Prussian coalition. Prussian-Austrian forces initially succeeded; however, at the Battle of Valmy in 1792, the French forces, swelled by recent drafts, triumphed over the German-Austrian army, and forced Prussia to withdraw from the fighting. Soon after, France commenced an invasion of the continent, occupying swaths of land in northern Europe including Battle of Leipzig, 18 the whole of Belgium and the Rhineland. In 1795, the Prussians made peace with the French Republic and ceded the left bank of the Rhine River. France continued to invade other German states, gaining large amounts of territory until the Treaty of Amiens in By 1806, most non-prussian German states in the Rhineland and western Germany were under French control. At this point, Napoleon was secure in his power and decided to reorganize the German states in order to provide a buffer zone between France and the rest of the continent, as well as to improve government efficiency. He amalgamated these states into the Confederation of the Rhine. The Holy Roman Empire was officially abolished. Also in 1806, under the leadership of King Frederick William III, Prussia decided to go to war with France independent of any coalition. Napoleon responded by crushing the Prussian army in less than three weeks. From 1806 to 1812, nearly all of Germany was under French control. However, in 1812, Napoleon s luck and battle prowess ran out. After a failure in Russia, the French were substantially weakened. Occupied Europe seized its opportunity. In October 1813, Prussia, Russia, Austria and a number of other German states engaged the French in battle at Leipzig, a trading city about 100 miles south of Berlin. After three days, the French were driven out of Germany. Germany had thrown off the yoke of France. Although Germany was no longer under French political control, the political impacts of Napoleon were irrevocable and profound. The Holy Roman Empire was history. Feudalism was eliminated. The rights of trial by jury and protection from arbitrary arrest were established and fostered. German nationalism was born. For absolutists trying to reestablish their authority, there could be no greater threats. 12

13 With the Congress of Vienna fast approaching, the fate of Germany could not be more uncertain. HISTORICAL RECORD: WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED Below are concise histories of what was actually decided at the Congress of Vienna. These should by no means limit what you, as delegates, decide. This is merely intended to give you an idea of the different possibilities you may pursue and the issues that are the most important. You should feel fully free, however, to take this committee in an entirely different direction. France The Treaty of Paris of 1814 defined France s role in the post-napoleonic European system; the First Treaty of Paris, signed in 1814, was updated and hardened to reflect Napoleon s brief resurgence during the so-called Hundred Days. Still, the punishments levied against France were remarkably light thanks to the able diplomacy of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the French representative to the Congress of Vienna. In fact, the First Treaty of Paris had France paying no reparations at all. Under the stiffer terms adopted in the Treaty of Paris of 1815, France would return to the borders it held in 1790, giving up all the lands won in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars but retaining a number of territories that the nation had lost to the other European powers, and would pay reparations to the tune of 700 million francs, along with all expenses associated with the temporary occupation of France by the armies of the Sixth Coalition. Since France was to retain its sovereignty and much of its territory, the question then became in whom to invest the authority of the state. There was considerable disagreement within the Coalition on this point. At first, in 1814, the throne was offered to Napoleon on the condition that France retreat to its 1792 border, but he rejected the proposal; after his return during the Hundred Days, the offer was not repeated. Disagreement was chiefly focused on whether the new ruler of France would be a member of the Bourbon family, a member of the Orléans family, or a member of Napoleon s own family. In the end, largely at the skillful urging of Talleyrand, the Sixth Coalition chose to restore the House of Bourbon to the throne of France; Louis XVIII then became King of A map showing the agreements of the Congress of Vienna France, albeit with the powers of the monarchy somewhat restricted by a new constitution, instituted at the insistence of the occupying armies of the Sixth Coalition. 13

14 Louis took the crown in what was legally established as the 19 th year of his reign, despite the fact that he had never before possessed the throne. This was a pointed institutional denial of the French Revolution; in the newly official timeline, Louis XVII would have inherited the throne from Louis XVI in 1793, and Louis XVIII would then have begun his rightful rule in In reality, Louis XVII had never held the crown (he died in prison, still the heir apparent), but this effort by the aristocracy to reject France s revolutionary past was typical of post-napoleonic politics. Tellingly, Louis XVIII did not take up the title of King of the French as Louis XVI did during the early days of the revolution and as Louis-Philippe would after the July Revolution, a reflection of the decidedly conservative principles that triumphed at the Congress of Vienna. Despite new constitutional restrictions on the king s rule, this was still an absolute rather than a popular monarchy. This wholesale repudiation of that stretch of French history and strain of French thought would have serious consequences for the further development of European politics in the 19 th century, particularly in its failure to address latent socio-political issues that would resurface in later revolutionary episodes across the Continent; France had incubated a particularly virulent conception of democracy during the revolution, and Napoleon s armies spread it as they marched across Europe. In sum, the Congress of Vienna took an approach to post-napoleonic France that was essentially regressive, an effort to return to European politics as they had existed before the French Revolution. As inevitable as history seems in retrospect, the result could have been very different. France could have been partitioned among the victorious powers, as Poland was in various historical episodes and as the French originally feared after Napoleon s defeat. France could have been allowed to keep larger swathes of its empire or forced to surrender territory it had already possessed before the Revolution. The throne could have gone to the unpredictable Napoleon again, or a member of his family, a move that would have meant the continuation of imperial rule. The throne could have gone to a member of the more liberal House of Orléans, as it would after 1830 s July Revolution, potentially fast tracking France s modernization by several decades. The Sixth Coalition could even have restored the French Republic as it existed and was internationally recognized at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars with the Peace of Amiens, before the rise of Napoleon. All these potential histories would have had radical consequences for the further development of European international politics and society. Germany Louis XVIII Out of the shambles of the Holy Roman Empire and the political uncertainty left behind after Napoleon s decisive victory at Austerlitz, the French Empire assembled the fragmented German states into the Confederation of the Rhine, which Napoleon imagined together as a useful buffer on his 14

15 empire s eastern border. With Napoleon s defeat, the powers of the Sixth Coalition sought to remake Central Europe into a form that would be conducive to their interests; to that end, they created the German Confederation, a weak association of a variety of German speaking states largely under the influence of Prussia and the Austrian Empire that would endure more or less intact from 1815 until In creating the German Confederation, the Sixth Coalition was operating under the same reactionary principles that had guided its response to France. The loosely bound German Confederation would, they hoped, hem in French ambitions to the east, maintain the balance of power between Prussia and Austria, and serve to hamstring nascent German nationalist sentiment (nationalism being an ideology that was, at the time, anathema to many of Europe s conservative regimes). As time would prove, the German Confederation stalled but did not stifle German nationalist ambitions, which would express themselves in the unsuccessful revolutions of 1848 and would finally be realized through Otto von Bismarck, Minister-President of the Kindom of Prussia Otto von Bismarck and then Chancellor of the German Empire after its unification. Bismarck succeeded through both a canny marriage of conservatism and nationalism that co-opted nationalist sentiment away from its earlier liberal ties and a savvy manipulation of the international political system; the result was an extremely powerful and distinctly conservative German state that leapt quickly to great power status. The Confederation was subsumed into the Empire, having done little to maintain the balance of power in Central Europe and even less to avoid the nationalist groundswell that the Sixth Coalition had feared in The reactionary efforts of the victorious powers at the Congress of Vienna backfired at least in part in the case of Germany; the German Confederation, designed to prevent the rise of German nationalism, served instead as an instrument in the hands of Otto von Bismarck to promote it, a tool towards the end of German unification. That unification, under a conservative, nationalist state, would have enormous consequences for European politics, particularly as regards Germany s eventual role in the First and Second World Wars. Central Europe could have developed very differently at the hands of the Sixth Coalition. They could have left the Confederation of the Rhine as it was - that is, without the inclusion of Prussia and Austria a move that might have impeded the Prussian rise to dominance in a later unified Germany. Alternatively, they could have left the many German states independent and unconnected, creating a political quagmire in Central Europe that might have significantly delayed the economic and political development of that region, potentially to Western Europe s advantage. They could even have restored the Holy Roman Empire as it existed before its dissolution during the Napoleonic Era, returning Emperor Francis II, some member of his family, or another emperor entirely to the throne. Any and all of these choices could have spurred the development of a vastly different Central European political landscape and a vastly different Germany than the ones that did in fact come to be. 15

16 ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE Addressing the complex array of interlinked problems facing the Congress of Vienna is can incredibly important undertaking nothing less than the future of Europe is at stake. The main questions that delegates in this committee should consider are the fate of France and the remnants of Holy Roman Empire, and the following are some lenses by which we can frame the problem: 1. Should France be left as one country? After the Napoleonic wars, can it be trusted to exist as a unified state? 2. If so, should it have a military? 3. What should be done with the many competing groups striving to take power in Germany and other parts of the former Holy Roman Empire? 4. Similar questions may be asked about the status of the various states striving for predominance in the Italian peninsula. We do not expect you as delegates to draw a detailed map of all of Europe s future borders. Rather, we expect you to come in with a well-researched notion of your character and country s policy and then to try to see that achieved on the major points under discussion. Ideally, the committee will produce a broad political framework that will serve as a guide for Europe in centuries to come, while dealing with crises and political intrigues which may arise along the way and change the course of the Congress.

17 Committee Positions STRUCTURE OF THE COMMITTEE THE FOUR GREAT POWERS OF THE SIXTH COALITION Prince Klemens von Metternich (Austria) Klemens von Metternich was a conservative Austrian statesman instrumental in Prince Klemens von Metternich restoring Austria to importance in the period before and during the Congress of Vienna. Metternich began his involvement in the contentiousness of the European map in 1803, when he became the Austrian minister in Berlin. Though he was unable to form a military alliance against France with Frederick William III as he had hoped, Metternich spent his ambassadorship observing Prussia s inner conflict, leading him to predict the nation s downfall well in advance. By 1806 Metternich had moved to Paris, where he began reporting on the state of Napoleonic government to his home country. These reports included encouraging news about Napoleon s army that ultimately proved to be false, as Austria s loss in the Battle of Wagram in 1809 suggests. Nevertheless, Metternich was still appointed minister of foreign affairs by Emperor Francis I of Austria. Metternich s main achievement in the following two years was to link Napoleon to Austria through marriage, which perhaps kept the nation from being the emperor s prime target. He also advocated for, but failed to achieve, a reorganization of the Austrian state to protect is multinational identity, and, along with the emperor, developed his support for the idea of a balance of power in Europe. Metternich then shifted his eye to Napoleon s war against Russia in He advocated for the independence of Austrian troops under Prince Karl Schwarzenberg who were fighting alongside the French. Though he had the chance to switch his allegiance to Russia in January of 1813, Metternich proclaimed Austria s neutrality to the world. This, however, was simply a diplomatic ploy to avert attention from the Austrian military while it rearmed. Despite the caveat that Austria would re-enter the war if Napoleon refused to acknowledge his terms of peace, he negotiated an armistice between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, buying his army even more time. When Metternich finally did declare war on France, he promised the Southern German states that, if they joined the Allies, they would not forfeit the gains they had made with Napoleon. Thus, Metternich s main goal during the war was not only to achieve military dominance, but also to set up a structure of Austrian alliances to counterbalance Russia and Prussia in the event of Napoleon s loss. This diplomatic strategy culminated in the Congress of Vienna, held in Austria largely due to the Metternich s work over the previous two years. During the conference, he hoped to form two confederations, one with Germany and the other with Italy. He also aimed to oppose other European powers plans of eliminating France, working with Lord Castlereagh to preserve its identity to balance Russia s power. 17

18 Metternich also played a key social role as the Congress host, spending much time entertaining monarchs with the hope that his diplomatic objectives could be achieved without their interference. Baron Johann von Wessenberg (Austria) As the deputy to Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, the Baron Johann von Wessenberg served as a diplomat during the Napoleonic wars and as Austria s secondary delegate to the Congress of Vienna. Wessenberg s first involvement in anti-napoleon politics occurred in 1808, when he served as the ambassador to the Prussian court in Berlin. He intended to convince Prussian King Frederick William III to join the fifth coalition against France, but the king had fled to East Prussia in response to Baron Johann von Napoleon s advances. Wessenberg Wessenberg, unable to fulfill his mission, returned home and departed on other diplomatic travels around Europe for the two years preceding the Congress of Vienna, Wessenberg represented Austria s interests in London, France and Milan. After returning home in 1814 to attend the Congress of Vienna, the Baron s main focus became Metternich s vision of creating a united German confederation with an Austrian core. Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (United Kingdom) Known as one of Britain s most distinguished foreign secretaries, Viscount Castlereagh began his political career in the Ireland before the passage of the Act of Union that joined Ireland to Great Britain. Compelled by the growing fear of Napoleon s attack, Castlereagh advocated fiercely for the union and was instrumental in its eventual passage. Prime Minister Pitt then provided Castlereagh with the opportunity to serve as the Secretary of State for War for the whole United Kingdom in After engaging in various government duties on and off, he became the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and the leader of the House of Commons in Castlereagh s main objective at the time was to maintain the alliance between Napoleon s enemies and he began to draw up plans for post- Viscount Castlereagh Napoleonic Europe even before the end of the war. He secured negotiation rights for the United Kingdom and determined the terms of agreements between the allies through a series of treaties before the Congress of Vienna. The Treaty of Paris, the most well known of these settlements, restored the Bourbon Monarchy and created a separate kingdom out of the Low Countries. With these British policy aims already achieved, Castlereagh was left to play a particularly unencumbered role at the Congress of Vienna. Thus, Castlereagh hoped to enact his vision of Europe more generally at the Congress, with a focus on strengthening central Europe, preventing Russian and Prussian representatives from attempting to obtain unfairly large land settlements, and establishing a tradition of regular meetings between large European powers. Duke of Wellington (United Kingdom) Arthur Wellesley began his career in public service in the army. He fought in several key colonial battles in the late 1790 s and was 18

19 knighted and made a Member of Parliament upon his return to England. After briefly serving in the domestic government, he became commander of British forces on the peninsula in After driving British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces to a victory against Napoleon, Wellesley was given the title of the Duke of Wellington, by which he is now more commonly known. In his role as the preeminent English military hero of the time, he spent a year in the Foreign Service, during which he attended the Congress of Vienna as a representative for the United Kingdom. Karl August von Hardenberg (Prussia) Karl August von Hardenberg was a Prussian statesman and administrator. After serving in a variety of administrative and diplomatic positions, he became prime minister with full powers in After Napoleon s campaign in Russia, Hardenberg secretly advocated for an alliance with Russia, which was solidified in In his diplomatic negotiations he strove to liberate Prussia from French rule and obtain more territory. Frederick William III (Prussia) The king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840, Frederick William III led Prussia to its defeat in the battle of Jena in 1806 immediately after renouncing his isolationist foreign policy. After losing most of its land in the resulting Peace of Tilsit, Frederick William s ministers carried out reforms to restore the country to enough strength to reenter the Napoleonic Wars in Frederick William hoped to fight foreign invaders off of German soil and hoped to regain Prussia s lost territory during the Congress of Vienna. Count Karl Nesselrode (Russia) Karl Nesselrode, a Russian diplomat, and minister of foreign affairs from 1814 onwards, began his career in 1806, when he began representing Russia in various embassies across Europe. That same year, he moved to southern Germany, hoping to secretly report to Alexander I about Napoleon s troops as Alexander began to question his support of Napoleon. He also collaborated over the Peace of Tilsit in During the Franco-Russian war in the next year, Nesselrode served as the diplomatic secretary to several significant Russian generals and had been appointed as the minister of foreign affairs by the Congress of Vienna. During the Congress, Nesselrode hoped to assert Russia s claims on Poland, though Alexander I, who was also present at the conference and didn t work very closely with his foreign minister, often subordinated him. Alexander I (Russia) Alexander Pavlovich, also known as Emperor Alexander I, was the sole ruler of Russia during the Napoleonic wars. Though he enjoyed some military successes in the early part of his reign, Alexander s first encounters with Napoleon resulted in devastating losses for Russia. Alexander, trying to win over Napoleon through their mutual enmity with Britain, agreed to the Treaty of Alexander I Tilsit, though many thought this would lead to only further battles between the two emperors. This period of friendship between the two men is thought to have relied on Alexander s acceptance of Napoleon in a time when many other European royals looked down upon the Frenchman for possessing power beyond his birth. After a five-year period of peace, Napoleon invaded Russia due to rising hostilities between the two nations. Napoleon claimed that the invasion was justified since he planned to liberate the 19

20 Russian serfs, which was actually a key domestic policy aim of Alexander s. The campaign did not go as planned for Napoleon, and Russia s victory caused the Russian people to begin to regard Alexander as divine. Alexander then represented Russia at the Congress of Vienna, leaving less to his minister than others and fervently working on the resolution himself. OTHER SIGNATORIES OF THE TREATY OF PARIS (1814) Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (France) Napoleon s foreign minister, more often known simply as Talleyrand, served under nearly every French regime for half a century. Talleyrand was notorious for his unmatched ability to deceive fellow statesmen and seek bribes, shifting political allegiance often and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand- Périgord negotiating in secret with public enemies. His vision of France involved a painless transition from the old regime to the new coupled with the preservation of France s territorial interests. Talleyrand began his career in the Church and soon gained powerful administrative positions; however, after using his influence to advance his own agenda for France s future, he was excommunicated from the Church by Pope Pius VI in Talleyrand then acted as an unofficial envoy to England until expelled due to the revolutionary government s bad mark against his name; however, he returned after the formation of the Directory and began to serve on-and-off as France s foreign minister for the rest of his career. Though he served as Napoleon s foreign minister, Talleyrand did not agree with several of the emperor s strategies. Thinking the emperor too aggressive, Talleyrand wanted to protect France s newly attained possessions by staying out of conflict with England and Russia. While in the emperor s service, though he was eventually dismissed, he communicated secretly with Alexander I and Louis XVIII, who he eventually helped reestablish to power. Louis XVIII (France) The King of France from 1814 to 1824 (though he began to hold the title in 1795), Louis XVIII originally remained in Paris when the Revolution broke out, hoping to become a royal candidate, but eventually fled in He then fiercely promoted the royalist cause around Europe, refusing to accept compensation payment from Napoleon in exchange for the renunciation of his royalty. After Napoleon s defeats, he was received into Paris under a restoration negotiated by Talleyrand. Marquis Don Pedro Gómez de Labrador (Spain) After a long career under various European royals, the Marquis de Labrador was appointed Spain s foreign ambassador, despite being well known for his weakness of character and diplomatic incompetence. The Marquis, having accompanied Pope Pius VI in exile, was well versed in religious matters and advocated a special alliance between Spain and the Holy See, though it was eventually rejected. As Spain s Marquis de Labrador representative to the Congress of Vienna, 20

21 Gomez hoped to restore the deposed Bourbons to the thrones of Spain s Italian possessions and to regain control over Spanish colonies in South Americas, some of which had revolted during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. Pedro de Sousa Holstein (Portugal) Also known as the Duke de Palmela, Pedro de Sousa Holstein began his career in Portugal s foreign service in He commanded Portuguese troops along with the Duke of Wellington during Napoleon s peninsular campaign and represented Portugal in various European conferences from the 1802 to the Congress of Vienna, which resulted in his future permanent position as Portugal s minister of foreign affairs. Count Carl Lowenheim (Sweden and Norway) Count Lowenheim held both administrative and military positions for Sweden during the time of the Napoleonic wars. He was a lieutenant general, but achieved more fame due to the paintings he made while abroad than because of any significant military accomplishments. Due to the Treaty of Kiel, in which the King of Denmark-Norway had ceded Norwegian territory to the King of Sweden, Lowenheim represented both Sweden and Norway at the Congress of Vienna, advocating for these nations interests in land lost due to various treaties over the prior forty years. OTHER REPRESENATIVES Count Niels Rosenkrantz (Denmark) Count Niels Rosenkrantz was a foreign policy advisor to Danish King Frederick VI. Though the King was also present in Vienna at the time of the conference, Rosenkrantz played an important role in negotiations over disputed Scandinavian land, such as Swedish Pomerania and the Duchy of Lauenburg. Cardinal Ercole Consalvi (Papal States) Regarded by many as one of the greatest statesmen to ever serve the papal court, Cardinal Ercole Consalvi entered his public career in 1783 by Pope Pius VI. In 1796 he was made assessor of a military commission created to prevent the intervention of French revolutionaries. When the French general Duphot was killed in Rome, despite a lack of involvement by the Papal States, the French army invaded Rome and deprived the Pope of his sovereignty. Though Consalvi was arrested, he returned soon after and was made cardinal and Secretary of State under Pope Pius VII in Consalvi then worked to protect the Pope s role as the head of Christianity in the eyes of the European states, Cardinal Ercole particularly by Consalvi helping create the French Concordat. When Napoleon was crowned emperor in 1804, Consalvi was blamed for the Pope s refusal to become a vassal under the emperor and was forced to step down by Later, after refusing to assist in the ceremonies for Napoleon s second marriage, he was deprived of all property and sent into forced retirement. After Napoleon s abdication, Consalvi was reappointed Secretary of State for the Papal States and represented the Pope in negotiations in France, England, and the Congress of Vienna, where he hoped for the reinstatement of lost papal territories. 21