The Triumph of the Congress of Vienna Essay

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader who became the emperor of France after the French Revolution, in the year 1804. Napoleon made his Civil Code to unify the laws of France. When he conquered Europe, he brought along ideas of the French Revolution such as equality under the law. His conquests also brought about nationalism in defeated countries, which would fuel the way for their own revolutions, such as in the Revolutions of 1848. The growth of conservatism at the Congress of Vienna was a reaction to Napoleon’s ideas, but it could not stop the new ideas that came from Napoleon’s reign.

Head of European governments were seeking to establish a long-lasting peace and stability on the continent after the defeat of Napoleon. A series of meetings in Vienna, known as the Congress of Vienna, were called to set up policies to achieve this goal. The Congress of Vienna was scheduled to last four weeks however, it went on for eight months. There were many positive outcomes from this but also some negatives. Metternich had three goals at the Congress of Vienna. He wanted to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries. Also, he wanted to restore a balance of power, so that no country would be a threat to others. Lastly, he wanted to restore Europe’s royal families to the thrones they had held before Napoleon’s conquests. The congress set up the Congress System to settle disputes between European countries through diplomacy and negotiation instead of way.

At first, he was not concerned on the national problems because he was too tired and needed relaxation with his family. However, later, he found that France was becoming ruined and decided to make the coup against parliament. Lucien Bonaparte, a younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, made Napoleon the offer to become one of three governing consuls, but Napoleon rejected. He wanted to take the throne of France. Napoleon had his own greed that wanted to be popular and did not prefer people to forget his victories by uncompleted invasion, “Although he had been given a hero’s welcome by the populace he knew that this type of fame was fleeting, and he also recognized that recent French military victories in Holland and Switzerland had somewhat tarnished his own unfinished effort in Egypt.” When he made the coup against parliament, Napoleon mentioned the true liberty and the republic. “He then transported his spirited oratory to the beautiful gardens and the waiting troops with whose aid the republic would be established.” Napoleon called his troops for coup, saying that the real republic finally established. However, people did not consider this action as the republic. One deputy said “And the Constitution? You already destroyed the Constitution when you violated it. No one respects it anymore,” and the other people said “Down with the tyrant.” From the successful coup, Napoleon took the most authority in France, but present a bad image . In May 1804, congress

First he wanted to surround France with strong countries to prevent further aggression by them. Second he wanted to restore a balance of power so that no country would be threatened by another and last he wanted to restore Europe’s royal families to the throne.

On June 7,1776 delegates (members) from the thirteen American colonies came together and met at the Pennsylvania State House that is now called Independence Hall. The men that joined in this undertaking were the men that formed the Second Continental Congress. The American people were already rebelling against King George the Third. This forced the hand of the Congress to decide whether or not the people of America should be a new country by declaring independence. This decision may have been debatably the most important in the world’s history or at least in the Revolution.

From France's point of view, I think the Congress of Vienna's decisions were fair. At the time, France was a strong country and in order to insure a more peaceful continent, the Congress of Vienna strengthened the countries surrounding France by combining or grouping other countries together. Rather than taking complete power away from France, the Congress instead slightly weakened the French and strengthened the surrounding countries so they would not be so easily overpowered. By keeping France a fairly strong country, though it was no where near as powerful as they had been, it prevented all the countries in Europe form easily taking over another. This also kept France from any plots of retaliation. Plus, the Congress kept the people of France from regarding Napoleon as a martyr by exiling him to an island rather than killing him. By doing this the

France had just undergone a bloody revolution that supported the ideals of “liberty, equality, and fraternity”. When Napoleon was conquering lands, these ideas spread with him. The inadvertent spread of nationalism in nations conquered by Napoleon led to their union against him to get their nations back. This shows nationalism can exist under a monarch or a dictator. One of the biggest impacts that Napoleon has caused was a major backlash against his ideas and against the prospect that a single country can dominate Europe as a whole. This led to the gathering of Europe’s Great Powers in the Congress of Vienna.

The Congress was noted for its lavish entertainment: in line with a noted Jake it didn't move, but danced.Talleyrand’s role at the start, the reprentatives of the four victorious powers hoped to exclude the French from serious participation within the negotiations, however Charles Maurice de Talleyrand skilfully managed to insert himself into “her inner councils” within the initial weeks of negotiations. On September 1814, the Congress of Vienna

It is understandable that some of the other countries still felt the threats leveled by Napoleon’s rule, and wanted to make sure the power was balanced within all the 5 countries. One of the most influential of the representatives was the foreign minister of Austria, Prince Klemens von Metternich. Metternich was suspicious of the democratic ideals of the French Revolution. A good number of European aristocrats, including von Metternich, believed that Napoleon’s actions had been an expected result of experiments with democracy. Desiring to keep things as they were, Metternich stated, “The first and greatest concern for the immense majority of every nation is the stability of laws—never their change.” He had three main goals at the Congress of Vienna. First and foremost, he wanted to avert future French hostility by surrounding France with strong countries. Secondly, he knew a balance of power must be restored so that no one country would be a threat to any of the others. Third, it was his desire to restore Europe’s royal families to the thrones they had held before Napoleon’s

An international conference that took place in 1820. The congress was represented by Russia, Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and France. Their purpose was to consider the resources of defeating liberal uprisings against Ferdinand I and suppressing the revolution in Naples.

On June 8, 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, the Quadruple Alliance -- Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia -- instituted a set of conservative principles and policies, in response to Napoleon’s domination of the continent, that served to preserve and transmit the traditions of old by maintaining monarchical authority and reaffirmed this promise as they developed the Concert of Europe. At the same time, liberalism, the belief that people should be as free from restraint as possible, and nationalism, the idea of working toward a broader community in hopes of greater unity, sought to combat this shift by working together to impose its own ideals on European society. By the late 1830s, while the conservatives kept the old order in positions

The balance of power was to prevent any country from invading any weaker country in Europe. It was a theory that allowed “The posture and policy of a nation or group of nations protecting itself against another nation or group of nations by matching its power against the power of the other side.”Some arrangements include the alliance of Prussia and Austria, making them as powerful as Russia in order to keep a balance between them. It was believed by Metternich that by doing the arrangements it was going to prevent danger from happening. Even though, the balance of power was to fight against France and to keep it from getting stronger, it stayed the same. France still remained strong, even when it had no allies and was against four major countries. The thought of France threatening the peace of Europe was always on their minds and they were trying to make anything possible to not let them

When Napoleon was sentenced to exile in Elba, The Congress of Vienna was held. The Congress of Vienna was supposed to sort out all of Europe’s problems in a nonviolent way. Countries from all over Europe sent their delegates to represent them. The big countries were Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Their delegates decided on a new Europe, a Europe that left both Italy and Germany divided into states. In 1861 Italy was unified, as well as Germany in 1871 due to strong nationalist movements. France lost the Alsace-Lorraine to Germany which had a lot of natural resources in the Franco-Prussian war and were now eager to take it back. In Sebria and Austria-Hungary lived large areas of differing nationalist groups, all enthusiastic to become free from the states in which they lived.

The major powers at the Congress of Vienna were France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain. Their goals took place on September 1814 at the Congress of Vienna to analyze a final peace settlement. To prevent political revolutions, like the French revolution, and preserve the status quo. There goal was realistic and non realistic, due to the fact that, that this was met to be attained and could be since they came together to form a conference about the matter. Also they were considering the status of the country from creating the peace. Its realistic due to no one wishing for another French Revolution. Furthermore non realistic, for congress may be doing this in order to curve the directive and control to what they want it to be.

The establishment of the Viennese Secession in 1897 marked the genesis of modern art in Austria—a nation at the time known for its strong holdings on conservative traditions and values. It was the first movement of artists and designers who were devoted to the renewal of art’s meaning—the projection of inner states of emotion. Led by Gustav Klimt, the Secession was the most influential breakaway; rejecting the revivalist styles endorsed by the conservative academies, the group promoted an art that would celebrity modernity. The Secession was largely attributed for the responsibility of the rise to international fame of several of its members, including Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffman, who helped Austrian art become renowned once again. There were no unifying characteristics between paintings or sculptures, or even architecture: instead, its members were committed to the ideal of modernizing Austrian art by acquainting it with latest modern art movements—Art Nouveau, Post-Impressionism and Expressionism. The initial movement was short lived. By 1905, there were internal divisions ultimately fracturing the “group’s monopoly on the scene for contemporary and decorative arts” (Rosenman). However, the Secession was vital for the promotion of Austrian contemporary art.