Treaty of Vienna

Also called: Congress of Vienna, Vienna Peace Settlement · Topic: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 1 "The Rise of Nationalism in Europe"

Meaning

The Treaty of Vienna (1815) was the peace settlement made by Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria, the powers that had together defeated Napoleon. They met at the Congress of Vienna, hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich, to redraw the map of Europe and bring back the old order of kings.

It matters because it set up the conservative order in Europe after 1815. Its map ignored the wishes of peoples and nations. That became the main grievance of liberal-nationalists in 1830, 1848 and the unifications of Italy and Germany.

Explanation

Background: why the powers met

• Napoleon's wars had spread French rule and the ideas of the French Revolution across Europe.
• After his defeat, European rulers followed conservatism. This was the belief that old, long-lasting institutions must be kept:
• monarchy (rule by a king)
• the Church
• social hierarchy (fixed high and low ranks in society)

• property and the family

• Conservatives did not want a full return to the world before 1789. They had learnt from Napoleon that modern changes can make autocracy stronger. So they kept:

• a modern army and an efficient bureaucracy (trained, paid officials who run the state by rules)
• a dynamic economy

• the end of feudalism and serfdom (serfdom = peasants tied by law to a lord's land)

• The winning powers met to settle Europe on these conservative lines.

The Congress: dates, people and guiding idea

• The Congress of Vienna opened in September 1814, five months after Napoleon's first abdication. It finished in June 1815, just before the Waterloo campaign [2].
• Host: Duke Metternich, Austrian Chancellor.
• Other leading figures were Viscount Castlereagh for Britain, Talleyrand for France and Tsar Alexander I of Russia [3].
• Guiding idea: Metternich built the settlement on legitimism, the idea that the "rightful" old royal families must be put back on their thrones [4].
• Bargaining at the table:
• Talleyrand won France equal status in the talks, and Metternich blocked Russia's bigger demands [4].
• Metternich also cut down Prussia's demand for the whole of Saxony [2][4].

Main decisions of the treaty

• Bourbon restoration: the Bourbon dynasty, removed during the French Revolution, was put back on the throne of France.
• France was cut back: it lost the lands it had taken under Napoleon.
• Buffer states (strong states placed around France to block any future French expansion):
• North: the kingdom of the Netherlands, which included Belgium

• South: Genoa was added to Piedmont

• Prussia got new lands in the west and part of Saxony.

• Britannica says these western gains were in Westphalia and the Rhine region [2][4].

• Austria got control of northern Italy.

• Britannica names this as Lombardy and Venice. Most of Tirol was returned to Austria too [2].

• Russia got part of Poland.

• Britannica says the Duchy of Warsaw became a separate kingdom under the Russian emperor [2].

• The German confederation of 39 states, set up by Napoleon, was left untouched.

Results: how the settlement worked in practice

• A map for rulers, not for nations. Britannica says the Congress largely ignored the growing feeling of nationality among peoples [2].

• Italians were placed under Austria, Poles under Russia, and Belgians under the Dutch king.

• Autocratic rule: the restored monarchies were autocratic (one ruler, with no check on their power).

• Censorship: these rulers did not accept criticism. They used censorship laws to control newspapers, books, plays and songs.

• Many censored works questioned the Vienna settlement or kept alive the revolutionary ideas of liberty and equality.

• Freedom of the press became the central demand of liberal-nationalists all over Europe.

• Opposition went underground:
• Liberal-nationalists formed secret societies to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas.
• They opposed the monarchies set up after Vienna and fought for liberty. They saw a nation-state as necessary to protect that liberty.
• Giuseppe Mazzini of the Carbonari (a secret revolutionary society in Italy) later founded Young Italy (Marseilles) and Young Europe (Berne).
• Metternich called Mazzini "the most dangerous enemy of our social order."

Time, place and evidence

• Period: September 1814 to June 1815 [2], straight after Napoleon's defeat. It begins the conservative era in Europe, 1815 to 1848.
• Place: Vienna, the capital of the Austrian empire.
• Key people:
• Metternich (Austria, host)

• Castlereagh (Britain), Talleyrand (France) and Tsar Alexander I (Russia) [3]

• Powers that drew up the treaty: Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria.

• Regions affected: France and its borders, the Netherlands and Belgium, Piedmont and Genoa, northern Italy (Lombardy and Venice), Tirol, Westphalia and the Rhineland, Saxony, Poland (Duchy of Warsaw) [2], and the German confederation.
• How we know:
• the official treaty settlement signed by the powers in 1815
• NCERT Class 10, Ch 1 "The Rise of Nationalism in Europe"
• Britannica's accounts of the Congress, of Metternich and of conservatism [2][3][4]

Don't confuse with

• German confederation of 39 states: this was set up by Napoleon, not by the Vienna Congress. Vienna only left it untouched. Do not count it as a Vienna creation.
• Conservatism vs a return to pre-1789: the 1815 conservatives brought back kings, but they kept Napoleon's modern army, bureaucracy and the end of serfdom. Going back fully to the old regime was not their aim.
• Legitimism vs nationalism: legitimism (Metternich) meant putting back old royal families. Nationalism (Mazzini) meant nations, or peoples, should rule themselves. Vienna followed the first and ignored the second [2][4].
• Buffer states vs territorial rewards: the Netherlands with Belgium and Piedmont with Genoa were set up to block France. Austria's northern Italy, Russia's Poland and Prussia's western lands and Saxony were rewards to the winning powers.

Prelims Hooks

• Treaty of Vienna, 1815 was drawn up by Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria. It was hosted by Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor. France was not among the four powers that drew it up.
• Congress of Vienna: September 1814 to June 1815 [2]. Its guiding principle was legitimism [4].
• Buffer states around France: kingdom of the Netherlands including Belgium in the north, and Genoa added to Piedmont in the south.
• Who got what: Austria got northern Italy, Russia got part of Poland, and Prussia got western lands plus part of Saxony.
• Trap: the German confederation of 39 states was left untouched by Vienna. It was Napoleon's creation.
• The Bourbon dynasty was restored in France in 1815.

Mains Points

• A settlement of rulers, not of peoples.
• The 1815 map was drawn to balance the great powers and to box in France. Nationality was ignored [2].

• Austria in northern Italy, Russia in Poland and Belgium inside the Netherlands each became a national grievance. These grievances burst out in 1830, 1848 and 1859–71.

• Modern conservatism, not medieval reaction.

• Vienna's order used Napoleon's tools (bureaucracy, a modern army, the end of serfdom) to make autocracy efficient.

• This helps explain why autocracies lasted so long. It also explains why Italy and Germany were later unified from above by conservative Piedmont and Prussia, not by Mazzini's republicans.

• Repression shaped the opposition.

• Censorship closed off open politics. So liberal-nationalism moved into secret societies, exile networks and the demand for a free press.
• This made the movement elite, secretive and weak in mass support. It is a key reason the revolts of 1831 and 1848 failed. Yet it also produced thinkers like Mazzini, whose Young Europe showed the early internationalist side of nationalism.

Related concepts

• Concert of Europe
• Holy Alliance 1815
• Metternich
• Conservatism
• Carbonari
• Giuseppe Mazzini
• Young Italy

Read more

• Conservatism after 1815 and the revolutionaries