Sattlement arrived at Vienna congress
Answers
1. Principles on which Vienna Settlement was based:
(1) The Vienna Settlement was based on three principles, viz., restoration, legitimacy’ and compensation. As regards the principle of restoration, it was decided to restore, as far as possible, the boundaries and reigning families of the several European countries as they were before the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.
2. Criticism of Vienna Settlement:
The view of Prof. Fyffe is that “Standing on the boundary line between two ages, the legislation of Vienna forms a landmark in history.” It cannot be denied that the Vienna Settlement of 1815 was not so bad as the Paris settlement of 1919-20.
3. The Holy Alliance (1815):
It seems desirable to refer to the Holy Alliance of 1815 which was the creation of Czar Alexander I who was a visionary, a mystic, a man of moods and unstable imagination. Such a scheme had been put forward earlier by Sully, the Minister of Henry IV of France, in his Grand Design.
Answer:
Congress of Vienna, assembly in 1814–15 that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. It began in September 1814, five months after Napoleon I’s first abdication and completed its “Final Act” in June 1815, shortly before the Waterloo campaign and the final defeat of Napoleon. The settlement was the most-comprehensive treaty that Europe had ever seen.Preliminaries
Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain, the four powers that were 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 decision making for themselves.Representatives began to arrive in Vienna toward the end of September 1814. All of Europe sent its most-important statesmen. 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 Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand. Spain, Portugal, and Sweden had only men of moderate ability to represent them. Many of 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 of the Austrian court.
Assisting Metternich as host, Friedrich Gentz played a vital role in the management of protocol and in the secretarial organization of the congress. The social side of the congress was, in fact, one of the causes of the long and unexpected delay in producing a result, for Metternich at least sometimes subordinated business to pleasure.