Vienna, Congress of, 1814–15. Napoleon's abdication in April 1814 was followed by a preliminary settlement, the first treaty of Paris, which restored the Bourbon monarchy, returned most of France's colonies, allowed her the boundaries of 1792, and approved the union of Belgium and Holland. But twenty years of warfare, in the course of which boundaries had been constantly changed and new states created, demanded a general European settlement. The Congress opened in September with Castlereagh representing Britain. Strong disagreement between Prussia, Russia, and Austria over the fate of Saxony threatened allied unity and allowed Talleyrand, the French representative, to play a balancing role. In March 1815 everything was thrown into the melting pot by Napoleon's escape from Elba, and not until he had been defeated in June at Waterloo were the arrangements safe. The terms of the settlement with France were then made more severe, giving her the 1790s boundaries, and insisting on an indemnity and an army of occupation. Belgium and Holland were united in the hope that they would be a more effective barrier to French aggression than either the Spanish or Austrian Netherlands had been; Piedmont was strengthened as a barrier in Italy, where Austria, with Milan, Lombardy, and Venetia, became the dominant power; a kingdom of Poland was established under the rule of Tsar Alexander; Prussia was compensated in the west for territorial losses in the east; the neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed; Denmark lost Norway to Sweden, which had changed sides at the last minute; Hanover's gains included East Frisia; Britain retained the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Tobago, St Lucia, Malta, Mauritius, the Ionian Islands, and Heligoland. By the Quadruple Alliance, which accompanied the second treaty of Paris in November 1815, the system of Congresses was established to adjudicate future problems. The Congress of Vienna was a prime example of balance of power diplomacy. The first piece of the settlement to collapse was the union of Belgium and Holland, which disintegrated in 1830.

J. A. Cannon