The Congress of Vienna: Principles and the Redrawing of Europe

After Napoleon's first abdication and the First Treaty of Paris (30 May 1814), the victorious powers convened a general conference in Vienna to settle Europe's outstanding territorial questions. Formal sessions ran from September 1814 to June 1815, hosted by the Austrian emperor Francis I and effectively directed by his chancellor, Klemens von Metternich, though the substantive decisions were actually hammered out among the four great powers, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Britain, represented respectively by Metternich, Tsar Alexander I, chancellor Hardenberg, and Viscount Castlereagh. Talleyrand, representing defeated France, skillfully exploited divisions among the victors to secure France a seat among the negotiating great powers rather than the status of a punished loser.