The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon

445 Pages·2014·1.98 MB·English

by  Brian E. Vick

The Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna
6
POWER AND POLITICS
AFTER NAPOLEON
BRIAN E. VICK
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
2014
Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Vick, Brian E., 1970–
T he Congress of Vienna : power and politics after Napoleon / Brian E. Vick.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 72971- 1 (alkaline paper)
1. Congress of Vienna (1814– 1815) 2. Napoleonic Wars, 1800– 1815—Peace.
3. Napoleonic Wars, 1800– 1815—Treaties. 4. Napoleonic Wars, 1800– 1815—
Diplomatic history. 5. Europe— Politics and government—1789– 1815.
I. Title.
DC249.V45 2014
940.2'744—dc23 2014004758
Contents
Introduction 1
1 Peace and Power in Display 21
2 Selling the Congress 66
3 Salon Networks 112
4 Negotiating Religion 153
5 Eu rope in the Wider World 193
6 Between Reaction and Reform 233
7 Poland, Saxony, and the Crucible of Diplomacy 278
Conclusion 321
Notes 335
Ac know ledg ments 423
Index 427

The Congress of Vienna

Introduction
In pop u lar memory, and pop u lar history, the Congress of Vienna lives as
much as a grand spectacle of parties, dancing, and festivities as it does
as a diplomatic summit convened to settle the future of Eur ope in the
wake of Napoleon’s defeat. Images of waltzes, pseudo- medieval knightly
tournaments, and sexual intrigues dance alongside those of the diplomatic
intrigues, and the illustrious fi gures of the statesmen Prince Talleyrand,
Prince Metternich, and Lord Castlereagh alongside the rulers Tsar Alex-
ander, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prus sia, and Emperor Franz I of
Austria. Scholarly accounts of the Congress on the other hand have mostly
screened out the festive dimension in order to center on the diplomatic
maneuverings as the essence of the event. Offer and counteroffer, the
play of power politics, and the rules both intricate and unsubtle of raison
d’état and Realpolitik stand at the core of such analyses. Yet the diplo-
macy, like the diplomats themselves, did not remain in a hermetically
sealed room or black box, somehow set apart from broader society, cul-
ture, and ideas. The days of diplomatic relations as solely sovereign ar-
cana, secret and out of the public eye, w ere long gone by 1800, even if the
day of a completely transparent system of international relations oper-
ating in the full light of public scrutiny had not yet arrived (has, for that
matter, still not arrived). Nor do the festivities, socializing, and cultural
exchanges simply represent local color, or titillating details to spice up the
historical narrative. Knowledge of the wider culture and pol iti cal culture
is essential to understanding both the Congress of Vienna and Eu ro pe an
international relations, while at the same time, renewed attention to the