Who represented France at the Congress of Vienna. Congress of Vienna: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Distribution of forces in Europe
Congress of Vienna- the international congress that ended the Napoleonic wars; took place in Vienna in September 1814 - June 1815. It was attended by representatives of all European states, except Turkey. The former dynasties were restored, the borders were revised and fixed, a number of treaties were concluded, resolutions and declarations were adopted, which were included in the General Act and annexes. The system of relations between the leading European states, developed at the Congress of Vienna, lasted until the second half of XIX in. Already after the end of the congress, on September 26, 1815, Russia, Austria and Prussia signed in Paris an act on the formation of the Holy Alliance.
the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815, the international congress that ended the wars of the coalitions of European powers against Napoleonic France; was convened on the initiative of the victorious powers - Russia, England, Austria and Prussia, to-rye carried out the actual. guidance to them.
Held in Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815. Representatives of all European countries took part in V. to. powers other than Turkey. The goals of V. to. were: the restoration of the feuds, the orders liquidated during the Great French. revolution and Napoleonic wars; restoration of a number of overthrown dynasties; fight against revolution. and nat.-liberate, by movement; the creation of stable guarantees preventing the resumption in France of the Bonapartist regime and attempts to conquer Europe; satisfaction ter. the claims of the victors of Napoleon by redistributing Europe and the colonies. On a number of issues, the goals of the participants in the V. to. did not coincide. England sought to trade and economic. domination in Europe, to the strengthening of Prussia in opposition to both France and Russia, the creation of a barrier from neighboring states near the borders of France and the preservation of the invaders. her during the French wars. and goal. colonies. Austria did everything possible to prevent the strengthening of Russia and Prussia and to ensure its hegemony in Germany. The Prussian policy was based on the desire to get Saxony and strategically important lands on the Rhine, which did not meet the interests of Austria and France, who preferred to see Saxony as an independent buffer near the borders of Prussia. Russia intended to create a Kingdom of Poland under its own auspices, which caused discontent in England, Austria and France and brought these powers closer in positions of opposition to Russia. The contradictions between the allies skillfully took advantage of the head of the French. the delegation of Talleyrand, who achieved the promotion of France to the number of leading states. Jan 3 1815 England, Austria and France signed a secret treaty against Prussia and Russia. These two countries had no choice but to make concessions on the Polish-Saxon issue. When solving the Italian question, Austria sought to establish its dominance in Italy and suppress any tendencies towards its unification. Austria was actively supported by England. When the work of V. k. was nearing the end, the news came of the landing of Napoleon in France on March 1, 1815 (see "One Hundred Days"). The members of the congress stopped the disputes and created a new coalition against Napoleon. The Great Revolution, which culminated in the signing of the final (general) act on June 9, 1815, redrawn the map of Europe, disregarding the national interests of the peoples of Europe. It provided for the deprivation of France of conquests and the creation of barrier states near its borders. The strongest barrier against France was the Rhine provinces of Prussia. Switzerland was strengthened by expanding its borders and incorporating strategically important mountain passes into its composition. The Kingdom of Sardinia was restored in northwestern Italy, and Austrian Lombardy and Venice played the role of bridgeheads against France east of it. The former Grand Duchy of Warsaw (received the name of the Kingdom of Poland) went to Russia, except for Thorn, Poznan, Vost. Galicia and Krakow with the district, to-rum was. given the status of a "free city". Austria again established its dominance in the North-East. Italy, received Vost. Galicia and secured the dominant influence in the newly formed German Confederation, created primarily to repel a possible French attack. Prussia acquired the sowing. part of Saxony, Poznan, as well as extensive ter. on the left bank of the Rhine and most of Westphalia - important in the economy. and strategist, regarding the area of Germany. As a result of acquisitions in the west, Prussia began to border on France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, formed by the union of Belgium and Holland. But ter. Prussia turned out to be consisting of two divided parts. In the future, this gave her additional arguments to justify her expansionist policy. Prussia also received Fr. Rügen and Swede. Pomerania (see Kiel peace treaties 1814), Norway was given to Sweden. Italy was fragmented. on a number of individual state-in. V. to. legitimized the colony, the seizures of England, which secured part of the colonies of Holland and France (the island of Malta, the Cape Colony in southern Africa, the island of Ceylon). In conclusion, the general act of V. to. as appendices included: Declaration on the cessation of the slave trade; Decree on free navigation on rivers; position regarding diplomacy. agencies (Vienna Regulation); Act on the constitution of the German Union and other documents. The system of relations created by V. K. was supplemented by the formation of the “Holy Alliance” (1815), concluded by the reactionary. pr-you European. state-in to strengthen the fight against the revolution. and national-liberate. movements. Nov. 1815 the second Peace of Paris was signed. Engels wrote that “after 1815, in all countries, the anti-revolutionary party held the reins of government in its hands. Feudal aristocrats ruled in all cabinets from London to Naples, from Lisbon to St. Petersburg ”(Marx K., Engels F. Soch. Ed. 2nd. Vol. 2, pp. 573-574). The first feels. blows to the system of the Vienna treaties of 1815 were inflicted by revolutions in France, Spain, Portugal and southern Italy in the beginning. 30s 19th century The Crimean War (1853-1856), the reunification of Italy (1860-61) and the unification of Germany (1866-71) led to its final collapse.
S. I. Povalnikov.
Materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 2.
Literature:
Marx K. The question of the Ionian Islands.-Marx K., Engels F. Soch. Ed. 2nd. T. 12, p. 682;
Engels F. The role of violence in history. - Right there. T. 21, p. 421;
History of diplomacy. Ed. 2nd. T. 1. M., 1959;
Narochnitsky A. L. International relations of European states from 1794 to 1830, M-, 1946;
3ak L. A. Monarchs against the peoples. Diplomat fighting on the ruins of the Napoleonic army. M., 1966.
Autumn 1814 - 216 representatives of all European states, excluding the Turkish Empire, gathered in Vienna for the congress. Main role - Russia, England and Austria.
The goal of the participants is to satisfy their own aggressive territorial claims by redistributing Europe and the colonies.
Interests:
Russia - joining to his empire most of the territory of the abolished "Duchy of Warsaw". Support for feudal reaction and the strengthening of Russia's influence in Europe. Strengthening Austria and Prussia as a counterbalance to each other.
England - strove to secure a commercial, industrial and colonial monopoly for it and supported the policy of feudal reactions. Weakening of France and Russia.
Austria - defended the principles of feudal-absolutist reaction and the strengthening of the Austrian national oppression over the Slavic peoples, Italians and Hungarians. The weakening of the influence of Russia and Prussia.
Prussia - wanted to capture Saxony and gain important new possessions on the Rhine. She fully supported the feudal reaction and demanded the most merciless policy towards France.
France - opposed the deprivation of the Saxon king of the throne and possessions in favor of Prussia.
January 3, 1815 - alliance of England, Austria and France against Russia and Prussia. Through joint pressure, they forced the tsar and the Prussian king to make concessions.
Prussia- northern part of Saxony(the southern part remained an independent kingdom). Attached Rhine Province and Westphalia. This made it possible for Prussia to subsequently subjugate Germany. Joined Swedish Pomerania.
Royal Russia - part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Poznan and Gdansk remained in the hands of Prussia, and Galicia was again transferred to Austria. Saved Finland and Bessarabia.
England- secured Fr. Malta and the colonies captured from Holland and France.
Austria- dominion over northeastern Italy, Lombardy and Venice.
June 9, 1815 - the General Act of the Congress of Vienna is signed. The act provided for the creation of strong barriers near the borders of France: Belgium and Holland were united into a single kingdom of the Netherlands independent of France. A strong barrier against France was the new Rhine provinces of Prussia.
Congress has kept Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden the additions made by them under Napoleon to strengthen the South German states against France. Of the 19 self-governing cantons, the Swiss Confederation. In the northwest of Italy it was restored and strengthened Sardinian kingdom. Legitimate monarchies have been restored in many states. Creation German Confederation. Norway united with Sweden.
"Holy Union"- the maintenance of the Christian faith, the unquestioning obedience of subjects to their sovereigns, the maintenance of international order.
2. Vienna system: problems of periodization and features of formation
The results of the wars of the Napoleonic era determined the configuration of the new Vienna model of the system of international relations. The lecture analyzes the features of its functioning, disputes regarding the effectiveness of this model and its periodization. The course of the Vienna Congress is considered, as well as the main ideas laid down in the foundation of a new model of the system of international relations. The victorious powers saw the meaning of their collective international activity in the creation of reliable barriers against the spread of revolutions. Hence the appeal to the ideas of legitimism. Evaluation of the principles of legitimism. It is shown that quite a few objective factors acted against the conservation of the status quo that developed after 1815. In their list, an important place is occupied by the process of expanding the scope of systemicity, which came into conflict with the ideas of legitimism, and this gave rise to a whole series of new explosive problems.
The role of the congresses in Aachen, Tropadu and Verona in the consolidation of the weighty system, in the development of legal principles in the field of international relations. Further complication of the concept of “state interests”. The Eastern question and the appearance of the first cracks in relations former allies by the anti-French coalition. Disputes about the interpretation of the principles of legitimism in the 20s. 19th century Revolutionary events of 1830 and the Vienna system.
The Vienna system: from stability to crisis
Despite certain frictions that existed in the relations of the great powers until the middle of the 19th century. The Vienna system was distinguished by high stability. Its guarantors managed to avoid head-on collisions and find solutions to the main controversial issues. This is not surprising, because at that time there were no forces in the international arena capable of resisting the creators of the Vienna system. The Eastern question was considered the most explosive problem, but even here, up to Crimean War the great powers kept the conflict potential within a legitimate framework. The watershed separating the phase of the stable development of the Vienna system from its crisis was 1848, when, under the pressure of internal contradictions generated by the stormy, unregulated development of bourgeois relations, an explosion occurred and a powerful revolutionary wave swept across the entire European continent. It analyzes its impact on the situation in the leading powers, shows how these events influenced the nature of their state interests and the overall balance of power in the international arena. The shift in forces that had begun sharply narrowed the possibilities for finding compromises in interstate conflicts. As a result, without serious modernization, the Vienna system could no longer effectively perform its functions.
Lecture 11. An attempt to modernize the Vienna system
The Crimean War, the first open military clash of the great powers after the creation of the Vienna system in 1815, convincingly demonstrated that the entire systemic mechanism had suffered a serious failure, and this raised the question of its future prospects to its full potential. In our scheme, the 50-60s. 19th century - the time of the deepest crisis of the Vienna system. The following alternative was put on the agenda: either in the wake of the crisis, the formation of a fundamentally new model of international relations will begin, or a serious modernization of the old model of international relations will be carried out. The solution to this fateful problem depended on how events would unfold in two key issues of world politics in those years - the unification of Germany and Italy.
History has made a fairly convincing choice in favor of the second scenario. It is shown how, in the course of the most acute political collisions, which several times developed into local wars, on the European continent, not a scrapping, but a renewal of the previous model of international relations gradually took place. What allows you to put forward this thesis? First, no one, de facto or de jure, has canceled the basic decisions taken at the congress in Vienna. Secondly, the conservative-protective principles that formed the backbone of all its essential characteristics, although cracked, remained in force in the end. Thirdly, the balance of forces, which made it possible to keep the system in a state of equilibrium, was restored after a series of shocks, and at first there were no cardinal shifts in its configuration. Finally, all the great powers retained the traditional Vienna system commitment to finding a compromise.
3. A kind of ideological and at the same time military-political superstructure on the "Vienna system" of diplomatic agreements was the so-called Holy Alliance of European monarchs against the revolution.
The events of the “hundred days”, which produced an exceptional impact on contemporaries, and especially on the participants in the Congress of Vienna: the support by the army and a significant part of the population of the new seizure of power by Napoleon, the lightning collapse of the first restoration of the Bourbons, gave rise in European reactionary circles to the thesis about the existence of some kind of All-European secret "revolutionary committee", gave a new impetus to their desire to strangle the "revolutionary spirit" everywhere, to put up an obstacle to revolutionary democratic and national liberation movements. In September 1815, the monarchs of Russia, Austria and Prussia signed and solemnly proclaimed in Paris an act establishing the "Holy Union of Monarchs and Peoples." The religious and mystical ideas contained in this document were opposed to the ideas of the French Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789.
However, the Holy Alliance was created not only for an ideological manifestation, it was also an instrument of action. The act declared the status quo of 1815 inviolable and established that in any attempt to violate it, the monarchs "in any case and in every place will give each other benefits, reinforcements and assistance." In order to give the Holy Alliance a pan-European character, Austria, Prussia and especially Russia achieved in 1815-1817. accession to it of all European states, except for the Pope, England and Muslim Turkey. However, England actually participated in the first years of the activities of the Holy Alliance as a member of the Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Austria, Prussia and England), recreated during the negotiations on the second peace of Paris. It was the British Foreign Minister Lord Castlereagh (with the support of Metternich) who gave the text of the Treaty on the Quadruple Alliance such a wording that allowed its participants to intervene by force of arms in the affairs of other states of the union under the flag of protecting "the peace and prosperity of the peoples and safeguarding the peace of all Europe."
In the implementation of the policy of legitimism and the fight against the threat of revolution, different tactics were used. Until the early 1920s, the policy of the Holy Alliance was characterized by an attempt to oppose revolutionary ideas with pacifist phraseology and broad propaganda of religious and mystical ideas. In 1816-1820. The British and Russian Bible Societies, with active government support, distributed Bibles, gospels and other religious texts published in thousands of copies. F. Engels emphasized that at first the defense of the principle of legitimism was carried out “... under the guise of such sentimental phrases as “Holy Alliance”, “eternal peace”, “public good”, “mutual trust between the sovereign and subjects”, etc. etc., and then without any cover, with the help of a bayonet and a prison”6.
In the first years after the creation of the "Viennese system", in the politics of the European monarchies, along with an openly reactionary line, a certain tendency was preserved to adapt to the dictates of the times, to compromise with the upper strata of the European bourgeoisie. In particular, the all-European agreement on the freedom and order of navigation along the Rhine and Vistula, adopted at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and meeting the interests of commercial and industrial circles, went in this direction, which became the prototype for subsequent agreements of this kind (on the Danube, etc.) .
Some monarchs (primarily Alexander I) continued to use constitutional principles for their own purposes. In 1816-1820. with the support of Alexander I (and despite the resistance of Austria), on the basis of the decisions of the Vienna Congress on the German Confederation, moderate constitutions were introduced in the South German states - Württemberg, Baden, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt.
In Prussia, the commission on the preparation of the constitution continued a long debate: the king promised to introduce it at the height of the wars with Napoleon in 1813 and 1815. Finally, on the eve of the Aachen Congress in 1818, some figures of Russian diplomacy (primarily I. Kapodistrias) proposed to include the question of granting “reasonable constitutions” by monarchs to subjects in a document prepared for discussion at this important international meeting. In March 1818, in a sensational speech in the Polish Sejm, Alexander I spoke of the possibility of extending "lawfully free institutions" to "all countries entrusted by Providence to my care." However, nothing came of these projections. The conservative-protective, openly reactionary trend was increasingly gaining the upper hand in the domestic and foreign policy of the main European monarchies. The Aachen Congress of 1818, in which the members of the Quadruple Alliance and France took part, therefore did not begin to solve the constitutional problem, but concentrated its efforts on the struggle against the "hundred days" emigrants. The Congress decided to withdraw the occupying troops from France, which had paid most of the indemnity, ahead of schedule. France was admitted to the ranks of the great powers and could henceforth participate on an equal footing in the meetings of the members of the Quadruple Alliance (it was renewed at the congress). The union of these powers was called the Pentarchy.
In general, the Holy Union at the first stage of its activity remained mainly a political and ideological superstructure over the "Viennese system". However, since the European revolutions of the 20s of the XIX century. it has turned into a close union of its three main participants - Russia, Austria and Prussia, who will see the main task of the union only in the armed suppression of revolutions and national liberation movements of the 20-40s of the XIX century. in Europe and America. The “Viennese system” as a system of treaty obligations on the preservation of state borders in Europe will last longer. Its final collapse will occur only after the Crimean War.
4. The efforts of Russian diplomacy were also aimed at resolving the Eastern question in the key needed for Russia. The need to protect the southern borders of the country, the creation of favorable conditions for the economic flourishing of the Russian Black Sea region, the patronage of the interests of the Black Sea and Mediterranean trade of the Russian merchants demanded the consolidation of the beneficial regime for Russia of the two straits - the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, connecting the Black and Aegean Seas. Turkey was supposed to guarantee unhindered passage through the straits of Russian merchant ships and their closure for the navies of other states. The crisis of the Ottoman Empire, the growing national liberation movement of the Balkans and other peoples conquered by the Turks pushed Nicholas I to resolve the Eastern question as soon as possible.
However, even here Russia had to face the resistance of other great powers. England and Austria themselves were not averse to rounding off their possessions at the expense of Turkey and feared not only the strengthening of Russia's positions in the Balkans, but also its military presence in the Mediterranean. A certain amount of wariness in Vienna, London and Paris was caused by the ideas of pan-Slavism spreading in the advanced social circles of Russia and, in particular, plans to create a single federation of Slavic peoples under the rule of the Russian tsar. And although pan-Slavism did not become the banner of the official foreign policy Nicholas I, Russia nevertheless stubbornly defended its right to patronize the Orthodox peoples of Muslim Turkey.
The annexation of Transcaucasia at the beginning of the century caused an aggravation of Russian-Iranian contradictions. Relations with Persia remained tense in the second quarter of the 19th century. Russia was interested in strengthening its position in the Caucasus and in creating favorable foreign policy conditions for pacifying the revolt of a number of mountain tribes in the North Caucasus.
5. In 1848-1949 a wave of revolutions swept across Europe. The reactionary governments tried as far as possible to restore and preserve the system of IR that existed in Europe before 1848. The correlation of class forces within individual states and the content of the IR changed. The Holy Alliance declared its right to interfere in the internal affairs of any country where
the revolutionary movement could threaten the monarchical foundations of other states. The wave of European revolutions was repulsed, the "Viennese system" with its legitimate foundations was preserved, the shaken power of a number of monarchs was again restored.
6. The Crimean War is the most important event in the history of the Defense Ministry and foreign policy of the 19th century. The war was the result of the aggravation of political, ideological, economic contradictions in the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as in the European arena as a whole - mainly between England, France, Turkey and Russia. The war grew out of the eastern crisis of the 50s, which began with
disagreements between France and Russia regarding the rights of the Catholic and Orthodox clergy in Palestine, which is a province of the Ottoman Empire. The defeat in the Crimean War demonstrated the weakness of the social and political system Russian Empire.
Bourgeois Europe has triumphed over feudal Russia. Russia's international prestige was greatly shaken. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was a difficult and humiliating treaty for her. The Black Sea was declared neutral: it was forbidden to keep
German Navy, build coastal fortifications and arsenals. The southern borders of Russia turned out to be unprotected. The deprivation of Russia's long-standing right of preferential patronage to the Christian peoples of the Balkans weakened its influence on the peninsula. England, Austria and France signed an agreement to guarantee the independence and preservation of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, in case of violation of which they could use force. The Swedish-Norwegian kingdom adjoined the union of three states in the north, and in the south - Ottoman Empire. The emerging new alignment of forces
called the "Crimean system". Russia found itself in international isolation. The influence of France and England increased. The Crimean War and the Congress of Paris became the boundary of an entire era in the history of the Moscow Region. The "Viennese system" finally ceased to exist.
7. Japan pursued a policy of isolation from the outside world. The increased expansion of the European powers and the United States in the Far East region, the development of shipping in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean contributed to the "discovery" of Japan. In the 50s, a struggle broke out between the powers
for penetrating and dominating Japan. According to the treaty signed between Russia and Japan of April 25, 1875, all of Sakhalin was recognized as belonging to Russia, and Russia ceded to Japan 18 islands that made up the Kuril archipelago in its northern and
middle part. The aggressive aspirations of Japan were quite clearly manifested already in the 70s of the XIX century. Korea, which is formally dependent on China, turned out to be the closest object of Japanese expansion. The US and Western powers also launched a series of military expeditions to forcibly open Korean ports. Korea opened 3 ports for Japanese trade. For Russia, the most important thing was the preservation of an independent Korea. On July 25, 1894 Japan captured Seoul and on September 1 declared war on China. At this time, she was convinced. That Russia, like other powers, will remain neutral. Russia's position was explained not only by its weakness in the Far East. Petersburg feared the possible entry into the war of England on the side of China. At this time, the danger of Japanese aggression was still underestimated. On January 24, 1904, Japan breaks off diplomatic relations with Russia and at the same time begins military operations against the Russian troops located in China, with the strategic task of defeating the Russian troops as soon as possible before they are completely concentrated in the Far East. Japanese
command of the main military goals set: complete dominance at sea. And on land, the Japanese first of all sought to capture Port Arthur and then spread their military successes to Korea and Manchuria, ousting the Russians from these regions. There were many bloody battles known in history: the battle of Port Arthur, Laolian, Mukden,
Tsushima battle. Immediately after the Battle of Tsushima, Japan turned to the United States with a request for mediation for peace. The Russian autocracy, intimidated by the impending revolution and general dissatisfaction in the country with the results of the Far Eastern campaign, agreed to sit down at the negotiating table. The negotiations were held in the American city of Portsmouth. On September 5, 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed between Russia and Japan. Under this agreement, the Russian government ceded to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island and renounced the right to lease
Kwantung Peninsula with Port Arthur and South Manchuria railway. The Russian government also recognized Japan's "special" interests in Korea. The signing of such an agreement did not bring victorious laurels to the Russian state and did not raise its prestige in the world.
VIENNA CONGRESS of 1814-15, an international congress that ended the wars of the coalitions of European powers with Napoleonic France. He met in Vienna in September 1814 - June 1815. 216 representatives of all European states (except Turkey) took part in its work, headed by the winners of Napoleon I Bonaparte - Russia (Alexander I, K. V. Nesselrode, A. K. Razumovsky, G. O. Stackelberg), Great Britain (R. S. Castlereagh, later A. Wellington, C. Stuart and W. Cathcart), Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm III, K. A. von Hardenberg, K. W. von Humboldt) and Austria [Franz I (Franz II), K. Metternich, F. Genz, K. F. Schwarzenberg]. The highest European nobility gathered in Vienna - 2 emperors, 4 kings, 2 crown princes, 3 grand duchesses and 250 sovereign princes. One of the last to arrive in Vienna was a French delegation headed by Ch. M. Talleyrand.
The congress participants set themselves the following main tasks: 1) the restoration of pre-revolutionary orders in Europe, primarily the restoration of overthrown dynasties; 2) territorial redistribution in the interests of the victorious powers; 3) the creation of guarantees against the return to power of Napoleon and the resumption of French wars of conquest; 4) the creation of a system to combat the revolutionary danger, guaranteeing the European monarchy from shocks in the future.
The Congress of Vienna was held in the form of bilateral consultations and negotiations between representatives of individual states, who concluded treaties and agreements among themselves. The delegates came together only once - to sign the final document. Numerous balls and other secular entertainments were organized for the participants in the Congress of Vienna, which gave grounds to the Austrian diplomat Prince de Ligne to call it a "dancing congress."
The four victorious powers that signed the Chaumont Treaty of 1814 attempted to reach an agreement in advance on all the most important issues in order to impose their will on France and the rest of the congress participants. However, the disagreements that emerged between them regarding the fate of Poland and Saxony allowed Ch. M. Talleyrand not only to join the leading “four”, turning it into the “five”, and then into the “eight” (due to the inclusion of Spain, Portugal and Sweden in the commission ), but also successfully influence the decisions made.
The congress revealed three different approaches to the solution of the question of the post-war structure of Europe. At the initial stage, the idea of legitimism dominated, any political changes that had taken place on the continent since 1789 were rejected, and a demand was put forward to restore the "legal order" in Europe in full, guaranteeing against a new revolutionary explosion. The most active supporter of this approach was Sh. M. Talleyrand. Without rejecting the idea of restoration in principle, Alexander I considered it necessary to take into account the irreversibility of many changes in Europe. Ultimately, the policy of petty intrigues and combinations of various interests, imposed by K. Metternich, prevailed at the congress. Ideologically, this policy proceeded from the principles of legitimism, but in its practical implementation it expressed the selfish interests of the main participants in the congress. Metternich sought to ensure Austrian hegemony in a divided Germany, strengthen Austria's position in Italy and the Balkans, and also prevent the inclusion of all of Poland into Russia.
Alexander I, who had a great influence on the course of the congress, advocated the establishment of a political balance, which was supposed to contribute to the strengthening of Russia's influence on the continent. He was interested in continuing the rivalry between Austria and Prussia and in creating a counterbalance to them in the person of France, whose excessive weakening seemed to him unacceptable. Prussia, insisting on taking the most severe measures against defeated France, sought to annex Saxony and part of the Rhine principalities. Great Britain, interested in maintaining European balance and in consolidating its dominant position on the seas and in the colonies, acted in concert with Prussia against France, Austria and Russia, not wanting to allow any of them to strengthen to the detriment of British interests. France, striving to ensure that the Congress of Vienna took the most acceptable decisions for itself, saw the greatest danger from Prussia and resisted with all its might the satisfaction of Prussian claims to Saxony and the Rhine regions. Sh. M. Talleyrand was in solidarity with K. Metternich on the issue of the absorption of Poland by Russia. On January 3, 1815, France signed a secret treaty with Great Britain and Austria on joint actions at the Congress and mutual assistance in case of danger from other powers. The treaty was directed against Prussia and Russia and forced Friedrich Wilhelm III and Alexander I to make concessions on the Saxon and Polish issues.
The aggravated contradictions between the participants in the Congress of Vienna threatened to disrupt it, when in the first days of March 1815 it became known about the flight of Napoleon I from the island of Elba and his campaign against Paris (see "The Hundred Days"). All disputes were immediately abandoned. The states participating in the Congress of Vienna formed the 7th anti-French coalition against Napoleon and renewed the Treaty of Chaumont. On June 9, 1815, a few days before the battle of Waterloo, representatives of Russia, France, Prussia, Austria, Great Britain and Switzerland signed the final general act of the Congress of Vienna, which consisted of 121 articles and 17 annexes (until 1820, 35 states joined it).
This document introduced significant changes in the territorial and political structure of Europe and formulated the results of the redistribution of Europe and the colonies between the winners of Napoleon. It provided for the deprivation of France of conquests, the creation of “barriers” along its borders, which were to be the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Switzerland, strengthened by expanding its borders and including strategically important mountain passes, as well as Prussia, which expanded its territory by annexing the Rhine provinces. . At the same time, France managed to keep itself within the borders of 1792, determined by the Peace of Paris in 1814, losing the Saarland and several border fortresses in the east. It was charged an indemnity of 700 million francs, and its territory was subject to foreign occupation for a period of 3 to 5 years. Russia received a significant part of Poland with Warsaw (the Kingdom of Poland), but was forced to abandon its claims to the Tarnopol district, ceding it to Austria. She also secured for herself Finland and Bessarabia, conquered by her in 1809 and 1812. Krakow was declared a free city under the auspices of Russia, Austria and Prussia (see Republic of Krakow). Austria was restored within the borders of 1792, but without the Austrian Netherlands and the lands in the southwestern part of Germany. In addition to Tarnopol, Venice, Lombardy, Tyrol and Dalmatia were transferred under her rule. Representatives of the House of Habsburg were seated on the thrones of Parma and Tuscany. She managed to gain a predominant influence in Germany - K. Metternich achieved the hegemony of Austria in the German Union of 1815-66, created by an act of 8/6/1815, most of the articles of which were included in the final act of the Congress of Vienna.
Prussia received the northern part of Saxony (South Saxony retained its independence). In compensation, Poznan, most of Westphalia, the Rhine Province, the island of Rügen and Swedish Pomerania went to Prussia. Sweden received Norway, which was separated from Denmark, a former ally of Napoleon I. In Italy, the Sardinian kingdom was restored, to which Savoy and Nice were returned. Great Britain secured most of the conquered territories, including the island of Malta, the Cape Colony in South Africa and the island of Ceylon. The Ionian Islands were also under the British protectorate, which provided Great Britain with a dominant position in the Mediterranean. In Spain and Portugal, the power of the dynasties overthrown by Napoleon I was restored.
The Vienna Declaration, concluded on March 20, 1815, concerning the fate of Switzerland, was included in the General Act of the Congress of Vienna in the form of Appendix XI and repeated in Articles 74-84 of the act. She proclaimed the “eternal neutrality” of Switzerland, recognized the integrity and inviolability of the 19 cantons of the Helvetic Union, attached 3 more cantons to them and created the Swiss Confederation on the basis of this association. At the Congress of Vienna, regulations were adopted for international navigation and the collection of tolls on rivers serving as the border of states or passing through the territory of several states (Rhine, Moselle, Meuse, Scheldt, etc.).
One of the appendices to the final act of the Congress of Vienna contained a formal ban on the slave trade. The Vienna Congress for the first time established a unified division into "classes" of diplomatic agents and determined the order of their seniority when taking places at negotiations and when signing treaties (in alphabetical order of the French spelling of a particular state). The system of international relations created at the Congress of Vienna was supplemented by the conclusion of the Holy Alliance (September 1815), the terms of the Peace of Paris in 1815, and the renewal of the alliance between Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia (November 1815). The Congress of Vienna consolidated the new balance of power in Europe after the collapse Napoleonic Empire. This system lasted until the middle of the 19th century and finally collapsed with the completion of the unification of Italy and Germany.
Publication: Martens F. F. Collection of treatises and conventions concluded by Russia with foreign powers. SPb., 1876. T. 3. S.207-533.
Lit .: Zak L. A. Monarchs against the peoples. M., 1966; Foreign policy Russia XIX and the beginning of the twentieth century. M., 1972. Ser. 1. T. 8; Alsop S.M. The Congress dances. N.Y., 1984; Kuznetsova G. A. Congress of Vienna // History of Russia's foreign policy. 1st half of the XIX century M., 1995.
The arrangement and holding of the Congress of Vienna was a significant event both for the European states and for the entire world practice as a whole. Let's consider some of its implementation issues in more detail.
Objectives: It was originally proclaimed that the Congress of Vienna was convened to determine the fate of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as to develop and take measures to prevent similar situations in the future. However, the adviser to the Austrian Chancellor Metternich, Friedrich Gentz, who was the General Secretary of the Congress of Vienna, wrote in February 1815: “Big phrases about “the reorganization of the social order, the renewal of the political system of Europe”, “Permanent peace based on a fair distribution of forces”, etc. d. etc. were pronounced in order to calm the crowd and give this solemn meeting some kind of dignity and grandeur, but the true purpose of the Congress was to divide the inheritance of the defeated among the winners. History of international relations and foreign policy of Russia (1648-2000). Textbook for universities / Ed. A.S. Protopopov. - M .: Aspect Press, 2001. - P. 75 .. And, indeed, all participants in the Congress tried to snatch as much as possible for themselves at any cost, regardless of their contribution to the defeat of Napoleon 22 in the same place ..
Time of the Congress of Vienna: from September 1814 to June 1815.
Composition and number of participants: there were 216 delegates of the European countries-winners at the Congress. The delegation of Russia was headed by Emperor Alexander I, of Great Britain - by Keslrie, and a little later - by Wellington, Franz I of Austria, Prussia - Hardenberg, France - Charles-Maurice Talleyrand. Alexander I and the Austrian Chancellor Metternich played a leading role in solving the most important issues at the Congress. In addition, despite the fact that Talleyrand represented the defeated France, he managed to successfully defend her interests on a number of issues.
Plans of the participants of the Vienna Congress: All delegations came to the Congress in Vienna with certain plans.
1. Alexander I, whose troops were in the center of Europe, was not going to cede the conquered. He wanted to create the Duchy of Warsaw under his own auspices, granting it its own constitution. In exchange for this, in order not to offend his ally Frederick William III, Alexander expected to transfer Saxony to Prussia.
2. Austria planned to regain the lands conquered from her by Napoleon, and prevent a significant strengthening of Russia and Prussia.
3. Prussia really wanted to annex Saxony and keep the Polish lands.
5. France, not counting on any territorial acquisitions, did not want the predominance of some European countries over others.
During the negotiations during the work of the Congress of Vienna, a number of important scandalous events occurred:
· Firstly, on January 3, 1815, England, France and Prussia concluded a secret agreement containing the obligation of the three powers to jointly prevent the accession of Saxony to Prussia under any conditions. In addition, they agreed not to allow any redistribution of existing borders, that is, the accession of territories to one or another country or separation from them.
· Secondly, almost immediately after the conclusion of the above-mentioned secret agreement received scandalous publicity, which, of course, influenced the work of the Congress of Vienna. It happened in Paris during the historical period known as "100 days". Having landed in France with a small group of soldiers and officers loyal to him, Napoleon entered Paris on March 19, 1815. One of three copies of the secret treaty was found in the office of the escaped Louis XVIII. At the direction of Napoleon, he was urgently forwarded to Alexander I, who handed him over to Metternich. Thus, the "secret" conspiracy of some participants in the Congress of Vienna became known to all other delegations.
Thirdly, the very fact of the short-term restoration of Napoleon's empire was unexpected and unforeseen.
Fourth, important event was the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and the return to Paris of the royal Bourbon dynasty.
Results of the Congress of Vienna: The Congress of Vienna was unique in its significance historical event. His results can be summarized as follows:
1. A few days before Waterloo, namely on June 09, 1815, the representatives of Russia, Austria, Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia and Sweden signed the Final General Act of the Congress of Vienna. According to its provisions, the inclusion of the territory of the Austrian Netherlands (modern Belgium) into the new kingdom of the Netherlands was authorized, but all other possessions of Austria returned to the control of the Habsburgs, including Lombardy, the Venetian region, Tuscany, Parma and Tyrol. Prussia got part of Saxony, a significant territory of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Denmark, a former ally of France, lost Norway, transferred to Sweden. In Italy, the power of the Pope over the Vatican and the Papal States was restored, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was returned to the Bourbons. The German Confederation was also formed. Part of the Duchy of Warsaw created by Napoleon became part of the Russian Empire under the name of the Kingdom of Poland, and the Russian emperor became the Polish king.
In addition, the General Act contained special articles that dealt with relations between European countries. For example, rules were established for the collection of duties and navigation along the border and international rivers Mozyl, Meuse, Rhine and Scheldt; the principles of free navigation were determined; the appendix to the General Act spoke of the prohibition of the trade in Negroes; censorship was tightened in all countries, police regimes were strengthened.
2. After the Congress of Vienna, the so-called "Vienna system of international relations" took shape.
It was at the Congress of Vienna that three classes of diplomatic agents were established, which are still used today. 11 The first class includes ambassadors and papal legates (nuncios); to - the second - envoys (internuncations); to the third - chargé d'affaires .; a unified procedure for the reception of diplomats was determined, four types of consular institutions were formulated. Within the framework of this system, the concept of great powers was first formulated (then primarily Russia, Austria, Great Britain), and multichannel diplomacy finally took shape.
3. A decision was made to create a Holy Union.
VIENNA CONGRESS 1814-1815
It was convened by the Allies after the defeat of the Napoleonic Empire and lasted from October 1814 to June 1815. 216 representatives of all European states (with the exception of Turkey) gathered in Vienna, headed by the winners of Napoleon - Russia, England, Prussia and Austria.
Vienna was chosen as the seat of the congress because of Austria's central position in Europe and the mediating role played by Metternich. The latter balanced between France and Russia and was able to exert a strong influence on the negotiations. General meetings of all diplomats were not convened. V. to. as a whole was not even officially opened. Committees or commissions were formed on the most important issues. During the congress, a number of treaties on state borders were concluded between the participants and numerous declarations and resolutions were adopted, a significant part of which was included in the final general act of the V. to. and annexes to it. On the East Coast, all of Europe was for the first time covered by a system of general treaties. Russia, England, France and the German states were not previously bound by such treaties. The system of relations that was created in V. k., basically existed until the 50s of the 19th century. The main goal was to restore the feudal order and a number of former dynasties in the states previously conquered by Napoleon. The ruling classes of many large and small states of the continent, in which the bourgeoisie was still relatively poorly developed, were interested in this. The governments of these states saw in Napoleon the offspring of the revolution and intended to take advantage of his defeat to establish everywhere, including in France, aristocratic reaction.
The second task was to consolidate the victory and create stable guarantees against the return of France to the Bonapartist regime and attempts to conquer Europe.
The third task of the victors was to satisfy their own territorial claims and re-divide Europe.
Four allies - England, Russia, Austria and Prussia - signed Chaumont treatise 1814(see), intended to agree in advance on all significant issues and then force France to accept their decisions. Small states were supposed to be allowed to discuss only those issues that concerned them directly.
The four allies did not succeed in maintaining complete unity in the East. Although the main question of the future borders of France was resolved by them in full agreement, but serious disagreements were raised by questions about Poland and Saxony. The representative of France, Talleyrand, took advantage of this and became the fifth participant in the meetings of the four "allies". Meetings of representatives of the five states became main part all activities of V. to.
The negotiations were conducted in an atmosphere of incessant festivities, balls, ceremonial receptions and other entertainments, which gave Prince de Ligne a reason to call this meeting of diplomats and sovereigns a "dancing congress". But under sovereigns and ministers there were people busy preparing diplomatic documents, and the festivities served as an occasion for informal meetings.
The Russian emperor Alexander I had a great influence on the course of the Great Revolution. At the center of his plans was the question of creating such a political balance in Europe that would give Russia a predominant influence on European affairs and would make it impossible to create a hostile coalition of European powers against it.
Alexander I sought to preserve the rivalry between Austria and Prussia, which weakened the weight and influence of each of them. At the same time, he could not allow an excessive weakening of France, capable of diverting forces to the west. German states. Alexander I attached great importance to the fate of Poland and wanted to annex it to his empire in the form of the Kingdom of Poland, giving it a constitution and preserving its local institutions. The plan of Alexander I was supported by a significant part of the Polish nobility and aristocracy, headed by Adam Czartoryski, because they considered this program a lesser evil than the Prussian rule, tested by the Poles for 11 years (from 1795 to 1807) and convinced them that the German states one cannot even wait for such a constitution, which Alexander I promised them. Neither Austria, nor Prussia, nor Russia thought of granting the Poles state independence within their ethnographic limits.
Alexander I knew that his project of joining Poland would meet resistance from England, Austria and France. For the loss of Polish lands, the tsar expected to reward Prussia with Saxony, and deprive the Saxon king of the throne as the most faithful satellite of Napoleon. Russia was also represented at the V. to. Commissioners - K. V. Nesselrode, A. K. Razumovsky and Shtakelberg.
England's representative at the Great Britain was Lord Castlereagh, a reactionary Tory, an enemy of France and the liberals. He was later succeeded by the Duke of Wellington. Castlereagh's policy was to secure commercial and industrial hegemony for England and to preserve the French and Dutch colonies captured during the wars, which lay on the routes to India. Castlerie considered the creation of state barriers near the borders of France and the strengthening of Austria and Prussia in opposition to France and Russia as the main tasks. The balance of the states of the European continent would give England the opportunity to play the role of arbiter between them. On V. k. Kestlri provided energetic support to Prussia in everything related to the Rhine provinces, and tried to interfere with the Polish plans of Alexander I.
Austria was represented at the Eastern Congress by Emperor Franz I and Chancellor Prince Metternich, the most consistent representative of the aristocratic-absolutist reaction. Metternich's goal was to prevent a serious strengthening of Russia, and especially of Austria's old rival, Prussia. Based on the principles of absolutism and legitimism, Metternich defended the inviolability of the rights of the Saxon dynasty in order to prevent the transfer of the Saxon kingdom to Prussia, which occupied the position of a buffer between Austria and Prussia.
Metternich sought to secure Austrian hegemony in Germany and cut back on Alexander I's project to annex Poland to Russia. Metternich was especially interested in restoring Austrian rule over Lombardy, Venice, and the petty Italian duchies, from where the Austrians had been expelled by Napoleon.
In an effort to preserve and consolidate the multinational composition of the Austrian Empire and the domination of the Austrians over the Italians, Hungarians and Slavs, Metternich zealously pursued all liberal, revolutionary and national liberation movements.
In addition to Friedrich Wilhelm III, Prussia's Chancellor Hardenberg was present at the VK. At the heart of Prussian policy in the East was the desire to bargain for Saxony and acquire new rich and strategically important possessions on the Rhine. Hardenberg and Friedrich Wilhelm III demanded the most severe measures against France. Alexander I opposed this, and thanks to him, peace with France turned out to be softer than Hardenberg wanted.
The representative of France was Talleyrand. He managed to take advantage of the differences between the victorious powers, win over the small states to which he promised support, and achieve the right to participate in negotiations on an equal footing with the four allies. Small states, afraid of the absorption of their lands by great powers, united, could seriously improve the position of France. Talleyrand saw the main enemy in Prussia and most of all was afraid of its strengthening; therefore, he strongly opposed the deprivation of the Saxon king of the throne and possessions. Talleyrand and Louis XVIII were well aware that France itself could not count on any territorial increments and that it would be a great success for her if she at least retained what was left to her by Treaty of Paris 1814(cm.). For France, the most advantageous position was "disinterestedness" and strict "principledness". In order to preserve the throne of the Saxon king and help the petty sovereigns, Talleyrand entered into secret separate negotiations with Metternich and Kestlri.
3. I 1815 was signed a secret treaty of France, England and Austria, directed against Prussia and Russia (see. Vienna Secret Treaty of 1815). The allies forced the Russian tsar and the Prussian king to make concessions on the Polish and Saxon issues. Prussia received only the northern half of Saxony, while the southern part remained independent. Alexander I failed to take possession of all the Polish lands; Posen remained in the hands of Prussia. Only Krakow was such a controversial point that it was not possible to agree on its ownership. It was left as a "free city", that is, a dwarf independent republic, which later became the center of Polish emigration.
V. to. was nearing an end when the news came that Napoleon had left Fr. Elbe, landed in France and moved towards Paris. The participants in the V. to. ceased all disputes and immediately formed a new, seventh coalition. The Chaumont Treaty was renewed.
A few days before the battle at Waterloo, the final general act of the Great Britain was signed. It was signed by representatives of Russia, France, Prussia, Austria, England, Spain, Sweden and Portugal. It provided for the creation of strong barrier states near the borders of France. Belgium and Holland were united into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was supposed to serve as a counterweight to France and eliminate the possibility of French domination in Belgium. The strongest barrier against France was the Rhine provinces of Prussia. Switzerland was strengthened: its borders were expanded to include strategically important mountain passes.
In the north-west of Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia was strengthened: Savoy and Nice returned to it, on its territory there were important passes through the Alps and passages along the Mediterranean coast, along which Bonaparte's army passed into Italy in 1796. To the east of the Kingdom of Sardinia were the Austrian Lombardy and Venice, which played the role of bridgeheads against France.
The final act of the Great Patriotic War formulated the results of the redistribution of Europe and the colonies between the victors of Napoleon. Russia received the Kingdom of Poland, ceding the Tarnopol region to Austria. England retained her commercial and naval superiority and secured for herself some of the colonies she had captured from Holland and France. The most important of these were Fr. Malta on the Mediterranean Sea, the Cape Colony in southern Africa and about. Ceylon.
Austria again began to rule over northeastern Italy (Lombardy, Venice) and the small Italian duchies. Sovereigns from the House of Habsburg were seated on the thrones of Tuscany and Parma. Austria gained predominance in Germany as well. The German Confederation was created from the German states. The Great Patriotic War did not take special measures to split Germany or Italy: the reactionary sovereigns and the nobility of these countries themselves did not want unity, and the bourgeois national-unifying aspirations were not yet ripe. Austria and Prussia pursued not a national, but a noble-dynastic policy. The German Confederation was created by the Great Britain primarily so that it could form at least a faint semblance of unity and, not being itself capable of an aggressive policy, could repel an attack by France. The British government wanted to strengthen the positions of Prussia in the German Confederation as much as possible, but Metternich, with the support of the South German states, achieved the hegemony of Austria. Austria had presidency in the only national body of the German Confederation - the Union Diet. The votes in it were distributed in such a way as to ensure a majority in favor of Austria.
Prussia, having received northern Saxony and Posen, was compensated for its forced abandonment of southern Saxony by a significant expansion of its possessions on the Rhine. She received two regions - the Rhine Province and Westphalia, the largest in Germany in their own way. economic development and strategically important. Their accession in the future provided an opportunity for Prussia to become the head of Germany and become the most dangerous enemy of France. The new Rhinelands made Prussia much stronger than it was before the defeat at Jena. Prussia also acquired the island of Rügen and Swedish Pomerania, received by Denmark from Sweden in the Peace of Kiel in 1814.
Special Articles final act V. to. prescribed the establishment of international rules for the collection of duties and navigation on rivers that served as the border of states or flowed through the possessions of several states, especially along the Rhine, Moselle, Meuse and Scheldt.
A number of appendices were attached to the general act of the V. to. one of them contained the prohibition of the trade in Negroes.
Despite all efforts, V. to. was unable to completely eradicate the results of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He was forced to abandon the consistent implementation of the principle of "legitimism" in relation to the German principalities and legitimized the destruction of legitimate dynasties in most of them, carried out under Napoleon. Instead of 360 small German principalities, the German Confederation was made up of only 38 states and three free cities. Most of the annexations to Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg were reserved for them. The reaction failed to eliminate the influence of the French bourgeois order and to abolish the Napoleonic code in the western German regions.
The stronghold of the Vienna Treaty of 1815 was the cooperation of England, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Any aggravation of their mutual relations threatened the collapse of the Vienna treaties. Already in 1815, rumors about disagreements between the winners of the V. k. persuaded Napoleon to leave Fr. Elbe and landing in France. The 100-day new reign of Napoleon and the campaign of 1815 showed the participants in the Great Britain that the treaties signed there were in serious danger from France, not to mention the national liberation and revolutionary movement European peoples. Therefore, the system of relations created by V. K. was supplemented by the creation Holy Union(see), the second Peace of Paris with France and the renewal of the Quadruple Alliance of England, Russia, Austria and Prussia (November 1815).
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