Congress of Vienna (1815)

Abstract

Together with the two treaties of Paris – concluded in May 1814 and November 1815 respectively – the Congress of Vienna framed the general peace settlement that ended the long period of international conflict stemming from the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The international conference met from October 1814 until June 1815 and was presided over by the most important statesmen of the age representing the four victorious Great Powers as well as France. It decided the major outlines of the postwar territorial settlement in central and eastern Europe, ensuring Prussia, Russia, and Austria annexed new territories and populations as compensation for their part in the wars, while Britain primarily gained new colonial territories outside of the Continent. The gathering is often viewed as a long‐term success, in that it balanced the interests of the Great Powers and created lasting mechanisms to preserve peace up through the middle of the nineteenth century.