"Discuss the aims of the Congress of Vienna and the Consequences it had on the Major Powers of Europe".

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“Discuss the aims of the Congress of Vienna and the Consequences it had on the Major Powers of Europe”.

For my essay, I will be answering the question “Discuss the Congress of Vienna and its consequences on the Major Powers of Europe”.

In order to answer this question, I will discuss in detail what the Congress of Vienna was, why it was assembled and what it hoped to achieve.  I will look at the consequences and effects that it had on the countries involved, including the countries representatives.  I will also discuss whether the Vienna Congress was successful or if it failed.

The Napoleonic Empire had been dominating Europe between 1804-1814 and had created a new political map of Europe.  Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor, had conquered most of Europe implying his laws and rules on all Europeans causing chaos throughout Europe.  Finally in 1814 he was defeated by the European countries, which then had the complex task of rearranging Europe.  They decided to do this in an effectively and orderly way that would stabilise and secure the countries that had been disturbed.

The victorious countries gathered in Vienna, Austria, between 1st October 1814 till 9th June 1815 to discuss what was to happen to France and the rest of the European countries.  This gathering was known as the ‘Congress of Vienna’.  The four major powers that attended the congress were Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia.  This was the first time that Europe had assembled together in this manner.  Also present were the minor states, including Spain, Portugal and Sweden.

At the congress, the European representatives had many factors to consider.  They decided that the main goal that they wanted to achieve were to maintain peace and order throughout Europe.  The first aim was to establish a balance of power between the major countries to prevent any threat of imperialism.  This meant that no great power could have the opportunity that Napoleon had to conquer Europe.  Their second aim was to prevent any political revolutions from occurring.  In order to achieve this they wanted to stamp out any new ideas that had arisen, such as liberalism and nationalism, known to be the driving force of these revolutions.  The third aim was to support the idea of returning the European monarchs and last but not least to redraw the European map back to the original 1789.

Even though the countries at the congress agreed to these goals, they also had their own individual proposals they wanted to bring forward at the congress.  I will look in more detail of what the countries wanted and what they hoped to achieve from the congress of Vienna.

Charles Talleyrand, the French statement and diplomat represented France.  France, being the defeated country wanted only to not be punished severely and to be treated equally like the rest of the countries.  They also wanted to see the return of the monarchy in France.  France got the return of the monarchy and was not several punished.  They also got back some colonies such as Guadeloupe from Sweden, and the isle of bourdon from Britain. Talleyrand was a skillful diplomat as he obtained advantageous terms at the congress of Vienna (Broers 1996).

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Another major country at the congress was Russia, represented by Tsar Alexander 1. Alexander had a strong position at the congress, as his previous campaign in Russia had defeated Napoleon.  The Tsar wanted to annex Poland to Russia and wanted access to reach the Mediterranean Sea in order to open up trade routes, by obtaining Turkish land.  

Russia did get Bessarabia in Turkey and also managed to obtain Finland.  However, it did not get all of Poland, as Austria and Prussia had already claimed Polish land. Russia could have achieved much more, but was not successful due ...

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