The Congress of Vienna was in effect the most high profile gathering of European representatives to date up until the nineteenth century. France’s sudden fall from their militarily dominant position in Europe cause the calling of the Congress of Vienna in 1814, as Napoleon’s Grand Army was defeated when he waged war in Russia. The reason for Napoleon’s military loss in Russia was basically due to an unpreventable change in his military tactics due to the circumstances. For example Napoleon would normally send in his reserves to finish off his enemy in battle, but did not want to risk this manoeuvre in Russia, so far from France. Due to France’s sudden decline in military power, Napoleon struggled to rebuild his non-existent Grand Army. Napoleon’s attempt to do so was in vain, as he raised an untrained army that was thwarted by the Germans in October 1813 at the battle of Leipzig. France’s military disposition cause a quadruple alliance between Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria who seized the opportune moment to wage war on France. However, once Napoleon was defeated, the only way for all nations to unanimously agree on what was to become of France and her terrain that was now up for grabs was to summon a meeting of all the European powers, which was the Congress of Vienna, summoned in 1814.
The Congress of Vienna had several long term effects on Europe which still stand today, such as the re-establishment of a balance of power in Europe. The rebalancing of power entailed stripping France of her conquered terrain and restoring her to her boundaries previous to Napoleon’s rule; what is now modern day France. Also, European nations were compensated for lost territory; states such as the Netherlands were revived after being eradicated by Napoleon, and a Poland whose boundaries had been altered was restored to Russia. Thus, in balancing the power in Europe the Congress of Vienna also reshaped the map of Europe, which has remained somewhat unchanged to this day. Also, the Congress of Vienna maintained the political conservative situation which Europe was in and maintained the principle of legitimacy. The ‘Final Act of the Congress of Vienna,’ was nearly jeopardised due to Napoleon’s escape from Elba, an Italian island to which he was exiled, and Napoleon’s attempt to disperse the Congress of Vienna with an assembled army from Paris. However, Napoleon’s attempts eventually led to a series of alliances against Napoleon ensuring the follow through of the Congress of Vienna’s final act which was a series of agreements between European states ensuring that no one state was too powerful, bringing peace to Europe for the time being.
The Congress of Vienna was ultimately caused by a marring of Napoleon’s image of military invincibility after his costly defeat at the hands of the Russian army which left him significantly weakened. France was attacked due to Napoleon’s new found weakness and the Congress of Vienna was formed to deal with the political issues that presented themselves due to the necessity to rebalance the power held by any one state in Europe.