The Congress of Vienna was a peace conference held after the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th Century. It redrew the boundaries of Germany and Prussia.
The Napoleonic Wars
Following the death of Frederick the Great, Prussia went through various ups and downs under his successor, Frederick William II and Frederick William III. Under Frederick William II, Prussia gained territories from Poland. However, during the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia suffered severe defeats at the battles of Jena and Auerstadt. By 1807 this once mighty empire, the “Sparta of the North,” almost ceased to exist. Prussia’s population was cut from 10 million to 4.5 million, and it retained only the territories of Brandenburg, East Prussia and Silesia. 150,000 French troops occupied Prussia, whose army was reduced from 42,000 to 16,000. How the mighty had fallen.
The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815 brought more changes to Prussia and the rest of the German states. Thanks to Napoleonic Wars, Western Europe was left in much chaos and political boundaries needed to be redefined, since many old forms of governments no longer existed, including the Holy Roman Empire.
The Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a defining point in German history. It redrew the boundaries of Europe following the final fall of Napoleon in 1815. The parties that attended the peace conference included representatives from Britain, Prussia, Austria, Russia and France, each looking for the best deal for themselves. Britain, who was the key player in defeating Napoleon, wanted to see a strengthened Prussia, whose territories would stretch toward the Rhine as a reminder to the French to behave. However, none of the European leaders wanted to see Prussia return to the former political super power it had been under Frederick William I and Frederick the Great. So, it was not given as much territory as it initially requested. Instead of gaining all of Saxony, Prussia had to settle for just two-fifths.
Austria wished to create a German Federation of individual member states, which it would lead, to balance out the power accorded to Prussia. In the end, a German Federation was formed of 34 states and four cities; Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Lübeck and Bremen. The goal of the new federation was the “preservation of Germany’s peace at home and abroad, and the independence and inviolability of the individual German states.” However much individual German states wanted sovereignty, they were barred from entering any political alliances that threatened either the Federation or another member state.
Following the Congress of Vienna, Austria and Prussia dominated the German Confederation. Germany as a political unit did not exist. It was nothing but a common language and culture for a group of people trying to find some sense of stability in the post-war chaos of the 18th Century.
Sources:
Kitchen, Martin. Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Mckay, Hill, Buckler. A History of World Societies: Volume II Since 1500. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1992
