The Congress of Vienna:
Changing the Face of Europe
1815
After the fall of Napoleon, Austrian chief minister Prince Klemens von Metternich organized a
meeting of all European powers to help redraw European boundaries. The purpose, according
to Metternich, was to help restore Europe to its pre-French Revolution status and also to
reduce France’s power and punish them for war.
He had three goals:
1.) Compensate all countries who had to fight against France during Napoleon’s rule,
2.) Restore the monarchy in France and other kingdoms that existed before the French
Revolution, and
3.) Create a balance of power to prevent one European country from dominating Europe again.
But there’s a twist: the major European powers were seeking to expand their own interests.
And the lesser powers, including peoples who never had their own country, were pushing for
their own independence. Thus, redrawing the map as it once was going to be virtually
impossible. Below are the major powers that attended the Congress, as well as the interests
they seek to fulfill:
Great Britain: maintain own borders and perhaps take some of France’s international
claims
Austria: expand its own Empire south toward the Adriatic Sea
Prussia: these German speaking peoples wanted a unified and expanded area of control
(it was once a confederation of 300 states)
Russia: expand west into Polish speaking areas of Europe and encroach into Ottoman
Empire lands
France: maintain some influence in Europe and rebuild itself after Napoleon’s fall
Other powers and peoples represented were: Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgianspeaking peoples, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Portugal, and many others, but had little
power.
*England, France, and Austria did not want to see Russia and Prussia gain more power, so they
formed an alliance to resist any further incursion into Europe by these powers after 1815.
YOUR JOB:
With a partner, use the two maps given you (Napoleon’s Empire and the blank map of Europe)
and represent the members of the Congress of Vienna. Look at the interests of all of the above
countries and see if you can redraw the boundaries of Europe as was actually done in 1815.
Then, we will compare your map with the actual map and investigate why yours is so similar or
different.