To really understand the mindset of the participants of the Congress of Vienna-whether they were political movers and shakers or not-requires an understanding of the years of warfare from which Europe had just emerged. Almost every nation at the Congress of Vienna had suffered defeat at the hands of Napoleon, and his wars had literally reshaped the map of Europe. Indeed, one of the main jobs of the Congress was to try to put Europe back together again after over two decades of almost constant war, France against the rest of Europe.
The following timeline lists the major battles, peace treaties, and other events with which any well-informed person of the day would have been familiar. More detailed analysis of economic, political, and social factors contributing to the events below will be provided to those characters who would plausibly have such knowledge.
Napoleon got his start during the wars that Revolutionary France fought against the other powers of Europe, starting in 1792. In that year, the king of Prussia, Frederick William II, issued the Declaration of Pilnitz, in which he declared that he would go to war to restore the Bourbon monarchy in France-during the French Revolution of 1789-1792, King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, had been deposed and arrested by the revolutionaries, while France was declared a republic-if the other powers of Europe would join him. Somewhat to his surprise and consternation, Austria agreed to join in. Spooked by the prospect of a joint Prussian-Austrian attack, radicals in the new French government made a pre-emptive declaration of war later that year. Things initially went badly for the Prussians and Austrians-they underestimated the ability of non-aristocratic French army officers and, fearing Russia more than France, did not commit their forces fully to the campaign. Moreover, the war gave increased influence to radicals in the French government, who guillotined Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in later that year, to the horror of the rest of Europe.
Encouraged by initial victories, in 1793-94 France declared war on Britain and Spain as well, intending to spread republicanism throughout Europe. Rural peasants, however, who had never supported the revolution as vigorously as the Parisians, rebelled against army conscription. It was not until the end of 1794 that the French were able to regain the upper hand in their war. In 1794 a young Corsican officer in the French army, Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone Buonaparte), made his first important appearance, leading the artillery batteries that helped drive the British out of the French naval base at Toulon.
In 1795, a new and more conservative French government, the Directorate, made peace with Prussia, Spain, and Holland, but officially annexed Belgium. This act deeply concerned the British, who had made it a cornerstone of their foreign policy for centuries that no major continental power should control the Low Countries, especially the important port city of Antwerp. Indeed, continued French occupation of Belgium was a major factor contributing to the almost constant state of war between Britain and France from 1793 to 1814.
In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte was given command of one of three armies sent to fight the Austrians. Bonaparte’s army, the smallest of the three, was intended as a decoy, deployed in Italy, while the main armies drove through southern Germany. But Bonaparte won a series of stunning victories that year and effectively ejected the Austrians from northern Italy, setting up French-style republics (the Ligurian and Cisalpine Republics) in former Austrian territories. He was driving on Vienna when the Austrians sued for peace.
In 1797, with no prior consultation with his government, Bonaparte concluded the Treaty of Campo Formio with the Austrians, making peace. Now Britain was the only nation at war with France. A French expedition to support a rebellion in Ireland was prevented by bad weather from landing.
In 1798, the French attempted a second intervention in Ireland, but their effort was too small to help the Irish rebellion against England in the year ’98 achieve any real success. More significantly, Bonaparte convinced the French government that a cross-channel invasion was not possible-France did not have enough ships to establish naval superiority in the English Channel long enough to get a naval force across to England. So Bonaparte decided to strike at England’s colonial possessions instead-he intended to attack British holdings in Egypt, and from there drive through the Middle East to India. He succeeded in evading the British Mediterranean fleet, and upon landing defeated the British army in Egypt. But Admiral Horatio Nelson soon located the French fleet and destroyed it in the Battle of the Nile. Stranded in Egypt, Bonaparte won several important victories against the British and Ottomans, but things began to go badly elsewhere.
Concerned by French activity in the Middle East, which threatened their interests in the Black Sea region, Russia joined with Britain in the war against France. Encouraged by Bonaparte’s absence, Austria was led by British diplomatic activity into an alliance with the other two and won a series of victories against French forces in northern Italy.
In 1799, Bonaparte left (some might even say abandoned) his army in Egypt and returned to France. With French pressure in the Middle East relieved, Russia withdrew from the coalition against France, one of the first examples in which national self-interest interfered with coordinating efforts against him. After he returned from Egypt, Bonaparte led a coup d’etat against the Directorate, replacing it with the Consulate, a government in which he served as First Consul.
In 1800, Bonaparte took command of French forces in Austria, and after a series of victories, Austria and France negotiated an armistice. At the same time, the Russians organized the “Armed Neutrality of the North,” which was essentially a military-backed economic boycott of British trade and shipping in Scandinavia and northern Germany, which put great pressure on Britain to make peace with France.
In 1801, two events led to the breakdown of the Armed Neutrality. Tsar Paul of Russia was assassinated by his own nobles, and the British defeated the Danish navy in the Battle of Copenhagen.
In 1802, the British and French finally made peace, the Peace of Amiens. For the first time in a decade all the nations of Europe were at peace. But it was really only a temporary measure, allowing each side to rest and regroup for another conflict, and everyone knew it would not last.
In 1803 the British again declared war on France, due to continued French expansionism-they annexed Switzerland in this year-and French preparations for an invasion of England. The French, in turn, secured an alliance with Spain later in the year, and the Spanish soon joined the war against England.
In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Continued French aggression on the continent made the other powers of Europe reconsider their peace with France. In particular, they were disturbed by the French invasion of the German country of Hanover, which was ruled by Britain’s king, George III; and by the Enghien affair, in which French troops violated the neutrality of Holland to seize one of Napoleon’s enemies. He was dragged back to France and executed. This continued acceleration of French aggression soon led the other nations of Europe to join Britain in its war.
In 1805 Britain convinced Russia to join in an alliance, in return for a cash subsidy based on the number of Russian troops in the field. Austria later secretly joined this alliance. Unfortunately, things did not go well for the allies. Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Ulm and Austerlitz, and occupied Vienna. The Austrians sued for peace. Indeed, the only victory the Allies won came at sea: Horatio Nelson destroyed the combined Spanish-French fleet off the Spanish coast at Trafalgar, preventing Napoleon from mounting his planned invasion of England. This victory would also have important consequences for the latter part of the war. Never would Napoleon be a serious naval threat again, for Britain controlled the seas.
In 1806, the Prussians entered the war on the side of the Allies, but were summarily defeated at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt. Napoleon occupied Berlin, where he declared his Continental System: a ban on British imports into all areas of the Continent occupied by France or French allies. It was designed to defeat England economically, since Napoleon had proved unable to attack the island nation by sea. The Continental System was the first of his three great mistakes. Attempting to enforce this ineffective policy would damage the French Empire’s own economy more than it hurt Britain, would alienate his allies, and eventually would lead Napoleon to overextend himself in Spain and Russia (more on this below). In this year, Napoleon also officially dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, and Holy Roman Emperor Franz II became Austrian Emperor Franz I.
In 1807 Napoleon defeated the last of England’s three major continental allies, Russia, at the battle of Friedland. He and Tsar Alexander I negotiated the Treaty of Tilsit. Britain now stood alone against Napoleon, who dominated continental Europe, invading Portugal-a minor British ally and a defiant breaker of the Continental System. He would not, however, remain ascendant for much longer.
In 1808, French forces in Portugal were defeated at the Battles of Roliça and Vimeiro by a British force under the command of General Arthur Wellesley (later the duke of Wellington). Napoleon also made his second great mistake: he invaded Spain-on the pretext that it had not helped him sufficiently well in his efforts to conquer Portugal and enforce the Continental System-and overthrew the Spanish royal family, placing his own brother Joseph on the throne. The Spanish people deeply resented this French intrusion, and a wave of spontaneous popular uprisings swept the country. Small bands of fighters began a long and bitter campaign of sabotage and hit-and-run attacks. The fighters of this “little war” gave their name to the tactics they employed: guerrilla. Napoleon, in the years to come, would commit over 300,000 troops to an unsuccessful effort to pacify Spain. It bled France white.
In 1809, General Wellesley is given overall command of the allied British and Portuguese forces in Portugal, in alliance with the rebel government (Junta) of Spain. Wellesley’s forces fight the French to a draw at the battle of Talavera. In the same year, encouraged by French problems in Spain, the Austrians again declared war on France and invaded Bavaria. They were quickly defeated, however, at the Battle of Wagram, and Napoleon again occupied Vienna. The Austrians were forced to make peace again, in the treaty of Schönbrunn.
In 1810, following his defeat of the Austrians, Napoleon married the daughter of their Emperor, Marie Louise, thus consummating his imperial ambitions by allying himself to an old, legitimate royal family. He poured more troops into Spain after the Austrian campaign, but to little effect. Wellesley’s excellent generalship and the dedication of the Spanish guerrilla fighters did not permit the French occupational force to gain real control of either Portugal or Spain.
In 1811, both Prussia and Austria entered into formal alliance with France. Were it not for continued problems in Spain-where the allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces had now begun to push the French armies out of key areas in Spain and Portugal-Napoleon would have enjoyed one of the greatest years of his reign. Unfortunately, underestimating problems in Spain, and overestimating the value of his alliance with Austria and Prussia, led him to his third, and greatest, mistake: the invasion of Russia.
In 1812, after months of preparation, Napoleon invaded Russia with a massive army of over 600,000 men. Russia had grown disenchanted with France’s refusal, despite promises made in the Treaty of Tilsit, to help in Russia’s wars against the Ottoman Empire, so Russia withdrew from the Continental System. As is well-known, Napoleon’s invasion was a complete disaster. Rather than stand and fight, the Russians, knowing that Napoleon’s armies lived off the land, retreated further and further into Russia, burning and destroying as they went, leaving little for the French troops. When Napoleon reached Moscow in October, he thought the Russians would surrender. Instead, they burned the city as they left, and refused to negotiate with him. Napoleon was left with no good choices. He could stay in the burned-out shell of Moscow and have his supply lines cut, or he could try to retreat to Western Europe, although the brutal Russian winter was coming on. He decided to retreat. Winter came early and hard, even for Russia. Frozen, starving, harassed by Cossacks and partisans the whole way, scarcely 100,000 men out of the original invading force made it out of Russia alive. To make matters worse, Wellesley had driven the French entirely out of Portugal and out of most of northern Spain, including the capital, Madrid; while native Spanish troops had done the same to French forces in southern Spain.
In 1813, Wellesley-now granted the title duke of Wellington by a grateful British government- decisively defeated Joseph Bonaparte and the French army in Spain at the Battle of Vitoria. He began to drive on France from the south, across the Pyrenees Mountains. Prussia, and later Austria, abandoned their alliance with Napoleon and drove the French out of Germany. They then joined the Russians in defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig (called the “Battle of the Nations” because so many different armies took part in it). These three Allies then pushed towards the eastern border of France. After years of invading other countries, France now faced the threat of imminent invasion.
In 1814, Wellington took Bordeaux and was besieging Toulouse, when the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians, having fought several battles on French soil, entered Paris. Napoleon surrendered and abdicated the throne. The leaders of all four of the Allied powers-Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia-then decided to meet in an international congress for the purpose of putting Europe back together again. That congress would meet in Vienna…