The Congress of Wien
By class 4 A LL
The Congress of Wien was held from September 1814 to June 1815. The purpose of Austria, Russia
and Prussia was to prevent modifications of the constituted order and they formed a holy alliance
which denied the principles of the Enlightenment . But this was not possible, because people had
changed and it was impossible to deny the ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality.
The Holy alliance wanted the return of the obedience to the
authority:
-instead of the idea of progress, the respect of the tradition;
-instead of the popular sovereignty, the return of the old
sovereigns.
The Congress established then to follow two principles:
The principle of legitimacy
The principle of equilibrium
-The principle of the equilibrium was followed for preventing that a State became too strong in
comparison to the others;
-According to the principle of legitimacy, the sovereigns of the past had to return on the throne (in
France, Luigi XVIII come back)
During the Hundred Days, Gioacchino Murat realized that
the European powers, meeting as the Congress of Wien, had
the intention to remove him and return the Kingdoms of
Naples to their pre-Napoleonic rulers. Murat deserted his
new allies before the War of the Seventh Coalition and, after
issuing a proclamation to the Italian patriots in Rimini,
moved to the north to fight against the Austrians in the
Neapolitan War to strengthen his rule in Italy by military
means. He was defeated by Frederick Bianchi, a general of
Francis I of Austria, in the Battle of Tolentino (2–3 May
1815).
After the Congress Italy was subdivided in this way:
Venice and Lombardia formed the lombardo-Venetian kingdom under Austria.
The kingdom of Sardinia made up of Piedmont and Liguria returned under the Savoia.
Lucca was given to Borbone.
The Papal State was given to the Pope.