We continue a series of our programs dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Russia's victory in Great Patriotic War of 1812 over Napoleon and the events of that époque. Today our program is about the last coalition against Napoleon, the Seventh coalition of 1815.
On March 18, 1814 the allied forces entered Paris. The war against Napoleon and the foreign mission of the Russian army ended with the complete defeat of Bonaparte and his Empire. Napoleon laid down arms and abdicated. The victors exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba, and restored the French Bourbon monarchy in the person of Louis XVIII.
On October 1, 1815 the Congress of Vienna opened which was to redraw the map of Europe. Though officially all European states (even mini-states like German and Italian princedoms) took part in the Congress in fact all the decisions were made by the great nations - Russia, Austria, Prussia and Great Britain. Other participants of the Congress mainly spent their time having a ball in Vienna and this circumstance allowed contemporaries to name it the Dancing Congress.
Unconquered on the battle field Russia was not so successful on the diplomatic arena. The allies of the anti French coalition now were pursing different goals. The goal of the Russian czar Alexander I was to unite all Polish lands even those which belonged to Prussia into the Kingdom of Poland to Russia. He wanted to see the kingdom of Poland as part of the Russian Empire and proposed to give Saxony to Prussia. Austria, England and France were not happy with that plan and made a secret pact against Russia and Prussia. As a result Prussia received only part of Saxony. Most of the Polish lands were attached to Russia. They were named the Kingdom of Poland but Alexander I promised that the kingdom would have its own constitution and be declared as an autonomous entity within the Russian Empire. The plan of the Russian czar was only partially implemented and this was serious defeat for the Russian diplomacy.
In spring 1815 when the Congress of Vienna was on its final stage its participants were shocked by the news that Napoleon Bonaparte had left the island of Elba and landed in France. The troops sent by the French king to arrest Napoleon took his side and on March 20 Napoleon entered Paris without a single shot. King Louis XVIII and his associates ran away and the Napoleon Empire was restored.
The period known as the Hundred Days began. During this term Napoleon was the Emperor for the second time. He understood that the new coalition of all European states would overthrow him and tried to make the contradictions between the allies more serious. He sent a copy of the secret pact made by France Austria and England against Russia to the Russian czar. Alexander I was furious when he received it but he realized that in the current situation the former allies should forget all their disagreements and offences to unite against their common foe.
On March 25, 1815 Russia, England, Austria and Prussia formed the seventh anti-French coalition. All the monarchs who were at the Congress of Vienna declared that they would fight with Napoleon until the complete victory and would not lay down arms in front of the foe of humanity.
However this time the Russian army did not manage to take part in military actions. On June 18, 1815, soon after the Russian army marched out against France the French troops were defeated by the British-Prussian army near the village of Waterloo (not far from Brussels).
After Napoleon abdicated again he was sent in exile to a remote island of St Elena in the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile the participants of the Congress of Vienna tried to settle all their disagreements as soon as possible. On May 28 the last session of the congress was held and the final act was signed.
The Congress of Vienna was the first diplomatic attempt to ensure solid peace in Europe. All the treaties signed during the Congress could not be canceled unilaterally. Those agreements could be changed if all the participants agreed with such changes.
In September 1815 Russia, Austria and Prussia formed the Holy Alliance to protect the new European borders. In November France joined the alliance and the Seventh anti French coalition was no longer needed. The Vienna agreements ensured a relatively long period of peace and stability in Europe.
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