Was the Congress of Vienna of 1814-185 a good thing?

[Julie4]

November 1, 1814 the official negotiations of the Congress of Vienna begin, brought together on the initiative of the four great victors of Napoleon I (Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria), in order to restore peace in Europe and put an end to the Revolutionary era from 1789. Nine days before Waterloo, the Final Act of June 9, 1815 draws a new map of the continent: Russia, Prussia and Austria expand their territory, and Great Britain strengthens its maritime positions, while France is surrounded by a cordon sanitaire of secondary states. In order to establish a balance between the great powers, the Congress of Vienna created the conditions for a lasting peace which, more or less, would last until the conflagration of 1914.

[Curmudgeon]

It did, but Metternich should have realized the rise of the nation state was coming, and figured out a way to make Austria more coherent. Austria was ultimately the biggest loser at Vienna, not France.

[Julie4]

Are you kidding me by saying that France isn't the biggest loser?

[Curmudgeon]

Talleyrand skillfully managed to minimize the damage to France, and France ended the war as a more or less homogenous nation-state. Of course France was defeated, but it could have been much worse.

[Julie4]

Well let's see what happened for France from the Congress of Vienna

1) You should know that the war indemnity to be paid by France is the largest war indemnity to be paid by a country in relation to its GDP.

2) France loses its empire and returns to its old limits, especially by removing France from Belgium and the Rhineland, prosperous and coal-rich regions, which caused France to take a huge economic delay.

3) Since that date, it has been impossible for France to have an independent policy.

4) by putting a Bourbon on the throne of France the coalition condemned France to political instability.

I call it a geopolitical catastrophe.

[Cubus]

For my country - no.

[Julie4]

neither for mine 🤣

[Cubus]

Considering how hard Napoleon got his ass kicked, it didn't really end bad for France. It could have been much worse. Look what happened to Hungary after WW1.

[Julie4]

Well let's see what happened for France from the Congress of Vienna

1) You should know that the war indemnity to be paid by France is the largest war indemnity to be paid by a country in relation to its GDP.

2) France loses its empire and returns to its old limits, especially by removing France from Belgium and the Rhineland, prosperous and coal-rich regions, which caused France to take a huge economic delay.

3) Since that date, it has been impossible for France to have an independent policy.

4) by putting a Bourbon on the throne of France the coalition condemned France to political instability.

I call it a geopolitical catastrophe.

[Cubus]

Yeah, I read it. You already said that in a different comment

1. That's bad, I agree.
2. You just went back to pre-Napoleon borders. You didn't really lose anything when it comes to territory.
3. It was more about enlightened absoloutism's culture in Europe. Not really because of Vienna Congress.
4. It wasn;t stable before Napoleon either

[Julie4]

Wasn't more than 800 years of hereditary monarchy political stability?

It has everything to do with the Congress of Vienna because since the Congress of Vienna, France for its great ambitions will need the agreement of the United Kingdom, plus a whole string of states to monitor us. Before the Congress of Vienna, believe me, that France is not waiting for the London agreement to carry out an ambitious policy.

it is not because you have not lost part of your territory that it does not represent a geopolitical catastrophe at all levels, whether economic, strategic, etc.

[Cubus]

You also had political instability moments before. Such as with religious wars in XVIth century

[Julie4]

It didn't overthrow the monarchy, it looks like a civil war, but the bases of the monarchy remained stable in the end.

[Cubus]

Wasn't king Henry the Valois (who also used to be a king of Poland) asassinated?

[Julie4]

If but there will be a successor called Henry IV who will pacify the kingdom.

[Cubus]

How is Henry III viewed in France?

[Julie4]

it was not a good reign, and for the Poles it is a traitor, isn't it?

[Cubus]

Well, in Poland he is considered the worst king ever, or second-worse. He ran away after 4 months.

[Julie4]

Yeah , it's crazy 🤣🤣

[Cubus]

The main reason was because he wanted to become a king of France after his brother died. The sub reason was because in Poland he would have had to marry sister of the last king of former dynasty - Anna Jagiellonka, who was said to be super ugly :D

[Julie4]

Good reason 🤣

[Cubus]

Fun fact: in Poland we never had a king overthrown.

[Julie4]

In France we only did it once

[Cubus]

And if you count regicide?

[Julie4]

Only Two

[Julie4]

Three