Talleyrand argued that the restoration of the Bourbons necessitated the acceptance of France as an equal among the major powers. ![]() Talleyrand and Pedro Gómez Labrador, the Spanish representative, vehemently opposed this plan. Before the meeting, the allied powers were determined to make the ultimate decisions. ![]() Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh, the British foreign secretary, stood for England. Baron Karl August von Hardenberg represented Prussia, and Tsar Alexander I, Russia. His diplomatic skill made him the dominant figure at the talks, challenged only by Prince Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the French foreign minister. The architect of the congress was Prince Clemens von Metternich, the Austrian foreign minister. Representatives from all causes and corners of Europe arrived in the autumn of 1814 to press their respective claims. Article XXXII of the Peace of Paris called on the signatories to discuss these issues-and implied that all Europe was invited to the conference for similar purpose. With victory imminent, the allied powers moved quickly to secure territory and guarantees for their specific interests in Europe. Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain temporarily put aside their differences and geopolitical interests to defeat Napoleon. The congress worked out and reaffirmed the articles of the Treaty of Paris (March 1814), which concluded the Napoleonic Wars. At the conclusion of the conference, the conservative powers of Austria, Russia, and Prussia also moved to suppress future revolutionary movements and to uphold the legitimacy of monarchical powers. The use of territorial compensation as a means of maintaining a general balance became the method of preventing any immediate or future hostilities among European powers. The congress accepted the principle of a European balance of power enforced by collective action. The doctrine established by the participating powers was-in most cases-far more important than the specific redistribution of territories that the diplomats discussed and determined in detail. ![]() The Congress of Vienna, which met officially from September 1814 through June 1815, was the most significant diplomatic conference since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
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