A King-Made Map and its Trail of Wrongs
A meeting of kings and diplomats.—Austrians and English vs.
Prussians and Russians.—Talleyrand the subtle.—Carving a new
map.—The people are ignored.—Sowing the seeds of trouble.—Unhappy
Poland.—Divided Italy.—Revolts of the people.—The outbreaks of
1848.
And now the kings and princes, with their ministers of state and
diplomats, met at Vienna to decide what should be the map of
Europe. In past years, there had been a great deal of suspicion
and jealousy among these monarchs. Hardly five years had gone by
without finding two of them flying at each other’s throats in
some unjust war or other. Only their great fear of uprisings
similar to the French Revolution had driven them to act together
in crushing the French Republic, and the empire voted by the
people, which had followed it. This famous “Congress of Vienna,”
which took place 1815, is a fair example of the way in which
European lands have been cut up and parceled out to various
monarchs without any regard for the wishes of the people.
[Illustration: The Congress of Vienna]
Russia and Prussia, proud of the part that their mighty armies
had had in crushing Napoleon, were arrogantly intending to divide
the map of Europe as suited them, and it was only by a great deal
of diplomacy that they were beaten. (The game of diplomacy is
frequently a polite name for some very cunning deception,
involving lying and cheating, in which kings and their ministers
take part.) The Austrians were afraid of the Russian-Prussian
combination, and they induced England to side with them. England
did not love Austria, but feared the other two powers. The
English minister, Lord Castlereagh, finally persuaded the
Austrians, Prussians, and Russians, to allow the French diplomat,
Talleyrand, to take part in their final meetings. Now Talleyrand
was probably the most slippery and tricky diplomat of all Europe.
He had grown to power during the troublous days of the latter
part of the French Revolution, and had guessed which party would
remain in power so skillfully that he always appeared as the
strong friend of the winning side. Although he had served
Napoleon during the first years of the empire, he was shrewd
enough to remain true to King Louis XVIII during the latter’s
second exile. The Prussian-Russian combination was finally
obliged to give in, somewhat, to the demands of Austria, England,
and France. Compare this map with the one given in the preceding
chapter, and you will see most of the important changes.
Prussia, which had been cut down to about half its former size by
Napoleon, got back some of its Polish territory, and was given a
great deal of land in western Germany along the River Rhine. Part
of the kingdom of Saxony was forcibly annexed to Prussia also. It
is needless to say that its inhabitants were bitterly unhappy
over this arrangement. Austria kept part of her Polish territory,
and gave the rest of it to Russia.
The southern part of the Netherlands, which is today called
Belgium, had belonged to the Hapsburg family, the emperors of
Austria. As was previously said, it was conquered by the French
and remained part of France until the fall of Napoleon. It was
now joined with Holland to make the kingdom of the Netherlands.
Its people were Walloons and Flemish, almost entirely Catholic in
their religion, and they very much disliked to be joined with the
Protestant Dutch of Holland.
[Illustration: Messen Europe in 1815]
The state of Finland, which had not been strong enough to defend
itself against its two powerful neighbors, Sweden and Russia, had
been fought over by these two powers for more than a century. It
was finally transferred to Russia, and in order to appease
Sweden, Norway, which had been ruled by the Danes, was torn away
from Denmark and made part of the kingdom of Sweden. The
Norwegians desired to remain an independent country, and they
loved the Swedes even less than they loved the Danes. Therefore,
this union was another source of trouble. The greater part of the
kingdom of Poland and all of Lithuania were joined to Russia.
Russia got back all of the territory she had taken in 1795, and
in addition large parts of the former shares of Prussia and
Austria. In order to pay back Austria for the loss of part of
Poland, she was given all of northern Italy except the counties
of Piedmont and Savoy near France.
The German states (and these included both Austria and Prussia)
were formed into a loose alliance called the German
Confederation. England’s share of the plunder consisted largely
of distant colonies, such as South Africa, Ceylon, Trinidad, etc.
France shrank back to the boundaries which she had had at the
beginning of the revolution. The kings of France, of the Two
Sicilies, and of Spain (all of them members of the Bourbon
family) who had been driven out by Napoleon, were set back upon
their thrones.
This arrangement left Italy all split up into nine or ten
different parts, although its people desired to be one nation. It
left Austria a government over twelve different nationalities,
each one of which was dissatisfied. It joined Belgium to Holland
in a combination displeasing to both. It gave Norway and Finland
as subject states to Sweden and Russia respectively. It left the
Albanians, Serbians, Roumanians, Bulgarians, and Greeks all
subject to the hated Turks. It set upon three thrones, once
vacant, kings who were hated by their subjects. It divided the
Poles up among four different governments—for, strange as it may
seem, the powers could not decide who should own the city of
Cracow and the territory around it, and they ended by making this
district a little republic, under the joint protection of
Austria, Prussia, and Russia. In fact, the Swiss, serene in their
lofty mountains, were almost the only small people of Europe who
were left untroubled. The Congress of 1815 had laid the
foundation for future revolutions and wars without number.
At first, the Poles were fairly well treated by the Russians, but
after two or three unsuccessful attempts at a revolution, Poland,
which, as one of the states of the Russian Empire, was still
called a kingdom, was deprived of all its rights, and its people
were forced to give up the use of their language in their
schools, their courts, and even their churches. In the same
fashion, the Poles in Prussia were “not even allowed to think in
Polish,” as one Polish patriot bitterly put it. All through the
first half of the 19th century, there were uprisings and
struggles among these people. As a result of one of them, in
1846, the little Republic of Cracow was abolished, and its
territory forcibly annexed to Austria.
The Italian people formed secret societies which had for their
object the uniting of Italy, and the freeing of its people from
foreign rulers. All through Germany there were mutterings of
discontent. The people wanted more freedom from their lords.
Greece broke out into insurrection against the Turks, and fifteen
years after the Congress of 1815 won its right to independence.
Not long afterwards, the southern half of the Netherlands broke
itself loose from the northern half, and declared to the world
that it should henceforth be a new kingdom, under the name of
Belgium. About the same time, the people of France rose up
against the Bourbon kings, and threw them out “for good.” A
distant cousin of the king was elected, not “king of France” but
“citizen king of the French,” and the people were allowed to
elect men to represent them in a parliament or Congress at Paris.
In Spain, one revolution followed another. For a short time,
Spain was a republic, but the people were not well enough
educated to govern themselves, and the kingdom was restored.
[Illustration: Prince Metternich]
The statesman who had more to do with the division of territory
in 1815 than any other was Prince Metternich of Austria. He stood
for the “divine right of kings,” and did not believe in allowing
the common people any liberty whatsoever. In 1848, an uprising
occurred in Austria, and crowds in Vienna, crying, “down with
Metternich,” forced the aged diplomat to flee. During the same
year, there were outbreaks in Germany. The people everywhere were
revolting against the feudal rights of their kings and princes,
and gaining greater liberty for themselves. In 1848, France,
also, grew tired of her “citizen king,” and that country a second
time became a republic. The French made the mistake, however, of
electing as their president, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of
the great Napoleon, and in time he did exactly what his uncle had
done,—persuaded the French people to elect him emperor.
Questions for Review
What were the motives of each of the nations represented at
the Congress of Vienna?
Why were the Russians and Prussians the leaders of the
meeting at first?
Why did the English and Austrians assist each other?
What had Napoleon done for Poland? (See last chapter.)
What kings deposed by Napoleon were set back on their
thrones?
What were the greatest wrongs done by the Congress?
How did the Poles protest against the settlement made by the
Congress?
What did the Belgians do about it?
What did the French finally do to the Bourbon kings?