Chapter X.

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.

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.

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.

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?