Editing Congress of Vienna (section)

== Diplomatic tactics ==
=== Talleyrand (France) ===
[[File: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord - Pierre-Paul Prud'hon.jpg|thumb | alt=oil painting of Tallyrand, the French ambassador|[[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]] proved an able negotiator for the defeated French.]]
[[File:Vicente López Portaña - Portrait of the Marquis of Labrador, Spanish Ambassador to the Congress of Vienna of 1815 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Marquis of Labrador, Spanish Ambassador to the Congress of Vienna – Painting by Vicente López Portaña]]

Initially, the representatives of the four victorious powers hoped to exclude the French from serious participation in the negotiations, but Talleyrand skillfully managed to insert himself into "her inner councils" in the first weeks of negotiations. He allied himself to a Committee of Eight lesser powers (including Spain, Sweden, and Portugal) to control the negotiations. Once Talleyrand was able to use this committee to make himself a part of the inner negotiations, he then left it,<ref>William, Sir Ward Adolphus (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cTxvfSPXz7sC&dq=Talleyrand+left+Committee+of+Eight&pg=RA1-PA13 ''The Period of Congresses''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322153903/http://books.google.com/books?id=cTxvfSPXz7sC&pg=RA1-PA13&dq=Talleyrand+left+Committee+of+Eight&hl=cs&ei=dwaaTIzfIovNjAf9upQ0&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Talleyrand%20left%20Committee%20of%20Eight&f=false |date=22 March 2015 }}, BiblioLife, p. 13. {{ISBN|1-113-44924-1}}</ref> once again abandoning his allies.

The major Allies' indecision on how to conduct their affairs without provoking a united protest from the lesser powers led to the calling of a preliminary conference on the protocol, to which Talleyrand and the Marquess of Labrador, Spain's representative, were invited on 30 September 1814.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Congress of Vienna {{!}} History of Western Civilization II |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-congress-of-vienna/ |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>

Congress Secretary [[Friedrich von Gentz]] reported, "The intervention of Talleyrand and Labrador has hopelessly upset all our plans. Talleyrand protested against the procedure we have adopted and soundly [be]rated us for two hours. It was a scene I shall never forget."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Susan Mary |last=Alsop |title=The Congress Dances |location=New York |publisher=[[Harper & Row]], Publishers |year=1984 |page=120}}</ref> The embarrassed representatives of the Allies replied that the document concerning the protocol they had arranged actually meant nothing. "If it means so little, why did you sign it?" snapped Labrador.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Talleyrand's policy, directed as much by national as personal ambitions, demanded the close but by no means amicable relationship he had with Labrador, whom Talleyrand regarded with disdain.<ref>Wenceslao Ramírez de Villa-Urrutia, Marqués de Villa-Urrutia, ''España en el Congreso de Viena según la correspondencia de D. Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marqués de Labrador''. Segunda Edición Corregida y Aumentada (Madrid: Francisco Beltrán, 1928), 13.</ref> Labrador later remarked of Talleyrand: "that cripple, unfortunately, is going to Vienna."<ref>Antonio Rodríguez-Moñino (ed.), ''Cartas Políticas'' (Badajoz: Imprenta Provincial, 1959), 14 (Letter IV, 10 July 1814). Labrador's letters are full of such pungent remarks, and include his opinions on bad diplomats, the state of the postal system, the weather, and his non-existent salary and coach and accompanying livery for the Congress.</ref> Talleyrand skirted additional articles suggested by Labrador: he had no intention of handing over the 12,000 ''afrancesados'' – Spanish fugitives, sympathetic to France, who had sworn fealty to [[Joseph Bonaparte]], nor the bulk of the documents, paintings, pieces of fine art, and books that had been looted from the archives, palaces, churches and cathedrals of Spain.<ref>Villa-Urrutia, ''España en el Congreso de Viena'', 61–62. Joseph had left Madrid with a huge baggage train containing pieces of art, tapestries, and mirrors. The most rapacious of the French was Marshal [[Nicolas Soult]], who left Spain with entire collections, which disappeared to unknown, separate locations around the world. According to [[Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño]], at least "[the paintings] have come to spread the prestige of Spanish art around the whole word."</ref>

=== Polish-Saxon questions ===<!-- the redirect Polish-Saxon crisis redirects to this section heading-->
The most complex topic at the Congress was the Polish-Saxon Crisis. Russia wanted most of Poland, and Prussia wanted all of Saxony, whose king had allied with Napoleon. The tsar would like to become king of Poland.<ref>{{Cite journal | first=W.H. |last=Zawadzki |title=Russia and the Re-Opening of the Polish Question, 1801–1814 |journal=[[International History Review]] |date=1985 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=19–44|doi=10.1080/07075332.1985.9640368 }}</ref> Austria analysed, this could make Russia too powerful, a view which was supported by Britain. The result was a deadlock, for which Talleyrand proposed a solution: admit France to the inner circle, and France would support Austria and Britain. The three nations [[Secret Treaty of Vienna|signed a treaty on 3 January 1815]], among only the three of them, agreeing to go to war against Russia and Prussia, if necessary, to prevent the Russo-Prussian plan from coming to fruition.<ref name="Nicolson">Nicolson, Sir Harold (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTC3IWC_py8C&q=Talleyrand+30+september ''The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity: 1812–1822''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322153534/http://books.google.com/books?id=ZTC3IWC_py8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=congress+of+vienna&hl=cs&ei=5deZTM7GGI7KjAfCpsAO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Talleyrand%2030%20september&f=false |date=22 March 2015 }} Grove Press; Rep. Ed. pp. 140–164. {{ISBN|0-8021-3744-X}}</ref>

When the Tsar heard of the treaty he agreed to a compromise that satisfied all parties on 24 October 1815. Russia received most of the Napoleonic [[Duchy of Warsaw]] as a "Kingdom of Poland" – called [[Congress Poland]], with the tsar as a king ruling it independently of Russia. However, the majority of [[Greater Poland]] and [[Kuyavia]], as well as the [[Chełmno Land]], were given to Prussia and mostly included within the newly formed [[Grand Duchy of Posen]] ([[Poznań]]), while [[Kraków]] became a [[Free City of Kraków|free city]] as a shared protectorate of Austria, Prussia and Russia. Furthermore, the tsar was forbidden from uniting his new realm with [[Russian Partition|the parts of Poland that had been incorporated into Russia in the 1790s]]. Prussia received 60 percent of Saxony, much of which became part of the new [[Province of Saxony]] from 1816 (the now-Prussian parts of [[Lower Lusatia]] and some other areas instead became part of the [[Province of Brandenburg]], with Prussian [[Upper Lusatia]] becoming part of the [[Province of Silesia]] by 1825); the remainder of Saxony returned to King [[Frederick Augustus I of Saxony|Frederick Augustus I]] as his [[Kingdom of Saxony]].{{Sfn|Webster|1913|pages=49–101}}

=== Subsidies ===
It can be learned from the diaries of the master of affairs Von Gentz that diplomatic tactics possibly included bribing. He notes that at the Congress he received £22,000 through [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand|Talleyrand]] from [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]], while [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Castlereagh]] gave him £600, accompanied by "{{lang|fr|les plus folles promesses}}" ("the wildest promises"); his diary is full of such entries.