The Congress of Vienna Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1814/15

The final peace treaty was signed June 9, 1815 and was in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Versailles Conference was in 1919 and followed World War I.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in 1951 was between 49 Allied powers and Japan (the USSR and Czechoslovakia declined to participate). The Peace of Westphalia occurred in 1648, concluding the Thirty Years War that ravaged central Europe.

Answer: In exile on the island of Elba

In 1814, Napoleon had been exiled and placed as "Emperor of Elba". In February 1815 he escaped and returned to France to fight again, ending with his defeat at Waterloo in June 1815. Following that he was dispatched to his final island of exile in the south Atlantic, St. Helena.

Answer: The rise of Prussian power

France was not a combatant with the United States at the time of the Congress of Vienna (unlike Britain). French Naval power was no match for Britain and the major French colonies in Asia had yet to be claimed by that time. Prussian militarism was feared in Paris...a fear that would bear itself out in a united Germany.

Answer: The plenipotentiaries could not agree on the order of signatures

Diplomats of that age spent even more time preening than they do in this one! Thus ego balancing among nations was a major preoccupation. Napoleon's disposition had already been handled by the time the Congress began. The War of 1812 was an exclusive Anglo-American matter and not subject to negotiations at the Congress. Bismarck would not arrive on the scene as a major European player until the early 1860s.

Answer: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

The iconoclastic Talleyrand was one of the most gifted diplomats of any age. He managed largely to preserve French power while negotiating from a position of weakness as the representative of the defeated nation. Alexander was the Russian Czar. Castlereagh headed the British delegation and Hardenberg was the Prussian Chancellor.

Answer: A love affair

The great Prince Klemens von Metternich spent a great deal of time heartbroken over a failing affair with the Duchess of Sagan. Tsar Alexander I, who distrusted Metternich anyway, used his relationship with the Duchess as leverage against him. To make matters worse she had taken up with an old beau, Prince Von Windischgraetz, which made the poor Prince's life even more miserable. Needless to say this all greatly distracted and depressed Metternich and undermined his effectiveness.

He was neither wounded at the Battle of the Nations nor was he ever involved in dueling.

He was born outside Austria in Coblenz but it had no effect on the conduct of diplomacy.

Answer: The Kingdom of Saxony and Poland

Throughout most of the Congress, Prussia and Russia stood together. Russia supported Prussian designs on the complete subjugation of Saxony, with Prussia willing to turn a blind eye toward similar Russian goals in Poland.

Answer: Castlereagh

Much to the frustration of London, Castlereagh at times seemed to be conducting his own diplomacy irrespective of the instructions of His Majesty's government. Talleyrand WAS the French government in Vienna. Neither the Japanese (Saito) nor the Americans were present.

Answer: Napoleon's escape from exile and return to France

In the Spring of 1815 Napoleon departed from Elba with a military entourage and gathered strength as his army marched north, eventually culminating in his defeat by the Allies at Waterloo.

Answer: The Duke of Wellington

Lord Nelson has been killed at Trafalgar in 1805. William Pitt the Younger was the youngest serving British Prime Minister but his terms of office were prior to the Congress. The Whig Lord Palmerston, although a major European player from the 1820s, was not present in Vienna.