Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (61 page)

Dressed “in a flash” comes from
NP
I, 210, and “Happy, unfettered” in Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 35. The phrase “the most feared warlord” from Alastair Horne,
The Age of Napoleon
(2004), xxx. Words on Talleyrand’s charm are in the
Memoirs of Madame de la Tour du Pin
(1971), trans. Felice Harcourt, 246. Napoleon’s words “shit in silk stockings” (“
Merde dans un bas de soie!
”) come from a tirade against Talleyrand in late January 1809, Georges Lacour-Gayet,
Talleyrand, 1754–1838
(1928–1934), II, 272. Prussia as “too strong to be a minor power and not strong enough to be in the front rank” comes from Count Molé,
The Life and Memoirs of Count Molé (1781–1855
) (1924) I, 322–323. One impression of the king of Prussia’s appearance at the congress, “looking like a thundercloud,” is in Karl von Nostitz’s diary entry, January 23, 1815,
Leben und Briefwechsel: Auch ein Lebensbild aus den Befreiungskriegen
(1848), 155. The Prussian delegation was second largest in town, after the Russians,
GE,
16–21.

Napoleon on Alexander, expressed in a letter to Josephine in 1808, can be found in many sources, for example, J. Christopher Herold, ed.,
The Mind of Napoleon
(1955), 173, Alan Schom,
Napoleon Bonaparte
(1997), 477, and Steven Englund,
Napoleon: A Political Life
(2004), 293. “A Kingdom was cut into bits” is in Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 1–2. Kissinger’s words on the congress are in
Diplomacy
(1994), 79, and more fully elaborated in his
A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812–1822
(1957). Albert Sorel called the result also the most fruitful period of peace the continent had known,
L’Europe et La Révolution Française,
VIII, 502.

C
HAPTER
1. B
READ AND
C
IRCUSES

Prince de Ligne’s words at the opening of the chapter come from Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 14. Castlereagh describes the poor roadways, undated letter to his wife, probably January 1814, printed in C. K. Webster’s
The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812–1815: Britain and the Reconstruction of Europe
(1931), 503–504. Talleyrand’s troubles on the road, and his near accident, Talleyrand to the Duchess of Courlande, September 18, 1814, in
TLI
31. Paul Johnson succinctly summarizes the difficulties of travel at this time in
The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815–1830
(1991), 169ff. Reference to “murderer’s den” is found in Gregor Dallas,
The Final Act: The Roads to Waterloo
(1997), 136. This was, of course, in part, due to the many veterans the war turned out, without pension and with little chance of pay as the economy deteriorated in the immediate aftermath of the war. The torched towns and the devastation is also in Henrich Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, September 11–15, 1814,
Tagebuch über meinen Aufenthalt in Wien zur Zeit des Congresses
(2004), 6ff. The words “fearless foolish or suicidal” are in Lesley Adkins and Roy Adkins,
The Keys of Egypt: The Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics
(2000), 7. The figure of one hundred thousand is a well-known estimate of the number of people arriving during the congress, and although still unverified, it is not unreasonable. Announcing the congress, Webster (1931), 327; Enno E. Kraehe,
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 125. The order for the
Wiener Hofzeitung
and the early planning can be found at HHSA St. K. Kongressakten Kart. 16.

The French and Napoleonic Wars as the first “total war,” T. C. W. Blanning,
The French Revolutionary Wars, 1787–1802
(1996), 101, and the August 1793 law, often called the
levée en masse,
along with the translation, 100–101, as well as Simon Schama,
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
(1989), 762. The number of deaths is in Paul W. Schroeder,
The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848
(1994), 580. Carl von Clausewitz has a fascinating discussion of this warfare, of course, in
On War,
trans. and with notes by Bernard Brodie, in Michael Howard and Peter Paret’s
Clausewitz: On War
(1976), and more on the exhaustion that followed in
Correspondance Diplomatique du comte Pozzo di Borgo, ambassadeur de Russie en France et du comte du Nesselrode depuis la restauration des Bourbons jusqu’au Congrès d’ Aix-la-Chapelle, 1814–1818
, by Comte Charles Pozzo di Borgo (1890)—for example, Pozzo di Borgo to Nesselrode, September 14–26, 1814, 73.

The fact that almost nothing was settled, besides the drawing of French borders, comes from C. K. Webster,
The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812–1815: Britain and the Reconstruction of Europe
(1931), 327–328, and this is seen by looking at the treaty itself, printed
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), I, 161–170, with secret articles, 171ff. On Poland as the greatest challenge at the beginning, see Bernstorff intercepted letter, July 13, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 28, and Report to Baron Hager, September 27, 1814, I, no. 171, and Bernstorff to Rosencrantz, July 7, 1814, August Fournier, ed.,
GPWK
94–95, Gentz to Karadja,
Dépêches inédites,
June 21, 1814, 79–82, Bernstorff’s letter to Rosencrantz, July 20, 1814,
GPWK,
100–101, and agent, September 28, 1814,
GPWK,
133–134.

Napoleon’s words on Poland come from Las Casas,
Mémorial de Saint-Hélène
(1823; repr. 1961), II, 458ff, and his words to the Poles come from an address given after seizing Vienna in 1805. For more on this period and its partitions, see Norman Davies’s
God’s Playground: A History of Poland
(1982), I, 510–527, and Paul Schroeder (1994), 11–19, 122–124, 144–150. The carve-up of Poland blamed as cause of many problems that later plagued Europe, Talleyrand to Metternich, December 19, 1814, printed in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), II, 540–544, and for many, too, its re-creation would mean “the safety of Europe,” as Chateaubriand put it,
Mémoires d’outre-tombe
(1951), I, 997.

Napoleon on Paris, cited in Alaistair Horne,
The Age of Napoleon
(2004), comes from the year 1798. Rumors of the art being restored, after the lack of success in Paris, intercepted letter of Gentz, June 7, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 4. One person already pressing for the restoration of the art was Pope Pius VII’s delegate, Cardinal Consalvi, soon to be joined by others, including some Benedictine monks who appealed to the British embassy, Duke of Wellington to Comte de Jaucourt, November 21, 1814,
WD,
VIII, 604. One area that was successful was restoring art in the Louvre not yet unpacked from the crates.

Dr. Justus Bollmann’s activities at the congress are discussed in Paul Sweet’s “Erich Bollmann at Vienna in 1815,”
AHR
(1941): 580–587. One good study, in English, of the Jewish delegation at the congress in English is Max J. Kohler’s
Jewish Rights at the Congresses of Vienna (1814–1815), and Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)
(1918). For publishing agent Johann Georg Cotta’s wishes for intellectual property and freedom of the press, see Agent H to Hager, October 11, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 342. Cotta has been studied recently in Daniel Moran’s
Towards the Century of Words: Johann Cotta and the Politics of the Public Realm in Germany, 1795–1832
(1990).

The end of Holy Roman Empire was, of course, an involved process, which can be followed in any number of good histories, such as Friedrich Heer,
The Holy Roman Empire
(1968), or C. A. Macartney,
The Habsburg Empire, 1790–1918
(1969). One important factor in the dissolution was the
Reichsdeputations-hauptschluss,
or the Imperial Recess of 1803, which not only removed ecclesiastic states like Salzburg from the empire, but also meant that the Habsburgs would likely lose their majority to Protestant electors in the College of Electors. Emperor Francis was thus the last Holy Roman Emperor (Francis II) and, by his proclamation in 1804, the first emperor of Austria (Francis I).

Travelers comparing Vienna to a “royal palace,” for example, are noted in Marcel Brion,
Daily Life in the Vienna of Mozart and Schubert,
trans. Jean Stewart (1962), 23, and descriptions of the palaces on the narrow streets, Jean-Gabriel Eynard, October 5, 1814,
Au Congrès de Vienne: journal de Jean-Gabriel Eynard
(1914–1924), I, 4. Joseph’s decree on planting trees comes from Raymond F. Betts,
Vienna: A City Apart,
printed privately, unpaginated. Of the many French émigrés in Vienna, Baronne du Montet’s
Souvenirs, 1785–1866
(1904) is a good read, and many of the exiles gathered at the Prince de Ligne’s salon, Potocka,
Memoirs of the Countess Potocka,
ed. Casimir Stryienski, trans. Lionel Strachey (1900), 112. Vienna as a counterrevolutionary center comes from Eugen Guglia, “Der Wiener Congress, seine Fürsten und Staatsmänner,” in Eduard Leisching, ed.,
Der Wiener Congress: Culturgeschichte die Bildenden Künste und das Kunstgewerbe Theater—Musik in der Zeit von 1800 bis 1825
(1898), 21–22, and the phrase “lunched until dinner” with more on the context in relation to the violence in France, Philip Mansel’s
Prince of Europe: The Life of Charles-Joseph de Ligne, 1735–1814
(2003), 150–151. The city walls and King Richard: Richard Bright,
Travels from Vienna through Lower Hungary with Some Remarks on the State of Vienna During the Congress in the Year 1814
(1818), 33, and rumored financing of the walls appears in several places, as well as John P. Spielman,
The City and the Crown: Vienna and the Imperial Court, 1600–1740
(1993), 29. Travelers often noted the fortress, for instance, Jacob Grimm to Wilhelm Grimm, October 2, 1814,
Briefwechsel zwischen Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm aus der Jugendzeit
(1963), 350. Population figures at this time are often difficult to gauge, and estimates vary. The figure 250,000 is also accepted by Enno Kraehe (1963–1983), II, 118, and size of the capital, Waltraud Heindl’s “People, Class, Structure and Society,” in Raymond Erickson, ed.,
Schubert’s Vienna
(1997), 38. Vienna’s population increased by a third during the congress: Stella Musulin’s
Vienna in the Age of Metternich: From Napoleon to Revolution, 1805–1848
(1975), 140–141. “Vienna is the city” is from Baronne du Montet (1904), 24, “homeland of happiness,” La Garde-Chambonas (1902), 35, and the Viennese as not being excessively polite, for example, Friedrich Anton von Schönholz,
Traditionen zur Charakteristik Österreichs, seines Staats-und Volkslebens unter Franz I
(1914), II, 104.

The popularity of Emperor Francis is attested by many accounts, including, for example, Frederick Lamb to Castlereagh, June 18, 1814, 57; Bright, (1818), 89; Rzewuska (1939), I, 64–65; and the appendix to the first volume of Eynard’s (1914–1924), 334. Haydn, of course, wrote the music to “Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser” (“God preserve Francis the Emperor”) and the text was by Haschka. “If you blow hard” comes from Alville’s
Anna Eynard-Lullin et l’époque des Congrès et des Révolutions
(1955), 157. Emperor Franz as Venus can be seen, for example, in Princess Therese to Princess Amalie von Sachsen, January 14, 1815,
GPWK
, 363; letter to Prince Maximilian von Sachsen, the next day, 364; and others, including, for example, “the goddess of love,” May 6, 1815, 476. A. J. P. Taylor calls the Habsburgs, frankly, “the greatest dynasty of modern history” in
The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809–1918: A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary
(1966), 10. Francis’s family orchestra, in Walter Consuelo Langsam’s
Francis the Good: The Education of an Emperor, 1768–1792
(1949), 162. The housing is in many contemporary sources, though the residence of the king of Denmark, less often cited, can be found in Nørregaard,
Danmark og Wiener Kongress
(1948), n. 29, 16.

Description of the coffee kettles come from Countess Bernstorff,
Ein Bild aus der Zeit von 1789 bis 1835: Aus ihren Aufzeichnungen
(1896), I, 148, and the kitchens at the Hofburg, with the words “the poor animals,” in Hilde Spiel’s
The Congress of Vienna: An Eyewitness Account,
trans. Richard H. Weber (1968), 87–88. The Hofburg’s Silberkammer has a collection of items used at banquets, and my discussion of standard wine and entrée combinations draws on the excellent commentary of Dr. Ingrid Haslinger. For more on the culinary arts at the time, see her article in Ole Villumsen Krog, ed.,
Danmark og Den Dansende Wienerkongres: Spillet om Danmark
(2002), 223. Vienna wits’ description of the sovereigns was reported to Hager in late October, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 502, and also, in alternative form, no. 503 and Perth’s
Wiener Kongresstagebuch 1814–1815,
62. The popularity of sovereigns in Vienna at first can be seen, for example, in Agent Nota to Hager, October 28, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 253.

C
HAPTER 2.
T
WO
P
RINCES

Count François-Casimir Mouret de Montrond’s words on Talleyrand are cited in J. F. Bernard,
Talleyrand: A Biography
(1973), 209. The age of the Tokay comes from Constantin de Grunwald,
Metternich
(1953), 122–123, and the number of carriages on loan in many sources, including Richard Bright,
Travels from Vienna Through Lower Hungary with Some Remarks on the State of Vienna During the Congress in the Year 1814
(1818), 13. Their description, Pictet de Richemont,
Biographie, travaux et correspondance diplomatique
(1892), 153; Jean-Gabriel Eynard,
Au Congrès de Vienne: journal de Jean-Gabriel Eynard
(1914–1924), October 5, 1814, I, 2, and the comparison to maid chambers in Signor Castelli, Dallas,
The Final Act: The Roads to Waterloo
(1997), 135.