Final Act of the Congress of Vienna
- Date
- 9 June 1815
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Central Europe (Vienna, Austria)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, signed on 9 June 1815, concluded the post-Napoleonic settlement that redrew the map of Europe.
Representatives of the major powers — Austria, Russia, Prussia, Britain and a restored France — sought to restore a conservative balance of power, contain France, and suppress the revolutionary and nationalist energies unleashed since 1789. The settlement created the German Confederation, enlarged Prussia, confirmed Russian control of much of Poland, and joined the southern Netherlands (Belgium) to the Dutch crown. Its principles of legitimacy and dynastic restoration, championed by the Austrian statesman Metternich, underpinned the 'Concert of Europe', a framework of great-power consultation intended to manage disputes and preserve stability. The Final Act stipulated that the 1815 boundaries could not be altered without the consent of the signatories. For a generation the settlement largely held, but its disregard for nationalist and liberal aspirations made it the principal target of the revolutionary movements that swept Europe in 1830 and 1848. The Vienna order frames the entire era of nationalism, revolution and unification that followed, and its slow erosion across the nineteenth century shaped the emergence of unified Italy and Germany.
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Empires active in 9 June 1815
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Congress of Vienna and the Concert of EuropeSeptember 1814 – June 1815
- Britain abolishes the transatlantic slave trade25 March 1807
- The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)
- The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)1848–1849
- Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)
- Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the birth of the British Raj1857–1858 (rebellion); Government of India Act 2 August 1858
Also relevant
- Brazil declares independence from Portugal7 September 1822
- President Monroe proclaims the Monroe Doctrine2 December 1823
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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