The Napoleonic Wars had torn Europe apart, and the peace conference of 1814 was to be held in the continent's grandest city: Vienna. Everyone had an agenda in the postwar world, and spy networks, bitter hatreds, illicit affairs, and tangled alliances ensued.Despite the gravity of the situation, the Hapsburg Emperor of Austria, in opening his splendid rococo palace to the European royals and providing elaborate banquets and lavish entertainments, set the stage for the most extravagant pageantry since the fall of the Roman Empire. Guests were swept up in the dazzling whirlwind of social events-masquerades, hunts, and elaborate dinners-even as maps were being redrawn, rulers reinstated or ousted, and fortunes transferred. Ultimately, the Congress of Vienna ushered in the longest period of peace Europe has ever known. Vienna 1814 is a rich, impeccably researched history of the intrigue and frivolity that would forever mark the Congress of Vienna as the greatest Vanity Fair of all time.
Vienna, 1814
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Leaders from the world's five major diplomatic forces—Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia—convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it the greatest and most lavish party in history, at which delegates would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart. King covers the diplomatic wrangling well, particularly over the fates of Poland, Saxony and the Kingdom of Naples. His greater strength is in depicting the personalities and motivations of the key players, such as Metternich's daring love affair with a baroness and Czar Alexander I's growing reliance on a German mystic. Despite endless parties, the Congress achieved pioneering work in culture and human rights, including Jewish rights and a vote to abolish slavery. Most important, it established alliances that defeated Napoleon's attempt to regain power in 1815 and helped foster a spirit of cooperation that, in some ways, has still not been surpassed. King's fine work is not quite as scholarly as the book it recalls, Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919, but it is more deftly paced and engagingly written. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
“King reveals his talent for narrative flow and portraiture in a biography that will thoroughly inveigle history readers.”
—Booklist
“A teeming…personality-rich panorama of the first truly international peace conference.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating tale that shines light on a unique aspect of the relationship between scholarship and nationalism.”
—Choice
"It would have been more fun to attend the Congress of Vienna than any other political assembly in history. Next best is to immerse yourself in David King's Vienna 1814, which reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively-researched and important story that it tells. There was much frivolousness in the Vienna congress, but it did bring peace to Europe and shape the 19th century; and while the deliberations of the Vienna statesmen took place, the fate of the world hung in the balance."
—David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer
“Deftly paced and engagingly written.”
—Publishers Weekly
“King does a superb job of evoking the bedazzling social scene that served as the backdrop to the Congress of Vienna. This is a worthy contribution to the study of a critical historical event long neglected by historians. It should be in every European history collection.”
—Library Journal, starred review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
—Booklist
“A teeming…personality-rich panorama of the first truly international peace conference.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating tale that shines light on a unique aspect of the relationship between scholarship and nationalism.”
—Choice
"It would have been more fun to attend the Congress of Vienna than any other political assembly in history. Next best is to immerse yourself in David King's Vienna 1814, which reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively-researched and important story that it tells. There was much frivolousness in the Vienna congress, but it did bring peace to Europe and shape the 19th century; and while the deliberations of the Vienna statesmen took place, the fate of the world hung in the balance."
—David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer
“Deftly paced and engagingly written.”
—Publishers Weekly
“King does a superb job of evoking the bedazzling social scene that served as the backdrop to the Congress of Vienna. This is a worthy contribution to the study of a critical historical event long neglected by historians. It should be in every European history collection.”
—Library Journal, starred review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Criers of Vive La Roi...Doers of nothing,
By Peter Kaye "Pete" (Bethlehem, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (Hardcover)
Author David King has written a new book about a subject often dismissed as little more than the antecedent to Napoleon's 100 days campaign. Most books written on this topic were written years ago and with a predictable bent. Mr. King's book is both an objective and easily readable book on this subject. He writes in modern English and intersperses interesting historical anecdotes with the nuts-and- bolts diplomatic maneuvers of the nations through their diplomatic representatives.
On the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, it was disappointing to find a number of the books written on that subject merely used material readily available from secondary sources. So, with regard to historical accuracy, I was impressed with Mr. King's diligence shown through the use of original source materials. Mr. King travelled throughout Europe, and actually spoke with the librarians and archivists in the nations which participated in the Congress. His list of notes and sources is nearly 100 pages in length. This produces a picture of the Congress which is developed not just from the official records and notes of the participants, but from the equally important inhabitants of the salons and the shadows. Mr. King makes copious use of the surreptitious communication between the Duchess Sagan and Prince Metternich (discovered in 1949) and the notes of one of Metternich's assistants. Most notable however, are previously unpublished accounts of the police spy network set up by the Austrian Emperor Francis. All of this information could make a narrative of the Congress over-laden with minutiae and prone to drone on and on with endless details of interest only to those wishing to serve in the diplomatic corps. Here, Mr. King diverges from the common narrative and interjects humor and contemporary observations that lighten the mood and facilitate the absorption of the salient facts. It is not often one can laugh out loud while reading about the Congress of Vienna, but Mr. King described the personal dressing regime of Talleyrand in a manner that was truly hilarious. He related descriptions of the participants and their personal idiosyncrasies (Metternich confused "haughtiness for dignity"), and he provides some insights that really add to the already established portraits of the participants. Nonetheless, this is a serious work. He is exacting in his detail and uses established historical facts to refute some popularly held assumptions. Many authors have overlooked the rank duplicity and avarice of the participants of the Congress. Historians are too often eager to heap praise on the first world body to gather in the name of peace; to give credit for the intent. Mr. King does not let the Congress participants off so easily. He allows the reader to form the impression that the aims of members of the Congress were no different than those of the Emperor. They divided up the continent as they saw fit. Instead of the use of armies, they "negotiated" but were never reticent about the threat of military force (i.e. Saxony and Poland). Europe was back to the ways of the Aristocrats; dividing peasant populations for the maximum benefit of the sovereigns. At about 350 pages the book is an enjoyable read and provides satisfying detail in its vivid portrait of the days and nights of the Congress of Vienna. The members of which, danced, ate, and made love, but never actually managed to officially convene.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The First Summit,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (Hardcover)
Based on the Amazon reviews, "Vienna 1814" has raised some unexpected passions, given that it's an account of events almost two centuries past. David King has produced a solid and well written book that enlivens the story of the Congress of Vienna - and of Napoleon's hundred days - for the modern reader.
The title, homage to Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, about the Peace conference that followed the First World War, is somewhat misleading. The Congress of Vienna never officially opened; rather, the world's leading statesmen of the time - Austria's Prince Metternich, France's Charles Talleyrand, Russia's Czar Alexander and Britain's Lord Castlereigh and the Duke of Wellington, and many others - have spent the summer and autumn of 1814, and the winter and spring of 1815 in Vienna. There they have quarreled, argued and negotiated - but also danced, drank and fornicated - and shaped the future of Europe. David King tells with equal ease both the social and the political tales of Vienna in those months. He narrates his heroes in the stateroom and in the ballroom, in love and war, in work and play. This is both an advantage and a weakness of the narrative. On the one hand, King captures the spirit of the Congress - the balls and masquerades, the splendor, the gossip - and allows the reader to feel some of what the protagonists must have felt. On the other hand, the love lives of the Rich and Famous of the 19th century are not nearly as exciting to the modern reader as they were to the contemporary observer. Did the Duchess Sagan end up in the arms of her longing prince Metternich? Do you really care? For those who are, like me, interested in political history, the diplomatic angle of the gathering is the most interesting. Although the Congress dealt with a series of issues - from the abolition of the slave trade to the emancipation of the Jews - its focus was on the redrawing of the map of Europe given the shock administered to it by the Napoleonic Wars. Three issues were of particular importance: The Fates of Poland, Saxony, and the Kingdom of Naples. In Poland, the Russians wanted to create a (theoretically independent but realistically) puppet state. The Prussians eyed the Kingdom of Saxony and wanted to annex it. The two powers agreed to back each other's claims, to the detriment of the other Europeans countries, particularly Britain and France, who feared the increase in the countries' power. The Kingdom of Naples was a problem as it has been ruled by Joachim Murat. Napoleon's brother in law and former general. None of the powers felt particularly happy about keeping a creature of Bonaparte's in power - but no one felt like starting a war to get rid of him, either. The problems of Saxony and Poland ended in compromise - both Russia and Prussia got some of what they have wanted, but not everything. The Polish puppet state was smaller than the Czar had initially wanted, but it was enough. The Kingdom of Saxony, albeit in a reduced state, regained its independence, with Prussia taking part of its territory, as well as other territories in Germany. The Murat problem would only be resolved with a larger crisis - the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Corsican Emperor, having been exiled to the small Mediterranean island of Elba in early 1814, has left the island after 9 months and 21 days. After landing in France, he made his way to Paris. The population and the army, sick of the unpopular King Louis XVIII, clung to him. He took over Paris "without firing a shot". Europe was at war again. King's narration of the Waterloo campaign, and of the battle of minds between Napoleon and Wellington is masterly. The chapters on the campaign are unputtdownable, and "Vienna 1814" offers the first description of a battle in which I did not feel the absence of maps. It is amazingly tense, even though we know how it all ends. After his defeat, Napoleon faced a rebellion in Paris. Rather than storm his own capital, he abdicated again. During his brief return, Murat had tried and failed to conquer Italy. The Austrians thus disposed of him and of the dilemma of the Kingdom of Naples. King's fascinating story ends with a story of the rest of his heroes' lives, and with a short reflection on the consequences and significance of the Congress of Vienna. This is, unfortunately, the least satisfactory aspect of his book. Three of the most important elements of 19th and 20th century European history - the long peace of 1815 to 1914, the increase in Prussia's power, and the creation of a British French alliance - arguably originated in, or at least were influenced by - the Congress. How did that happen? Could things have gone differently, and should they have? King's answers are more descriptive than analytic. That aside, Vienna 1814 is an extremely well written book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in European History or the Napoleonic Wars.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The dancing Congress,
By
This review is from: Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (Hardcover)
The Congress of Vienna, which met to parcel up the European territories scrambled by Napoleon's conquests, didn't appear to do an awful lot of work, according to this well-written book. It wasn't called "The Dancing Congress" for nothing, because it appears that every night there was some type of festivity. Considering all of the frivolity involved, it's amazing that any real work was done, and yet the Europe that the Congress established resisted a universal war for almost the next 100 years. That in itself is a remarkable achievement! The book has a breezy style and is easy to digest. My one quibble, and the reason this review has only four stars, is the lack of maps that might have given a better perspective on why there were so many problems with national boundaries. Other than that, the book was a very informative read, and I enjoyed it very much.
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