Congress of Vienna

This week the essential question was "What should people in power do when their power is threatened?" In class we learned about the members of the congress. We learned about the motives and decisions of each person. Kelmens Von Metternich of Austria was the host of the Congress. Napoleon wanted peace with Metternich because he lost all his troops in Russia. Metternich agreed on having peace between them. There was just one catch, Napoleon had to give up his conquest and return to the original boundaries of France. Napoleon refused. He even threatened to destroy Vienna if Austria   Started a war against France. And when he escaped exile he kept to his word. So he continued his conquest until his final defeat on June 8, 1815 at the battle of Waterloo. In class we pretended to be the people of the congress and made decisions about how we would handle things. We were given many options and we were trusted to choose the option we would have carried out if we were in charge. Then we had to explain our reasoning as to why we picked that one. After the class guessed and explained he found out which really took place during the real Congress of Vieena.

Another key concept was The Holy Alliance was initiated by Czar Alexander of Russia. During this time Monarchs had divine right of rule. Also they believed that any revoution was treason and was taken as you fighting against God. All countries involved with Congress of Vienns participated but the only one that didn't was England. During this they ensured everyone that the next ruler of France would not be "another Napoleon." Also that they would not be able to access that much power like Napoleon. 

The Congress of Vienna in the end did do the right thing by everyone. They helped everyone rebalance and calm back down after the chaos of Napoleon. The representatives of the congress did a good job at separating their personal feeling toward what they were doing and just got things done.