Congress of Vienna: The Treaty Signed at Midnight (2026)

Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815: how Metternich, Castlereagh, Talleyrand and Tsar Alexander I rebuilt Europe after Napoleon, why the great assembly never met, the spies, the Poland–Saxony crisis, Napoleon's escape from Elba, the Final Treaty of 9 June 1815, and what still survives in 2026. The Final Treaty of the Congress of Vienna ran to 121 articles and 17 attached documents. At the final sitting on 19 June 1815, Britain's envoy Lord Clancarty insisted on reading it all through again and kept the others waiting until midnight. The treaty redrew the map of Europe, created the German Confederation and recognised a perpetual Swiss neutrality, and a few of its rules, carried forward by later treaties, still work today: the Rhine commission, the order of ambassadors, and the neutrality the Swiss voted on again on 27 September 2026. Chapters 0:00 Congress of Vienna: the story in brief 2:02 Europe after Napoleon: the road to Vienna 5:25 Metternich, Castlereagh, Talleyrand and the Tsar 8:33 A congress that never met: how it really worked 11:36 The Congress dances: balls and Beethoven 15:16 Spies at the Congress of Vienna 18:40 Poland and Saxony: the crisis of 1814 23:31 Napoleon escapes from Elba (1815) 26:02 The Final Treaty of the Congress of Vienna 31:04 Waterloo and the second Peace of Paris 33:44 The Concert of Europe: the century after 35:27 Judging the Congress of Vienna: historians 38:07 The Congress of Vienna today (2026) 41:05 Recap and sources Every figure comes from the sources below. Where sources differ, we say so. Sources • Austria-Forum: Märzrevolution • Beethoven-Haus Bonn: Der glorreiche Augenblick, op. 136 • CCNR: Who we are; 140th anniversary of the Mannheim Act (2008) • Etymonline: congress • Federal Chancellery of Switzerland: Neutrality Initiative (2026) • Fournier, August: Die Geheimpolizei auf dem Wiener Kongress (1913) • GHDI: German Federal Act (1815) • Habsburger.net: The Carousel in the Winter Riding School (1814) • Haiti: Act of Independence (1804) • Hertslet, Edward: The Map of Europe by Treaty, vol. 1 (1875) • Jarrett, Mark: The Congress of Vienna and its Legacy (2013) • Kissinger, Henry A.: A World Restored (1957) • Kwan, Jonathan: The Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815, Historical Journal (2017) • La Garde-Chambonas: Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna (1843; tr. 1902) • Memoirs of Prince Metternich, vol. 1 (1880) • Napoleon-Empire.org: 1815 timeline; Treaty of Fontainebleau • Olive Press: What's the big deal with Olivenza? (2024) • Schroeder, Paul W.: The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848 (1994) • SRF: Abstimmung vom 27. September (2026) • swissinfo.ch: Swiss neutrality initiative defeated (2026) • Memoirs of the Prince de Talleyrand, vols. 2–3 (1891) • UNESCO Austria: Final Document of the Congress of Vienna (Memory of the World) • UN Treaty Collection: Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) • Vick, Brian E.: The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon (2014) • Webster, C. K.: The Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815 (1919) • Wien Geschichte Wiki: Charles Joseph de Ligne • Wien Museum Online Sammlung • Wikipedia: 2026 Swiss referendums • Wikisource: Declaration at the Congress of Vienna (1815) • Woehrling, Jean-Marie: speech on the CCNR (2011) • Zamoyski, Adam: Rites of Peace (2007) Image credits Rijksmuseum (CC0); Royal Collection Trust and other holders of public-domain paintings by Thomas Lawrence, François Gérard, Joseph Willibrord Mähler, Joseph Beaume and William Sadler, via Wikimedia Commons; Library of Congress; Bodleian Libraries; Paris Musées (CC0); Bibliothèque nationale de France (CC0); Wien Museum (CC0 and CC BY 4.0, photo Birgit and Peter Kainz); Thomas Ledl, Flocci Nivis, Diego Delso and August Geyler (CC BY-SA 4.0); map: Europe after the Congress of Vienna (1905, public domain). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. All other drawings and animation: Historyattica. Music: original score made for this channel. Credits Research and script: Tim Hayes Fact checking: Emily Bennett Visual production: Thomas Collins Executive producer: Historyattica This video is made solely with the purpose of spreading awareness and educating the viewers. The information demonstrated and explained in the video are true to the best of our team's knowledge and research. Nevertheless, if any error is committed, the same was never intended to be and is absolutely unintentional.