In September 1814, with Napoleon exiled to Elba and a Bourbon king installed once more on the throne of France, rulers and diplomats from virtually every European state and principality assembled in Vienna, capital of a diminished but still formidable Habsburg Empire, summoned by the victorious Allies to help settle political and territorial issues resulting from a quarter century of revolutionary and military upheaval.

This chapter offers only the barest sketch of the Congress of Vienna and the events that framed it. What took place in 1813–1815 among Napoleon's former allies and enemies – often one and the same – reflected a bewildering tangle of issues, interests, and personalities defying brief description. Nevertheless, the chapter's purpose is not to narrate that convoluted history in detail. Rather, it seeks through an examination of the Congress and what followed to address a question with more contemporary relevance: How did those who gathered in Vienna from September 1814 through June 1815 manage despite daunting obstacles to negotiate, still more actually implement, a settlement that effectively prevented great power conflict in Europe for nearly forty years and contained it for another sixty years thereafter?