The Congress of Vienna

On September 1, 1814 the Ambassadors of the major European powers met in Vienna. Their aim was to insure the Peace that had been established in the Treaty of Paris on May 30, 1814 (the peace concluding Napoleon’s run amuck thru Europe). Representing Austria was Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, the United Kingdom was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh, then by Duke Wellington, Prussia by Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, France by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand and Russia by Count Nesselrode and Tsar Alexander I. Think of this as the “European Dream Team” of the day.

They fussed and fretted, schemed, made deals in the “back room”, and in other ways tried to insure the order that would keep their respective monarchies in place, and hopefully eliminate the bloodshed that was experienced at the hand of Napoleon and his Grand Armee.

Meetings were conducted in Vienna thru June 9, 1815. Meetings were both formal and informal, and it was in the more social interaction that many gains were made. The painting above depicts Prince Metternich entertaining the Lord Viscount Castlereagh and the English Delegation in the Vienna Woods.

Among the notable acheivements of the Congress of Vienna was the formal recognition of the recipes for both a “Nesselrode”,  a “Napoleon” & “Beef Wellington”. A recipe for a “Castlereagh” consisting of a type of mincemeat pie without a crust; but coated in a chocolate sherry sauce, was also recognized… But it fell out of favour because it created a mess and no one could spell it, or pronounce it & only the English liked it. “Castlereagh” stopped appearing on menus by the time of the Crimean War.