In September 1818 the Plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia assembled in the small town of Aachen. The main reason for the meeting of the European powers was the withdrawal of the occupation army from France, which had been garrisoned after Napoleons final defeat at Waterloo. Consequently, the relation of the four allied powers towards each other, and collectively towards France, had to be deliberated; the treaty of the Quintupelalliance, and a secret treaty between the four allied powers, modified the European power system.
Besides this main point of deliberation other issues of European interest were discussed at Aachen, for example the question of the Slave trade, territorial conflicts in the German Confederation, the status of Jews in the German Confederation or the non-fulfilment of Treaty of Kiel by the Swedish king Charles XIV.
The lecture will focus on the relevance of the Congress of Aachen with regard to the European power system and will contextualize this event within the Viennese System of regular power conferences, starting with the Congress of Vienna and ending with the Congress of Verona.
Venue: The Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Drammensveien 78 (entrance from the east/garden-side), 3rd floor.
Registration by email to Eugenia Blücher: eugenia.bluecher@jus.uio.no