The German Confederation was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806 in reaction to the Napoleonic Wars.
Frontispiece of the Acts of the Congress of Vienna
Monarchs of the member states of the German Confederation (with the exception of the Prussian king) meeting at Frankfurt in 1863
Austrian chancellor and foreign minister Klemens von Metternich dominated the German Confederation from 1815 until 1848.
The University of Berlin in 1850
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Participants were representatives of all European powers and other stakeholders. The Congress was chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, and was held in Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815.
Frontispiece of the Acts of the Congress of Vienna
Architect of the Congress System, Prince von Metternich, chancellor of the Austrian Empire from 1821 until the Revolution in 1848. Painting by Lawrence (1815)
Talleyrand proved an able negotiator for the defeated French.
Marquis of Labrador, Spanish Ambassador to the Congress of Vienna – Painting by Vicente López Portaña
