Napoleon Bonaparte, the enlightened despot whose actions resulted in the convening of this congress, once proclaimed, "The world suffers a lot. Not because the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of the good people." Despite thrusting a twelve year, five month, and four week epoch of war upon the European continent, an epoch that cost Europe two million soldiers and one million civilians, Napoleon was correct in this assessment. Following the absolute victory of the four great powers (the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Russian Empire) over the French Empire in 1814, it was agreed upon, per article thirty-two of the 1814 edition of the Treaty of Paris, that all …show more content…
Sadly, the French army's 600,000 troops outnumbered the Russian Empire's 488,000 troops, and the Russian Empire was consequently forced to adopt a scorched earth policy. The policy entailed the burning of any and all resources that could have been useful to the invaders. Still, the French advanced and the Russians were forced to retreat for an additional three months, but on September 7, 1812 the Russian army stopped running and fought at the small town of Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow. After the bloodiest single day of fighting in the entirety of the Napoleonic Wars, the French unfortunately eked out a narrow victory. The French then advanced on Moscow, but what the French failed to realize was that cities could be rebuilt whereas pride could not. Under the direction of Tsar Alexander I, Moscow was evacuated and burned. With no place to seek shelter and the famed Russian winter setting in, Napoleon began to take heavy casualties and initiated his humiliating retreat back to France. This campaign was the turning point of the Napoleonic Wars and it was the Russian Empire and the Russian Empire alone that heralded the demise of Napoleon's empire. At the conclusion of the War of the Sixth Coalition, which directly followed the failed French invasion of the Russian Empire, the Sixth Coalition victoriously entered Paris. …show more content…
Consequently, the Russian Empire has drafted a resolution that will completely reinvent the balance of power and ensure the perseverance of the conservative monarchist movement in Europe for generations. It should be noted that this plan is divided into two segments: territorial readjustment and organizational readjustment. First, possible significant expansion of Prussia and Austria at the detriment of smaller Germanic states poses a monumental threat to the balance of power. Thus, the existing Germanic nations must combine to form four moderately powerful kingdoms that can resist Prussian and Austrian Influence. The first of the four will be the Kingdom of Hanover, which will be a combination of Westphalia, Berg, Hesse, Waldeck, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Kothen, Lippe-Detmold, and Schaumburg-Lippe. The second of the four will be the Kingdom of Swabia, which will be a combination of Baden, Wurttemberg, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Darmstadt, Nassau, and Katzenelnbogen. The third of the four will be the Kingdom of Bavaria, which will be a combination of Bavaria, Wurzburg, Frankfurt, Isenburg, and Lichtenstein. Finally, the last of the four will be the Kingdom of Saxony, which will combine Saxony, Sondersh, Reuss, Sachsen-Coburg, Sachsen-Gotha, Sachsen-Hildburghausen, Sachsen-Meiningen, Sachsen-Weimar, and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Of course, Prussia