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Congress of Vienna Simulation LETTER FROM THE DAIS Dear Delegates, My name is Natasha Thondavadi, and I am excited to welcome you to YMUN XXXVIII and the Congress of Vienna simulation. I’ll be acting as your moderator for the conference, along with fellow dais member Grayson Clary, and I hope to get to know all of you over the course of our weekend together. First, let us introduce ourselves. I’m a sophomore from Barrington, IL in Jonathan Edwards College, the oldest (and best) of Yale’s residential colleges. I’m a Classics major and just love languages (like Tamil! You’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s awesome. All great viral YouTube videos can probably be traced back to Tamil movies). In addition to YMUN, I’m the Architecture reporter for the Yale Daily News and work on a few other (read: nerdier) publications. Grayson Clary is from Rye, NY and is seriously as preppy as his name sounds – yes, you can make fun of him for it. Grayson enjoys clothes from Vineyard Vines, playing squash, and analyzing the intensities of life by watching TV shows. He’s also a sophomore in JE (I know! So lucky.) We’re also happy to introduce our great staffers, Danny Roza and Evelyn Robertson. Danny is a freshman in Silliman College from Hagerstown, Maryland. He is undecided on his major, but is interested in Chinese, Biology, and European history. In addition to staffing YMUN, he is a student guide at the Yale Center for British Art and a member of the Independent Party of the Yale Political Union. Evelyn is a freshman in Trumbull College and is considering a major in linguistics, but also enjoys art classes. Her hobbies include ballet and reading fantasy novels. Now that you’ve heard all about us, I want to emphasize how incredibly interesting the enormous potential of this committee as an exciting and significant simulation. It was at the Congress of Vienna that Europe as we know it was created, and the political ramifications still reverberate today. As delegates in this committee, you have the potential to completely change those decisions, and thereby change the landscape of European history. There could be no France! There could be no Germany! And I hope that when January 19th rolls around, you’ll be as excited as we are. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to contact us. See you at YMUN! Natasha Thondavadi ([email protected]) Grayson Clary ([email protected]) Danny Roza ([email protected]) Evelyn Robertson ([email protected]) CONGRESS OF VIENNA 2 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE Taking place from September of 1814 to June of 1815, the Congress of Vienna was a tremendously significant gathering of representatives from across Europe. The objective of the meeting was to give Europe – ravaged by years of war, and reeling from the dissolution of power structures that had been in place for centuries – a chance at establishing a clear structure that could preserve peace and lead to a stable balance of power among the various European nations. The immediate backdrop for the Congress was the unrest incited by the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire – Napoleon’s initial surrender in May 1814 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris brought an end to a near quarter-century of ceaseless strife on the Continent, creating the opportunity for the Sixth Coalition (the countries allied against Napoleon) to convene a session to broker a more lasting peace. The timeline of this committee begins with the inception of the Congress, soon after Napoleon’s presumable defeat, right when the delegates have begun discussions both formal and informal to decide what to do with the Europe he has left in his wake. The Congress hopes to define Europe’s new power structure by settling all residual geopolitical issues involving France, parts of Germany, and other regions throughout Europe, many of which are not united into clear states, lack clear political structures, and have porous and undefined borders. All of the European powers – major and minor – have chosen their most skilled diplomats to attend the Congress and have invested them with the power to negotiate and authorize treaties of immense importance. Home governments are waiting anxiously to find out what settlements are produced and to see who will “win” and who will “lose” the negotiations, with huge amounts of land and power at stake. CONGRESS OF VIENNA 3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Congress of Vienna occurred as 1774. Second to the king came the clergy, or the result of centuries of complex European the First Estate; then the nobles, or the history, largely centered on France and Second Estate; and finally the remaining Germany. France accepted and rejected French subjects, or the Third Estate. revolutionary government after government before being swept up in Napoleon’s The Third Estate paid the taxes that charismatic expansionism. Germany, a kept the state running, since both the collection of loosely bound self-governing Catholic Church and the nobles were tax- units, faced years of warfare both internally exempt. All three groups were included in and against the other European powers. It the Estates-General, France's consultative was this backdrop that set the stage for the body, but the king had not convened the Congress of Vienna, and these events that assembly for more than 100 years. must be kept in mind to establish the context in which our committee will take place and Many attempt to redraw the map of Europe. things contributed to the downfall of Historical Context for France the ancien régime: among them were Enlightenment The French Revolution was a major thought, the turning point in European history that increasing transformed France from a monarchy to a criticism of republic. This social, political, and economic absolute monarchy upheaval began modestly and was meant to and an interest in limit royal absolutism. Yet as the transformation continued, the republican ideals. Louis XVI revolutionaries became more violent and Writers such as extreme in their aims. At first a campaign Voltaire, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques for constitutional monarchy, the revolution Rousseau critiqued the monarchy and the metamorphosed into ten years of turmoil Catholic Church and examined democratic that resulted in six consecutive governments, forms of government. In 1789, in the the execution of the king, and finally, a aftermath of the American Revolution, dictatorship that set the stage for the France was laboring under a national debt of Napoleonic Era. approximately 4 billion livres. Nearly 50% of people in urban areas were unemployed, THE ANCIEN REGIME and the lower classes were aggravated by their lack of power in government – and The ancien régime, a phrase which indeed, by a perceived lack of say in all first appeared during the revolution, refers to aspects of society, while continuing to the structure of France before the French shoulder a crippling tax burden. Revolution. At the top of the regime's hierarchy sat King Louis XVI, an absolute As a result of the social turbulence monarch who had succeeded to the throne in and growing financial trouble, Louis XVI CONGRESS OF VIENNA 4 called the Estates-General to assembly for Frenchmen marched from Paris to Versailles the first time since 1614. on October 5. The marchers forced the royal family back to Paris and confined them. On THE NATIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE October 21, the National Assembly declared ASSEMBLIES martial law. The assembly began in May 1789, The National Assembly passed a but the Third Estate and some other series of liberal reforms, among these supporters split from the Estates-General on abolishing the nobility and reorganizing the June 17, 1789. They declared themselves the French bureaucracy. Louis was soon forced French National Assembly and set to work to accept the new Constitution of 1791 that on creating a national constitution. provided for a limited monarchy. The Constitution also created a new legislature to Rumors grew replace the National Assembly. On October about an 1, 1791, the unicameral French Legislative upper class Assembly convened. conspiracy to do away with The Legislative Assembly's single the Third year in power was characterized by friction Estate, and as between Louis XVI, who could veto any law soldiers passed by the assembly, and the majority of representatives who were wary of the king's Storming of the Bastille gathered intentions. Meanwhile, the revolution had around Paris, begun to concern the other powers in the angry crowd raided buildings, looking Europe, as revolutionary supporters, known for weapons during a three-day frenzy. On as Jacobins, were growing in number. July 14, the mob stormed the Bastille, the armory-prison that had become a symbol of In April 1792, Louis XVI, hoping the tyranny of the ancien régime. After that war with Austria and Prussia would taking over the building, the crowd result in a French defeat and allow him to slaughtered the overseers and freed the reestablish his lost authority, asked the inmates. Legislative Assembly to declare war. The assembly, hoping to unify the nation with Outside of Paris, peasant uprisings military victory abroad, acquiesced. France known as the Great Fear coincided with the went to war against Austria and Prussia, the urban revolution. On August 4, prompted by first in a series of conflicts known as the the rioting of the common people, the French Revolutionary Wars. National Assembly abolished serfdom, old feudal privileges, and ecclesiastical tithing. Upset by several defeats in the war The National Assembly made into law the and suspecting Louis of betrayal, new civil equality on August 26 with the revolutionaries began demanding the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the overthrow of the monarchy.
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