The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the Sixth Coalition, part of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, following an armistice signed on 23 April between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies. The treaty set the borders for France under the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

and restored territories to other nations. It is sometimes called the First Peace of Paris, as another one followed in 1815.

Background

Parties to the treaty

This treaty was signed on 30 May 1814, following an armistice signed on 23 April 1814 between Charles of Bourbon, Count of Artois, as Lieutenant General of the Realm, and the allies. Napoleon had abdicated as Emperor on 6 April, as a result of negotiations at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

. Peace talks had started on 9 May between Talleyrand, who negotiated with the allies of Chaumont on behalf of the exiled Bourbon king

Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 ...

, and the allies. The Treaty of Paris established peace between France and Great Britain, Russia,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, who in March had defined their common war aim in Chaumont. Signatories were: * Talleyrand, for France * Lords Castlereagh,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Cathcart Cathcart (; , )
is an area of

Razumovsky and

Nesselrode The House of Nesselrode is an old German nobility, German noble family originating in the Duchy of Berg. Over the centuries, the family expanded their possessions through marriage with the most powerful families of the region. As a former Imperi ...

for Russia * Prince Metternich and Count Stadion for Austria * Baron Hardenberg and

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...

for Prussia. The Treaty was also signed by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and Sweden while

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

ratified shortly after in July. The allied parties did not sign a common document, but instead concluded separate treaties with France allowing for specific amendments.

New borders of France

A map of the Eastern boundary of France to illustrate Article III in The First Peace of Paris 30th May 1814

The allies had agreed to reduce France to her 1792 borders and restore the independence of her neighbors after

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's defeat.

Plan for Congress of Vienna

In addition to the cessation of hostilities, the treaty provided a rough draft of a final settlement, which according to article 32 was to be concluded within the next two months at a congress involving all belligerents of the Napoleonic Wars. This provision resulted in the

Congress of Vienna 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, Napol ...

, held between September 1814 and June 1815. The Allies declared that their aim was to establish a lasting peace based on a just distribution of forces among the powers, and considered it not necessary to impose harsh conditions on France as she had been restored to a monarchy. Thus the preliminary conditions already agreed in Paris were moderate for France so as not to disturb the re-enthronement of the returned Bourbon king: France's borders of 1 June 1792 were confirmed, and in addition, she was allowed to retain

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

, the

County of Montbéliard The Princely County of Montbéliard (; ), was a prince, princely Graf, county of the Holy Roman Empire seated in the city of Montbéliard in the present-day Franche-Comté region of France. From 1444 onwards it was held by the House of Württembe ...

, part of

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

with

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

and

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...

, also

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

and the

Comtat Venaissin The (; ; 'County of Venaissin'), often called the for short, was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791, in what is now the region of Southern France. The region was an enclave within the Kingdom of France, comprising the area aroun ...

as well as artifacts acquired during the war, while on the other hand she had to cede several colonies. To distinguish this agreement from a second treaty of Paris, concluded on 20 November 1815 as one of the treaties amending Vienna, the treaty of 30 May 1814 is sometimes referred to as the First Peace of Paris.

Territories of other nations

The treaty reapportioned several territories amongst various countries. Most notably, France retained all European territory that it possessed on 1 January 1792 and also reacquired many of the territories lost to Britain during the war. They included

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

( Art. IX), which had been ceded to Sweden by Britain when it entered the coalition. In return, Sweden was compensated 24 million francs, which gave rise to the Guadeloupe Fund. The only exceptions were

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, all of which were handed over to British control. Britain kept sovereignty over the island of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

( Art. VII). The treaty returned to Spain the territory of

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, which had been transferred to France by the 1795

Peace of Basel The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France during the French Revolution (represented by François de Barthélemy). *The first was with Prussia (represented by Karl August von Hardenberg) on 5 April; *The s ...

( Art. VIII). The Peace of Basel had implicitly recognised French sovereignty over

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

, which Dessalines later proclaimed independent under the name of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. France did not recognize the independence of Haiti until 1824.J-F. Brière, ''Haïti et la France, 1804–1848: le rêve brisé'', Paris, Karthala 2008; in French This treaty formally recognized the independence of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

( Art. VI).

House of Bourbon

The treaty recognised the Bourbon monarchy in France, in the person of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

, because the treaty was between Louis XVIII the king of France and the heads of states of the Coalition great powers ( Preamble to the treaty).

Slave trade and slavery

The treaty aimed to abolish the French slave trade in France (but not slavery) over a five-year period ( Additional Art. I). The territories of France were not included in this aim. This aim was also included in the succeeding 1815 treaty, applying to all parties, but with "without loss of time" rather than by a given date.

Aftermath

Several powers, despite the peaceful intentions of the treaty, still feared a reassertion of French power. The Netherlands, now freed from the French empire, asked

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

of the

House of Orange The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of O ...

to be their prince; he accepted in late 1813. This was a first step to what occurred in 1815 during the Congress of Vienna and simultaneously, Napoleon's

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

. In March 1815, the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

was formed, which added the former territory of the low countries that had been ruled by the Austrian Empire to the Netherlands, and had William I as its king. His son William joined the fighting at Waterloo, whose battle site was located in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Though the Dutch initiated their request to William I, the great powers of the Napoleonic wars had made a secret pact to support a strong nation on that border with France with William as its king, in the Eight Articles of London, signed on 21 June 1814. Thus the action by the Dutch had the strong support of Britain and the other signatories of that pact. Many German states had been consolidated by Napoleon, and retained that status after the Treaty of Paris of 1814. Prussia gained territory in western Germany, near the border with France, in a swap with William I of the Netherlands. In Italy, several different political entities were recognized. Following Napoleon's brief return to power and defeat, a new Treaty of Paris was signed the following year.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Alexander Rich, Gisela Gledhill, and Jerzy Kierkuć-Bieliński; (2014) ''Peace Breaks Out! London and Paris in the Summer of 1814'', London: Sir John Soane's Museum, i
print

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paris (1814) 1814 in the Austrian Empire 1814 in France 1814 treaties May 1814 1810s in Paris Peace treaties of Austria Peace treaties of France Peace treaties of Portugal Peace treaties of Prussia Peace treaties of Russia Peace treaties of Spain Peace treaties of Sweden Peace treaties of the United Kingdom Napoleonic Wars treaties Treaties of the Austrian Empire Treaties of the First French Empire Treaties of the Kingdom of Portugal Treaties of the Kingdom of Prussia Treaties of the Russian Empire Treaties of the Spanish Empire Treaties of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway Treaties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922) Louis XVIII George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen Charles X of France War of the Sixth Coalition

1814 Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French gar ...

Treaty 1814