IV.

Treaties of Paris, 1814 and 1815

From 1799 to 1815 France, under Napoleon Bonaparte (after 1804 Emperor Napoleon I) waged a series of wars, called the Napoleonic Wars, against various European powers. In 1814 he was defeated and forced to abdicate. The Treaty of Paris, signed on May 30, 1814 by France and its seven allied adversaries—Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain—was a lenient one for the defeated nation. France was allowed to retain all the territory it held in Europe as of 1792 and was not required to pay an indemnity. Great Britain returned to France all the French colonies except Tobago, St Lucia, and Mauritius. The Congress of Vienna was called for the resettlement of territories that had been taken by Napoleon in Europe.

Napoleon returned to France on March 1, 1815, in an attempt to regain power. Defeated at Waterloo, he abdicated a second time. A new peace treaty, actually a treaty of alliance, was signed at Paris on November 20, 1815, by Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The boundaries of France were reduced to those of 1790. France was made to pay 700 million francs in war damages and to finance an allied occupation army in France for a maximum of five years. The Treaty of 1814, except for provisions not revoked by the Treaty of 1815, was to continue as binding, as were the territorial arrangements of the Congress of Vienna.