CEVAP:

In March 1814, four major powers of Europe, namely England, Russia, Prussia, and Austria came to an agreement and signed the Treaty of Chaumont to form the coalition that would eventually defeat Napoleon. However, due to its characteristics and the commitments made by the signatories, the treaty amounted to an alliance. The signatories reaffirmed their commitments to the previous agreements and decided not to make a separate peace until all other objectives achieved. These “other objectives” defined in secret articles comprised a settlement of a new European system to restore or replace the older system that was utterly distorted by Napoleon. Article 32 of the Treaty of Chaumont required the convention of a general congress within two months following the signature of the treaty by the plenipotentiaries of the belligerents to regulate the arrangements which were to complete the provisions of the peace treaty signed with France (Mowat,1922: 5). The definite aim of the four major powers was to implement the new conditions agreed upon the post-Napoleonic European political system.