Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was a French diplomat and statesman who served the Revolution, Napoleon, and the restored Bourbon monarchy, helping shape European diplomacy.

Napoleon Bonaparte: French military leader who became emperor and dominated European politics in the early nineteenth century. Talleyrand served as Napoleon’s foreign minister before breaking with his expansionist policies.
Congress of Vienna: The 1814–1815 diplomatic congress that reorganized Europe after Napoleon’s defeat. Talleyrand represented France and used legitimacy to regain a voice among the victorious powers.
Legitimacy (politics): The accepted right of a person or institution to exercise political authority. Talleyrand invoked dynastic legitimacy to make Bourbon France acceptable at Vienna.
Bourbon Restoration in France: The return of the Bourbon dynasty to the French throne after Napoleon’s abdication in 1814. Talleyrand helped arrange the restoration and served the monarchy that followed.
Louis XVIII: King of France from 1814 to 1824, apart from Napoleon’s Hundred Days in 1815. Talleyrand represented France at the Congress of Vienna under Louis XVIII.
Treaty of Paris (1814): The treaty that ended the War of the Sixth Coalition between France and the allied powers. As foreign minister, Talleyrand helped negotiate France’s first settlement after Napoleon’s abdication.
Balance of power (international relations): A distribution of power among states intended to prevent any one state from dominating others. He aligned France with smaller powers to resist Russian and Prussian predominance.
Concert of Europe: A system of cooperation among European great powers established after the Napoleonic Wars. The Vienna settlement Talleyrand helped shape created conditions for this diplomatic order.
Charles X of France: King of France from 1824 until the July Revolution of 1830. Talleyrand’s later career intersected with the Bourbon monarchy he had helped restore.
Treaty of Chaumont: The 1814 alliance treaty through which Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia pledged to continue fighting Napoleon. The allied pact constrained France before Talleyrand negotiated its return to European diplomacy.

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