Introduction (By CoV Editor Fred Schachter): Although wargame grognards who have affinity for the Napoleonic Period, which includes the “Congress of Vienna” Design/Development Team, will likely have ample familiarity with what occurred during the game’s 1813-1814 historical timeframe; reconciling that history to how the game presents it, or allows its alternate history portrayal through options offered players, is another story and hopefully one which readers will appreciate.

Consequently, the purpose of this series of articles is to present GMT’s “Congress of Vienna” game within its historical narrative context. For those unfamiliar with the history behind the game, this piece should at least provide a kind of overview and if it encourages readers to learn more… excellent! 

Additionally, readers may find learning of the game’s design background, why things are portrayed as they are in CoV, by reading Designer Frank Esparrago’s InsideGMT two part article: “Congress of Vienna Designer’s Notes”.

We begin this fascinating narrative in 1805, immediately after Napoleon has won his startling and decisive Battle of Austerlitz victory…

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Overall Background for the Congress of Vienna Game’s Timeframe

The Napoleonic Wars took place during the time Napoleon Bonaparte was French Emperor. That titanic decade long struggle began in 1805 when the Third Coalition was formed between Great Britain, Austria, and Russia against Imperial France; a Coalition decisively defeated by the French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.

Austria surrendered unconditionally and lost numerous territories in Italy and Germany that were ceded to France, like the kingdom of Italy, or transferred to its German satellites. A chastened Russia withdrew to her homeland and Britain was expelled from continental Europe, although its naval victory of Trafalgar allowed it to initiate a period of colonial supremacy and maritime trade dominance… a situation Napoleon found most vexing.

In 1806, aggressive French expansionism and British subsidies got Prussia and Russia to unite against Napoleon (forming the Fourth Coalition); but overwhelming Prussian defeats at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt led to Prussia losing more than half its territory, which passed to French satellites such as Westphalia (formerly Hanover) and the recreation of Poland (Grand Duchy of Warsaw) with a humiliating reduction of the once proud Prussian army which by treaty was dramatically lessened in size and limited in strength. Prussia became a vassal of France and its king Frederick William III was forced to ban his outspoken anti-French leaders such as Blücher and Stein.

However, Russia – a much more powerful enemy – required a harder struggle to subdue during the winter and spring of 1807, but it was defeated by the battles of Eylau and Friedland. Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon signed a treaty of friendship in Tilsit through which Europe was divided into two spheres of influence. Furthermore, Napoleon imposed a continental blockade on all British trade in Europe as a form of economic warfare against Britain… a blockade Russia was expected to comply with.

The following year, Napoleon turned his attentions west and bloodlessly deposed the Kingdom of Spain’s Bourbon dynasty. He placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne with a subsequent invasion of Portugal. This aggression did not go over well with most of the populace and the ensuing uprising of the Spanish people on May 2, 1808, as well as the British support thereof, initiated the Peninsular War, a long bitter and bloody conflict resulting in enormous human losses for France and horrific losses for Spain and Portugal.

However, by the beginning of 1813, an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese force led by Wellington formed an army (100,000 men) located in Portugal with another 120,000 Spanish troops scattered throughout Spain. Compounding this, the French army faced a vicious guerrilla war that made it impossible to concentrate their forces against the Allied armies. In the Peninsula, by 1813, overall initiative was firmly with France’s enemies.

Let’s return to the main theaters of war’s background. Taking advantage of the uprising in Spain; Austria and Britain formed the Fifth Coalition in 1809, resulting in Austria’s defeat at the Battle of Wagram and a British invasion of Holland repelled. Austria surrendered, lost more territories, suffered a huge war indemnity, and her army was severely limited in size. Thereafter, like Prussia, she became Napoleon‘s ally; Metternich was appointed Austria’s new chancellor in charge of improving relations with France.

On June 23, 1812, after progressive erosion of Franco-Russian relations (including Russia’s unsatisfactory compliance with the economic blockade of Britain… at least insofar as France was concerned), Napoleon invaded Russia with a massive force of more than 700,000 men, including troops of his Prussian and Austrian allies.

His goal was to swiftly defeat the Russian army in a decisive battle. However, the Russians evaded battle by withdrawing their army. Their refusal to grant battle near the border meant that this victory never took place and Napoleon‘s pursuing forces across Russian-created scorched earth (to deny the invaders sources of local supply) began to sustain high attrition losses.

When battle was finally joined, the bloody and pyrrhic French victory of Borodino against Kutuzov; it only managed to accomplish a temporary French occupation of Moscow, without getting Tsar Alexander to sue for peace. Frustrated in obtaining an expected settlement through occupying his enemy’s capital, an isolated Napoleon began in mid-October the withdrawal from Moscow, in which a severe Russian winter, lack of supplies & equipment, combined with Cossack and Russian army attacks rapidly decimated surviving Imperial forces. A mere shadow of the mighty Grande Armée returned from whence it began.

At the end of December 1812, all Europe was astonished by the magnitude of Napoleon’s disaster in Russia with more than 500,000 men (dead, missing or disabled), 200,000 horses and 1,000 guns lost. Political concerns of what might transpire in Paris had Napoleon leave his remnant Grande Armée under Murat, although that flamboyant Marshal soon retired to Naples, passing the responsibility to Eugene. Napoleon’s speedy trip to Paris was carried out with the double intention to ending rumors and suppressing the very real danger of a coup in which he had his minister of police taken prisoner; but above all, to carry out the task of raising a new army. It would be needed.

It is this time in history when Congress of Vienna begins!

The Belligerents’ 1813 Campaign Preparations

Napoleon created a new army by resorting to massive recruitment; in addition, units and veteran officers from French Armies in Spain were transferred to France to bolster numerous raw recruits forming the nucleus of a new Grande Armée.

At the end of February 1813, Russia’s forces, weakened from their own 1812 Campaign ordeals, but with high morale, were in East Prussia and at the gates of Poland. In addition, the Prussian General Yorck’s units had been integrated into Wittgenstein’s Russian Army, the Northern Army, and much of Prussia’s population eagerly awaited arrival of Russian troops to begin anew the war against hated France and to avenge their previous humiliating defeats.

For its part, Austria, led by Emperor Francis I, Napoleon‘s father-in-law, declared neutrality when Prince Schwarzenberg, commander-in-chief of the Austrian contingent in the French invasion of Russia, signed a truce with the Russians in January 1813. This was a measure the “power behind the throne” Metternich was fully in favor of. Austria needed peace. Austria needed to revitalize its army. It was not yet ready to consider war in the face of France’s newly resurgent power, nor Russia’s western advances. 

For Britain, the news of the Grande Armée’s destruction presented an opportunity to finally finish French European hegemony. Both Castlereagh (Foreign Minister) and Liverpool (Prime Minister) communicated this possibility to Wellington, the commander-in-chief of the army of Portugal, who was currently on the border between Portugal and Spain preparing for a new Campaign Season. Additionally, Britain began forming the Army of the Scheldt to launch a possible strike at France or the Low Counties across the English Channel; as well as improving the Army of Sicily for potential Mediterranean mischief.

Furthermore, Napoleon’s economic blockade had contributed to the commencement of a foreign war the British would need to contend with in allocating their already strained resources. Britain was fighting, since June 1812, a war with the United States of America (in CoV this war is represented by the War of 1812 Box). Since the majority of the British Army and Navy was fighting in Europe against Napoleon; Britain adopted a defensive strategy in America with operations initially limited to the land border between Canada and the United States, while enforcing a maritime blockade of the eastern American coast. Initial U.S. defeats frustrated their attempts to take over Canada. Similarly, the naval blockade of the United States by the British Navy, which began sporadically in 1812, expanded to block more ports as the war progressed, with ever increasing effectiveness.

This concludes Part 1 of 4 of this historical background series. Should the preceding result in any question regarding the game or the history behind it; kindly use InsideGMT’s feature allowing for such at the conclusion of this piece.

Part 2 of 4 will resume this narrative with the Spring of 1813, when a Full Campaign Game of Congress of Vienna truly gets underway, as Napoleon’s resurgent Grande Armée advances into central Europe to confront his Coalition enemies and the Peninsular War, as well as the War of 1812, rage on.

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[1] Bold type presents the historical characters that appear in the Event card deck and Leader cards. Bold italic type is used to portray the Issues, represented by cardstock counters, that are moved, debated and resolved in the Diplomacy and Decision segments during the game’s Government Phase. All the leaders that appear in CoV have a brief biography in the historical description of the event cards.  These can be viewed in an upcoming InsideGMT article series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna”.