Treaty of Paris 1815

The Treaty of Paris of 1815, commonly known as the Second Treaty of Paris, was signed on 20 November 1815 following the final defeat and abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. It brought a definitive end to the Napoleonic Wars and imposed far harsher conditions on France than the earlier Treaty of Paris of 1814. The treaty reflected the determination of the victorious Seventh Coalition to prevent any future resurgence of French revolutionary or imperial power and to stabilise Europe through a durable balance of power.

Historical Context and the Hundred Days

After the relatively moderate settlement of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba in February 1815. He landed in France and entered Paris on 20 March, beginning the period known as the Hundred Days, during which he briefly restored the First French Empire. King Louis XVIII fled the country, and European powers rapidly reassembled their forces in response.
Napoleon’s renewed rule ended with the decisive defeat of French forces by the Seventh Coalition at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. He abdicated for a second time on 22 June and was subsequently exiled to Saint Helena. Louis XVIII returned to Paris and resumed the throne on 8 July 1815, marking the second restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. These events shaped the punitive character of the peace settlement that followed.

Parties to the Treaty

The treaty was concluded between France and the four principal powers of the Seventh Coalition:

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• Austrian Empire
• Kingdom of Prussia
• Russian Empire

Rather than a single multilateral document, four parallel treaties were drawn up, each between France and one of the Allied powers. All four treaties were signed on the same day, 20 November 1815, and contained identical provisions. The language of all treaties was French, which remained the lingua franca of diplomacy in early nineteenth-century Europe.
For Great Britain, the treaty was signed by Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. France was represented by Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, who served as Prime Minister under Louis XVIII. Parallel signatures were provided by representatives of Austria, Prussia, and Russia.

Territorial Provisions

The territorial clauses of the 1815 treaty were significantly more severe than those of 1814. France was reduced to the borders it had possessed on 1 January 1790, reversing nearly all territorial expansions achieved during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Although France was allowed to retain certain enclaves, including the Comtat Venaissin, the County of Montbéliard, and the former Republic of Mulhouse, it lost a number of strategically important areas. These included:

• Landau
• The Saarlouis exclave
• Several communes in the Pays de Gex, including Pregny-Chambésy, Collex-Bossy, Grand-Saconnex, Vernier, Meyrin, and Versoix

These Swiss-border communes were ceded to the Republic of Geneva to ensure territorial continuity with the rest of Switzerland. The territorial settlement reflected Allied concerns about French security threats along its eastern and northern frontiers.

Financial Indemnities and Reparations

One of the most burdensome aspects of the treaty was the imposition of a massive financial indemnity. France was required to pay 700 million francs to the Allied powers over a period of five years. This represented a sharp contrast with the 1814 treaty, which had merely required France to honour debts incurred by the Napoleonic regime.
The indemnity was regulated by a detailed convention on pecuniary compensation. Payments were to be made in equal daily instalments beginning on 1 December 1815, amounting to approximately 383,251 francs per day. To guarantee payment, France issued negotiable treasury assignations payable to bearer and backed these obligations with funds inscribed in the general ledger of public debt.
The financial settlement placed considerable strain on the French economy but was designed to ensure compliance with the treaty and to compensate the Allies for the prolonged costs of war.

Military Occupation of France

To enforce the treaty and to prevent renewed instability, France was subjected to a Coalition military occupation. Up to 150,000 Allied troops were stationed in parts of eastern and northern France, extending from the English Channel to the Swiss border. France was required to bear the full cost of maintaining these forces.
The occupation was authorised for a maximum of five years, but under the command of the Duke of Wellington it was deemed necessary for only three. Following France’s compliance with the treaty’s financial and political obligations, Allied troops withdrew in 1818, a process formalised at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The occupation served a dual purpose: it guaranteed the payment of indemnities and reassured neighbouring states against the risk of renewed French revolution or military aggression.

Political and Constitutional Aims

The treaty explicitly reaffirmed the legitimacy of the Bourbon Restoration and the authority of King Louis XVIII. It sought to consolidate the political order re-established in France under the Charter of 1814, a constitutional document that granted limited civil liberties while preserving monarchical authority.
The signatories emphasised their intention to maintain royal authority and to repudiate the revolutionary principles associated with the French Revolution and Napoleon’s rule. In this sense, the treaty was not only a peace settlement but also a conservative political statement aligned with the broader aims of post-war European diplomacy.

The Quadruple Alliance and European Diplomacy

On the same day as the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia renewed the Quadruple Alliance. This separate agreement committed the powers to continued cooperation and introduced the concept of peacetime congresses as a mechanism for maintaining European stability.
This system, often referred to as the Concert of Europe, was inspired by the Congress of Vienna, which had concluded earlier in June 1815. The Treaty of Paris of 1815, together with the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, became part of the public law governing European international relations, excluding the Ottoman Empire.

Provisions on the Slave Trade

An additional article appended to the treaty addressed the issue of the slave trade. It reaffirmed the Declaration of the Powers on the Abolition of the Slave Trade issued in February 1815 and committed the contracting governments to take, without delay, the most effective measures for its complete and definitive abolition.
While this provision did not immediately abolish slavery itself, it represented a significant moral and diplomatic commitment and aligned the treaty with broader humanitarian developments in international law.