Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/372

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352 VIENNA ing scenery. The heights of the Leopoldsberg and Kahlenberg (see KAHLENBERG) command a view extending to the Styrian Alps on the south and the Carpathians on the east. The famous gardens of Schonbrunn, the summer residence of the emperor, about 3 m. S. W. of the city, are laid out in the formal style of the last century ; they contain a menagerie and a botanic garden, with an extensive collection of tropical plants. The castle of Laxenburg, 9 m. S. of Vienna, possesses many curious relics of feudalism, and is surrounded by a fine park. Near by is the romantic Bruhl valley, with the ruins of ancient strongholds. A few miles further S. is Baden, with celebrated sul- phur springs, which were known to the Ro- mans. Vienna, originally probably a Celtic settlement, is first mentioned in history, under the name of Vindobona, as a station of the Roman legions in Upper Pannonia. It rose to strategic importance in the 2d century A. D., but was abandoned by the Romans after the incursion of the Huns in the 5th, and was successively occupied by the Longobards and Avars. It was the principal city of the Ost- mark, founded by Charlemagne, and in 1160 became the residence of the dukes of Baben- berg. The crusades contributed to its com- mercial development, and under the early Hapsburg rulers the city attained great pros- perity. In the 15th century .Km-a- Sylvius, afterward Pope Pius II., testifies to the riches of Vienna and the fame of its university. The population was then 50,000. It was captured by Matthias Corvinus in 1485, and heroically defended against Sultan Solyman the Magnifi- cent in 1529. Under Ferdinand I. it became the saat of the German emperors. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was strongly fortified, but its growth was impeded by religious dis- turbances during the thirty years' war, by the frightful ravages of the plague in 1679, and by the second invasion of the Turks in 1683, when the valor of Starhemberg and the timely succor of John Sobieski of Poland saved the city. It was greatly embellished under Leo- pold I., and endowed with institutions of learn- ing by Maria Theresa and Joseph II. A treaty was concluded at Vienna in 1738 between Charles VI. and Louis XV. In 1805 and again in 1809 the city was occupied by the French ; in the latter year the peace of Schonbrunn was negotiated, and in 1814-'15 the congress of Vienna was held. During the revolution- ary movements of 1848 the city was the scene of serious disturbances, and after a rising in October was taken by Windischgrutz. (See AUSTRIA, vol. ii., p. 146.) On Oct. 30, 1864, peace was concluded at Vienna between Aus- tria and Prussia on one side and Denmark on the other. The opening of the exhibition of 1873 coincided with a great financial crisis. It inflicted upon the government a loss of 14,- 866,921 florins, the expenditures amounting to 19,123,270 and the receipts to 4,256,349, ac- cording to official returns of March, 1876. The Congress of Vienna was a conference of the' European powers held after the first fall of Napoleon to carry out the stipulations of the treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, and to re- organize the political system of the continent. Francis of Austria, Alexander I. of Russia, Frederick William III. of Prussia, and the kings of Denmark, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg were present, besides minor princes, and all the Eu- ropean states were represented except Turkey. The foremost diplomatists present were Met- ternich for Austria, Nesselrode for Russia, llardenberg for Prussia, Talleyrand for France, and Castlereagh for England. The preliminary discussions opened in September, 1814, and the general acts were signed on June 9, 1815, those relating to the Germanic confederation having been signed the day before. The main results were as follows : Austria was reinstated in her former possessions except the Spanish Netherlands, and kept Salzburg, Venetia (con- stituting with Lombardy the Lombardo- Vene- tian kingdom), and Dalmatia. Most of the duchy of Warsaw was erected into a heredi- tary kingdom for Alexander I. Prussia recov- ered Posen, and acquired half of Saxony, Swe- dish Pomerania, Westphalia, and important territories west of the Rhine. The republic of Cracow was created, and placed under the protection of Austria, Russia, and Prussia. Norway was confirmed to Sweden as a com- pensation for Finland, ceded to Russia in 1809. Holland, to which the Belgian provinces were united, was recognized as a kingdom under the prince of Orange, who for cessions in Germany received Luxemburg. Hanover was erected into a kingdom, and the two Mecklenburgs, Oldenburg, and Saxe- Weimar were constituted grand duchies. Germany, whose great mass of petty states and free cities had been mostly absorbed, was reconstituted into a confedera- tion. Neufchatel, under Prussian sovereignty, was admitted as a canton of the Swiss confed- eration, and the neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed. The former ruling houses were reinstated in Naples, Sardinia, to which Ge- noa was annexed, Tuscany, and Modena, while Parma was assigned to the ex-empress Maria Louisa. The papal see recovered nearly the whole of its possessions, France retaining Avignon and Venaissin. The latter power was restricted to very nearly the same terri- tory that it had possessed before the revolu- tion. England retained Cape Colony and Mau- ritius, which had belonged respectively to Hol- land and France, as well as Malta and Heligo- land, and relinquished her other conquests. The Ionian islands were declared an independent republic under British protection. The con- clusion of the treaties, which had been delayed both by extravagant festivities and political intrigues, was hastened by the sudden return of Napoleon from Elba. The last coalition against him was immediately formed (March 25, 1815), and a few days after the signing of the treaties the battle of Waterloo was fought.