Restoration

The great powers (Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia and France, represented by Talleyrand) met in Vienna (November 1 1814) after Napoleon's defeat in order to redraw the political-territorial map. The Congress of Vienna continued even during the Hundred Days, when Napoleon tried to regain power, and concluded in June 1815. The basic principles that the representatives of the great powers and the sovereigns gathered in Vienna tried to assert, with inevitable compromises and agreements that were hard to reach, were the legitimacy of power and the balance of power between nations. Where possible, the Italian states were returned to their legitimate sovereigns, with some significant new developments, above all regarding the termination of the republics of Venice and Genoa. A Lombardy-Venetia Kingdom was created under the control of Austria; the Kingdom of Sardinia regained some territories from Savoy and acquired Genoa; the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily united to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under King Ferdinand I of Bourbon. Austria consolidated its hegemony in Italy, controlling many Italian states directly or via the assignment of power to members of the Imperial family. The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was established on April 7 1815; subsequently the post of viceroy was given to Ranieri of Habsburg, the brother of Austrian Emperor Francis I; the Kingdom's autonomy was extremely limited by Austria and it was heavily taxed. Anti-Austrian resistance was organized by secret sects that were behind the first pro-independence revolts, thus starting the unification process.