Napoleon embarrassed everyone. Lost. Nobody took territory from France afterwards.  But why not? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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When you start a major European conflict and get defeated, you'll often lose territory as a result.

There was soon a lot of warring, 1 Napoleon, and just over 25 years later, it looked like this.

And Given the destruction and embarrassment that Europe's other powers suffered at the hands of France, why wasn't it punished more?

Why didn't the victorious allies carve up France?

So as many of you will know, France expanded rapidly in the wake of the French Revolution and peaked at this size.

Naturally, once Napoleon was dealt with, France lost most of its gains but was allowed to keep a few conquests.

After his second defeat, France lost these territories further.

The French border regions were then occupied whilst the Congress of Vienna, called by the victorious powers to decide what was to be done with France and her allies, was ongoing.

It was decided that France wouldn't be dismembered or have large swathes of land taken from it and given to anyone else.

This wasn't exactly a unanimous decision.

This included Prussia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Savoy and to a lesser extent Austria, whereas the other powers were in the let's not be hasty camp.

This included the United Kingdom, Russia and unsurprisingly, France itself.

And this division was something that the French representatives led by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand were able to use to France's advantage.

Its original hopes were for this, but Talleyrand was able to convince the British and the Russians to pressure Prussia to accept these lands along the Rhine, which notably included this piece of France proper.

This kept the Russians and the Austrians happy, gave Prussia some very rich land to the West, and was exactly what the French wanted.

Why willingly give up some of your own land?

Because the French were convinced the peace wouldn't last and that these lands would be hard for Prussia to maintain.

Meaning that in a future war France could win them for itself.

This never happened but it was an interesting idea.

The Netherlands and Savoy were also countries which wanted extra lands from France.

The Netherlands had hoped for this, but got told that their annexation of the former Austrian Netherlands and rule over Luxembourg would be enough, so shut up.

Savoy, despite not doing anything, was given this land at the behest of Austria, who was busy trying to create an Italian confederation much like the German 1, which conveniently it would also run.

Except that the whole Italian confederation thing fell flat, but it was at least a good effort.

Everyone went along with this because the Netherlands and Savoy were supposed to be mid-sized buffer states to keep France contained, And so the only other state that wanted French land was Switzerland, which had hoped to be given all of this.

They only got this, connecting Geneva to the rest of the country.

And the reason was that they had no major powers on their side since none of them would gain anything from an expanded Switzerland.

Well, for the UK, Russia, and to an extent Austria, there was 1 primary concern.

The balance of power and maintaining monarchical government in Europe.

Austria wanted a strong France to counter Prussia and Britain.

Russia wanted a strong France to counter Prussia, Austria and Britain and Britain just didn't want to have to deal with the continent anymore.

And carving up France meant that no 1 would get what they wanted.

Because if France lost a lot of territory, its recently restored monarchy would probably be overthrown again.

It's also the reason why during Napoleon's return the Coalition didn't declare war on France, but on Napoleon.

The restored King of France was an ally against Napoleonic and Republican ideals, and thus stealing all of his land afterwards wouldn't have been cool.

In the end, it was the coalition's suspicions of each other that meant that France needed to remain strong and unified, meaning that unlike in the wake of other great wars in Europe, major territorial losses were off the table.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons...

Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobien, Miss Isette, Matthew Shipley, Aaron the White, Corey Turner, The McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Paskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, and Charles the First.


Speaker 0: When you start a major European conflict and get defeated, you'll often lose territory as a result. In 1789, France looked like this. There was soon a lot of warring, 1 Napoleon, and just over 25 years later, it looked like this. Not a whole lot different. And Given the destruction and embarrassment that Europe's other powers suffered at the hands of France, why wasn't it punished more?

Why didn't the victorious allies carve up France? So as many of you will know, France expanded rapidly in the wake of the French Revolution and peaked at this size. Naturally, once Napoleon was dealt with, France lost most of its gains but was allowed to keep a few conquests. That was until Napoleon returned. After his second defeat, France lost these territories further.

The French border regions were then occupied whilst the Congress of Vienna, called by the victorious powers to decide what was to be done with France and her allies, was ongoing. It was decided that France wouldn't be dismembered or have large swathes of land taken from it and given to anyone else. This wasn't exactly a unanimous decision. The coalition powers fell into 2 groups. The first was the Punish France camp.

This included Prussia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Savoy and to a lesser extent Austria, whereas the other powers were in the let's not be hasty camp. This included the United Kingdom, Russia and unsurprisingly, France itself. And this division was something that the French representatives led by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand were able to use to France's advantage. Prussia gained this from the Congress. Its original hopes were for this, but Talleyrand was able to convince the British and the Russians to pressure Prussia to accept these lands along the Rhine, which notably included this piece of France proper.

This kept the Russians and the Austrians happy, gave Prussia some very rich land to the West, and was exactly what the French wanted. So why? Why willingly give up some of your own land? Because the French were convinced the peace wouldn't last and that these lands would be hard for Prussia to maintain. Meaning that in a future war France could win them for itself.

This never happened but it was an interesting idea. The Netherlands and Savoy were also countries which wanted extra lands from France. The Netherlands had hoped for this, but got told that their annexation of the former Austrian Netherlands and rule over Luxembourg would be enough, so shut up. Savoy, despite not doing anything, was given this land at the behest of Austria, who was busy trying to create an Italian confederation much like the German 1, which conveniently it would also run. Except that the whole Italian confederation thing fell flat, but it was at least a good effort.

Everyone went along with this because the Netherlands and Savoy were supposed to be mid-sized buffer states to keep France contained, And so the only other state that wanted French land was Switzerland, which had hoped to be given all of this. They only got this, connecting Geneva to the rest of the country. And the reason was that they had no major powers on their side since none of them would gain anything from an expanded Switzerland. And so what about the rest? Well, for the UK, Russia, and to an extent Austria, there was 1 primary concern.

The balance of power and maintaining monarchical government in Europe. Austria wanted a strong France to counter Prussia and Britain. Russia wanted a strong France to counter Prussia, Austria and Britain and Britain just didn't want to have to deal with the continent anymore. And carving up France meant that no 1 would get what they wanted. Because if France lost a lot of territory, its recently restored monarchy would probably be overthrown again.

It's also the reason why during Napoleon's return the Coalition didn't declare war on France, but on Napoleon. The restored King of France was an ally against Napoleonic and Republican ideals, and thus stealing all of his land afterwards wouldn't have been cool. In the end, it was the coalition's suspicions of each other that meant that France needed to remain strong and unified, meaning that unlike in the wake of other great wars in Europe, major territorial losses were off the table. I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons... Marvin Casale, Camoon Yoon, Winston K.

Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobien, Miss Isette, Matthew Shipley, Aaron the White, Corey Turner, The McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Paskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, and Charles the First. You

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Why wasn't France carved up after Napoleon was defeated? (Short Animated Documentary)