Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna by Adam Zamoyski

Author:Adam Zamoyski [Zamoyski, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780007368723
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-11-29T05:00:00+00:00

On 18 October, the first anniversary of the battle of Leipzig was celebrated with what was termed a Festival of Peace. The Prater, an extensive park on the banks of the Danube, had been decorated with pyramids of captured French cannon and other military trophies. A great mound had been erected beside the Hauptallee, the chestnut avenue running the length of the park, to accommodate an altar at which all the assembled monarchs, regardless of their confession, attended Mass. This was accompanied by a military band and artillery salvoes, which dispelled the autumnal morning mist over the heads of the Vienna garrison drawn up in ranks. The troops then paraded before the sovereigns, and Stein noticed Alexander’s displeasure at this display of Austrian martial excellence – he had always taken the line that Austria was a flabby power lacking military prowess.14

The parade was followed by lunch for the 20,000 soldiers, at which officers mixed with rankers and sat beside them to enjoy the same food. Lunch was served to a more select group by Count Razumovsky at his magnificent palace, and the festivities continued in the evening at Metternich’s residence.15

Metternich had again applied himself to provide an elaborate entertainment, and the results would furnish the lovely young Anna Eynard with ‘memories for our lifetime’. And this despite a great personal disappointment at the outset. ‘At 8 o’clock, while I was dressing my hair, the gown I had ordered for this ball was brought, but it was still in pieces, as the embroidery-work had only just been finished,’ she wrote in her diary the next day. ‘It was a little late to send it to the seamstress. This gown, embroidered in silver, was remarkably pretty, but I had to content myself with the thought that I would have looked lovely!’16

The entrance to the ball was lit up by flaring Bengal torches, and the carriages rolled up a tented drive from which the guests ascended a carpeted and covered staircase lined with footmen whose liveries were so heavily embroidered with gold that it was impossible to tell their colour.

The fête began with a hot-air balloon raising an artificial sun adorned with the arms of the three allied sovereigns, to the accompaniment of a roll of drums and a fanfare of trumpets. The sovereigns were then conducted round the gardens and shown various exhibits and tableaux in specially erected temples of Mars, Apollo and Minerva. Then they came into an amphitheatre with a lawn in the middle, on which stood three temples, one of them dedicated to peace, another to the arts and another to industry. There followed a pantomime accompanied by fireworks. A figure of Discord, attended by infernal divinities and drawn in a chariot pulled by three black horses, drove around the lawn brandishing a torch. People were seen to flee before it in horror, armies clashed in simulated battles and cavalry charges, cities were besieged, attacked and burnt. Women and children took refuge in the temple of peace. Then there was silence, followed by music as peace descended and the people came out of the temple.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.