June 9, 1815

Final Act of the Congress of Vienna

The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna is formally concluded

The tidy signing session in the paintings did not happen: Spain refused to sign, and Brian Vick reports that part of the German settlement was signed the next day and backdated.

One instrument, several dates

The Final Act was formally dated at Vienna on 9 June 1815, gathering months of negotiation and numerous earlier treaties, declarations and regulations into a single general instrument of more than 100 articles.

It compiled agreements rather than inventing everything it named — the German Federal Act it incorporated carried the date 8 June.

Spain's plenipotentiary refused to sign on 9 June and acceded later, and Brian Vick's study reports that some material, including part of the German constitutional settlement, was signed on 10 June and backdated.

What the articles settled

Article I attached most of the former Duchy of Warsaw to the Russian Empire under Alexander I, who assumed the title King of Poland; the entity conventionally called Congress Poland was constitutionally distinct but attached to Russia, not an independent Polish state.

Articles LIII–LXIV carried the German federal settlement, establishing an Austrian-presided Germanic Confederation with 17 ordinary votes enumerated for its Diet and members that included the Netherlands, for Luxembourg.

Articles LXXIV–LXXXIV settled Switzerland's cantonal composition, naming Valais, Geneva and Neuchâtel as new cantons and confirming the Allied declaration of 20 March that the Swiss Diet had accepted on 27 May.

Unfinished business

Luxembourg was raised to a grand duchy assigned to William I, king of the Netherlands, and made a member of the German Confederation. It did not become self-governing that day.

Swiss perpetual neutrality and territorial inviolability got their definitive great-power recognition and guarantee in Paris on 20 November 1815, not in June.

Delegations left Vienna quickly, while accessions, ratifications and supplementary settlements continued afterwards.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.

What the sources leave uncertain

The instrument's official date is securely 9 June, but Brian Vick's scholarly study reports that some material, including part of the German constitutional settlement, was actually signed on 10 June and backdated.
Spain's plenipotentiary refused to sign on 9 June. Spain acceded later, so depictions of eight powers jointly signing in one clean ceremony are misleading.
The German Federal Act itself was dated 8 June and was then incorporated into the Final Act.
The Final Act confirmed the March Swiss declaration, but Switzerland's perpetual neutrality and territorial inviolability received their definitive great-power recognition and guarantee in Paris on 20 November 1815.