Congress of Châtillon
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Congress of Châtillon was a peace conference held at Châtillon-sur-Seine, north-eastern France, from 5 February to 5 March 1814, in the latter stages of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Peace had previously been offered by the Coalition allies (principally Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria) to Napoleon I's France in the November 1813 Frankfurt proposals. These proposals required that France revert to her "natural borders" of the Rhine, Pyrenees and the Alps. Napoleon was reluctant to lose his territories in Germany and Italy and refused the proposals. By December the French had been pushed back in Germany and Napoleon indicated that he would accept peace on the Frankfurt terms. The Coalition however now sought to reduce France to her 1791 borders, which would not include Belgium.
Many of Europe's leading diplomats met at Châtillon. France was represented by Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt; Britain by Lord Aberdeen, Lord Cathcart and Sir Charles Stuart; Russia by Count Andrey Razumovsky; Prussia by Wilhelm von Humboldt and Austria by Johann Philipp Stadion. The British foreign secretary, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh joined the talks part way through because of their importance. The British aims were to reduce the territory of France, restore the independence of Switzerland and the Italian states, form a federation in Germany and create the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as a bulwark against French expansion.
The public source identifies “Congress of Châtillon” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Congress, Châtillon and Open-knowledge.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Congress of Châtillon”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1765140. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1814, 1813 and 1791.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Congress of Châtillon”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Congress of Châtillon primary sources, Congress of Châtillon archive and Congress research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Congress of Châtillon”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Congress of Châtillon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.