1814
Allies Enter Paris
Tsar Alexander rode into Paris at the head of Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops while Napoleon, outmaneuvered, stewed at Fontainebleau. Within a week he abdicated and accepted exile on Elba, a tiny Tuscan island with a pension and a toy army. Louis XVIII came home in a British carriage. Napoleon's marshals, exhausted and enriched, kissed the hand of a Bourbon king and pretended they had always been royalists.
British Burn Washington
After scattering American militia at Bladensburg, Admiral Cockburn's redcoats marched unopposed into the new capital and set fire to the Capitol, the President's House, and the Treasury. Dolley Madison rescued a Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington. A thunderstorm saved the rest. The humiliation galvanized American nationalism and prompted Francis Scott Key, watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry days later, to compose the anthem that became the Star-Spangled Banner.
Congress of Vienna Opens
Metternich, Talleyrand, Castlereagh and a tsar sat down in Vienna to re-draw a continent around the principles of legitimacy and balance. They danced more than they negotiated - "Le congres danse, mais il ne marche pas" - but the settlement they produced kept Europe out of general war for nearly forty years.
Treaty of Ghent
In a Flemish convent, American and British negotiators signed a peace that returned everything to where it had been before the War of 1812. Two weeks later, in ignorance of the treaty, Andrew Jackson would win the Battle of New Orleans and become a hero for a war already ended.
Treaty of Kiel
The dying Napoleonic system produced a small collateral casualty: Denmark, on the losing side, was forced to cede Norway to Sweden. The Norwegians, however, refused to be transferred and declared independence instead. A short Swedish war and a Norwegian constitution followed. Denmark's four-hundred-year union with Norway was over. Norway's Eidsvoll Constitution, drafted that May, remains in force today as one of Europe's oldest written constitutions.
Want 1814 in context? Print the whole 19th century as a one-sheet timeline chart.
Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1814?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1814. The most significant is Allies Enter Paris: Tsar Alexander rode into Paris at the head of Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops while Napoleon, outmaneuvered, stewed at Fontainebleau.
What era was 1814 part of?
1814 falls within the Industrial Age (1801-1900). Steam, empire, and the unmaking of the old order.
Which regions saw notable events in 1814?
The curated events from 1814 span Europe and North America.