Q.13 How successful was Louis XVIII’s foreign policy between 1815 and 1824?

Louis XVIII’s foreign policy was mostly successful between 1815 and 1824.

France had a stable relationship with the Quadruple Alliance to start off with which could be further built upon with successful foreign policy.
• The Second Treaty of Paris was more punitive than the first but it is important to notice that France was involved in the Treaty and attended the Congress of Vienna.
• France was not treated like a leper within international relations as was Germany a century later.

Louis XVIII’s first success in foreign policy was in 1818.
• Rapid payment of the indemnity, organised by Richelieu, meant that all foreign troops had withdrawn from France two years ahead of schedule.
• This enabled France to resume her independent role in European politics.
• The conference of Aix-la-Chappell saw France joining the Quadruple Alliance and made it the Quintuple Alliance.
=This meant that France regained some of her international prestige and was no longer ‘the defeated power’

However, the Spanish colonies in South America were an area of failure in foreign policy for Louis
• The French regime had strived to establish French influence in South America when the trouble in Spain had allowed some of the areas she had controlled to break away.
=France came up against the British foreign minister, Canning, who made it very clear that the French should not meddle in that area.

Louis was much more successful in his attempts to crush the Spanish liberal revolt in 1823, although not all were pleased.
• The French army, commanded by the eldest son of Artois restored the King, Ferdinand VII by crushing the Spanish liberals who had forced him to restore a constitution that greatly reduced his powers.
=Louis had, in a matter of weeks, established control of Spain. Something that not even Napoleon had achieved. This easy campaign enhanced French prestige abroad.
• Although… there were criticisms in France about the money that had been spent on the army, and the French liberals were bitterly opposed to the fact that French forces were used to crush liberals elsewhere. Some of the people were not pleased about the fact that the aim of the expedition was to restore a despotic ruler to full power.
• The Spanish liberal revolt also led to the sacking of the foreign minister Chateaubriand who had helped force Villele into action over Spain. Villele had disagreed and had him sacked and when Villele later gave the command to enter Spain Chateaubriand greatly resented this and turned into a deadly enemy to Villele.

Louis died in 1824 but beforehand had lost interest due to the assassination of his nephew the Duc De Berry and his preoccupation with his health and also his mistress.
=this meant that foreign policy was in he hands of Artois even before Louis died.

In conclusion, I think that from 1815 to 1824, Louis XVIII had mostly successful foreign policies, however, he did have some failures.