Frankfurt proposals

The British diplomat in attendance, Lord Aberdeen, misunderstood London's position and accepted the moderate terms.

France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy, and the Rhineland (the west bank of the Rhine), conquered and annexed by the French Military during the early wars of the French Revolution, while giving up other occupied territories, including parts of Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands, as well as most of Italy and Germany east of the Rhine.

Metternich's motivation was to maintain France as a balance against Russian threats, while ending the highly destabilizing series of wars.

By December, Austria had signed treaties with the Allies, and London rejected the terms because they might allow Belgium to become a base for an invasion of Britain, and as a result the offer was withdrawn.

[8] When the Allies invaded France in late 1813, Napoleon was heavily outnumbered and tried to reopen peace negotiations on the basis of accepting the Frankfurt proposals.