Naples Soldier Kills Foreign Secretary Castlereagh

By: Rhia Nagale

For reasons yet unknown, the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh,  experienced one assassination attempt by an outside party, but later succumbed to a Naples soldier in a second attempt revealed during Committee Session IV of the 1814 Congress of Vienna.

“The assassination of Castlereagh was unexpected to say the least,” Field Marshal Prince Barclay de Tolly of the Russian Empire said. “Castlereagh often favored affairs that would generally keep the situation as nebulous as possible. He definitely had a strong impact.” 

Another member of the committee, King Louis XVIII of France, was also affected by Castlereagh’s death. Since the act was committed by a soldier from Naples, it destabilized the region of Italy and caused conflict to occur within, the king said. As a result, France, a bordering country of Italy, involved itself because the unrest posed a threat to the nation.

“Eventually, we came to a resolution after we stabilized the region of Piedmont,” King Louis said. “[Since] Italy ties to much of Northern Europe and it is culturally very similar, I think we need to continue discussing that topic in depth.” 

In the meantime, directives are continuing to be passed about another event: Poland agreeing to become a protectorate of Russia.

“I am neither in support of this or condemning it because I want to support the will of states,” Prince Tolly said. “I am also a civil servant of Russia, so I can’t really oppose anything, but I want to maintain a neutral stance on the topic rather than [Tsar Alexander I’s] concerningly imperialist stance. My role has been standing out as somewhat of an opposition voice to the Tsar of Russia. Mainly, he has been in favor of expanding Russia’s international presence and territorial gains, whereas I have been more in support of expanding Russia in terms of diplomatic relations with other nations.”

King Louis agrees that the action is controversial to some degree.

“There’s a mix of opinions: many people are fully in support of Poland because it is the Polish people’s wants to become part of Russia,” King Louis said. “However, there are many believing that this is simply a power grab or an attempt to change the balance of power in Europe.”

Speculations are also erupting about the motive behind Castlereagh’s death.

“He [tended] to support the free will of nations except he did not like the fact that Poland was offering themselves to be a protectorate,” Prince Tolly said. “People might not have liked that.”