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How did Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand help persuade the Allies to restore Louis XVIII?
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Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, prince de Bénévent
French diplomat Talleyrand, portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1817.
When the Allied forces entered Paris on March 31, 1814, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand played a pivotal role in the Bourbon Restoration. He hosted the Russian Tsar Alexander I at his own mansion, where he successfully convinced the monarch that restoring the Bourbon monarchy was the only viable path to ensuring lasting peace in Europe.1
Following this, Talleyrand orchestrated the political transition by persuading the Senate to declare Napoleon deposed and to establish a five-member provisional government with himself as a member. This new government acted quickly to recall Louis XVIII to the throne, and by May 13, 1814, Talleyrand was appointed as the King's foreign minister.1