Historical series about the Congress of Vienna starts in the fall

What was the Congress of Vienna again? In 1814/15, after Napoleon's military campaigns, it was a historic gathering of powerful people at which Europe was reorganized. Many politicians and celebrities were in Vienna at the time.

Disney+ is launching a six-part series about "the most opulent party of the 19th century" in November, as the streaming service announced in Berlin. The script was written by Stefan Brunner and directed by Hannu Salonen. Filming started in 2024.

Marlene Tanczik and Daniel Donskoy play the leading roles in the production, which is billed as a historical satire. The cast also includes Heike Makatsch, Trystan Pütter, Alexander Scheer, Fritz Karl, Axel Milberg, Catrin Striebeck, Julia Anna Grob, Vladimir Burlakov, Rufus Beck and Jakob Diehl.

"While Napoleon Bonaparte is banished to Elba, kings and crown princes, ministers and spies, noble ladies and mistresses, soldiers of fortune, inventors, artists and concubines celebrate and negotiate in Vienna," Disney said a year ago. "Here, the fate of Europe is decided on the dance floor and in the boudoir."

A web of diplomacy, espionage and betrayal

According to Disney, the series is staged as a "gripping power play about influence, intrigue and great emotions". At the center of the plot is Wilhelmine von Sagan (Marlene Tanczik), a seductive noblewoman who navigates her way through a treacherous web of diplomacy, espionage and betrayal.

Her ambitions are not only threatened by shifting alliances and unscrupulous rivals, she also becomes involved in an affair with Baron Laski (Daniel Donskoy), who, as a Bonapartist, is actually an enemy politically.

At the real Congress of Vienna, under the leadership of Austrian Foreign Minister Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859), the aim was to achieve a balance of power between the major states of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. The Papal States, which at the time were still larger than today's Vatican, were also included. The Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, was left out.