Frankfurt proposals
The Frankfurt proposals were a Coalition peace initiative designed by Austrian foreign minister Klemens von Metternich. It was offered to French Emperor Napoleon I in November 1813 after he had suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. The goal was a peaceful end to the War of the Sixth Coalition. The Allies had recaptured most of Germany up to the Rhine, but they had not decided on the next step. Metternich took the initiative. The Allies, meeting in Frankfurt, drafted the proposals under Metternich's close supervision. The British diplomat in attendance, Lord Aberdeen, misunderstood London's position and accepted the moderate terms.
Terms offered
The proposal was that Napoleon would remain as Emperor of France, but France would be reduced to what the French revolutionaries claimed as France's "natural borders." The Natural frontiers were the Pyrenees, the southwest border with Spain, the Alps, the southeast border with Italy, and the Rhine, the border with the German States. France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy, and the Rhineland, 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.Meeting at Dresden
At a private meeting at Dresden in June, Napoleon and Metternich had already discussed the terms. The final version was relayed to Napoleon by the Baron de Saint-Aignon in November.Metternich told Napoleon that these were the best terms the Allies were likely to offer; after further victories, the terms would become harsher and harsher. Metternich's motivation was to maintain France as a balance against Russian threats, while ending the highly destabilizing series of wars.