he wanted Napoleon to remain on the throne, a Marie Louise regency for Napoleon's young son, or a Bourbon restoration, but he was eventually brought around by British Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh to the last position. Napoleon abdicated on 3 April 1814, and Louis XVIII was restored, soon negotiating a peace treaty with the victorious allies at Paris in June, while Napoleon was exiled to Elba. War of the Seventh Coalition (1815) Napoleon escaped in February 1815, Louis fled and thus the final phase of the war, the War of the Seventh Coalition, ensued—the so-called Hundred Days of Napoleon's attempt at restoration. This culminated with the decisive Battle of Waterloo in June. The Napoleonic wars ended with the second Treaty of Paris that year, and Napoleon's final exile to St Helena. Congress of Vienna (1815) With the completion of the long running French wars a new order was required in Europe and the heads of the European states gathered in Vienna for a prolonged discussion of Europe's future, although the Congress was actually convened in September 1814 prior to Napoleon's attempted return, and completed on 9 June 1815, nine days before the Battle of Waterloo. At the completion of the Napoleonic wars, Austria found itself on the winning side as a new European leader, largely due to Metternich's diplomatic skills. It was as much a grand social event of the representatives of the great powers as a true Congress and was chaired by Metternich. Its purpose was to restore a new European order to emerge from the chaos of the Napoleonic wars. While Austria was the diplomatic leader, the military victory was largely that of Russia and Prussia, aided by Britain and Spain, and Austria had little to add to the final defeat of Napoleon on 18 June 1815 at Waterloo. Metternich's intent was to create a balance of power in Europe, under a new entity, the German Confederation with Austrian leadership, out of the ashes of the Holy Roman Empire. The resulting order was referred to as the Concert of Europe, which would now meet regularly to resolve outstanding differences. In addition to redrawing the political map, it established spheres of influence. Achieving the presidency of this new entity was Austria's greatest gain from the Congress. What the Congress could not do was to recover the old order or ancien régime on which Austrian and Habsburg authority had rested.