The political revolution in France launched Europe into twenty-five years of continous turmoil that changed the image of the Old Continent. The Napoleonic Wars brought the eastern Adriatic coast to the very center of European conflicts. Due to their geostrategic significance, the Croatian lands were incorporated into the Illyrian Provinces under the French rule, with the aim of rounding off the Adriatic Sea, creating a trade route to the Levant and suppressing Russian influence on the Balkan Peninsula. The year 1815, in addition to marking the final fall of Napoleon, also marks a turning point in European history. The Congress of Vienna laid foundation for a new international order which was based on balance of power, the status quo and antirevolutionary approach. According to the new division of Europe, the land of the Illyrian Provinces were annexed to the Austrian Empire, including the teritory of the Republic of Dubrovnik. Croatian lands under Austrian jurisdiction were divided between two newly established administrative and political formations: the Kingdom of Illyria and the Kingdom of Dalmatia. Both Kingdoms had their own meaning and role: Illyria in resisting and weakening the Croatian and Hungarian nobility, and Dalmatia in preventing the spread of the Russian sphere of influence to the Balkans and defending the legitimacy of the Ottoman Empire.