The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 at Waterloo ended many years of European warfare. The victorious leaders met in Vienna in order to restore the boundaries of Europe, surround France with buffer states, bring back the legitimate dynastic rulers, and form alliances designed to prevent future general wars while preserving the balance of power. The Congress of Vienna provided mechanisms to ensure conservatism and confront nationalism.
Treatment of France by the Congress of Vienna
The Congress representatives, led by Prince Metternich of Austria, wisely imposed no harsh penalties on France. Their goal was to restore the Bourbon monarchy under King Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI. Although the restoration of the monarchy included a constitution and a bi-cameral legislature set up along the lines of the British Parliament, the king would retain substantial power.
France was surrounded by buffer states designed to check any future expansionist actions. To the north, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was established, including present day Belgium. In the south, the Congress created the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Additionally, the Papal States – held by the pope since the time of Charlemagne, were returned to Pope Pius VII.
The Congress also created the German Confederation known as the Diet of Frankfurt, ostensibly under the dominating influence of Austria. The Confederation was created with the view of defensive strategy rather than an offensive threat. Several German princes had granted freedoms through constitutions during the turbulent time of Napoleon, but conservatism now replaced any constitutional or revolutionary sentiments.
The Rule of Conservatism
Through the establishment of the Quadruple Alliance of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, peace would be ensured but along conservative principles. France would join the alliance later. It was a period of suppression for many of these powers in the face of nationalistic uprisings and revolutionary confrontation such as in Spain in 1820. In 1819 the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, England demonstrated the British government’s commitment to conservatism. Rights and freedoms were curtailed and censorship introduced.
In the German Confederation, university students that had formed into groups known as the burschenschaften challenged the conservative order. Austria’s Prince Metternich promoted the Carlsbad Decrees in 1819, disbanding the student groups, enforcing censorship, and limiting what was taught at universities.
Within the next twenty years, revolutions would be suppressed in Poland, Spain, and some of the remaining Spanish colonies in the New World. Only in Greece, where an independence movement broke out in 1821 against Ottoman rule, revolutionary activity was not confronted by the European powers, Britain acting as a supporter of an independent Greek state. Greece fell within the strategic goals and concerns Britain, Austria, and Russia had for that part of the Mediterranean.
Long Term Results of the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna and the ensuing Concert of Europe kept Europe from a general, continental war for many decades. The Great Powers would not clash again until the Crimean War of 1853. The British, particularly, had sought to distance themselves from continental conflicts that did not affect British interests. The balance of power would remain in effect until the later rise of Prussia in the 1860s.
Sources:
Harold James, A German Identity 1770-1990 (Routledge, 1989).
Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 150o to 2000 (Random House, 1987).
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
