Europe History Essay - The Congress of Vienna System of Alliances
EssayChat / Dec 26, 2016
Part C Essay question 1: Discuss the system of alliances that emerged during and after the Congress of Vienna. What were the goals of the Congress of Vienna and was the Congress successful in implementing these goals? Did the system of alliances remain intact a century later?
The principal objective of the delegates to the Congress of Vienna was the prevention of the reemergence of a single polity-one comparable to that of France during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte-capable of dominating the European landmass. The principal participants were allies heretofore engaged in the war against France: Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. Other, smaller, powers were consulted. However, their participation in negotiations, limited at best, was only in matters directly affecting them. A substantial portion of the debate between the great powers related to the fate of Poland. Tsar Alexander I was determined to reconstitute the Polish state as a monarch subordinated to the Russian state. The Prussian chancellor, Prince von Hardenberg, concurred in the Russian goal, in return for Russian support of the Hohenzollern claim to all of Saxony. Both Prince Metternich (the Austrian representative) and Viscount Castlereagh (Britain's Foreign Secretary) opposed these initiatives, considering them a threat to any long-term balance of power.
The final act of settlement-the one following Napoleon's 'hundred days' following his escape from Elba-established France at its 1790 borders, a partition of Poland considerably less than that demanded by Russia, Prussia restricted to less than half of Saxony, and Austria's territory significantly increased. It was in terms of international politics that the Congress made an effort at establishing a long-term peace mechanism for Europe-the Quadruple Alliance (again, the four major powers). The Alliance was intended to work together in future years to assure that a general political status quo prevailed. To a limited extent it was successful, in that it took almost 50 years for the political coloration of Europe to become sufficiently different that the political institutions established at Vienna could no longer obtain.
The expansion of the Prussian state during the latter half of the 19th century-an effort accomplished through both war and diplomacy-so reordered the balance of power that an alternative to the obsolescent system was in order. Prussia's successful military effort against France (1870) established the German Empire as both the arbiter of the continent and a prospective threat to other powers. Germany secured its position through the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). In response, the Triple Entente (comprised of Britain, France, and Russia and largely advisory in nature) came into being in 1907. However, it should be understood that each of these powers had attempted alternative means of securing national integrity in the face of prospective German expansion. Russia, for example, had entered an alliance with Germany (League of the Three Emperors). These, however, had all fallen victim to changing economic and political circumstances. It was the alliance system that was in place in 1914 that contributed to the unraveling of the international balance in the wake of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke. While the ideals and institutions of the Congress of Vienna were already long moribund, it was that event that brought the already weakened international system to ruin.
Reference: https://polishforums.com/history/
The principal objective of the delegates to the Congress of Vienna was the prevention of the reemergence of a single polity-one comparable to that of France during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte-capable of dominating the European landmass. The principal participants were allies heretofore engaged in the war against France: Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. Other, smaller, powers were consulted. However, their participation in negotiations, limited at best, was only in matters directly affecting them. A substantial portion of the debate between the great powers related to the fate of Poland. Tsar Alexander I was determined to reconstitute the Polish state as a monarch subordinated to the Russian state. The Prussian chancellor, Prince von Hardenberg, concurred in the Russian goal, in return for Russian support of the Hohenzollern claim to all of Saxony. Both Prince Metternich (the Austrian representative) and Viscount Castlereagh (Britain's Foreign Secretary) opposed these initiatives, considering them a threat to any long-term balance of power.The final act of settlement-the one following Napoleon's 'hundred days' following his escape from Elba-established France at its 1790 borders, a partition of Poland considerably less than that demanded by Russia, Prussia restricted to less than half of Saxony, and Austria's territory significantly increased. It was in terms of international politics that the Congress made an effort at establishing a long-term peace mechanism for Europe-the Quadruple Alliance (again, the four major powers). The Alliance was intended to work together in future years to assure that a general political status quo prevailed. To a limited extent it was successful, in that it took almost 50 years for the political coloration of Europe to become sufficiently different that the political institutions established at Vienna could no longer obtain.
The expansion of the Prussian state during the latter half of the 19th century-an effort accomplished through both war and diplomacy-so reordered the balance of power that an alternative to the obsolescent system was in order. Prussia's successful military effort against France (1870) established the German Empire as both the arbiter of the continent and a prospective threat to other powers. Germany secured its position through the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). In response, the Triple Entente (comprised of Britain, France, and Russia and largely advisory in nature) came into being in 1907. However, it should be understood that each of these powers had attempted alternative means of securing national integrity in the face of prospective German expansion. Russia, for example, had entered an alliance with Germany (League of the Three Emperors). These, however, had all fallen victim to changing economic and political circumstances. It was the alliance system that was in place in 1914 that contributed to the unraveling of the international balance in the wake of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke. While the ideals and institutions of the Congress of Vienna were already long moribund, it was that event that brought the already weakened international system to ruin.
Reference: https://polishforums.com/history/