Chapter 23: The Concert of Europe

Day 39McKay 757-761, Palmer 11.54 &.55

Decembrist Revolt: St. Petersburg (December 26, 1825)

Age of Metternich

1815 1818 1820 1822 1825 1830 1848

Congress of Vienna-The Dike is Created

Burschenschaft member Carl

Sand Executed

Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) pulls army of occupation

out of France

Congress of Troppau discuss

Revolution in Naples

Congress of Verona

Greek Independence

Decembrist Revolt

Revolutions of 1848

The Dike Breaks

Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815• All states of Europe sent reps (even former

HRE)– Talleyrand (Louis 18 minister)

represented France• Important matters would be decided by 4

great powers (Quadruple Alliance)– Castlereagh (GB), Metternich (Austria),

and Alexander (Russia), Hardenberg (Prussia)

• Prussians want land • Alex wants Poland, constitutionalism in

Europe, and some type of security pact (NATO)

• Castlereagh, Metternich, Talleyrand (France) seek bal of power– Want to stop Universal Monarchy &

imperialist system within Europe• “Balance of Power” & Legitimacy key

diplomatic buzzwords• Believed that shifting “souls” (people and

territory) around to create a balance

Metternich

Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815 Continued• France is still viewed as

biggest threat– Barrier of strong states is

erected around France– Dutch Republic becomes

the Netherlands (under House of Orange)& is expanded to include Austrian Netherlands (Belgium)

– Kingdom of Piedmont restored & expanded with Genoa

– Prussia gets the left bank of the Rhine a "sentinel (a lookout) on the Rhine"

– Austria gets Tuscany, Milan, Venice, Lombardy

•These moves are meant to block both France and Russian hegemony•Consolidation under Napoleon is left in place

•Confederation of the Rhine renamed German Confederation•Pope receives the rest of Italy (Papal States)•In Spain the Bourbons are restored

Second Treaty of Paris• Harsh peace for France

– France is forced to pay and indemnity 700,000,000 francs

– Army of occupation is placed in France to keep France in line

– No Bonaparte should ever govern France– Future congresses would be called to

review the political situation of Europe– Quadruple Alliance of Chaumont is

reconfirmed in Nov.• The Holy Alliance

– Alexander proposes an alliance to uphold “Christian principles of charity and peace”

– He meant it as a condemnation of violence

– All sign except the Pope, the Ottoman sultan, and the regent of Great Britain

– Later becomes a symbol of unholy monarchies against liberty and progress

• IE. Symbol of Repression

final document of the Congress of Vienna, signed on June 9, 1815, to establish lasting peace in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars

• Polish-Saxon Question• Prussians and the

Russians demanded Saxony and Poland

• threatened the balance• Austria refused to give up

its slice of Poland and feared a powerful Prussia

– Castlereagh, Metternich, and (French) Talleyrand

• Leaked information that they had a secret treaty of alliance together

• forced Russia and Prussia into a compromise

• Russia got part of Poland and Prussia received two-fifths of Saxony

Congress of Vienna

Congress (Metternich) System• Congress of Vienna

– Great powers (Austria, GB, Russia, Prussia)(later France) agreed to work in “Concert” to stop growing Isms from spreading

• Known as Metternich System– Chief diplomatic paradigm from

(1815-1848)– Very Conservative– Feared liberalism, nationalism,

republicanism• Feared nationalism the most• “a war of all against all”

• Goals– Contain France– Restore “legitimate” monarchs– Maintain balance of power– Maintain peace– Stop “Isms” from spreading

• Characterized by Intervention and repression – Under Metternich, Austria, Prussia, and Russia

led a crusade against liberalism & nationalism • formed Holy Alliance to check future liberal

and revolutionary activity• Novel idea (precursor to League of Nations

and United Nations)• Europe’s Great Powers agreed to intervene

to restore order but not to acquire territory• Also known as the Concert of Europe

– Must work in concert with all the Great Powers

– “Dike” trying to hold back the “flood” of Isms

• believed best state blended monarchy, bureaucracy, and aristocracy (not absolutism but more Montesquieuesque) – Liberalism + nationalism+romanticism = trouble

for conservatism (before 1850)– Austrian Empire

• contained many ethnic groups, including Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Slovaks, Croats, Italians and Czechs

Metternich and Conservatism

Prince von Metternich. Political Confession of Faith (1820)

The Source of the Evil France had the misfortune to produce the greatest number of these men. It is in her midst that religion and all that she holds sacred, that morality and authority, and all connected with them, have been attacked with a steady and systematic animosity, and it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success. Drag through the mud the name of God and the powers instituted by His divine decrees, and the revolution will be prepared! Speak of a social contract, and the revolution is accomplished! … Nevertheless the revolutionary seed had penetrated into every country and spread more or less. It was greatly developed under the régime of the military despotism of Bonaparte. His conquests displaced a number of laws, institutions, and customs; broke through bonds sacred among all nations, strong enough to resist time itself; which is more than can be said of certain benefits conferred by these innovators. From these perturbations it followed that the revolutionary spirit could in Germany, Italy, and later on in Spain, easily hide itself under the veil of patriotism… We are convinced that society can no longer be saved without strong and vigorous resolutions on the part of the Governments still free in their opinions and actions. We are also convinced that this may yet be, if the Governments face the truth, if they free themselves from all illusion, if they join their ranks and take their stand on a line of correct, unambiguous, and frankly announced principles. The first principle to be followed by the monarchs, … should be that of maintaining the stability of political institutions against the disorganised excitement which has taken possession of men's minds- the immutability of principles against the madness of their interpretation; and respect for laws actually in force against a desire for their destruction.... Let them be just, but strong; beneficent, but strict. Let them maintain religious principles in all their purity, and not allow the faith to be attacked and morality interpreted according to the social contract or the visions of foolish sectarians. Let them suppress Secret Societies, that gangrene of society.

Reaction after 1815: The German States• Germany was left as a loose association

of independent states (Bund)• Nationalism began to grow in universities• Volksgeist and Deutschtum (German

Culture) are commonly discussed• students formed Burschenschaft in 1815

which were clubs of serious political discussion

– a kind of German youth movement– held congress at Wartburg in 1817

listened to rousing speeches, marched in Teutonic costumes

– Burschenschaft member Karl Sand assassinated conservative dramatist August von Kotzebue for ridiculing Burschenschaftens

– Martyred after his execution• Metternich issues the Carlsbad Decrees (1819)

– Dissolved the Burschenschaft and gymnastic clubs– Placed government officials in the universities– Censored books and newspapers– Repression becomes the status quo

The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818• Met to discuss the withdraw army of

occupation from France• France had paid reparations

– Army of occupation withdrawn – Accepted France as nation in good

standing• Alexander I• most advanced internationalists of the day

– Also flirted with liberalism (constitutionalism)

• "universal union of guarantee" – suggested that a permanent European

union with international military force be formed to safeguard ALL recognized states

• blocked by British reservations about long-term military commitments (like Wilson’s League of Nations)

– GB more concerned with preserving its colonies

• Reason why Monroe Doctrine worked

The Congress of Troppau, 1820• Carbonari (secret Italian liberal society) had great

influence over army• Liberal general forced Bourbon King Ferdinand to

take oath to constitutionalism – Modeled on the Spanish Constitution of 1812

• Metternich gets nervous and calls the Congress of Troppau to block spread of liberalism

• Metternich reviews horrors of revolution to Alexander– Today I deplore everything that I have said and

done between the years 1814 and 1818 ... Tell me what you want of me. I will do it. Alex I

• Alexander shifts away from support of constitutionalists to the Conservatives

– Should be granted by monarchs not extorted by revolutionaries

• Metternich drafts the Protocol of Trouppau– Said that stable governments have the right to

intervene to restore order in countries experiencing revolution

• Russia, Prussia and Austria sign it• Protocol claims the right to intervene in other nations

if revolution threatens “European Alliance”• Neapolitan (Naples) revolution is put down and

Bourbons are restored

The Congress of Verona, 1822• Many revolutionaries and liberals

fled terror in Italy and went to Spain• Alexander Ypsilanti, a Greek,

military man who served Russia led armed followers from Russia to Romania hoping to lead Greek rebellion with Russian support (1821)

• Metternich got nervous again– Called for Congress of Verona

• Alexander (now a conservative) refused to support Ypsilanti who was defeated by Turks

• France under Louis XVIII invaded Spain with 200 thousand

– Crushed liberal revolution• Church and King are restored

under Ferdinand VII• Revolutionaries were savagely

persecuted

Alexander Ypsilanti (1792-1828)

Ferdinand VII of Spain

The Greek Revolution of 1821• Revolution of independence broke out in Greece

in 1821– Part of the Ottoman Empire– Romantic and liberal propaganda

(philhellenic societies) call for action– Viewed Revolution as rebirth of original

democracy– Major Issues

• Eastern Question- (weakness and unstable Ottoman Empire) had long troubled Europe

• Land- Russia and Austria want• Trade- France and GB• Christianity- Did not like idea that fellow

Christians were mistreated by Islamic Ottoman Empire

• Isms- did not want to encourage isms• Treaty of London (1827)

– GB, France, Russia Demanded Ottoman recognition of Greek independence

– Sent troops and a fleet– Greek independent 1830

Massacre at Chios (1824) by Eugène Delacroix

Massacre at Chios (1824) by Eugène

Delacroix

Russia: The Decembrist revolt 1825• Alexander I died in 1825• Some Russian officers who

had fought in W. Europe were influence by liberalism

• Major Issues– Constitutionalism– Republicanism– Emancipation of the serfs

• There was uncertainty which of his 2 brothers would succeed him (Constantine or Nicholas)

• Army preferred Constantine (Constantine and Constitution)

– Uneducated soldiers thought Constitution was the name of his wife!

Decembrist Revolt (1825)– Liberal Officers

(Decembrist) led an uprising in Dec

– Constantine had already deferred to Nicholas

– Nicholas I (1825-1855) put down Decembrist revolt harshly

– Had rebellious officers hanged or sent to Siberia work camps

– Overall response is to clamp down on Russia

– Revolt foreshadows the Russian Revolution

• Ten years after Napoleon the conservative reaction seems to be holding back the flood of liberalism

The End of the Congress System• Congress System

– failed to make progress toward an international order

– Stood for nothing but repression & status quo

• Made no attempt at accommodating new Isms emerging in Europe

• No efforts at relieving revolutionary sentiments with reform

• Repressed or punished all revolutionary agitation

• Propped up governments that could not stand on their own (Spain)

• The Dike starts to leak

Concert of Europe

Liber

alism

Nationalism

Constitutionalism

1848