Congress of Vienna was an assembly of 5 powers of the continent(British, French, Prussia, Austria, Russia) , held from Sept-1814 to June 1815 to discuss the state of Europe and how to deal with the aftermath of Napoleonic wars. The aim of the assembly was to create balance of power among the European Empires to avoid future wars in the continent. This summit successfully maintained peace among these Empires for 40 years . It was only after 99 years an all-out war took place involving the entire continent unlike Treaty of Versailles, which brought peace for only 20 years. This treaty was successful because it left no country with any personal grudges against each other. The key delegates of this assembly were Austrian Prince Clemens von Metternich,
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Perhaps this the biggest failure of congress of Vienna, they underestimated the impact of French Revolution and Napoleon on the Europe. Napoleon gave constitutions to countries without one and also promoted Nationalistic ideas that Poland should be ruled by poles, Hungary should be rules by Hungarians, etc. Norman Davis wrote ‘the spirit of the settlement was more than conservative; it actually put the clock back.’ Dr. Ralph Ashby asserted, “The main failures of the Congress of Vienna were largely the fault of individual governments, who often looked at the map of Europe as though it were a chess board, occupied by playing pieces, rather than lands inhabited by real people with rising aspirations”. Viscount Castlereagh argued to the House of Commons ‘the Congress of Vienna was not assembled for the discussion of moral principles, but for great practical purposes, to establish effectual provisions for the general security.’ Henry Kissinger supported this by arguing 'in international affairs, there is an inescapable priority to pursue order and stability over justice of any other consideration.’ In the defense of the delegates of Vienna, the liberal and nationalistic ideas were only among small population and only Nation that has large population of liberals was France whose revolution was responsible for the whole …show more content…
The balance of Power this system tries to create is not normalized, each country interpreted balance of power suiting to their interests. This was a big problem because later Russia tried to expand towards the Mediterranean Sea and came into direct conflict with Ottoman Empire. The British and French saw this expansion as a threat and supported the Ottoman Empire and defeated Russia in Crimean war. This situation was exacerbated after Italian war of independence, Austro-Prussian war and Franco-Prussian war and the Concert finally
Perhaps this the biggest failure of congress of Vienna, they underestimated the impact of French Revolution and Napoleon on the Europe. Napoleon gave constitutions to countries without one and also promoted Nationalistic ideas that Poland should be ruled by poles, Hungary should be rules by Hungarians, etc. Norman Davis wrote ‘the spirit of the settlement was more than conservative; it actually put the clock back.’ Dr. Ralph Ashby asserted, “The main failures of the Congress of Vienna were largely the fault of individual governments, who often looked at the map of Europe as though it were a chess board, occupied by playing pieces, rather than lands inhabited by real people with rising aspirations”. Viscount Castlereagh argued to the House of Commons ‘the Congress of Vienna was not assembled for the discussion of moral principles, but for great practical purposes, to establish effectual provisions for the general security.’ Henry Kissinger supported this by arguing 'in international affairs, there is an inescapable priority to pursue order and stability over justice of any other consideration.’ In the defense of the delegates of Vienna, the liberal and nationalistic ideas were only among small population and only Nation that has large population of liberals was France whose revolution was responsible for the whole …show more content…
The balance of Power this system tries to create is not normalized, each country interpreted balance of power suiting to their interests. This was a big problem because later Russia tried to expand towards the Mediterranean Sea and came into direct conflict with Ottoman Empire. The British and French saw this expansion as a threat and supported the Ottoman Empire and defeated Russia in Crimean war. This situation was exacerbated after Italian war of independence, Austro-Prussian war and Franco-Prussian war and the Concert finally