II. The Congress of Vienna and the Restoration of a European Balance Flashcards
Metternich
Austrian statesman, minister of foreign affairs (1809-48), champion of conservatism, who helped form the alliance against Napoleon and who restored Austria as a leading European power. His diplomatic capability helped produce a long-lasting European order. After Britain abandoned the policy of intervention, Metternich’s influence dwindled, and he became increasingly irrational. He accepted responsibility for decrees that didn’t accord with his views to disguise his waning influence, and thus became a hated symbol of repression and reaction - chased out of office in 1848 as the first victim of the revolution.
Alexander I
Tsar of Russia 1801-1825
Alternately fought and befriended Napoleon but ultimately formed the coalition that defeated N (1813-15). Took part in Congress of Vienna, pushed for the establishment of the Holy Alliance, and took part in the conferences that followed.
Castlereagh
British foreign secretary (1812-22)
Helped guide the Grand Alliance against Napoleon and played a commanding and mediatory role at the peace conference at Vienna. The Concert of Europe was largely his creation. Castlereagh’s aim was to make possible diplomacy by conference rather than to establish any system of international regulation or interference in the internal affairs of other states.
His main European objectives were to prevent the aggrandizement of Russia and to strengthen the weak central European areas of Germany and Italy. Wanted to withdraw Britain from the reactionary policies of the other powers (i.e. intervention).
Canning
Charles John Canning, Earl of Canning
Governor-General of India during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. First viceroy of India in 1858
An uprising of Bengali soldiers developed into a widespread revolt against British rule in northern India. Canning gathered reinforcements and reoccupied the rebel strongholds. Presided over the reorganization of the Indian government after its transfer from the British East India Company to the crown. He encouraged railway development, took measures for famine relief, and helped found the Universities of Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bombay (now Mumbai), and Madras (now Chennai). On the one hand he created opportunities for suitably westernized Indians, while on the other he tightened the grip of the British on Indian society.
Talleyrand
Bishop of the Revolution, skilled negotiator, later helped facilitate Napoleon’s rise to imperial power and to establish French supremacy in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. He helped to restore the Bourbon royal family and was the French representative at the Congress of Vienna, where he was successful in negotiating for France and creating divisions amongst the allies.
Frederick William III
King of Prussia. Never lost his fear that reform would lead to Jacobinism. Present at Congress of Vienna, during which Prussia gained large areas of Rhine and Westphalia
Hardenberg
Karl August, prince von Hardenberg, Prussian statesman and administrator, who preserved the integrity of the Prussian state during the Napoleonic Wars. Reformer domestically; in foreign affairs he exchanged Prussia’s alliance with France for an alliance with Russia in 1813, and in 1814–15 he represented Prussia at the peace negotiations in Paris and Vienna. Hardenberg vainly fought for the establishment of a constitution but gained lasting fame for his liberalization of financial, economic, and agricultural policies and for his conduct of foreign affairs, which created the political requisites for Prussia’s liberation from French rule in 1813–15.
The Congresses
- Aix-la-Chapelle
- Troppau
- Laibach
- Verona
- Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818: primarily concerned with the full reinstatement of France. France readmitted to full diplomatic equality. Balance of power v. Holy Alliance
2 & 3. Troppau and Laibach, 1820-21: Spain revived the 1812 constitution following a successful military revolution in Madrid. Alexander wanted to crush it, Castlereagh insisted it was an internal matter (sums up British FP).
At Troppau, Alexander persuaded Austria and Prussia to join him in threatening war against revolutions. - Verona, 1822: nationalist Greeks revolted against the Turks, Spain worsened. Canning and Britain refused to intervene. Meant the end of the alliance.
Overall the Congresses had meant the disintegration of alliances and the further polarisation of the opposing forces of conservatism and of change.
Monroe Doctrine
1823 U.S. foreign policy. To free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and to stop the New World becoming a battleground for the Old World powers. U.S. & UK wanted to guarantee no European power would move in. The two worlds remaining separate spheres of infuence meant the U.S. could exert its own influence undisturbed.
Louis-Philippe
King of France 1830-1848
Consolidated his power through the support of the upper bourgeoisie in a victory over the aristocracy. Many rebellions in his time meant he
became increasingly oppressive.
The 1846 depression worsened tensions. Faced with an insurrection of proletariats and middle class after he refused to extend franchise to the lower bourgeoisie, he was forced to abdicate in 1848.
Mehmet Ali
Pasha and viceroy of Egypt 1805 - 1848.
Helped the Turkish Sultan fight the Greek nationalist, meaning Britain and France no longer constrained Russian intervention in the war of independence
Attempted to modernise Egypt, cleared a path to its independence. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia agreed to end Egyptian rule in Syria in 1840, shattering his hopes for a greater independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Navarino
Battle of Navarino, 1827
Decisive naval engagement of the War of Greek Independence
Egyptian-Turkish fleet defeated heavily by British-French-Russian naval forces. Turkey was forced to evacuate Greece shortly thereafter, leading to the creation of the independent Kingdom of Greece.
Carlsbad Decrees
A series of repressive and reactionary decrees by the major German states (assembled by Metternich) to suppress liberal and nationalistic tendencies within their states. Temporarily successful in suppressing liberal activities but failed in the long-run to curb German nationalism.
Nicholas I
Emperor of Russia 1825-55
a reactionary autocrat, “the emperor who froze Russia for 30 years”
his reign was marked by geographical expansion, repression of dissent, economic stagnation, and frequent wars, culminating in Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War in 1856
Poor Laws
New poor laws were introduced in 1834 in Britain which characterised pauperism among the able-bodied as a moral failing. No relief for able-bodied poor except in workhouses.
