“The foundation deed of the 19th century international order was the treaty of Vienna of 1815.”1
The treaty closed the era of the French wars and intended to prevent their repetition, as well as contain the influence of the French Revolution. This was done by insistence of the principle of legitimacy, which was the ideological standard of conservatives, and certain changes to territorial arrangements.
Prussia was given large acquisitions on the Rhine. Genoa was handed over to the kingdom of Sardinia. A new monarchy appeared under a Dutch king that was constitutional, had a large electorate; and was granted rulership over Belgium and the Netherlands. Austria recovered former Italian possessions, kept a contested Venice, and was allowed virtually free rein to keep the other Italian states in order.
For nearly forty years, the treaty provided a framework within which disputes were settled without war. The treaty’s success is owed in part to the era’s widespread fear of subversion held by Europe’s ruling classes. In all major continental states, the years after 1815 were a great period of political intrigue. Secret societies proliferated, undiscouraged by their countless failures. Austrian soldiers dealt with attempted coups at Piedmont and Naples. A French army restored the power of a reactionary Spanish king, who had been hampered by a liberal constitution. The Russian Empire survived a military conspiracy and a Polish revolt. The predominance of Austrian power in Germany was not threatened, but Austria was always paranoid that it was.
Russian and Austrian power, the first in reserve, the second the main force in Central Europe and Italy from 1815 to 1848, were the two rocks on which the Vienna system rested.
- A History of Europe, J.M. Roberts, pg. 348 ↩︎
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