Congress of Vienna

Throughout history, people in positions of great power have made desperate actions to retain their power over others. Their actions that allow them to stay in power when threatened, however, are generally self-centered and usually detrimental to others. A collection of these kinds of people, those whose power had been threatened, took place at the Congress of Vienna. The Congress of Vienna took place in 1814, in order to establish long term peace in Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Chaired by the Austrian Prince Clemens von Metternich, it was attended by a representative from each European state. In order to understand the decisions made during the Congress of Vienna, our class took the role of Prince Clemens von Metternich and predicted what decisions he would support regarding various issues in early 19th century Europe.

The Principle of Intervention was one of the major decisions made at the Congress of Vienna. It gave the nations of Europe (Russia included) the right to send forces into other countries to quell revolutions that may arise. This kept the leaders in power by giving their allies the right to eliminate any potential threat to their leaderships. The overall impact of the Congress of Vienna was very widespread and extremely impactful. France was made into a constitutional monarchy, and many revolutions began in the following years, but there were positive impacts as well. The borders of Europe were redrawn, and this led to a balance of power, which helped make peace in between the European states.

While the decisions made in the Congress of Vienna caused peace in between countries, they were not necessarily the correct decisions that were made. The decisions that were made generally supported the upper class, and not the working class, who composed the vast majority of the population. A better decision that could have been made would be to not institute the Principle of Intervention at all, and for nations to be more open to the ideas of the people. This would create nations that would be approved by a larger percent of its citizens. Unfortunately for the powerful delegates of the Congress of Vienna, this would involve sacrificing some of their power for the greater good. In reality, the powerful members of the Congress of Vienna made the decision to retain their power, and Europe became one step closer to the place it is today.