Hey guys! Today we are going to dive into what was discussed in the Congress of Vienna and the dynamics of the group.
If you were here last week then you know we ended the blog by introducing the congress of Vienna. The Congress of Vienna consisted of all of the European nations that suffered severe consequences from the Napoleonic Wars and other conflicts from France under the ruling of Napoleon.
These nations had meetings after Napoleon’s first defeat and after his last defeat they exiled him. During his first exile the Congress of Vienna met in Vienna,Austria to forge a new Europe. A man named Klemens von Metternich led the meeting with the goal to restructure the political map of Europe and bring stability to the continent. There were many other leaders present such as Robert Steward of Britain, Czar Alexander the 1st of Russia, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord of France.
The French Revolution and other movements similar to it argued for freedoms like freedom of speech, representative governments, and an end to monarchies. Metternich and some of the other leaders argued that these movements brought nothing but chaos, mob rule, and a plague of violence in Europe. They argued that a return to absolute monarchies would create stability.
Conservative Reactionaries were those who felt the remedy to cure the problems that came from the Enlightenment Revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars was to return to the old system of absolute monarchies. Liberals were those who felt that, despite the chaos that came from the movement, the Enlightenment’s priorities of individual rights, representative governments, and the like should be a part of Europe’s future. While Conservatives andLiberals differed on these areas, one thing most nations agreed on was steps should be taken to ensure France never tried to conquer all of Europe again.
The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars had devastated Europe. The Congress of Vienna did not want severely to punish France for fear of antagonizing the nation to pursue future conflicts. Yet, the Congress wanted deliberately to take steps to ensure France was never positioned to try and conquer Europe again. One major step toward this endeavor was creating buffer states that bordered France and could challenge the nation, if it expanded again. The buffer states included the stronger Kingdom of the Netherlands, several areas in the German Confederation combined as a group, and renewed independent Switzerland. This new political map of Europe looked more like Europe did before the Napoleonic Wars.
Thats it for today guys… See you next time!!!!
I’ve never heard about the Congress of Vienna. This was very interesting!!