The Peace Settlement

Ch. 23 – Emily Dzioba, Cassie Weaver, Will Marsh, Ann Marie La Brutto

Introduction• After the loss of the French army at the Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon abdicated the throne

of the French empire and was sent into exile• Louis XVIII, as a monarch, regained power

• Surrendered all lands gained during revolutions• Kept many Napoleonic reforms: Code Napoleon, abolition of feudalism, etc.

• Napoleon escaped from exile and was later defeated at Battle of Waterloo• Napoleon was sent into exile again where he would die 6 years later; the Napoleonic era in Europe was

at an end

• European nations desired a stable peace after the vice-like influence and chaos of Napoleon• Growing sense of nationalism among nations- no longer wanted to be part of large, vast empires

• Nations organized Conference of Vienna (September 1814-June 1815)

The European Balance of Power• During the Congress of Vienna, the alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Great

Britain restored the French boundaries of 1792 and the Bourbon dynasty. • They made other changes in the boundaries of Europe, establishing Prussia as a

"sentinel" against France, and created a new kingdom out of Belgium and Holland. • It was believed that the concept of the balance of power (an international

equilibrium of political and military forces) would preserve peace in Europe. • But the demands of the alliance, especially the Prussians and the Russians, for

compensation threatened the balance. • The Russian demands for Poland and the Prussian demandsfor Saxony led to conflict among

the powers. • Castlereagh, Metternich, and Talleyrand made Russia and Prussia compromise; Russia got

part of Poland and Prussia received two-fifths of Saxony.

Intervention and Repression

• A crusade against liberalism was led under  the direction of Klemens von  Metternich,  the Austrian foreign minister and leader of the Congress of Vienna• Austria, Prussia, and Russia formed  the "Holy Alliance" in September

1815• It was a symbol of the repression of liberal and revolutionary movements

throughout Europe• The purpose was to check future liberal and revolutionary activity

• Basis of Christian principles and to work together to maintain peace and justice on all occasions

Cont.• When revolutionaries in Spain and Italy (the Two Sicilies) forced

monarchs to allow liberal constitutions, Metternich and Alexander I proclaimed• That they would intervene to maintain autocratic regimes whenever

they were threatened.• When these powers intervened to restore conservatism they put

Ferdinand I in power.

• However, Britain blocked intervention in Latin America and encouraged the Monroe Doctrine (1823).

• Especially in central Europe, Metternich’s system was very effective

Cont.

• Metternich`s policies also dominated the German Confederation which consisted of 38 German states including Austria and Prussia.• In 1819 Metternich had the Carlsbad Decrees issued.

• They consisted of requiring the German states find subversive ideas in newspapers and universities

• This then denied free speech/press to organizations in the states• They had spies and informers to investigate these liberal organizations.

Metternich and Conservatism • His determined defense of the status quo made him a villain in the

eyes of most progressive, optimistic historians of the nineteenth century.

• Metternich was born into the landed nobility of the Rhineland.• served as the foreign minister of the Austrian Empire from 1809

to the liberal revolutions of 1848, which forced his resignation.• After, he engineered Austria's entry into the War of the Sixth

Coalition on the Allied side, sent the Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile, and led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna which divided post-Napoleonic Europe between the major powers.

Cont.

• He believed liberalism, as embodied in revolutionary America and France, had led to a generation of war and bloodshed.• He blamed the liberal middle-class revolutionaries for stirring up

the lower classes, which he believed desired nothing more than peace and quiet.

• Liberalism "not only threatened the primacy of the aristocracy but also threatened to destroy the Austrian Empire and revolutionize central Europe."

Cont.• Metternich came to symbolize the conservative reaction to the French

Revolution.• Conservatism as a political and social philosophy promotes retaining traditional social

institutions.• Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and

continuity, while others, called reactionaries, oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were."

• He, as well as most other conservatives, was a big supporter of the nobility, as they were one of Europe's most ancient institutions• in their view, the proper state and society remained those of pre-1789 Europe, which rested

on a judicious blend of monarchy, bureaucracy, aristocracy, and respectful commoners.

Cont.

• As a leader of the Austrian Empire, which included many different nationalities (Germans, Magyars (Hungarians), and Czechs), Metternich could only fear the rise of nationalism in Europe.• This multi-ethnic empire was strong because of its large population and

vast territories, but weak because of its many and potentially dissatisfied nationalities.

• In these circumstances, even if Metternich didn't completely oppose liberalism, he was virtually required to, for Austria was simply unable to accommodate such potentially troublesome ideologies.