The Congress System was a genuine attempt by the Great Powers(TM) to provide a unified policy but their interests were too diverse for it to succeed. To what extent do you agree with this judgment?

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Andrew Hutchesson - History

“The Congress System was a genuine attempt by the ‘Great Powers’ to provide a unified policy but their interests were too diverse for it to succeed.” To what extent do you agree with this judgment?

        The Congress System did represent a genuine attempt by the Great Powers to provide unified policy. However, weather or not the System failed or not, and if those failures were the fault of differences between interested parties is debatable. The major powers of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia (and later France) managed to work together to form many policies, and indeed, their impact is still felt today.

        The Great Powers had many common aims during the conferences. Some of the overarching aims included containing France after the Napoleonic wars, achieve and maintain a power balance between the Great Powers and prevent the rise of a dictatorial figure who could cause another Europe wide war. In these aims, the Congress System was a large success. France continued to be a world power without threatening European security, a highly desirable aim for all involved, due to the economic benefits involved. A healthy power balance was maintained, as all powers respected each other, and none assumed superiority over any other participants. And no autocratic figure who threatened a Europe- (and world-) wide war arose until the 1930s, in Hitler and Mussolini. In this way, the Congresses can be said to have been a success, in that they achieved their main aims for a great amount of time. A further success could be said to be the affect the Congresses had on world politics, even to this day. The idea of the Congress System was the basis for the League of Nations, and then again for the United Nations, which to this day is the “world government” insofar as its member states try to act as a cohesive whole to address important issues. In these ways, the Congress System could be said to be a hug success, to which end the quote in the question would only apply to a very small extent, in that the System was a genuine attempt, yet the section of the quote regarding failure would be questionable.

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        The lesser aims of the Great Powers did differ, and as such, may have had a destabilizing effect upon the Congress System. An example of this occurred during the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the first congress between the Great Powers after the Congress of Vienna. Wilmot states that “the Powers went on to reveal the poor prospects for future international cooperation as the search for common ground proved fruitless.” Some examples of this include Tsar Alexander’s proposal for disarmament, Castlereigh's attempts to stop the slave trade and the Barnabary Pirates, all of which were rejected by the other parties. Other ...

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