Another major country at the congress was Russia, represented by Tsar Alexander 1. Alexander had a strong position at the congress, as his previous campaign in Russia had defeated Napoleon. The Tsar wanted to annex Poland to Russia and wanted access to reach the Mediterranean Sea in order to open up trade routes, by obtaining Turkish land.
Russia did get Bessarabia in Turkey and also managed to obtain Finland. However, it did not get all of Poland, as Austria and Prussia had already claimed Polish land. Russia could have achieved much more, but was not successful due to the poor diplomatic skills of the Tsar (Catteerall, P 1994). This was good as the great powers feared Russia size and strength and believed that if Russia got all of Poland, it would be a threat to the rest of Europe.
Frederick 1 represented Prussia. Prussia’s only desire was to gain territory to surround its country in order to protect it from any French and Austrian invasions. Another proposal that they brought forward was for France to be severely punished. “All Prussians had an undying hatred of France” (Chapman T 1998). Although Prussia’s proposals were not aggressive, they managed to become the most successful country from the Congress of Vienna. They gained Polish land such as Posen and Thorn, and also got 40% of Saxony and annexed to the Rhine. In later years the Rhine had become one of the largest industrial zones in Europe, which strengthened Prussia’s economy. However their proposal to have France punished did not happen because of fear that if France were treated harshly they would eventually upset the balance of power.
Viscount Castlereagh, the Secretary of State for the War and Colonial Department, represented Britain. He helped plan campaigns against Napoleon in the Napoleonic wars and this put Britain in a strong position at the Congress of Vienna.
Castlereagh wanted Britain to develop her colonial empire and enhance wealth and economic growth through overseas trading. Castlereagh also wanted to keep the countries such as India and Canada, which Britain had gained after the French wars. He wanted liberalism through out Europe as in free trade, constitutions and to abolish the slave trade. They wanted Belgium to become independent, as this would help protect the British coastland. France at the time controlled a place in Belgium called Antwerp, which was an alternative sea route to Britain and could be a threat to Britain. Castlereagh did not want any mainland territory in Europe as he did not want European commitments and Britain to be dragged into other wars or alliances every time there was a dispute.
“It is not the business of England to collect trophies, but to restore Europe to a peaceful habits”(Chapman, T 1998).
Britain achieved what it wanted at the Congress of Vienna. England did not get mainland territory but got the colonies overseas that they wanted. Britain also kept her French colonies and lands such as st Lucia and cape colony from Holland. Britain was very successful at the congress of Vienna as the agreements allowed Britain’s economy to strengthen and by having colonies overseas that produced cheap cotton and sugar, helped to develop British industrialization. Britain also used the colonies for navy purposes and so Britain was affected in a positive way and was left in a strong position at the congress.
Prince Metterich, the Austrian Statesman and Diplomat represented Austria. He wanted to stop the expansion of France, Russia and Prussia, for instance stopping Prussia getting Saxony and blocking Russians plan to annex Poland. He did not want revolutions occurring all over Europe, as he was a man who disliked these new changes that were happening throughout Europe. Metternich being a conservative and old fashioned, wanted the monarchy restored such as Louis xv111 of France. Metternich pressed for land in Italy and wanted equilibrium, which means equal power to every country as Austria had no great power, and constantly felt threatened by Russia from the east and France from the west (kileenroos.com).
Austria did not do as well as the British and was left in a more weak position. As Russia and Prussia had Poland and Saxony, Austria felt threatened. They gave up claim to the Austrian Netherlands, so they could concentrate on being more powerful country at the congress. Austria did get lands from Italy, such as Lombardy -Venetia and the German confederation of 39 states were formed under Austrian control. Because all the land in the Austrian empire was from many different nations, it meant that Austria was in a weak position incase of the rise in nationalism. However Austria did have a few advantages. She became wealthy through tax revenues from the different nations and a number of Buffer states were set up around France to slow French troops down if they ever invaded the empire. Another Advantage was that the kingdoms of Italy, which had been restored back to monarchism, were related to the Habsburg family of Austria and if the Austrian empire ever needed help would have a powerful army, as the kingdoms from Italy would help out. Austria also had access of some seas and tried its bests to keep Germany and Italy under Austrian influence for as long as possible.
After the congress of Vienna was established, and the countries finally restored, the European countries decided to meet up occasionally to attempt to deal with any issues that needed to be discussed. They would also discuss any conflicts and try to obtain peace, in case any revolutions occurred. The Quadruple Alliance and the Holy Alliance were designed to deal with these issues. However over the years, the Vienna settlement was beginning to fail. Although there were smaller conflicts that were quickly resolved, eventually the problems in Europe were growing too large for the representatives to work together to tackle them. The countries had started to disagree with one another and so the congresses that followed the congress of Vienna were not that successful (homestead.com). The historian, Hobsbawn, writes of two revolutions that were occurring in the 19th Century. One was the Industrial Revolution and the other was the political movement Nationalism and Liberalism. These revolutions were seen as a major threat to the balance of power after the Congress of Vienna and were most likely the cause of its failure.
Although the territorial changes and redrawing of the map had been a success, there were a number of consequences that the great leaders had failed to consider. Europe after 1815 had gone through a number of social and political changes. The leaders like Metternich had refused to look at ideas such as nationalism and had underestimated the force of these ideas.
After the congress, England went through a number of changes, both social and political. This period was known as the period of reaction. Because of the colonies gained during the congress of Vienna, England had become wealthy, both economical and political. This lead to the industrialization of Britain, the beginning of factories, unions, better conditions and more freedom of speech. England had moved forward because of these changes and after Castlereagh had died Britain had become more isolated, and started to become more independent and not get involved with the European countries. England had started to experiment with liberal ideas and this made them move forward and less conservative and eventually Britain began to reform by using these new ideas.
Austria had been affected by the congress because many places inside the Habsburg Empire were from different countries. Over the years, there became a rise in nationalism and liberalism in Germany and Italy. Metternich, who was against these political movements, done his best to crackdown on people that were being influenced by these ideas. Metternich and the Holy Alliance came up with the idea of collective intervention, to stop these movements. He also established a secret police that went out to also stop these ideas becoming real. One other way of doing this was by certain laws that would stop censorship on all newspapers and to stop any secret societies from emerging. (Ford ,F,L,1989).
The congress of Vienna and the conferences that followed gave Europe years of peace and was very successful. It established a balance of power, prevented political revolutions, restored the monarchy and redrew the European map. But because of the changes that were happening throughout Europe, the congress was faced with too many problems. In 1820, there were many revolutions; all against the system and the old regime, like in Spain and Naples were the firsts revolutions occurred
There were many revolts in the years that followed. Although many were stopped, the forces of these ideas were just too strong and eventually they lead to the decline of the congress system and in 1850s the unification of Italy occurred and in 1870s the unification Germany was achieved by the help of nationalists and Liberalist like Garibaldi and Bismarck.
. Leaders like Metternich who had ignored the changes that were happening, had not thought about the consequences and how it could affect the European countries in the long term. By suppressing movements like nationalism and liberalism, the congress of Vienna, which had been established to bring peace to Europe, had in fact brought only revolutions and conflicts between the countries. In1914 when Germany started the war the balance of power had been destroyed and proved the end of the Vienna agreements.
For this essay the Congress of Vienna and its aims have been explained. What the congress wanted to achieve and how it affected the countries involved have also been looked at. I have discussed in detail what affect it had on Britain and Austria and the aftermath of the congress and how it retained peace throughout Europe. The consequences of the congress and how it failed to achieve what it set out to do, and the problems of it have also been looked at and what happen in the long term. The Congress of Vienna was a successful event, but I feel that the countries involved should have looked in to the changes that were happening at the time. By forcing many countries and nations in to following the old regime had just made the countries fight even harder to change Europe.