Castlereagh had limited success in the context of British Foreign Policy between 1815 and 1822. Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.

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Castlereagh had limited success in the context of British Foreign Policy between 1815 and 1822. Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.

        On one hand I agree that Castlereagh achieved only limited success during his time as British Foreign Secretary as certain aspects of his policy such as the concept of a congress system and the apparent lack of an insular policy earned Castlereagh his critics within Britain.

However it can also be argued that the positive points of Castlereagh’s foreign policy greatly out number the negatives, meaning that he achieved much more than “limited success.” This is demonstrated in the fact that a similar system of Foreign Policy was followed by Castlereagh’s successors, such as Canning, Palmerston and the Earl of Aberdeen, for the next century.  

The fact that the success of Castlereagh’s foreign policy can be described as far more than limited is evident in that he was able to achieve his 3 main aims of maintaining the balance of power, keeping the peace and ensuring co-operation within Europe.

Castlereagh understood the need for peace to be maintained as this would help to avoid another major war and would also ensure that Britain could continue to trade with ease and pursue her aspirations to gain colonies outside of Europe. This aim was successfully achieved in that there was no serious war in Europe for the next hundred years.

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Castlereagh also succeeded in ensuring co-operation between the major British powers. He was the architect and mediator at the Congress of Vienna and the congress system that followed was one of his major achievements as it meant that countries would meet when they needed to sort out their problems and co-operate.

Another reason why I believe that Castlereagh achieved more than limited success is that the balance of power was maintained by using Austria as a buffer state and also preventing Russia from becoming involved in Spain which would have almost certainly disrupted the balance of power. If Castlereagh hadn’t ...

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