Western History 151: How did the Concert of Europe come about?

With the Napoleonic Era coming to an end the European powers were driven to ensure that the chaos engendered by both the French revolution and the coalition wars were not to be repeated. The Congress of Vienna was the step in this direction that sought to establish a balance of power that would limit and check the growth of nationalism and liberalism.

The Viscount of Castlereagh Britain’s Foreign minister and representative at Vienna, believed that European security was best maintained through avenues of diplomacy as opposed to active armed intervention. The Concert of Europe was his creation. Castlereagh  envisioned a situation where the powers of the Quadruple Alliance (Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia) would use regular diplomatic conferences to resolve the crisis at hand.

Viscount Castlereagh source: historicalportraits.com

Four conferences were called. The first, the Congress of Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), admitted France to the concert of powers. Later conferences were held at Troppau (1820), Laibach (1821) and Verona (1822).  Unfortunately for Castlereagh he was often in the minority in his opposition to strong military interference. His liberal view often clashed with the reactionary position taken by the other powers (usually led by Metternich of Austria). in this respect the Big  Powers would use the concert system to formalize military action to quell uprisings in both Italy (1820) and Spain (1822). In fact a grouping of three of these powers (Austria,, Prussia and Russia) was formed (the so-called Holy Alliance) to oppose liberalism and its secularist intentions..

A meeting of one of the Conferences called. source: www.ehne.fr

The British public grew weary of Castlereagh's involvement in the anti-Liberal Concert and within time public sentiment would shift favouring British withdrawal from the system and the establishment of a more single focused 'go-it-alone' Pax Britannica for the island nation. Britain's powerful navy would serve as the backbone for this initiative.

Nevertheless British Romantics such as Lord Byron urged and secured London's backing for the Greek revolt against the Turks in 1821. Heavy fighting between the Greeks and Turks continued until 1829. The Wars most famous Battle was the naval skirmish at Navarino (1827) which saw the Allied forces of Russia, France and Britain victorious over their Ottoman foes thereby securing Greek independence.

Lord Byron - Poet and lover of Greek Classics. He fought in the Greek Civil War but lost his life at the Siege of Missolonghi in April 1824. source: the parisreview.com