1. Ideologies & Upheavals c.e. 1815-1848
Eastview High School – AP European History
A History of Western Society
Ch23 Section 1 – The Peace Agreement
McKay et al. 8th ed.

2. Essential Questions
How do the European powers attempt to achieve balance of power throughout Europe after the Napoleonic empire?
How did the political revolution, detailed in France and resisted by European monarchs, eventually break out again after 1815?
How does the “dual revolution” shape the ideologies of the nineteenth century?

3. Balance of Power
The victors (mainly the alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain) restored the French boundaries of 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.

4. Balance of Power (continued)
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 victors, especially the Prussians and the Russians, for compensation threatened the balance.

5. The Representatives at the Congress of Vienna, 1815
Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria:
Balance of power throughout Europe
Gave up territories in Belgium and southern Germany
Expanded by taking Venetia and Lombardy in northern Italy AND land on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea
Robert Castlereagh of Great Britain:
Won colonies and strategic outposts and desired freedom of the seas
Sought to eliminate French threat to its commercial interests

6. The Representatives at the Congress of Vienna, 1815
Tsar Alexander I of Russia:
Wanted to restore and rule Poland - this was too much according to Metternich & Castlereagh
Ended up with a smaller version of the Polish kingdom
Prince Karl Hardenberg of Prussia:
Wanted the large and wealthy kingdom of Saxony - this was too much according to Metternich & Castlereagh
Ended up with part of Saxony instead of the whole - approximately 2/5

7. The Representatives at the Congress of Vienna, 1815
Charles Talleyrand of France:
Balance of power throughout Europe
Boundaries restored to what they were in 1792
Lost Caribbean possessions to Great Britain
Pay an indemnity of 700 million Francs
Support an occupational army for five years

8. Intervention & Repression
Under Metternich, Austria, Prussia, and Russia led a crusade against liberalism.
They formed a Holy Alliance to check future liberal and revolutionary activity.

9. Conservative Ideology
When liberals succeeded in Spain and in the Two Sicilies, the Holy Alliance intervened to restore conservatism.
However, Britain blocked intervention in Latin America and encouraged the Monroe Doctrine (1823).

10. The Carlsbad Decrees
Metternich’s policies also dominated the German Confederation.
Metternich had the Carlsbad Decrees issued in 1819.
These decrees repressed subversive ideas and organizations.

11. Metternich and Conservatism
Metternich represented the view that the best state blended monarchy, bureaucracy, and aristocracy.
He hated liberalism, which he claimed stirred up the lower classes and caused war and bloodshed.
Liberalism also stirred up national aspirations in central Europe, which could lead to war and the breakup of the Austrian Empire.
The empire, which was dominated by the minority Germans, contained many ethnic groups, including Hungarians & Czechs, which was a potential source of weakness & dissatisfaction.

12. Questions for your review
What principles guided the victorious allies at the Congress of Vienna?
What were the main resolutions of the peace settlement arranged in Vienna in 1815?
Why did France and Austria intervene in Spain and Italy respectively?
What were the Carlsbad Decrees?
What was the Holy Alliance? What was its purpose?
Why did Metternich believe in conservatism?