• DOI:10.17104/1611-8944-2015-4-458
• Corpus ID: 151713355

The Long Shadow of the Congressof Vienna: From International Peaceto Domestic Disorders

@article{Ghervas2015TheLS,
  title={The Long Shadow of the Congressof Vienna: From International Peaceto Domestic Disorders},
  author={Stella Ghervas},
  journal={Journal of Modern European History},
  year={2015},
  volume={13},
  pages={458 - 463}
}

• S. Ghervas
• Published 1 November 2015
• Political Science
• Journal of Modern European History

JM EH 1 3 / 20 15 / 4 The question of how to obtain and maintain a state of peace in Europe has been at the fore of the political agenda for decades. Since World War II, there has been hope that an effective security policy might end the plight of war and violence and could eventually bring peace to the world. In particular, the Allies’ intention of creating a more «robust» international order than that of the League of Nations had led to the establishment of the UN Security Council with a right of veto, which included the two new super-powers: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The construction of that post-war order was undoubtedly influenced by the Congress of Vienna settlement (1815), which had been dominated by a syndicate of four European powers (Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia). More recently, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, political leaders of the major countries, as well as the academic community, have been much concerned with the notion of security, but this time against a new type of threat, not coming from other states, and therefore far different from conventional war: terrorism. Even in that last case, can the diplomatic precedent set by the Congress of Vienna (1814/1815) still provide us with indications on how to maintain a peaceful international order? This question gives us an opportunity to query the «long shadow» that the Vienna Order has cast over the nineteenth century, and beyond. Its legacy has lasted until our times, and it might extend for some time in the future. Without a doubt, the Vienna settlement was successful in establishing international peace. The European continent enjoyed a period of quiet coexistence between the great powers (which formed a single bloc), from 1815 up to the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853. At a second glance, however, the new political order proved very disappointing in terms of security. Shortly after the Congress, the continent witnessed an endless succession of public disorders and revolts, as soon as 1817 in Germany, and throughout the 1820s. It culminated in the spree of revolutions of 1848, which nearly brought Prussia, Austria and France to their knees. When examining the impact that the system of Vienna had on maintaining the European peace, it is therefore essential to distinguish between two essentially different aspects of peace: the external (foreign) and the internal (domestic). These two notions do not necessarily bear the same relationship with security. Stella Ghervas The Long Shadow of the Congress of Vienna: From International Peace to Domestic Disorders