Date: October 1, 2015
On this day with SHAC, the Congress of Vienna was opened with intent to redraw Europe’s political map after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Europe was in havoc between 1814-15 during the terror-filled reign of Napoleon, as well as the ensuing aftermath of war. The foour great powers: Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain were instrumental in overthrowing Bonaparte. However, all European states were called to the congress to “bring back old times.” Only the most important officials were sent to represent the struggling nations such as Klemens, Prince Von Metternich, Tsar Alexander I and King Frederick William III. The four major principles of the congress were to: restore the balance of power; the containment of France; restoration of legitimate rulers; and rewarding/punishing those involved in the wars. However, there is skepticism about the plausibility of such a task after such a show of complete and utter power and dominance from a war-driven conqueror.
In comparison, the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 was held after World War I to set terms of peace for the defeated powers. The big 4 included the USA, Great Britain, France, and Italy, who got to set the stage for reprimanding Germany and its allies. The same circumstances were also present after World War II during Paris peace treaties. However, there are discrepancies between the effectiveness of discussing and delivering such stipulations/treaties after the Napoleonic wars vs. World War II because of a stricter balance of power as well as a greater emphasis on ethics.
The Congress of Vienna set the stage for Europe to live on after being war-torn, but also demonstrated how valuable and fragile the balance of power is, and perhaps in doing so, shaped the future of post-war practices.