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The Concert of Europe also known as the "Congress System" was the result of a custom, following the era of Napoleon and the French Revolution, adopted by the old great powers of Europe of meeting from time to time in an International Conference, or Congress, in order to plan a solution by mutual agreement (hence "concert"), whenever some problem arose that threatened peace between European nations. Its founding members were Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia who were also members of the 6th Coalition (Quadruple Alliance) responsible for the downfall of Napoleon I. The leading personalities of the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, Austrian Chancellor Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and Alexander I the Tsar of Russia. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... Look up Congress in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ... Combatants Prussia Russia Austria United Kingdom Sweden Sicily Sardinia French Empire Italy Naples Warsaw Confederation of the Rhine[1] Swiss Confederation Commanders Gebhard von Blücher Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Kutuzov Prince Wittgenstein Prince Schwarzenberg Prince Charles John Napoleon I of France Michel Ney Jozef Antoni Poniatowski Europe... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (June 18, 1769 - August 12, 1822), known until 1821 by his courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh, was an Anglo-Irish politician born in Dublin who represented the United Kingdom at the Congress of Vienna. ... Metternich redirects here. ... Alexander I of Russia (Russian: Александр I Павлович / Aleksandr I Pavlovich) (December 23, 1777 – December 1?, 1825) served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Grand Duke of Finland. ...

The Concert of Europe lasted between 1814 and 1848 and in time assumed an official status of the type of the League of Nations which, while not in itself an entity, was an informal organization of the nations of Europe ruled nevertheless by the will of the majority. Among the earlier meetings of the Powers, were the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), of Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Verona (1822) and London in 1830, 1832, and 1838-1839. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 fully settled the Eastern Question and raised the Concert of Europe to the status of the de facto government of the world. The British balance of power was in abeyance and there followed an era of stability where Germany engaged in no major conflict for 43 years. The Concert of Europe was laid to its final rest in the waters of Manilla Bay on the morning of May 1, 1898. On August 13, the day after the Spanish-American war had ended, the German fleet withdrew fully aware that the Concert of Europe had been superseded by "The New Order of Freedom". 1939–1941 semi-official emblem Anachronous world map in 1920–1945, showing the League of Nations and the world Capital Not applicable¹ Language(s) English, French and Spanish Political structure International organisation Secretary-general  - 1920–1933 Sir James Eric Drummond  - 1933–1940 Joseph Avenol  - 1940–1946 Seán Lester Historical... The Congress of Vienna was a conference between ambassadors, from the major powers in Europe that was chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and held in Vienna, Austria, from November 1, 1814, to June 8, 1815. ... The Congress or Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), held in the autumn of 1818, was primarily a meeting of the four allied powers Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia to decide the question of the withdrawal of the army of occupation from France and the nature of the modifications to... The Carlsbad Decrees were a set of social restrictions introduced in Germany by Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich of Austria on September, 20 1819. ... The Congress of Verona met at Verona on October 20, 1822 as the last of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1815. ... Greece, having won its independence from the Ottoman Empire after eight years of war (1821-1829) with the help of the Great Powers (Great Britain, France and Russia) at the Battle of Navarino had formed a republican government with John Capodistrias (Καποδíστριας)as its leader. ... The Eastern Question, in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). ... Combatants United States Spain Commanders George Dewey Patricio Montojo y Pasarón Strength 3 protected cruisers 2 gunboats 1 revenue cutter 2 supply vessels 2 protected cruisers 4 unprotected cruisers 1 gunboat Casualties 9 wounded, 1 dead 161 dead 210 wounded The Battle of Manila Bay took place on 1... Combatants United States Republic of Cuba Philippine Republic Kingdom of Spain Commanders Nelson A. Miles William R. Shafter George Dewey Máximo Gómez Emilio Aguinaldo Patricio Montojo Pascual Cervera Arsenio Linares Ramón Blanco Casualties 3,289 U.S. dead (432 from combat); considerably higher although undetermined Cuban and...

The Congress System's first primary objectives were to

• contain France after decades of war
• achieve a balance of power between Europe's great powers
• uphold the territorial arrangements made at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 and in doing so
• prevent the rise of another Napoleon-esque figure which would result in another continent wide war.

In this historians have generally agreed that they were successful as there was no major war pitting the Great Powers against each other until the Crimean War forty years later, and France was successfully re-integrated back into Europe joining the alliance in 1818 at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. However after this success the Concert of Europe gradually fell apart mainly because of disagreements between the great powers, particularly between Britain and the countries with more conservative constitutions (who were also members of the Holy Alliance). Despite the overall failure of the Congress System it marked an important step in European and World diplomacy. In its approximately 85 years life it had erected an imposing structure of International Law. Balance of power in international relations is a central concept in realist theory. ... The Congress of Vienna was a conference between ambassadors, from the major powers in Europe that was chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and held in Vienna, Austria, from November 1, 1814, to June 8, 1815. ... Combatants Allies: Second French Empire British Empire Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Bulgarian volunteers Casualties 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 17,500 British 2,194 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease ~134,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War (1853–1856) was fought... Three congresses have been held at Aix-la-Chapelle: the first in 1668, the second in 1748, the third in 1818. ... The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Vienna on September 26, 1815. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

History

The French Revolution of 1789 spurred a great fear among the leading powers in Europe of the lower classes violently rising against the Old powers to solve the pressing issues (mainly suppressing revolutions against monarchs) at the time. However, the Congress System began to deteriorate with Britain removing itself and a bitter debate over the Greek War of Independence. Even though one more Congress was held between the five major powers at St Petersburg in 1825, the Congress system had already broken down. Despite that, the "Great Powers" continued to meet and maintained peace in Europe. It started a framework of international diplomacy and negotiation in a continent torn by war. One good example of this is in 1827 when the three of the Great Powers (Britain, France and Russia) joined in the Battle of Navarino to defeat an Ottoman fleet. The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Combatants Greek revolutionaries United Kingdom France Russian Empire  Ottoman Empire Egyptian Khedivate Commanders Theodoros Kolokotronis Alexander Ypsilanti Georgios Karaiskakis Omer Vryonis Mahmud Dramali Pasha ReÅŸid Mehmed Pasha Ibrahim Pasha. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Combatants United Kingdom France Russian Empire Ottoman Empire Ottoman Vilayet of Egypt Ottoman Vilayet of Tunisia Commanders Edward Codrington (C-in-C) Henri de Rigny Login Heyden Ibrahim Pasha (C-in-C) Amir Tahir Pasha (Adm comm) Moharram Bey Capitan Bey Strength 10 battleships 10 frigates 4 brigs 2 schooners... Ottoman redirects here. ...

Varying perspectives

Results of the Concert

The Concert's principle accomplishment was the securing of independence for Greece (1830) and Belgium (1831). In 1840 the powers (except France) intervened in defense of the Ottoman Empire (against which they had supported Greece) to end Egypt's eight-year occupation of Syria. Ottoman redirects here. ...

Demise of the Concert

Fatally weakened by the European revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of Vienna's frontiers along national lines, the last vestiges of the Concert expired amid successive wars between its participants - the Crimean War (1854-56), the Italian War of Independence (1859), the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Combatants Allies: Second French Empire British Empire Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Bulgarian volunteers Casualties 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 17,500 British 2,194 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease ~134,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War (1853–1856) was fought... The evolution of the process that would finally have brought to the Italian Unification (Risorgimento), the Italian Independence wars were three wars fought against Austria between 1848 and 1866 and ended with the conquest of the whole Italian territory. ... Combatants Austria, Saxony, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hanover and some minor German States (formerly as the German Confederation) Prussia, Italy, and some minor German States Strength 600,000 Austrians and German allies 500,000 Prussians and German allies 300,000 Italians Casualties 20,000 dead or wounded 37,000 dead... Combatants Second French Empire North German Confederation allied with South German states (later German Empire) Commanders Napoleon III François Achille Bazaine Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta Otto von Bismarck Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Strength 400,000 at wars beginning 1,200,000 Casualties 150,000...

See also

• Age of Metternich
• Congress of Vienna
• Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)
• Congress of Troppau
• Congress of Laibach
• Congress of Verona
• Diplomacy