Impacts of the Congress of Vienna

This is an image of Prince Metternich, representative of Austria during the Congress of Vienna.
http://www.desmondseward.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/metternich1.jpg

When we studied the Congress of Vienna in history recently, the essential question was "What should people in power do when their power is threatened?"  The Congress of Vienna in 1813 was the chaotic event in which the leaders of Austria, Prussia, France, Britain, and Russia tried to find a way to recover and reconstruct European countries that had been destroyed during Napoleon's reign.  To discover the answer to the essential question, we divided into groups, and tried to predict the leaders' decisions.  The leader of the Congress of Vienna was Prince Klemens von Metternich from Austria,  was viewed as a selfish and vain person, and was certainly not the ideal person to decide the fate of Europe.  After predicting Metternich's decisions, we found out the real results of the Congress of Vienna, and discovered why the leaders of Europe initiated certain concepts after their power had been threatened by Napoleon.

The concepts created by the leaders of Austria, Prussia, France, Britain, and Russia were Balance of Power, Principle of Legitimacy, Holy Alliance, and Principle of Intervention.  Holy Alliance, initiated by Czar Alexander of Russia, stated that monarchs had the divine right to rule, and that any revolution was treason against God.  Of the five countries represented at the Congress of Vienna, only England did not take part in this concept because it was Anglican, not Catholic.  Holy Alliance was used by European countries after Napoleon's reign because they thought it would help eliminate threats to their country's power and would prevent revolutions from taking place.  This concept worked for a while after the Congress of Vienna, like when the Austrians crushed an Italian uprising during the 1820s.  Holy Alliance, along with the other major concepts, prevented wars between the five powers of Europe until 1853.  In addition to preventing war, the congress also viewed Napoleon as the enemy, not France.  France had to make some reparations to the other allies, and then had to follow the laws initiated during the Congress of Vienna.

The representatives from the Congress of Vienna may not have been the ideal people to make historic decisions, but the ones they make were effective enough to protect their power and prevent wars.  I think that some decisions made during the congress were good, while others weren't as acceptable.  Holy Alliance definitely prevented wars, and was effective through most of Europe.  Also, Balance of Power restored balance between the five major european countries, and Principle of Intervention, which stated that countries could intervene if another country was causing chaos, was a great way to stop uprisings.  On the other hand, Principle of Legitimacy stated that lawful monarchs should be restored.  It would have be more useful to give the people some power, but Metternich was a conservative, and didn't believe in changing around the laws too much.  Although he didn't want to change Europe entirely because of his beliefs, and because he wanted to keep his power, he didn't help the circumstances in other countries.  The situation of Europe was in so much peril that powerful countries could have offered to give away some power, but the leaders at the Congress of Vienna wanted to keep theirs.  Powerful countries should be willing to give away power when needed to help the situations of others, even if their power is threatened.