Difference between revisions of "Concert of Europe" - New World Encyclopedia

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==Legacy==
 
==Legacy==
Some have described the Concert of Europe as a "ancestor of the [[League of Nations]]. Others describe the Concert as in fact the "opposite of an international organization trying to work within the limits of [[international law]]" since it "lacked a secretariat and rules of conduct."<ref>Yoder, page 4.</ref> On the eve of [[World War I]], the British Foreign Minister Lord [[Edward Grey]] tried to convene the Concert to prevent hostilities but failed. It was, though, this very failure that made him and others all the more determined to establish a body which at the very least could call a "meeting of major powers at short notice to try to prevent war".<ref>Yoder, page 4.</ref> That proposed body became the [[League of Nations]].  
+
Some have described the Concert of Europe as a "ancestor of the [[League of Nations]]. Others describe the Concert as in fact the "opposite of an international organization trying to work within the limits of [[international law]]" since it "lacked a secretariat and rules of conduct."<ref>Yoder, page 4.</ref> On the eve of [[World War I]], the British Foreign Minister Lord [[Edward Grey]] tried to convene the Concert to prevent hostilities but failed. It was, though, this very failure that made him and others all the more determined to establish a body which at the very least could call a "meeting of major powers at short notice to try to prevent war".<ref>Yoder, page 4.</ref> That proposed body became the [[League of Nations]]. In some respects, this did build on the legacy of the Concert, even if a major concern was not to replicate mistakes.  The fact that the Concert had lacked a formal mechanism meant that the new body would have one, and member states would commit themselves to its Covenant, which included the "acceptance of obligations not to resort to war."<ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp The Covenant of the League of Nations.] Avalon Project. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> Unfortunately, the League lacked any means to enforce the Covenant and nations, acting in self-interest, broke its terms. The League could not prevent [[World War II]] just as the Concert couldn't prevent the previous world war. It  The next world body, the [[United Nations]] represented a significant departure, at least in principle and theory if less so in practice. While preventing war remains a fundamental aim, this is arguably secondary to creating a more peaceful world through such initiatives as [[UNESCO]] which set out to "build the defenses of peace in the minds of men."<ref>[http://www.icomos.org/unesco/unesco_constitution.html UNESCO Constitution]. Adopted in London on 16 November 1945. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> In addition, the UN has sponsored such initiatives as International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, which aims to change the way people think and act so that non-[[violence|violent]] resolution of disputes becomes an automatic priority.<ref>[http://decade-culture-of-peace.orgInternational Decade for a Culture of Peace.] Decade for a Culture of Peace. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> Also, at least in theory, the United Nations has a mechanism to enforce resolution, the [[United Nations Security Council]].  It also recognizes that in the end it is the people of the world, not [[nation-state|nations]] that will demand peace and reject violence. The preamble to the Charter begins "we the peoples"<ref>[http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/ Charter of the UN.] UNO. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> and increasingly the organization has attempted to work with civil society across the globe.<ref>[http://www.un.org/issues/civilsociety/ The UN and Civil Society.] UN Department of Public Information. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref>
  
 
===The Concert of Europe and the Cold War===
 
===The Concert of Europe and the Cold War===
 
In his 1957 book, A World Restored the future [[United States]] Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] based proposals for a "stable international order" on his study of the Concert of Europe. He argued that peace and stability in a [[conflict]] prone world was best guaranteed by ensuring an equilibrium of force and power.  Writing in the context of the [[Cold War]], this meant a balance of power between the Western allies and the [[communism|Communist]] bloc. He wrote, "the security of a domestic order resides in the preponderance power of authority, that of an international order in the balance of forces, and in its expression, the equilibrium ... But it is constructed in the name of a legitimizing principle."<ref>Kissinger, 144-147.</ref>
 
In his 1957 book, A World Restored the future [[United States]] Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] based proposals for a "stable international order" on his study of the Concert of Europe. He argued that peace and stability in a [[conflict]] prone world was best guaranteed by ensuring an equilibrium of force and power.  Writing in the context of the [[Cold War]], this meant a balance of power between the Western allies and the [[communism|Communist]] bloc. He wrote, "the security of a domestic order resides in the preponderance power of authority, that of an international order in the balance of forces, and in its expression, the equilibrium ... But it is constructed in the name of a legitimizing principle."<ref>Kissinger, 144-147.</ref>
  
To a considerable extent, the "balance of power" doctrine prevented direct conflict between the two sides during the Cold War, although proxy battles were fought.  
+
To a considerable extent, the "balance of power" doctrine prevented direct conflict between the two sides during the Cold War, although proxy battles were fought. However, the two major powers depended on the probability of mutually assured destruction were they too attack.  Both sides maintained large and expensive military; the idea was always present that either would use force if necessary.  The mentality was defensive rather than aggressive but both sides saw themselves as military powers. The peace, it was believed, was maintained by the threat of war, therefore possessing and improving the means to make war remained a dominant [[politics|political]] goal. In contrast, others argue that disarmament ought to be a priority, that while this will not of itself "produce world peace ... the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, illicit arms trafficking, and burgeoning weapons stockpiles would advance both peace and development goals", which is the aim of the UN Office for Disarmament.<ref>[http://disarmament.un.org/dda-vision.htm UNODA Vision Statement] UNODA. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref>
  
 
===The New Europe===
 
===The New Europe===

Revision as of 01:35, 8 December 2008

The Concert of Europe was the balance of power that existed in Europe from the fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of World War I. Its founding members were the UK, Austria, Russia and Prussia who were also members of the 6th Coalition (Quadruple Alliance) responsible for the downfall of Napoleon I; in time France became established as a fifth member of the "club". 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.

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. It lasted between 1814 and 1914 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 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 arguably raised the Concert of Europe to the status of the de facto government of the world.

Prince Metternich, conductor of the Concert of Europe

Objectives

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.

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 three of the Great Powers (Britain, France and Russia) joined in the Battle of Navarino to defeat an Ottoman fleet.

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.

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).

Legacy

Some have described the Concert of Europe as a "ancestor of the League of Nations. Others describe the Concert as in fact the "opposite of an international organization trying to work within the limits of international law" since it "lacked a secretariat and rules of conduct."[1] On the eve of World War I, the British Foreign Minister Lord Edward Grey tried to convene the Concert to prevent hostilities but failed. It was, though, this very failure that made him and others all the more determined to establish a body which at the very least could call a "meeting of major powers at short notice to try to prevent war".[2] That proposed body became the League of Nations. In some respects, this did build on the legacy of the Concert, even if a major concern was not to replicate mistakes. The fact that the Concert had lacked a formal mechanism meant that the new body would have one, and member states would commit themselves to its Covenant, which included the "acceptance of obligations not to resort to war."[3] Unfortunately, the League lacked any means to enforce the Covenant and nations, acting in self-interest, broke its terms. The League could not prevent World War II just as the Concert couldn't prevent the previous world war. It The next world body, the United Nations represented a significant departure, at least in principle and theory if less so in practice. While preventing war remains a fundamental aim, this is arguably secondary to creating a more peaceful world through such initiatives as UNESCO which set out to "build the defenses of peace in the minds of men."[4] In addition, the UN has sponsored such initiatives as International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, which aims to change the way people think and act so that non-violent resolution of disputes becomes an automatic priority.[5] Also, at least in theory, the United Nations has a mechanism to enforce resolution, the United Nations Security Council. It also recognizes that in the end it is the people of the world, not nations that will demand peace and reject violence. The preamble to the Charter begins "we the peoples"[6] and increasingly the organization has attempted to work with civil society across the globe.[7]

The Concert of Europe and the Cold War

In his 1957 book, A World Restored the future United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger based proposals for a "stable international order" on his study of the Concert of Europe. He argued that peace and stability in a conflict prone world was best guaranteed by ensuring an equilibrium of force and power. Writing in the context of the Cold War, this meant a balance of power between the Western allies and the Communist bloc. He wrote, "the security of a domestic order resides in the preponderance power of authority, that of an international order in the balance of forces, and in its expression, the equilibrium ... But it is constructed in the name of a legitimizing principle."[8]

To a considerable extent, the "balance of power" doctrine prevented direct conflict between the two sides during the Cold War, although proxy battles were fought. However, the two major powers depended on the probability of mutually assured destruction were they too attack. Both sides maintained large and expensive military; the idea was always present that either would use force if necessary. The mentality was defensive rather than aggressive but both sides saw themselves as military powers. The peace, it was believed, was maintained by the threat of war, therefore possessing and improving the means to make war remained a dominant political goal. In contrast, others argue that disarmament ought to be a priority, that while this will not of itself "produce world peace ... the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, illicit arms trafficking, and burgeoning weapons stockpiles would advance both peace and development goals", which is the aim of the UN Office for Disarmament.[9]

The New Europe

Notes

  1. Yoder, page 4.
  2. Yoder, page 4.
  3. The Covenant of the League of Nations. Avalon Project. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  4. UNESCO Constitution. Adopted in London on 16 November 1945. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  5. Decade for a Culture of Peace. Decade for a Culture of Peace. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  6. Charter of the UN. UNO. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  7. The UN and Civil Society. UN Department of Public Information. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  8. Kissinger, 144-147.
  9. UNODA Vision Statement UNODA. Retrieved December 8, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Echard, William E. 1983. Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807110560.
  • Holbraad, Carsten. 1970. The Concert of Europe: a study in German and British international theory, 1815-1914. Harlow: Longmans. ISBN 9780582482623
  • Kissinger, Henry. 1999. A world restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the problems of peace, 1812-1822. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780297643951
  • Langhorne, Richard. 1981. The collapse of the Concert of Europe: international politics, 1890-1914. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312147235.
  • Lowe, John. 1990. The concert of Europe: international relations 1814-70. Access to history. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9780713178289
  • Palmer, A. Metternich: Councillor of Europe. London: Phoenix Giant, 1997. ISBN 9781857998689
  • Yoder, Amos. 1993. The evolution of the United Nations system. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780844817408

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