Europe 1815-1900: An Overview

With Napoleon, the rulers of Europe attempted to restore the old order. The leaders met at the Congress of Vienna. The goal of the Congress was to restore to power the "legitimate" rulers of Europe, meant the monarchs. The Congress was a victory for the ideology of conservatism. Conservatives believed in obedience to establish political power. They also believed in the importance of religion in maintaining order. The great powers attempted to balance the power of the different nations, thus assuring that none became dominant. They also adopted the policy of intervention in each other's affairs if revolution broke out. A liberal who believed in civil rights for citizens and nationalists, who believed in the right of self-expression for different national groups, attempted to upset the order. The Bourbon monarch Charles X was overthrown in 1830. Belgium, which the Dutch had annexed, rebelled in 1830, rebellions in Poland and Italy were less successful when European powers intervened. In 1848 a revolution broke out in Paris. The revolution resulted in the establishment of the second republic. News of the French Revolution spread throughout Europe. In Germany, it resulted in the calling of the Frankfurt Convention in an attempt to unify the independent states of Germany. Revolution broke out in Czechoslovakia, Vienna itself, and Hungary in the Austrian Empire. They were all put down with the help of Russians. The Concert of Europe broke down with the Crimean War. The Ottoman Empire was considered the "sick man of Europe," and Russia took the opportunity to invade Moldavia and Walachia. The British and French feared Russian advances and sided with the Ottomans, defeating the Russians. Peace was restored with the treaty of Paris signed in 1856, but the Concert of Europe was forever destroyed. The end of the Concert allowed the Italian states to unify in a process that began in 1852 when King Victor Emmanuel II of the northern appointed Count Camillo di Cavour as his Prime Minister. Due to his unstinting effort, a new unified Kingdom of Italy was declared in 1862. The process was completed in 1870 when Rome was annexed as the capital of Italy.
The process began the same way in Germany when King William I appointed Count Otto von Bismark as his Prime Minister in 1862. He worked tirelessly to unify Germany. He means a series of wars, first with Denmark and then with Austria. The war with Austria unified the Northern German states under Prussia. The Southern German states signed a defense agreement with Prussia to defend themselves against France. Bismarck then goaded France into declaring war on Prussia; Prussia and the other German states decisively defeated France. In the process, Bismarck achieved his ultimate purpose, the Unification of Germany. The unified German State became the strongest in Europe; a new balance of power was established in Europe, that balance, or lack of it, led to the carnage of the 20th century.