CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,

PATNA

Project Report
On
THE METTERNICH SYSTEM
(WORLD HISTORY)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

DR. Priya Darshni Name: Piyush Sharma

(World History) Roll No.: 1948
Course : B.A.LLB
(Third Semester)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The present project on the”The Metternich System” has been able to get its final shape with the
support and help of people from various quarters. My sincere thanks go to all the members
without whom the study could not have come to its present state. I am proud to acknowledge
gratitude to the individuals during my study and without whom the study may not be completed.
I have taken this opportunity to thank those who genuinely helped me.
With immense pleasure, I express my deepest sense of gratitude to Dr.Priya Darshni, Faculty
for World History, Chanakya National Law University for helping me in my project. I am
also thankful to the whole Chanakya National Law University family that provided me all the
material I required for the project. Not to forget thanking to my parents without the co-operation
of which completion of this project would not had been possible.
I have made every effort to acknowledge credits, but I apologies in advance for any omission that
may have inadvertently taken place.
Last but not least I would like to thank Almighty whose blessing helped me to complete the
project.

THANKING YOU,
NAME : PIYUSH SHARMA
ROLL NO. : 1948
COURSE : BA.LLB (Hons.)

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work reported in the BA.LLB (Hons.) Project Report entitled “The
Metternich System” submitted at Chanakya National Law University is an authentic record
of my work carried out under the supervision of Dr. Priya Darshni.
I have not submitted this work elsewhere for any other degree of diploma .
I am fully responsible for the contents of my project report.
.

SIGNATURE OF CANDIDATE
NAME OF CANDIDATE : PIYUSH SHARMA
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY , PATNA

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

S.No Topic Page No.

Acknowledgement 2
Research Methodology
a) Method of Research
b) Sources of Data
c) Method of Writing
d) Aims and objectives 5
e) Research questions
f) Limitations

1. Introduction
6-7

2. About the Congress of Vienna 8-13

3. The Metternich System
14-19
4. Criticism of Metternich System 20-22
5. Conclusion 23-24

Bibliography 25

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher has adopted a purely doctrinal method of research. The researcher has made
extensive use of the library at the Chanakya National Law University and also the internet
sources.

Sources of Data
The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-
Secondary sources: Newspaper,Websites,Books,Magazines

Method of Writing
The method of writing followed in the course of this research paper is primarily analytical.

Aims and objectives

1. The main aim of this project is to study the concert of Europe.
2. To study the Metternich System.

Research questions

1. What are the negative impact of Metternich system?

2. What were the significance of Metternich History from 1814-1848 ?

Limitations
The presented research is confined to a time limit of 20 days and this research contains
Only doctrinal works which are limited to library sources.

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 INTRODUCTION
Clemont von Metternich, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1809-48) and Austrian State Chancellor
(1821-48), was the most significant conservative statesman in Europe during the period 1814-48.
As well as dominating affairs within the Austrian Empire, he often dictated policies within the
German Confederation and the Italian states, and directly influenced the pattern of international
relations through the medium of the Concert of Europe. He has been credited by some historians
with having devised a method of working, known as the “Metternich System”. This system
represented Metternich’s efforts to maintain the 1815 settlement through an alliance of European
monarchies and by the comprehensive repression of nationalism and liberalism within states.
Obviously, the importance of this Metternich System reflected Metternich’s significant role in
Europe. That is why this period in Europe is also known as the era of Metternich. Yet, the
significance of Metternich in European history should not be studied without making any
reference to his influence in the Austrian Empire.
The Metternich System, also known as the Congress System after the Congress of Vienna, was
the balance of power that existed in Europe from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the
outbreak of World War I (1914), albeit with major alterations after the revolutions of 1848. Its
founding powers were Austria, Prussia, the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom, the
members of the Quadruple Alliance responsible for the downfall of the First French Empire. In
time France was established as a fifth member of the concert. At first, the leading personalities of
the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, Austrian chancellor Klemens von
Metternich.
The Age of Metternich is sometimes known as the age of the Concert, due to the influence of the
Austrian chancellor's conservatism and the dominance of Austria within the German
Confederation, or as the European Restoration, because of the reactionary efforts of the Congress
of Vienna to restore Europe to its state before the French Revolution. The rise of nationalism, the
unification of Germany and the Risorgimento in Italy, and the Eastern Question were among the
factors which brought an end to the Concert's effectiveness. Among the meetings of the Great
Powers during this period were: Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Verona (1822),
London(1832) and Berlin (1878).

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The idea of a European federation had been previously raised by figures such as Gottfried
Leibniz and the 1st Baron of Grenville. The Concert of Europe, as developed by Metternich,
drew upon their ideas and the notion of a balance of power in international relations; that the
ambitions of each great Power was curbed by the others. From the outbreak of the French
Revolutionary Wars in 1792 to the exile of Napoleon to Saint Helena in 1815, Europe had been
almost constantly at war. During this time, the military conquests of France had resulted in the
spread of liberalism throughout much of the continent, resulting in many states adopting the
Napoleonic code. Largely as a reaction to the radicalism of the French Revolution, the victorious
powers of the Napoleonic Wars resolved to suppress liberalism and nationalism, and revert
largely to the status quo of Europe prior to 1789.The Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire and
Russian Empire formed the Holy Alliance with the expressed intent of preserving Christian
social values and traditional monarchism. Every member of the coalition promptly joined the
Alliance, save for the United Kingdom.
After an early period of success, the Concert began to weaken as the common goals of the Great
Powers were gradually replaced by growing political and economic rivalries. Further eroded by
the European revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of
Vienna's frontiers along national lines, the Concert unraveled in the latter half of the 19th century
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).
While the Congress System had a further significant achievement in the form of the Congress of
Berlin (1878) which redrew the political map of the Balkans, the old balance of power had been
irrevocably altered, and was replaced by a series of fluctuating alliances. By the early 20th
century, the Great Powers were organized into two opposing coalitions, and World War I broke
out.

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 CONGRESS OF VIENNA
The Congress of Vienna also called Vienna Congress, was a meeting of ambassadors of
European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, and held in Vienna from
November 1814 to June 1815, though the delegates had arrived and were already negotiating by
late September 1814. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for
Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic
Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they
could balance each other and remain at peace. The leaders were conservatives with little use
for republicanism or revolution, both of which threatened to upset the status quo in Europe.
France lost all its recent conquests while Prussia, Austria and Russia made major territorial gains.
Prussia added smaller German states in the west, Swedish Pomerania and 60% of the Kingdom
of Saxony; Austria gained Venice and much of northern Italy. Russia gained parts of Poland. The
new Kingdom of the Netherlands had been created just months before, and included formerly
Austrian territory that in 1830 became Belgium.

The immediate background was Napoleonic France's defeat and surrender in May 1814, which
brought an end to 23 years of nearly continuous war. Negotiations continued despite the outbreak
of fighting triggered by Napoleon's dramatic return from exile and resumption of power in
France during the Hundred Days of March to July 1815. The Congress's "final act" was signed
nine days before his final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

The Congress has often been criticized for causing the subsequent suppression of the emerging
national and liberal movements,1 and it has been seen as a reactionary movement for the benefit
of traditional monarchs. However, others praise it for having created relatively long-term
stability and peaceful conditions in most of Europe.2

In a technical sense, the "Congress of Vienna" was not properly a congress: it never met
in plenary session, and most of the discussions occurred in informal, face-to-face sessions among
the Great Powers of Austria, Britain, France, Russia, and sometimes Prussia, with limited or no
participation by other delegates. On the other hand, the congress was the first occasion in history
where, on a continental scale, national representatives came together to formulate treaties instead

1
Olson, James Stuart – Shadle, Robert (1991). Historical dictionary of European imperialism, Greenwood Press, p. 149.
2
Mark Jarrett, The Congress of Vienna and Its Legacy: War and Great Power Diplomacy after Napoleon (2013) pp. 353, xiv, 187

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of relying mostly on messages among the several capitals. The Congress of Vienna settlement,
despite later changes, formed the framework for European international politics until the
outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

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Four Great Powers and Bourbon France

The Four Great Powers had previously formed the core of the Sixth Coalition. On the verge of
Napoleon's defeat they had outlined their common position in the Treaty of Chaumont (March
1814), and negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1814) with the Bourbons during their restoration:

• Austria was represented by Prince Metternich, the Foreign Minister, and by his
deputy, Baron Johann von Wessenberg. As the Congress's sessions were in Vienna,
Emperor Francis was kept closely informed.
• Britain was represented first by its Foreign Secretary, Viscount Castlereagh; then by
the Duke of Wellington, after Castlereagh's return to England in February 1815. In the last
weeks it was headed by the Earl of Clancarty, after Wellington left to face Napoleon during
the Hundred Days.
• Tsar Alexander I controlled the Russian delegation which was formally led by the foreign
minister, Count Karl Robert Nesselrode. The tsar had two main goals, to gain control of
Poland and to promote the peaceful coexistence of European nations. He succeeded in
forming the Holy Alliance (1815), based on monarchism and anti-secularism, and formed to
combat any threat of revolution or republicanism.3
• Prussia was represented by Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, the Chancellor, and the
diplomat and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt. King Frederick William III of Prussia was
also in Vienna, playing his role behind the scenes.
• France, the "fifth" power, was represented by its foreign minister, Talleyrand, as well as the
Minister Plenipotentiary the Duke of Dalberg. Talleyrand had already negotiated the Treaty
of Paris (1814) for Louis XVIII of France; the king, however, distrusted him and was also
secretly negotiating with Metternich, by mail.

3
Nicolson, Harold (1946). The Congress of Vienna; a Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822. Constable & co. ltd. p. 158.

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Initially, the representatives of the four victorious powers hoped to exclude the French from
serious participation in the negotiations, but Talleyrand skillfully managed to insert himself into
"her inner councils" in the first weeks of negotiations. He allied himself to a Committee of Eight
lesser powers (including Spain, Sweden, and Portugal) to control the negotiations. Once
Talleyrand was able to use this committee to make himself a part of the inner negotiations, he
then left it4, once again abandoning his allies.

The major Allies' indecision on how to conduct their affairs without provoking a united protest
from the lesser powers led to the calling of a preliminary conference on protocol, to which
Talleyrand and the Marquis of Labrador, Spain's representative, were invited on 30 September
1814.

Congress Secretary Friedrich von Gentz reported, "The intervention of Talleyrand and Labrador
has hopelessly upset all our plans. Talleyrand protested against the procedure we have adopted
and soundly [be]rated us for two hours. It was a scene I shall never forget." 5 The embarrassed
representatives of the Allies replied that the document concerning the protocol they had arranged
actually meant nothing. "If it means so little, why did you sign it?" snapped Labrador.

Talleyrand's policy, directed as much by national as personal ambitions, demanded the close but
by no means amicable relationship he had with Labrador, whom Talleyrand regarded with
disdain. Labrador later remarked of Talleyrand: "that cripple, unfortunately, is going to
Vienna." Talleyrand skirted additional articles suggested by Labrador: he had no intention of
handing over the 12,000 afrancesados – Spanish fugitives, sympathetic to France, who had sworn
fealty to Joseph Bonaparte, nor the bulk of the documents, paintings, pieces of fine art, and
books that had been looted from the archives, palaces, churches and cathedrals of Spain.

Polish-Saxon crisis

The most dangerous topic at the Congress was the so-called Polish-Saxon Crisis. Russia wanted
most of Poland, and Prussia wanted all of Saxony, whose king had allied with Napoleon. The
tsar would become king of Poland. Austria was fearful this would make Russia much too
powerful, a view which was supported by Britain. The result was deadlock, for which Talleyrand
proposed a solution: Admit France to the inner circle, and France would support Austria and

4 William, Sir Ward Adolphus (2009). The Period of Congresses, BiblioLife, p. 13.
5 Susan Mary Alsop (1984). The Congress Dances. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. p. 120.

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Britain. The three nations signed a secret treaty on 3 January 1815, agreeing to go to war against
Russia and Prussia, if necessary, to prevent the Russo-Prussian plan from coming to fruition.6

When the Tsar heard of the secret treaty he agreed to a compromise that satisfied all parties on
24 October 1815. Russia received most of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw as a "Kingdom of
Poland" – called Congress Poland, with the tsar as king ruling it independently of Russia. Russia,
however, did not receive the province of Posen , which was given to Prussia as the Grand Duchy
of Posen, which became a free city. Furthermore, the tsar was unable to unite the new domain
with the parts of Poland that had been incorporated into Russia in the 1790s. Prussia received 60
percent of Saxony-later known as the Province of Saxony, with the remainder returned to
King Frederick Augustus Ias his Kingdom of Saxony.

The Congress's principal results, apart from its confirmation of France's loss of the territories
annexed between 1795–1810, which had already been settled by the Treaty of Paris, were the
enlargement of Russia, (which gained most of the Duchy of Warsaw) and Prussia, which
acquired the district of Poznan, Swedish Pomerania, Westphalia and the northern Rhineland. The
consolidation of Germany from the nearly 300 states of the Holy Roman Empire (dissolved in
1806) into a much less complex system of thirty-nine states (4 of which were free cities) was
confirmed. These states formed a loose German Confederation under the leadership of Austria
and Prussia.

Representatives at the Congress agreed to numerous other territorial changes. By the Treaty of
Kiel, Norway had been ceded by the king of Denmark-Norway to the king of Sweden. This
sparked the nationalist movement which led to the establishment of the Kingdom of
Norway on May 17, 1814 and the subsequent personal Union with Sweden. Austria
gained Lombardy-Venetia in Northern Italy, while much of the rest of North-Central Italy went
to Habsburg dynasties (the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena, and the Duchy of
Parma).7

The Papal States were restored to the Pope. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was restored to
its mainland possessions, and also gained control of the Republic of Genoa. In Southern Italy,
Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, was originally allowed to retain his Kingdom of

6
Nicolson, Sir Harold (2001). The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity: 1812–1822 Grove Press; Rep. Ed. pp. 140–164
7Stearns, Peter N. – Langer, William Leonard (2001). The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 6th ed. p. 440.

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Naples, but his support of Napoleon in the Hundred Days led to the restoration of the
Bourbon Ferdinand IV to the throne.

A large United Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed for the Prince of Orange, including both
the old United Provinces and the formerly Austrian-ruled territories in the Southern Netherlands.
Other, less important, territorial adjustments included significant territorial gains for the German
Kingdoms of Hanover (which gained East Frisia from Prussia and various other territories in
Northwest Germany) and Bavaria (which gained the Rhenish Palatinate and territories
in Franconia). The Duchy of Lauenburg was transferred from Hanover to Denmark, and Prussia
annexed Swedish Pomerania. Switzerland was enlarged, and Swiss neutrality was established.
Swiss mercenaries had played a significant role in European wars for a couple of hundred years:
the Congress intended to put a stop to these activities permanently.

During the wars, Portugal had lost its town of Olivença to Spain and moved to have it restored.
Portugal is historically Britain's oldest ally, and with British support succeeded in having the re-
incorporation of Olivença decreed in Article 105 of the Final Act, which stated that the Congress
"understood the occupation of Olivença to be illegal and recognized Portugal's rights". Portugal
ratified the Final Act in 1815 but Spain would not sign, and this became the most important hold-
out against the Congress of Vienna. Deciding in the end that it was better to become part of
Europe than to stand alone, Spain finally accepted the Treaty on 7 May 1817;
however, Olivença and its surroundings were never returned to Portuguese control and this
question remains unresolved.8 Great Britain received parts of the West Indies at the expense of
the Netherlands and Spain and kept the former Dutch colonies of Ceylon and the Cape Colony as
well as Malta and Heligoland. Under the Treaty of Paris, Britain obtained a protectorate over
the United States of the Ionian Islands and the Seychelles.

8
Ragsdale, Hugh – Ponomarev, V. N. (1993). Imperial Russian foreign policy, Cambridge University Press; 1st ed.

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 THE METTERNICH SYSTEM
The Metternich System, also known as the Congress System after the Congress of Vienna, was
the balance of power that existed in Europe from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the
outbreak of World War I (1914), albeit with major alterations after the revolutions of 1848. Its
founding powers were Austria, Prussia, the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom, the
members of the Quadruple Alliance responsible for the downfall of the First French Empire. In
time France was established as a fifth member of the concert. At first, the leading personalities of
the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, Austrian chancellor Klemens von
Metternich.

The Age of Metternich is sometimes known as the age of the Concert, due to the influence of the
Austrian chancellor's conservatism and the dominance of Austria within the German
Confederation, or as the European Restoration, because of the reactionary efforts of the Congress
of Vienna to restore Europe to its state before the French Revolution. The rise of nationalism, the
unification of Germany and the Risorgimento in Italy, and the Eastern Question were among the
factors which brought an end to the Concert's effectiveness. Among the meetings of the Great
Powers during this period were: Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Verona (1822),
London(1832).

The idea of a European federation had been previously raised by figures such as Gottfried
Leibniz and the 1st Baron of Grenville. The Concert of Europe, as developed by Metternich,
drew upon their ideas and the notion of a balance of power in international relations; that the
ambitions of each Great Power was curbed by the others. From the outbreak of the French
Revolutionary Wars in 1792 to the exile of Napoleon to Saint Helena in 1815, Europe had been
almost constantly at war. During this time, the military conquests of France had resulted in the
spread of liberalism throughout much of the continent, resulting in many states adopting the
Napoleonic code. Largely as a reaction to the radicalism of the French Revolution, the victorious
powers of the Napoleonic Wars resolved to suppress liberalism and nationalism, and revert
largely to the status quo of Europe prior to 1789.The Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire and
Russian Empire formed the Holy Alliance with the expressed intent of preserving Christian
social values and traditional monarchism. Every member of the coalition promptly joined the

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Alliance.

After an early period of success, the Concert began to weaken as the common goals of the Great
Powers were gradually replaced by growing political and economic rivalries. Further eroded by
the European revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of
Vienna's frontiers along national lines, the Concert unraveled in the latter half of the 19th century
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).
While the Congress System had a further significant achievement in the form of the Congress of
Berlin (1878) which redrew the political map of the Balkans, the old balance of power had been
irrevocably altered, and was replaced by a series of fluctuating alliances. By the early 20th
century, the Great Powers were organized into two opposing coalitions, and World War I broke
out.

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Purposes

• The purpose of Metternich’s plan was to keep control of Europe in the hands of conservatives.
“Concert of Europe” – a peacekeeping alliance pledging to maintain a “balance of power” and
suppress uprisings.

• Metternich9 set up a system of spies to report any criticism of the government. Spies were put
in schools, social clubs and colleges. Those suspected were arrested, jailed, exiled or killed.

A system of censorship was used to control any writing which may criticize the government.
(censorship – the act of examining literature, mail and other printed works and removing or
prohibiting anything considered objectionable)

9 https://1.cdn.edl.io/2ZCO5cKtBAMpovEp1HOfz0Y9o5XX5gsE7Elh3SSQhk09piTh.pdf

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• The Metternich System would also use the military force of its members if necessary to control
the people and any uprisings they may start.

Concert of Europe

The Concert of Europe represented the European balance of power from 1815 to 1848 and from
1871 to 1914.

A first phase of the Concert of Europe, known as the Congress System or the Vienna
System after the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), was dominated by five Great Powers of Europe:
Prussia, Russia, Britain, France and Austria. The more conservative members of the Concert of
Europe, who were also members of the Holy Alliance, used this system to oppose revolutionary
movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power. Historians date
its effective operation from the end of the Napoleonic Wars(1815) to the early 1820s, although
some see it playing a role until the Crimean War (1853–1856).

With the Revolutions of 1848 the Vienna system collapsed and, although the republican
rebellions were checked, an age of nationalism began and culminated in the unifications of Italy
(by Sardinia) and Germany (by Prussia) in 1871. The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck re-
created the Concert of Europe to avoid future conflicts escalating into new wars. The revitalized
concert included France, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Italy with Germany as the main
continental power economically and militarily. The Congress of Berlin and the Conference of
Berlin promoted the solidification of power in the respective controlled regions as well
as imperialism. Ultimately the Concert of Europe split itself into the Triple Alliance and
the Triple Entente, and World War I broke out in 1914.10

The Concert of Europe was founded by the powers of Austria, Prussia, Russia and the United
Kingdom, which were the members of the Quadruple Alliance that defeated Napoleonand
his First French Empire. In time, France was established as a fifth member of the Concert,
following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy.

10
Elrod, Richard B. "The Concert of Europe: A Fresh Look at an International System". World Politics. 28 (2): 159–174.

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At first, the leading personalities of the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh,
Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich and Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Talleyrand of
France was largely responsible for quickly returning that country to its place alongside the other
major powers in international diplomacy.

The age of the Concert is sometimes known as the Age of Metternich, due to the influence of the
Austrian chancellor's conservatism and the dominance of Austria within the German
Confederation, or as the European Restoration, because of the reactionary efforts of the Congress
of Vienna to restore Europe to its state before the French Revolution. It is known in German as
the Pentarchie and in Russian as the Vienna System.

The Concert of Europe had no written rules or permanent institutions, but at times of crisis any
of the member countries could propose a conference.11 Meetings of the Great Powers during this
period included Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Troppau (1820), Laibach(1821),
and Verona (1822).

The Concert's effectiveness came to an end because of many factors such as the British distrust
of Russia.

Holy Alliance
The Kingdom of Prussia, and the Austrian and Russian empires, formed the Holy Alliance (26
September 1815) with the expressed intent of preserving Christian social values and
traditional monarchism. Every member of the anti-Napoleonic coalition promptly joined the
Alliance, except for the United Kingdom, a constitutional monarchy with a more liberal political
philosophy. The great powers were now in a system of meeting wherever a problem arose.
Britain and France did not send their representatives because they opposed the idea of
intervention.

Quadruple Alliance
Britain did however ratify the Quadruple Alliance, signed on the same day as the Second Peace
Treaty of Paris (20 November 1815), which became the Quintuple Alliance when France joined
in 1818. It was also signed by the same three powers that had signed the Holy Alliance on 26
September 1815.

11 Stevenson, David (2004). 1914 – 1918: The History of the First World War. Penguin Books. p. 4

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 CRITICISM OF METTERNICH SYSTEM

When Metternich was first appointed foreign minister in 1809 the Habsburg Empire was at its
lowest point in its struggle against Napoleon. The French leader had forced the Empire out of its
northern Italian territories, taken over the Austrian Netherlands and subsumed the Habsburg parts
of Poland into the Duchy of Warsaw. Habsburg domination of Germany had also been smashed
as a result of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. This was a particularly powerful
psychological blow to the dynasty’s sense of self worth: the Habsburgs had been Holy Roman
Emperors for almost all of the previous 400 years and suddenly it no longer existed. To add
insult to injury, this particular act of Napoleonic modernisation12 changed the title of the
Habsburg Emperor from Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, to Francis I, Emperor of the
remaining Habsburg dominions. One of the few times in history that a monarch has been
devalued.
For a short period around 1809 the complete collapse of the Habsburg Empire seemed a
possibility. In that year Metternich was appointed foreign minister and, within a few years, he
had pulled the Empire back from the brink of possible extinction. In short, Metternich used his
diplomatic skills to outgeneral Napoleon. In 1810 he persuaded the Habsburg Emperor, Francis I,
to ally with Napoleon. When it became clear that the French leader was not prepared to settle
down and play the part of an old-fashioned absolute monarch he turned against him and joined
the Fourth Coalition, which eventually defeated France.
But Metternich’s greatest triumph was still to come. If Napoleon had threatened the virtual end
of the Habsburg Empire it was Metternich’s achievement at the Congress of Vienna to redraw the
structure of Europe in such a way that the Habsburgs emerged in an even stronger position than
before the Napoleonic era. Control of north Italy was regained, as was control of Germany
through the creation of a German Confederation under the permanent presidency of the
Habsburgs. More spectacularly Metternich used his diplomatic sleight of hand to slice up the
contentious areas such as Saxony and Poland without alienating his two key future allies: Russia
and Prussia. Arguably, by the end of the Congress the Habsburg Empire was not only a great
power but the great power; the geographic and political centre of Europe’s restored ancien
régime. More cynically one might say that Metternich’s real achievement was to establish the
illusion that the vast Habsburg Empire had become in Metternich’s phrase ‘a geographical
12
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~semp/metternich.htm

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necessity’ - a linchpin holding the restored order of Europe together.
After 1815 Metternich’s aim was uncomplicated, if impossible: to suspend time, or at least, to
preserve the Vienna settlement for as long as possible. Despite the confusing nonsense of the
Tsar Alexander’s so-called Holy Alliance, it was Metternich’s Quadruple Alliance and the
resultant Congress System that established some sort of mechanism to allow Europe’s resurgent
superpowers to co-ordinate their efforts to fight the revolutionary fires wherever they should
start. Inevitably, the alliance was a fragile construction and by 1822 after the bizarre suicide of
Castlereagh (he slit his own throat with a penknife in a fit of melancholy) the Congress System
was also effectively dead.
Though Metternich was particularly disappointed to see Britain become less supportive, he
wasted no time in building a smaller, more hard-line alliance of absolute monarchies known
simply as the alliance of ‘Northern Courts’: St Petersburg, Berlin and Vienna. Although this too
was prone to internal squabbling, in particular over the Eastern Question, Metternich was able to
maintain a good relationship with Russia, which stands in stark contrast to Austrian foreign
ministers that came after him.
Thus, for much of his period at the foreign office Metternich was able to mask Austria’s relative
military weakness by working in tandem with other great powers. This was perhaps always the
essence of what has become known, rather too grandly, as the Metternich System.
Undoubtedly, Metternich lost some of his mastery of European affairs in the last decade at the
foreign ministry and he was unable to prevent revolutions occurring right across Europe in 1848.
Far from being a failure, he would appear to have a most dazzling series of achievements to his
name. The outwitting of Napoleon, the negotiated triumph of Vienna, the establishment of a
diplomatic method or system which, to a certain extent, allowed the ruling classes of Europe to
co-operate and communicate rather than make war. (A principle the Habsburgs would have done
well to remember after 1848 when they lost territories in the wars of 1859 and 1866 and lost the
entire Empire in the Great War of 1914-18.) In addition to this, in the field of domestic policy
though he was undoubtedly repressive and intolerant, he nevertheless provided strong central
government, indeed it might well be argued that a policy of even-handed repression of the
nationalities was far superior to the sharing of power with the Hungarians that occurred in 1867
and which was, arguably, a very damaging constitutional change, creating not so much the
Dualist constitution of the textbooks but a schizophrenic one - by 1914 the western half of the

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Empire had universal manhood suffrage whilst the Hungarian east remained defiantly
undemocratic. One might also argue that the suppression of nationalism was not necessarily a
bad thing given what nationalism in the former Habsburg Empire has led to in the twentieth
century, not just Fascism of the Hitlerian variety but the barbarism of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the
recent Balkan civil war. Indeed, we surely need to rethink the lurking assumption in many
textbooks that the nineteenth-century nationalists were somehow on the side of ‘progress’. So, in
many ways Metternich provided the Habsburg Empire and, to a lesser extent, Europe generally,
with over 30 years of relative stability: an extraordinary achievement after the convulsions of the
Napoleonic era.
And yet, oddly, there is still the aura of failure around his name. The reason is very simple, his
system ultimately destroyed itself and him with it. To explain a little: it is frequently argued that
his systematic implementation of inflexible and repressive policies actually created the very
revolutions that he was trying to prevent. Thus the 1848 revolutions can be read as a kind of
historical judgement upon the entire Metternich system, damning him forever. Although this is a
debatable point there is, surely, much truth in it. And this is part of the problem for students of
Metternich: he was both a success and a failure.

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 CONCLUSION
The Age of Metternich is sometimes known as the age of the Concert, due to the influence of the
Austrian chancellor's conservatism and the dominance of Austria within the German
Confederation, or as the European Restoration, because of the reactionary efforts of the Congress
of Vienna to restore Europe to its state before the French Revolution. The rise of nationalism, the
unification of Germany and the Risorgimento in Italy, and the Eastern Question were among the
factors which brought an end to the Concert's effectiveness. Among the meetings of the Great
Powers during this period were: Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Verona (1822),
London(1832).

The idea of a European federation had been previously raised by figures such as Gottfried
Leibniz and the 1st Baron of Grenville. The Concert of Europe, as developed by Metternich,
drew upon their ideas and the notion of a balance of power in international relations; that the
ambitions of each Great Power was curbed by the others. From the outbreak of the French
Revolutionary Wars in 1792 to the exile of Napoleon to Saint Helena in 1815, Europe had been
almost constantly at war. During this time, the military conquests of France had resulted in the
spread of liberalism throughout much of the continent, resulting in many states adopting the
Napoleonic code. Largely as a reaction to the radicalism of the French Revolution, the victorious
powers of the Napoleonic Wars resolved to suppress liberalism and nationalism, and revert
largely to the status quo of Europe prior to 1789.The Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire and
Russian Empire formed the Holy Alliance with the expressed intent of preserving Christian
social values and traditional monarchism.Every member of the coalition promptly joined the
Alliance.
After an early period of success, the Concert began to weaken as the common goals of the Great
Powers were gradually replaced by growing political and economic rivalries. Further eroded by
the European revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of
Vienna's frontiers along national lines, the Concert unraveled in the latter half of the 19th century
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).
While the Congress System had a further significant achievement in the form of the Congress of
Berlin (1878) which redrew the political map of the Balkans, the old balance of power had been

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irrevocably altered, and was replaced by a series of fluctuating alliances. By the early 20th
century, the Great Powers were organized into two opposing coalitions, and World War I broke
out.
In retrospect, Metternich was important in the European history for his contribution in the
international diplomacy. Yet, he should also be blamed for his inability to prevent the decay of
the Austrian Empire. He finally became one of the principal casualties in the collapse of the
Austrian Empire when he fell from office in 1848.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
1. History of the Modern World - B.V.Rao
2. History of the World - Arjun Dev
3. A history of the modern world - Jain & Mathur
4. A short history of the world - Christopher Lascelles
5. Modern world history - Rajan Chakrbarti

WEBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Austria/The-Age-of-Metternich-1815-48.
2. https://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1848/section3/
3. http://www.historydiscussion.net/world-history/europe/history-of-the-concert-of-europe-
1815-22-world-history/1426
4. https://www.jstor.org
5. http://www.egyptandaustria.at/documents/Metternich,%20the%20Great%20Powers%20a
nd%20the%20Eastern%20Question.pdf.

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