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The Concert of Europe began with the 1814-1815 Congress of Vienna, which was designed to bring together the "major powers" of the time in order to stabilize the geopolitics of Europe after the defeat of Napoleon on 1813-1814, and contain France's power after the war following the French Revolution.
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The kingdom of Prussia, and the Austrian and Russian empires, formed the Holy Alliance on 26 September 1815, with the express intent of preserving Christian social values and traditional monarchism.
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The 1820 Congress of Troppau was held in Troppau, Austria by the Great Powers of the Quintuple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France and the United Kingdom) to discuss and put down the liberal uprising in Naples that causes King Ferdinand I to agree to a constitutional monarchy
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The 1821 Congress of Laibach took place in Laibach (now Ljubjana, Slovenia), between the powers of the Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, and Austria) in order to discuss the Austrian invasion and occupation of Naples in order to put down the Neapolitan Revolution of 1820 which had forces the King to accept a constitution
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The 1822 Congress of Verona took place in Verona, Italy, between the powers of the Quintuple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France and United Kingdom), along with Spain, Sicily and Naples
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The Protocol of St. Petersburg is often cited as the end of the Congress System, as it represented the failure of the Congress of St. Petersburg (1825) to resolve the question of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans.
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The London Conference of 1830 dealt with the question of the Belgian-Dutch conflict, which was caused by the 1830 Belgian Revolution where Belgium seperated from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
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The Ottoman Empire faced an internal revolt in the 1830's led by the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who sought to create an empire and remove Egypt and Sudan independent of Ottoman suzerainty.
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The Ottoman Empire faced an internal revolt in the 1830's led by the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who sought to create an empire and remove Egypt and Sudan independent of Ottoman suzerainty.
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The Concert was challenged by the Revolutions of 1848 but was ultimately successful in preventing major changes to the map of Europe
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Sometimes viewed as the end of the first phase, the next blow to the Concert was the Crimean War, the first war between Great Powers since Napoleon.
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The next war between Great Powers came just 3 years later in 1859, with what became known as the Second Italian War of Independence.
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The decline of the Concert was further highlighted by the failure of a ceasefire in 1864 over the issue of Prussia's and Austria's invasion of Denmark
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The second phase of the Concert of Europe is typically described as beginning in the 1871 and ending in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. 1871 is the year in which the German and Italian unification were completed and also the year of the Treaty of London
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The second phase saw a revival of Great Power "Conferences" where the all Great Powers met on a basis to resolve crises or disputes by consensus. Among these were the Congress of Berlin determining the status of the Balkan Peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.
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The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 is often seen as the high point of the second phase, as all Great Powers and several minor powers agreed on the rules for colonial expansion which defined areas of colonial and imperial control and successfully preempted many disputes concerning colonial expansion in Africa
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Two major international conferences at the Hague led to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and illustrated the continuing desire for peace and stability in Europe