Conservatism

In March $1814$ , even before Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, the four major powers of the Grand Alliance—Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia—reaffirmed their commitment through the Treaty of Chaumont. Their goal was to ensure a lasting peace by containing French aggression and restoring the European balance of power.
Following Napoleon's initial abdication, the Quadruple Alliance restored the Bourbon monarchy under Louis $XVIII$ . They convened the Congress of Vienna in September $1814$ , an unprecedented gathering of European royalty and diplomats.
The central figure was Prince Klemens von Metternich $(1773–1859)$ , the Austrian foreign minister and a staunch practitioner of Realpolitik. Metternich sought to suppress the "revolutionary seed" planted by the French Revolution, which he viewed as a threat to the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire.
Other key players included:
- Tsar Alexander I of Russia: Desired a "Holy Alliance" based on Christian principles and sought to expand Russian influence in Poland.
- Lord Castlereagh of Great Britain: Focused on securing British maritime supremacy and preventing any single power from dominating the continent.
- Prince Karl von Hardenberg of Prussia: Aimed to expand Prussian territory in Germany.
- Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand of France: A diplomat who successfully ensured France remained a key player in the negotiations.

Metternich championed the Principle of Legitimacy, which argued that the only way to ensure stability was to return "legitimate" monarchs to their thrones.
- This led to the restoration of the Bourbons in France and Spain, and the House of Savoy in Sardinia/Piedmont.
- However, legitimacy was often sacrificed for the Principle of Compensation, where victors were rewarded with land for their efforts against Napoleon.
The Polish-Saxon Question:
- Russia wanted a large Polish kingdom; Prussia agreed to this if they could annex the Kingdom of Saxony.
- Austria and Britain feared this would make Russia and Prussia too powerful. A compromise was reached: Russia received a smaller kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland), while Prussia received about two-fifths of Saxony and territories in the Rhineland.
Territorial Rearrangements:
- Austria surrendered the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) but gained control over the northern Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.
- To create a buffer zone against France, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created by joining the Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands under the House of Orange.
- The Germanic Confederation was established as a loose association of $39$ German states, replacing the defunct Holy Roman Empire and Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine.

Conservatism emerged as a formal political philosophy to counter the liberal and nationalist ideologies of the Enlightenment.
Edmund Burke $(1729–1797)$ : In his Reflections on the Revolution in France $1790$ , he argued that the state was an "organic" partnership between the dead, the living, and the unborn. He opposed sudden, violent change but allowed for gradual evolutionary reform.
Joseph de Maistre $(1753–1821)$ : A more radical conservative who advocated for absolute monarchy and the authority of the Catholic Church as the only way to prevent social chaos and "revolutionary madness."
Common Conservative Tenets:
- Obedience to established political authority.
- Support for organized religion as a pillar of social order.
- Rejection of individual "natural rights" in favor of communal traditions and inherited privileges.
- Distrust of human reason when applied to social engineering.

The Concert of Europe (or the Congress System) was the mechanism used to maintain the peace of $1815$ .
Key Congresses:
- Aix-la-Chapelle $1818$ : The powers agreed to withdraw occupation troops from France and admitted France into the Concert (turning the Quadruple Alliance into a Quintuple Alliance).
- Troppau $1820$ : Called to deal with revolutions in Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Metternich introduced the Protocol of Troppau, which asserted that the Great Powers had the right to intervene in any country undergoing a revolution that threatened the stability of other states.
- Laibach $1821$ : Authorized Austrian intervention to crush the liberal revolt in Naples.
- Verona $1822$ : Authorized France to intervene in Spain to restore Ferdinand $VII$ to absolute power.
British Deviation: Great Britain, particularly under George Canning, increasingly opposed the Principle of Intervention, arguing that the Alliance was intended only to prevent French aggression, not to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states. This led to a fracturing of the Quintuple Alliance.

Latin American Revolts: Inspired by the American and French Revolutions, leaders like Sim3n Bol2var (the "Liberator") and Jos3 de San Mart2n led independence movements in South America.
- While the continental powers wanted to intervene to restore Spanish control, Britain used its navy to prevent them, wanting to protect its trade interests in the region.
- US President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine in $1823$ , warning European powers against further colonization in the Americas.
The Greek Revolt $1821–1832$ : A unique exception where the Great Powers supported a nationalist revolution. Interest in Greek culture ("Philhellenism") and the desire to weaken the Ottoman Empire led Britain, France, and Russia to support Greek independence, which was finalized with the Treaty of Adrianople in $1829$ .