Congress of Vienna Post

The Congress of Vienna in 1814 made many important decisions about foreign policy for the European nations involved. One of the new ideologies adopted during the Congress of Vienna was the Principle of Intervention. This ideology gave the Holy Alliance the right to send troops into foreign countries to stop revolutions and restore the monarchy. The Holy Alliance was the alliance of the countries that attended the Congress of Vienna, minus England and was founded by Tsar Alexander. All countries of the Congress of Vienna except England agreed with this ideology. This provided a solution to the problem of how to prevent future revolutions. This “privilege” of the Quintuple Alliance was acted upon several times in the years after the Congress of Vienna. In the 1820’s, the powers met to decide what to do about the rebellions in Spain and the Spanish colonies. Ultimately, Louis XVIII sent an army to crush the uprising in Spain, but the alliance left the colonies alone. Also, in 1820, Austria crushed a rebellion in Italy that intended to unify the country.

 

The ideology of Principle of Intervention was agreed upon by Klemens von Metternich, the foreign minister of Austria and its representative at the Congress of Vienna. Metternich was a conservative so he believed that the old system of government of absolutism was the best one. He thought the subjects of a country were like children and needed to be told what to do. Because of this he supported efforts to maintain and restore absolute monarchs throughout the world. He was willing to use military force to enforce conservative government, as shown by Austria crushing the rebellion in Italy. Metternich supported the Principle of Intervention and Austria used it as a reason for invading. The Congress of Vienna set the formal policy on intervention and the decisions made there were followed for decades to come.