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The Congress System
The Congress of Vienna established an international system of reactionary governments dedicated to maintaining a set of European boundaries, preventing revolutions and changes in government, and stopping any one power from becoming too powerful. The many powers involved in the Congress System saw revolution and change as diseases. The reactionaries believed that if revolution cropped up in one part of Europe, it had to be destroyed, or else would spread like an epidemic. To this end, the Congressional powers agreed to meet in times of revolutionary trouble and discuss how to fix it.
The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle
The first meeting of the Congress System was in 1818, at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. A coalition of European armies had been occupying France since Napoleon's defeat, and at Aix-la-Chapelle, the powers decided to withdraw their armies. This was done mainly to ensure future stability in France. They wanted the French to accept Louis XVIII, and if he was backed by foreign armies, it was almost certain that the population would hate him. Furthermore, French banks had now paid off the French war debt, so there was less reason for European armies to remain stationed in France.
Alexander I, always a champion of “collective security,” suggested the idea of an international military force, made up of troops from all nations, that would be available to suppress revolutions wherever they appeared. However, as the British foreign minister Viscount Castlereagh, reluctant to commit to future military interventions, vehemently opposed the suggestion, it was not adopted.
The Congress of Troppau
In 1820, as a reaction to a revolution against the government of Naples, Metternich called another meeting, the Congress of Troppau, wanting to stop the revolution from spreading any further. At Troppau, Metternich met with Alexander I and convinced the formerly liberal Tsar to adopt a more reactionary stance. Alexander, who had seen that liberal reforms in Poland had inevitably led his subjects to disagree with him, did not need much convincing. Thus, Austria, Prussia, and Russia allied to restore the King of Naples. Britain, however, though anti-Revolutionary, did not want to be bound by continental commitments, and stayed out of intervention in Naples, as did France.
The Congress of Verona
Despite the congresses, revolutionary hotspots continued to crop up. In the early 1820s, the Bourbon government of Spain seemed especially fragile. At the same time, Greek nationalists sought more actively to establish a Greek nation in Turkey. To deal with these developments, Metternich called the Congress of Verona in 1822. The congress moved against the Greek revolutionaries and allowed France to send an army into Spain to end the revolt and stabilize the Bourbon king, which they did successfully.
The 1822 Congress of Verona was the last of the international reactionary congresses. Although the three congresses subsequent to the Congress of Vienna all met with short-term success, the institution of a large-scale anti-liberal system never materialized, largely because of the British refusal to bind itself into possible long-term commitments.
