Topic 6.5 Notes – The Concert of Europe and European Conservatism

How Conservatism Tried to Restore Order After Napoleon

Europe’s rulers had just watched revolution, terror, and Napoleon remake the continent. They wanted two things at once: no new hegemonic France, and no spread of liberalism or nationalism.

Early 1800s conservatism was a reaction against Enlightenment faith in reason and revolutionary change. Conservatives believed human nature was not perfectible. People were emotional, selfish, and capable of violence, so society needed restraints.

That led to a few linked beliefs:

• Society was an organic community shaped by history, custom, and shared institutions, not something you could redesign from abstract reason.
• Conservatives defended monarchy, aristocracy, hierarchy, property, and established religion because these gave order and continuity.
• They preferred gradual reform through inherited institutions over revolution.
• The “throne and altar” idea joined political authority with religious authority. Church and monarchy reinforced each other against secularism and popular sovereignty.

A common test trap is treating all conservatives as identical. They weren’t.

• Conservatives could accept limited reform if it protected order.
• Reactionaries wanted a more complete rollback of revolutionary changes.

Edmund Burke

In Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Burke argued that tradition and custom contain the wisdom of generations. He saw society as a partnership among the past, present, and future. Destroying old institutions all at once, he warned, opens the door to chaos.

Joseph de Maistre

De Maistre was more reactionary than Burke. He defended hereditary monarchy, obedience, and strong church authority. For him, divine authority, not the people, was the source of legitimate rule.

Klemens von Metternich

Metternich, Austria’s foreign minister, became the leading statesman of conservative Europe. He saw liberalism and nationalism as connected threats, especially because the Austrian Empire ruled many different peoples and could be torn apart by nationalist movements.

How the Concert of Europe Worked

The conservative mindset shaped a new diplomatic system after 1815. The Concert of Europe was an informal great-power agreement to preserve the Vienna settlement.

This was not one treaty or a permanent international organization. It worked through meetings, alliances, and consultation during crises.

The great powers

Three ideas held the system together:

• Legitimacy meant restoring hereditary dynasties, especially the Bourbons in France.
• Balance of power meant preventing any one state from dominating Europe again.
• Status quo meant preserving the Vienna settlement against revolution or conquest.

Holy Alliance

The Holy Alliance joined Russia, Austria, and Prussia in a symbolic partnership of Christian monarchy and conservatism. Britain did not join, which matters because Britain often supported stability but rejected ideological intervention.

How Metternich and the Powers Suppressed Change

Metternich used the Concert as both diplomacy and an anti-revolutionary weapon. He believed revolution spread across borders like contagion.

Domestic repression included:

• censorship
• police surveillance
• restrictions on universities and political groups
• control of publications and teaching

German Confederation

German universities spread nationalist and liberal ideas, especially through student groups called Burschenschaften. In 1819, Karl Ludwig Sand assassinated August von Kotzebue, giving Metternich a reason to crack down.

Carlsbad Decrees of 1819

• dissolved student groups
• censored the press
• supervised universities
• investigated revolutionary activity

Italy

Austria dominated Lombardy-Venetia and influenced other Italian states. Secret groups like the Carbonari pushed liberal and nationalist change. Austria crushed revolts in Naples and Piedmont in 1821.

Congresses and interventions

• Troppau (1820) and Laibach (1821) approved intervention against revolution
• Verona (1822) backed French intervention in Spain
• In 1823, a French army restored Ferdinand VII

Why the System Weakened and What Challenged It

The Concert looked strong when the powers agreed. It weakened when national interest and conservative ideology pulled apart.

Britain accepted balance-of-power diplomacy, but leaders like Castlereagh and George Canning rejected a permanent European police system. Britain refused to support intervention in Spain and opposed restoring Spanish rule in Latin America.

Built-in problems kept appearing:

• ideological conservatism vs national interest
• legitimacy vs nationalism
• selective enforcement depending on strategy

The Greek War of Independence exposed this clearly. Greeks revolted against Ottoman rule, and strict legitimacy would oppose them. But Britain, France, and Russia intervened at Navarino in 1827. Nationalism could succeed when it matched great-power interests.

In 1830, the powers accepted an independent, neutral Belgium, even though this changed Vienna’s map. Controlled change was sometimes allowed if it protected wider stability.

Repression never solved the underlying demands for constitutions and national self-rule. Those demands exploded again in 1848, forcing Metternich to flee and ending the Concert as a coherent conservative system. Its long-term success was delaying major war. Its long-term failure was that it could not stop constitutionalism, nationalism, or political change.