Balancing the Power of the Five Great Powers

Today in class we learned about the Congress of Vienna, and the changes put in place after Napoleon's conquest as the ruler of France. We worked to answer the question, "What should people in power do when their power is threatened? And in this case, their power was being threatened by Napoleon. We watched a video clip showing a recreation of a conversation between Klemens von Metternich, the ruler of Austria, and Napoleon. (Napoleon-Metternich and Napoleon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJGW0jf-rmU&feature=youtu.be) During the conversation, Napoleon is seeking peace with Austria, and Matternich is stating his demands. Metternich demands that Napoleon gives up his conquest, and when he succeeds, he summons the Congress of Vienna to decide how to fix Europe and eliminate threats to power.

The Congress of Vienna consisted of representatives from Russia, Austria, Prussia, Britain, and France, or the Five Great Powers of Europe. They discussed the problems they were facing in Europe after the defeat of Napoleon. One problem they faced was how to reconstruct the map of Europe after Napoleon's conquest. They decided to solve this problem with the "Balance of Powers." This system brought French territory back to where it was before its expansion, and gave other countries more land as condolences for all they lost during Napoleon's rule. They also wanted to ensure that no country would try to take over the others, as France had done, so they decided that if the Great Powers worked together they wouldn't try to conquer one another. This system did work for a while, and due to the Balance of Powers there was no conflict between the Great Powers for the next 30 years. But, there were numerous revolutions within the countries that couldn't be contained, and eventually led to a revolution. 

I believe that the Congress of Vienna did make the right choice by creating the Balance of Powers. It kept Europe peaceful for a while, and restored land to the countries that lost it. They did the right thing by balancing the major powers, but within their own countries the leaders could have focused more on what the citizens wanted. I believe that people in power should give up some of their power in certain circumstances. For example, if all the people during uprising wanted was some minor changes in government, the ruler should do what is best for the country, not what keeps him in power the longest. Again, the Congress of Vienna made the correct choice to exterminate threats to their power, because if they didn't, Europe may have been at war for those three somewhat peaceful decades.

Picture: "Congress of Vienna." Encyclopedia Brittanica.  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628086/Congress-of-Vienna