The Congress of Vienna

In late 1814, representatives from all of the major European nations met in Vienna, the Austrian capital, to try to reorganize the continent. Europe had just undergone 25 years of bloody war and revolution, with kings toppled from their thrones and radical new ideas disseminated about political liberty and nationalism. What the diplomats sought to achieve in Vienna was not merely a temporary peace treaty, but a permanent way of resolving disagreements by negotiation rather than conflict among countries. The Congress of Vienna discusses what the statesmen hoped to achieve in Vienna, analyzes the mixed fortunes of the "Congress System" they established, and looks at the congress's legacy of international mediation in our era through such institutions as the United Nations Security Council.