This article covers worldwide diplomacy and, more generally, the international relations of the great powers from 1814 to 1919. This era covers the period from the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), to the end of the First World War and the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920).
Important themes include the rapid industrialization and growing power of Great Britain, the United States, France, Prussia/Germany, and, later in the period, by Italy and Japan. This led to imperialist and colonialist competitions for influence and power throughout the world, most famously the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s and 1890s; the reverberations of which are still widespread and consequential in the 21st century. Britain established an informal economic network that, combined with its colonies and its Royal Navy, made it the hegemonic nation until its power was challenged by the united Germany. It was a largely peaceful century, with no wars between the great powers, apart from the 1853–1871 interval, and some wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. After 1900, there was a series of wars in the Balkan region, which exploded out of control into World War I (1914–1918) — a massively devastating event that was unexpected in its timing, duration, casualties, and long-term impact.
In 1814, diplomats recognized five great powers: France, Britain, Russia, Austria (in 1867–1918, Austria-Hungary) and Prussia (in 1871–1918, the German Empire). Italy was added to this group after its unification in 1860 ("Risorgimento"); by 1905 two rapidly growing non-European states, Japan and the United States, had joined the great powers. Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro initially operated as autonomous vassals, for until 1878 and 1908 they were legally still part of the declining Ottoman Empire, before gaining their independence.Carlton J. H. Hayes, A Generation of Materialism: 1871–1900 (1941) pp. 16–17.
In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, there were two major blocs in Europe: the Triple Entente formed by France, Britain, and Russia and the Triple Alliance formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Italy stayed neutral and joined the Entente in 1915, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers. Neutrality was the policy of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. The First World War unexpectedly pushed the great powers' military, diplomatic, social and economic capabilities to their limits. Germany, Austria–Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria were defeated; Germany lost its great power status, Bulgaria lost more territory, and the others were broken up into collections of states. The winners Britain, France, Italy and Japan gained permanent seats at the governing council of the new League of Nations. The United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, decided to operate independently and never joined the League.
For the following periods, see diplomatic history of World War I and international relations (1919–1939).
1814–1830: Restoration and reaction
As the four major European powers (Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria) opposing the French Empire in the Napoleonic Wars saw Napoleon's power collapsing in 1814, they started planning for the postwar world. The Treaty of Chaumont of March 1814 reaffirmed decisions that had been made already and which would be ratified by the more important Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815. They included the establishment of a German Confederation including both Austria and Prussia (plus the Czech lands), the division of French protectorates and annexations into independent states, the restoration of the Bourbon kings of Spain, the enlargement of the Netherlands to include what in 1830 became modern Belgium, and the continuation of British subsidies to its allies. The Treaty of Chaumont united the powers to defeat Napoleon and became the cornerstone of the Concert of Europe, which formed the balance of power for the next two decades.Frederick B. Artz, Reaction and Revolution: 1814–1832 (1934) p. 110Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics: 1763–1848 (1996) is an advanced history of diplomacy
One goal of diplomacy throughout the period was to achieve a "balance of power", so that no one or two powers would be dominant.Paul W. Schroeder, "The nineteenth century system: balance of power or political equilibrium?" Review of International Studies 15.2 (1989): 135–53. If one power gained an advantage—for example by winning a war and acquiring new territory—its rivals might seek "compensation"—that is, territorial or other gains, even though they were not part of the war in the first place. The bystander might be angry if the winner of the war did not provide enough compensation. For example, in 1866, Prussia and supporting north German States defeated Austria and its southern German allies, but France was angry that it did not get any compensation to balance off the Prussian gains.
Congress of Vienna: 1814–1815
The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) dissolved the Napoleonic Wars and attempted to restore the monarchies Napoleon had overthrown, ushering in an era of reaction.René Albrecht-Carrié, A Diplomatic history of Europe since the Congress of Vienna (1958) pp. 9–16. Under the leadership of Klemens von Metternich, the chancellor of Austria (1809–1848), and Lord Castlereagh, the foreign minister of Great Britain (1812–1822), the Congress set up a system to preserve the peace. Under the Concert of Europe (or "Congress system"), the major European powers—Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and (after 1818) France—pledged to meet regularly to resolve differences. This plan was the first of its kind in European history and seemed to promise a way to collectively manage European affairs and promote peace. It was the forerunner of the League of Nations and the United Nations.Norman Rich, Great Power Diplomacy: 1814–1914 (1992) pp. 1–27. Some historians see the more formal version of the Concert of Europe, constituting the immediate aftermath of the Vienna Congress, as collapsing by 1823, while other historians see the Concert of Europe as persisting through most of the 19th century. Historian Richard Langhorne sees the Concert as governing international relations between the European powers until the formation of Germany in 1871, and Concert mechanisms having a more loose but detectable influence in international politics as late as the outbreak of WWI.
The Congress resolved the Polish–Saxon crisis at Vienna and the question of Greek independence at Laibach (Ljubljana). Three major European congresses took place. The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) ended the military occupation of France and adjusted downward the 700 million francs the French were obligated to pay as reparations. Tsar Alexander I of Russia proposed the formation of an entirely new alliance, to include all of the signatories from the Vienna treaties, to guarantee the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and preservation of the ruling governments of all members of this new coalition. The Tsar further proposed an international army, with the Imperial Russian Army as its nucleus, to provide the wherewithal to intervene in any country that needed it. Lord Castlereagh saw this as a highly undesirable commitment to reactionary policies. He recoiled at the idea of Russian armies marching across Europe to put down popular uprisings. Furthermore, to admit all the smaller countries would create intrigue and confusion. Britain refused to participate, so the idea was abandoned.Norman Rich, Great Power Diplomacy: 1814–1914 (1992) pp. 33–35.
The other meetings proved meaningless as each nation realized the Congresses were not to their advantage, where disputes were resolved with a diminishing degree of effectiveness.C. W. Crawley. "International Relations, 1815–1830". In C. W. Crawley, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume 9: War and Peace in an Age of Upheaval, 1793–1830. (1965) pp. 669–71, 676–77, 683–86.Roy Bridge. "Allied Diplomacy in Peacetime: The Failure of the Congress 'System', 1815–23". In Alan Sked, ed., Europe's Balance of Power, 1815–1848 (1979), pp' 34–53Artz, Reaction and Revolution: 1814–1832 (1934) pp. 110–18Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics: 1763–1848 (1996) pp. 517–82
To achieve lasting peace, the Concert of Europe tried to maintain the balance of power. Until the 1860s the territorial boundaries laid down at the Congress of Vienna were maintained, and even more importantly, there was an acceptance of the theme of balance with no major aggression.Gordon Craig, "The System of Alliances and the Balance of Power". in J. P. T. Bury, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 10: The Zenith of European Power, 1830–70 (1960) p. 266. Otherwise, the Congress system had "failed" by 1823.Henry Kissinger' A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812–22 (1957). In 1818 the British decided not to become involved in continental issues that did not directly affect them. They rejected the plan of Tsar Alexander I to suppress future revolutions. The Concert system fell apart as the common goals of the Great Powers were replaced by growing political and economic rivalries. Artz says the Congress of Verona in 1822 "marked the end".Frederick B. Artz, Reaction & Revolution: 1814–1832 (1934) p. 170. There was no Congress called to restore the old system during the great revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of Vienna's frontiers along national lines.Paul W. Schroeder. The Transformation of European Politics: 1763–1848 (1996) p. 800.Rich. Great Power Diplomacy: 1814–1914 (1992) pp. 28–43. Conservative monarchies formed the nominal Holy Alliance. This alliance fragmented in the 1850s due to crises in the Ottoman Empire, described as the Eastern Question.
British policies
British foreign policy was set by George Canning (1822–1827), who avoided close cooperation with other powers. Britain, with its unchallenged Royal Navy and increasing financial wealth and industrial strength, built its foreign policy on the principle that no state should be allowed to dominate the Continent. It wanted to support the Ottoman Empire as a bulwark against Russian expansionism. It opposed interventions designed to suppress liberal democracy, and was especially worried that France and Spain planned to suppress the independence movement underway in Latin America. Canning cooperated with the United States to promulgate the Monroe Doctrine to preserve newly independent Latin American states. His goal was to prevent French dominance and allow British merchants access to the opening markets.C. J. Bartlett, Defence and Diplomacy: Britain and the Great Powers, 1815–1914 (1993)
Abolition of the international slave trade
An important liberal advance was the abolition of the international slave trade. It began with legislation in Britain and the United States in 1807, which was increasingly enforced over subsequent decades by the British Royal Navy patrols around Africa. Britain negotiated treaties, or coerced, other nations into agreeing. The result was a reduction of over 95% in the volume of the slave trade from Africa to the New World. About 1000 slaves a year were illegally brought into the United States, as well as some to Spanish Cuba and the Empire of Brazil.David Head. "Slave Smuggling by Foreign Privateers: The Illegal Slave Trade and the Geopolitics of the Early Republic". In Journal of the Early Republic (2013) 33#3, p. 538 Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, the French Republic in 1848, the United States in 1865, and Brazil in 1888.Seymour Drescher. Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Spain loses its colonies