Congress of Vienna

            What should people on power do when their power is threatened? To understand and answer this question we all picked a partner to do a quick note taking activity. We each had set questions about a certain document that we needed to find the answers for. For example, a question would have been, who was the representative that Great Britain sent over to speak on their behalf? It helped us get a better background knowledge on what happened during that time period. Then, we sat in our regular seats and were given three problems and three solutions to those problems. We had to select the option that Metternich would have chosen from his conservative viewpoint.
            Once we were done with the second activity we had accumulated four main ways that Metternich and the other powerful people at the Congress of Vienna eliminated threats to their power. The four main ways were a Balance of Power,  the Principle of Legitimacy,  the Holy Alliance, and the Principle of Intervention. The Principle of Intervention was an ideology that gave the great powers the right to send troops into a country to stop revolution and restore monarchs, England refused to take part in the Principle of Intervention. For example, in the 1820's Italians starting an uprise because they wanted one strong country, not separate states. Using the Principle of Intervention Austria was able to crush the uprising before it got out of hand. Another example of the Principle of Intervention helping powerful people stay in power was, again, in the 1820's when there was a meeting to decide what to do about revolutions in the Spanish colonies and against the Spanish King. Louis the XVII sent an army to crush the uprising in Spain. Not only did these four concepts have an impact but the Congress of Vienna did as well. The Congress of Vienna put an end to wars between the five major powers of Europe for 40 years (up to 1853). However, there were numerous revolutions that could not be contained including the Revolutions of 1848 in which Metternich lost power and was forced to flee Vienna.

A Congress of Vienna meeting

http://www.emersonkent.com/historic_documents/congress_of_vienna_1815.htm

            In the end, I personally think that the Congress of Vienna overall made the right decisions. The new territories seemed to please everyone as a whole because fighting for land came to a halt. This also resulted in a Balance of Power. The new ruler, Louis XVII,  made Frenchmen equal despite their titles or ranks which is a positive. This resulted in the Principle of Legitimacy. Finally, the Holy Alliance and the Principle of Intervention helped cease major fighting for 40 years. But I do think the powerful should be willing to sacrifice some of their power under certain circumstances. This would create a solid balance between the government and the people.