Date
7-2014
Department
History
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Chair
Carey Roberts
Keywords
Castlereagh, Congress, Realism, Temperley, Vienna, Webster
Disciplines
Diplomatic History | European History | History
Recommended Citation
Curtis, Nathan, "Castlereagh at the Congress of Vienna: Maintaining the Peace, Political Realism, and the Encirclement of France" (2014). Masters Theses. 335.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/335
Abstract
At the Congress of Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815, Stewart, the second Marquees of Londonderry and Viscount Castlereagh, succeeded in encircling France with a cordon of strong states that could better resist the possibility of future French military aggression. He conceived these goals with an eye towards European balance of power, strategically resettling European borders and placating allies when necessary. He guarded against the advances of France and Russia through the strengthening of the Low Countries, resettlement of Norway from Denmark to Sweden, the restructuring of a more resilient Italian Peninsula, and the division of Poland and Saxony along the convoluted borders between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Castlereagh, of course, held ideological leanings, but his principle purpose was neither the preservation of absolute monarchy or ancien regime, nor a more liberal sentiment for self-determination. His goal was to bring peace to Europe through strategic realism in the peacemaking process.
