The Congress of Vienna set up peace in Europe for decades. Indeed, it prevented any kind of general war across the whole of the Continent for nearly a century, until the First World War broke out in 1914. But it wasn’t quite as straightforward as the outcome might suggest. The power of Russia, with 600,000 troops now occupying many parts of Europe, led to a quick rehabilitation of the former enemy, France. And some very clever diplomatic work, by the remarkable trio of the French Foreign Ministers of France, Talleyrand, Austria, Metternich, and Britain, Castlereagh, proved necessary to put the Russian bear back in his box.

The other aspect of the Congress is that what it ushered in was a Peace of Kings. Ideas thrown up by the French Revolution, of the rights of man, of popular sovereignty, of equality between citizens, were decidedly out of fashion. Which was going to prove problematic in a Britain facing harsh conditions and growing discontent.

Illustration: The Russian Bear inspired fear in the west: Tsar Alexander I published by Colnaghi & Co on 2 May 1814. National Portrait Gallery D15858

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License