Bridge_ppr 2/8/08 12:40 PM Page 1 'This book has the hallmarks of success stamped through it: breadth of scope, SYSTEM 1814–1914 EUROPEAN STATES THE incisive analysis and a lightness of touch in the writing.' GREAT POWERS GREAT Professor John Keiger, University of Salford The Great Powers and the European States System, 1814–1914 is a full analytical narrative of the functioning of the European states system over the nineteenth century between the fall of Napoleon in 1814 and the outbreak of the First World War just one hundred years later. It examines the variety of devices, manoeuvres and feats of statesmanship by means of which decision-makers managed the interplay of their interests, common and conflicting – including the dangerous Eastern Question – without exposing Europe to the catastrophe of a general conflagration: AND THE ➤ systems of active co-operation, such as the ‘Congress system’ or the Concert of Europe ➤ periods of ‘international anarchy’ in which, if wars were endemic they were at least limited ➤ the stabilizing effects of the predominance of conservative status quo Powers in the Bismarckian era ➤ the dangerously polarised system that emerged on the eve of the First World War. At nearly double the length of the first edition, this book is a very major revision and update. It includes not only the results of the latest research, but also a body of THE additional information and a number of illuminating maps that will make the subject even more accessible to readers. GREAT POWERS F.R. Bridge is Emeritus Professor of Diplomatic History, . His SECOND many publications include The Habsburg Monarchy Among the Great Powers, EDITION AND THE 1815–1918 (1990). BRIDGE & BULLEN The late Roger Bullen was Senior Lecturer in International History at the London EUROPEAN STATES School of Economics and Political Science. Cover: 19th-Century Austrian Print of the Congress of Vienna. SYSTEM 1814–1914 The leaders of Europe in debate during the Congress of Vienna, 1814/1815 © Austrian Archives/CORBIS SECOND EDITION www.pearson-books.com F. R. BRIDGE & ROGER BULLEN PREFACEH i The Great Powers and the European States System 1814–1914 TGPA01.pm5 1 02/07/2004, 11:26 ii CONTENTS TGPA01.pm5 2 02/07/2004, 11:26 PREFACEH iii The Great Powers and the European States System 1814–1914 SECOND EDITION F.R. Bridge and Roger Bullen TGPA01.pm5 3 02/07/2004, 11:26 iv CONTENTS PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED Edinburgh Gate Harlow CM20 2JE United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1279 623623 Fax: +44 (0)1279 431059 Website: www.pearsoned.co.uk First edition published in Great Britain in 1980 This second edition published 2005 © Pearson Education Limited 1980, 2005 The rights of F.R. Bridge and Roger Bullen to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 0 582 78458 1 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bridge, F.R. The great powers and the European states system 1814–1914 / F.R. Bridge and Roger Bullen. — 2nd ed. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–582–78458–1 1.Europe—Foreign relations—1815–1871. 2.Europe—Foreign relations— 1871–1918.3.Europe—Politics and government—1815–1871.4.Europe— Politics and government—1871–1918.I.Bullen, R.J.II.Title. D363.B75 2004 327.1′7′094—dc22 2004044524 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the Publishers. 10987654321 08 07 06 05 04 Set by 35 in 10/13.5pt Sabon Printed in Malaysia The Publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests. TGPA01.pm5 4 02/07/2004, 11:26 PREFACEH v In memory of Alison TGPA01.pm5 5 02/07/2004, 11:26 vi CONTENTS TGPA01.pm5 6 02/07/2004, 11:26 PREFACEH vii Contents List of maps ix Acknowledgements x 1 Introduction: The character of international relations 1814–1914 1 2 The reconstruction of Europe and the Alliance, 1812–23 20 The peace settlement of 1814–1520 Quadruple Alliance and Holy Alliance, 1815–20 34 The problem of Revolution and the Neo-Holy Alliance, 1820–21 42 The Eastern Question, Spain and the Congress of Verona, 1821–23 49 3 ‘Every nation for itself’, 1823–30 62 Canning, Metternich and the control of the European states system 62 Iberian issues and South America 66 The Eastern Question, 1821–33 72 4 From revolution to war, 1830–56 86 The European states system and the revolutions of 1830 86 Holy Alliance and Entente Cordiale, 1833–48 90 The revolutions of 1848 and the restoration of order 106 The Crimean War and the end of the Holy Alliance, 1852–56 114 5 The destruction of the Vienna Settlement in Italy and Germany, 1856–71 126 General characteristics of the period, 1856–71 126 TGPA01.pm5 7 02/07/2004, 11:26 viii CONTENTS The fragmentation of the states system in the aftermath of the Crimean War 128 The making of the kingdom of Italy, 1856–61 134 The end of the 1815 order in Germany 146 The German question and the peace of Europe, 1866–71 160 6 The testing of the new order, 1871–79 175 General characteristics of the period 1871–1914 175 A decade of loose alignments, 1871–79 182 The Eastern crisis of 1875–78 197 7 The conservative powers dominate the states system, 1879–95 212 The first Bismarckian alliance system, 1879–87 212 Extra-European activities: the disunity of the western powers 227 The Bulgarian crises of 1885–87 and the second Bismarckian alliance system 233 The Neue Kurs and the reactivation of French diplomacy 242 8 Unstable equilibrium, 1895–1911 251 The extra-European world and the European equilibrium, 1895–1902 252 The Austro-Russian Entente 259 The end of Anglo-German collaboration 266 The end of Anglo-French antagonism 272 The First Moroccan crisis and the solidification of the Anglo-French Entente 278 The Near Eastern crisis and the end of the Austro-Russian Entente 286 The flexibility of the European states system, 1909–11 294 9 Polarization and war, 1911–1914 303 The Second Moroccan crisis 303 The Tripoli War and the destabilization of the Near East 310 The Balkan Wars 316 The last year of peace 324 Chronology 337 Bibliography 348 Index of persons 356 General Index 362 TGPA01.pm5 8 02/07/2004, 11:26 PREFACEH ix Maps 1 Central Europe in 1815 30 2 Italy in 1815 and the expansion of Sardinia, 1859–70 143 3 Central Europe in 1867 159 4 Central Europe in 1871 170 5 The Ottoman Empire after the Congress of Berlin 207 6 The Balkans in 1914 325 TGPA01.pm5 9 02/07/2004, 11:26 x CONTENTS Acknowledgements he popular success, since its appearance over twenty years T ago, of the original ‘Bridge and Bullen’ suggests that it would be worthwhile to produce an updated, and above all, substantially ex- panded edition for the benefit of students and general readers who may have found the original somewhat jejune and allusive. In doing so, I have decided to retain in their original form the general observations contained in the Introduction, which was a joint effort by my late friend and colleague and me; and, in much of Chapter 4 and the first section of Chapter 5, Roger’s original account of his own research period, which even after twenty years is still far superior to anything I could have writ- ten myself. The rest, I have entirely rewritten, and wish here to thank, for their invaluable questions and suggestions over the years, those students – and particularly Dr Peter Edwards – who attended my tutorials on ‘International History 1814–1918’ and ‘The Great Powers and the Balkans 1908–14’, at the . For a number of (short) quotations, I am indebted to the officials of the Public Record Office, London; the Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv, Vienna; the Bayrisches Staatsarchiv, Munich, and the Archives of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Paris for permission to use the archives within their care. F.R. Bridge Leeds August 2003 TGPA01.pm5 10 02/07/2004, 11:26 INTRODUCTION: THE CHARACTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction: The character of international relations, 1814–1914 n the century between the Congress of Vienna and the outbreak Iof the First World War international relations in Europe were largely dominated by five great powers: Austria (after 1867 Austria- Hungary), France, Great Britain, Prussia (after 1871 Germany) and Russia. There was always a clear distinction between what contemporaries called ‘first-rate powers’ and ‘secondary states’, and there was rarely any doubt into which category any state should be placed. The great powers jeal- ously guarded their status and were at all times disinclined to admit new members into their ranks. After her unification in the 1860s Italy liked to be regarded as a great power, but it was only in the capacity of an ally of the Central Powers after 1882, and as a member of the Concert dealing with the affairs of the Ottoman Empire that she could claim anything like equality with the other five.