Europe's Future

When Napoleons empire collapsed in 1815, Europe was left in pieces. The powers that were left after Napoleons conquest met in Vienna, Austria. Including Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The Congress of Vienna was supposed to decide the future of Europe, but put that on the back burner and spent most of there time in Vienna partying. In the end though, they decided to return to the system of monarchy.

In order to appease people that had enjoyed Napoleon's rule, they made it a constitutional monarchy. The monarchs were afraid of another revolution because they did not want to be dethroned again. So when they were all in Vienna they decided issued a principle, the Principle of Intervention. This principle decreed that any country in the Holy Alliance (  Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria) could send troops into each other's countries to suppress any uprisings. They utilized the concept of the Holy Alliance and the principle of intervention by saying any treason against the Holy Alliance was a treason against god (Britain did not take part in this). This made citizens fear going against the Alliance, not only because they were such a super power but also because it was a sin.

The Congress of Vienna deciding to return to a constitutional monarchy pleased Metternich. He was a conservative, who didn't like change. That's also a reason why he liked the Holy Alliance. The Holy Alliance was a reason for things not to change because people feared sinning.In the 1820s there was an Italian uprising. The Austrians intervened and crushed the uprising and  made an example for other revolutionaries to see. This impacted Europe by having not only uniting the major countries of it, but also  led to peace throughout Europe for many years.