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The Congress of Vienna

May 27, 1815

The great powers redraw Europe and keep the peace for forty years

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In depth

The congress is the textbook case of a realist peace: no loser was humiliated, and France was brought back into the system. The comparison with Versailles in 1919 is a standing one in the field. The price was the suppression of national and liberal movements, which produced the revolutionary wave of 1848.

For children

After Napoleon the great powers met to redraw the map of Europe. They restored the kings and tried to create a balance of power. The system prevented another general European war for nearly a century.

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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org