HST390 History of International Relations Napoleon, The Congress of Vienna, and the Concert of Europe Overview of Course Nation-­‐states as we think of them today are the product of republican revolutions in British North America and France. The French Revolution had the largest immediate impact on the formation of the international system and the modern rules of behavior that nations began to form with each other. The French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon shocked the European nations. It also served to unite some scattered segments of Europe and detach nations from the more historic ways of doing business. The result was a looming search for a better way of doing business as nations. The Congress of Vienna is an example of a specific way in which the nation states of Europe attempted to set up a system that balanced power and protected national self-­‐interest. The Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 by the four European powers that had defeated Napoleon. The first goal was to establish a new balance of power that would prevent imperialism within Europe, such as the Napoleonic Empire, and maintain the peace between the great powers. The second goal was to prevent political revolutions, such as the French Revolution, and maintain the status quo. The European system was built on the idea of expansion. The Congress of Vienna did not aim to limit that -­‐ the provisions were directed at limiting expansion to within Europe. European leaders took the competition outside Europe to the world at large, developing larger modern colonial empires. The dominant theme in global history from 1450 to 1914 is the spread of western European domination -­‐ cultural, economic, political, and military. In 1450, when the Portuguese began exploring the west coast of Africa, they developed and exploited new maritime technology, making the world a series of isolated communities. But by 1750 this had changed almost completely, with the rest of the world becoming increasingly inhabited by western Europeans. If a place wasn't completely conquered, it was likely on its way to being so. Why western Europe expanded as in the way that it did (while other societies fell before it) is an extremely complex question far beyond scope of this class. However, one element that we do need to understand in order to grasp the subsequent development of the United States is the presence of an ideology of conquest among west Europeans. I would argue that this ideology rested on a tripod of fundamental beliefs: religion, racism, and nationalism. Both the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-­‐Reformation developed a theological justification for true believers to seize the land and property of non-­‐believers -­‐ and sometimes even the non-­‐believers themselves as slaves. But religion was reinforced by second powerful motive: racism. Western Europeans in the age of expansion believed whites to be the superior race. To paraphrase Descartes, I conquer, therefore I deserve to rule. The very act of expansion proved the inherent superiority of the conqueror. The ideas of religion and racism are then enhanced and strengthened by the competition between nations. During the time leading up to and then following the Congress of Vienna, history is dominated by the great competition for empire among the European powers that exploded in 1689. North America was only one front in a war that raged on and off in Europe, India, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. The nation of Japan is the great exception to the growth of European power, as Japan for various reasons was able to resist this expansion and join with the Europeans in the race to colonize. By the end of the 19th century the world is dominated by the European powers and divided up into colonies and spheres of influence. China has lost all sovereignty except in name and is run by European powers as they see fit. Even its internal collection of customs and duties is run by the British. For all its flaws, the system created at the Congress of Vienna in 1814 holds until the beginning of the 20th century. Then, for complicated reasons that I am going to ask you to think about in this course, the Vienna system for all practical purposes commits suicide. World War I cannot be considered in simple political terms. It needs to be seen in terms of the great psychological damage that it did to the people and their leaders. Nuremberg, Appeasement, the Cold War, and the United Nations all come from some version of the panic that the destruction that WWI caused. In a lot of ways WWI is the source of our modern international system in that way that Vienna was the source of the 19th century system. While WWII often gets a lot of attention, it can be argued that it was simply the continuation of the conflict begun when the Vienna system collapsed in 1914. But WWI had another effect. It began the process of decolonization. WWI caused a vast population drop, particularly among the European elites that would have run and administrated the colonial system had they been alive. In addition, colonies were feeling a rising sense of nationalism. The involvement and rising dominance of the United States and the new Soviet Union introduced anti-­‐colonial ideologies to many of the newly emerging nation-­‐states. World War II essentially solidified the situation left by the devastation of WWI. The aftermath left two world powers standing. What was not fully appreciated at the time by US policy makers was that the Soviet Union, which between the years 1934-­‐1945 lost more than 54 million through starvation, purges, and massive war casualties, was still a superpower militarily (but mostly a well-­‐armed shell). The Vienna system was designed to be based upon national interest -­‐ not on ideology. It was designed to counter the wars that had been fought over religion. It was to be realpolitik. The problem was that the ideology of Napoleon was still attractive to many people. Thus, national interest and ideology compete for the attention of nations and diplomats from then on. We will look at the case study of Indochina to examine the conflict between ideology and national interest in decolonization. We will also examine the ideology of the United States in relation to this -­‐ particularly when we study the Cold War. You should ask yourself: how much did the United States belief in its own ideology lead American thinkers to believe that the Soviets were acting on their own ideology and not just national interest? Or, were they? Jean-­‐Baptiste Isabey, The Congress of Vienna, 1819 The Foundations of the International System Names you should be familiar with: • Gustavus Adolphus • Cardinal Richelieu • Louis XIV • James II • William III • Frederick II • Maria Theresa • Louis XVI • Napoleon Bonaparte • Alexander I • Clemens Von Metternich • Charles De Talleyrand • Lord Castlereagh Other things to be familiar with: • The Thirty Years War; 1618-­‐1648 • Diplomatic Minuet; 1688-­‐1783 • French Revolution • 1815 – Vienna -­‐ building on the wreckage Working definition of the term “international relations”: It is the way in which nations and people interact. This includes all aspects of the relations between nations. It involves business relationships. It involves group racial and national prejudices (both positive and negative). It involves religious ideology. It involves political ideology. It involves all the ways in which nations relate to each other -­‐ not just diplomatic. Diplomats must consider all of this. The Protestant Reformation After the collapse of the Roman empire different parts of feudal Europe began to fill the vacuum left by the loss of the power of Rome. One of the largest unifying power bases was the Roman church. Europe adopted the common middle eastern religion of Christianity (remember Christianity became European in Europe -­‐ it was originally a sect of Judaism imported from the middle East). Slowly, the church became the strongest unifier of European political power. Yet despite its power, the church had to keep itself from appearing to directly rule the cities of the earth. St. Augustine had written “The City of God” to distinguish between the idea of the city of God and the city of man. So the church had developed the “two swords” idea. The church would hold the sword of the word of God and that rule would then control the sword of the government of man. This state/church system known as sacralism. A Latin saying that has often been used to describe the principle of sacralism is “cuius regio, eius religio”, or "who has region, decides religion." The idea was that the ruler of each individual area would decide the religion of those under his control based upon his own faith. The church was the only institution to survive the fall of Rome and it was determined to keep all regions under their one religion. This worked remarkably well until the church began to lose its own moral authority. Popes held power simply because people believed. It was when they began to abuse their power that trouble began. Papal excess began to be noted by pilgrims. Money and power become a problem, and soon the states that were on the losing end of the money and power began to grow resentful. In this we see the conflict between ideology and realpolitik before the invention of the word realpolitik. The theological conflicts in this system had international political consequences. In 1517, Albert of Brandenburg, archbishop of Mainz, sponsored the sale of indulgences in order to pay for the construction of Saint Peter's in Rome. Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, responded by posting his 95 theses on the door of the castle chapel in Wittenburg, Germany, where Luther was a university professor. The theses invite debate over the legitimacy of the sale of indulgences. Copies of the theses spread rapidly over Europe. The papacy takes steps against Luther as a heretic. The Wittenburg faculty supports Luther. 1520 -­‐ Luther publishes his three famous treatises: "An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility“, "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church“, and "On the Freedom of a Christian”. He wins powerful support. 1521 -­‐ Luther is excommunicated. He refuses to recant unless proven wrong by the Bible or by "clear reason." 1530 -­‐ Many German princes and cities sign the Augsburg Confession as an expression of the evangelical faith. 1555 -­‐ The Peace of Augsburg provides that each German prince can determine the religious affiliation of the territory he rules. The Reformation sweeps Northern and Eastern Europe. A reassertion of the principle “cuius regio, eius religio”. But then that is a problem -­‐ since the principle is contested by the dominant religion. The Thirty Years War: 1618-­‐1648 Power vacuums invite conflict. The Thirty Years War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily (though not exclusively) in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe. Naval warfare also reached overseas and shaped the colonial formation of future nations. The Holy Roman Emperor, one of the Hapsburg family, was supported by the Pope. The war had dual goals: restore the authority of the Hapsburgs, and restore the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. As the war progressed the various generals leading troops complicated things by pursuing their own agendas. Opposing the Hapsburgs and the Roman church were Sweden, Denmark and the Protestant princes of Germany. Initially the war was fought largely as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, although disputes over the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire played a significant part. The war gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the European powers. In this phase the war became more of a continuation of the Bourbon-­‐Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-­‐eminence and led to further warfare between France and the Habsburg powers. As the fighting spread the idea in the minds of people was that the conflict was about religion, but the actual fighting started to become a power struggle between Habsburg’s -­‐ supported by the Pope -­‐ and the Bourbon’s, who were willing to switch sides in order to get their own power. Not quite a Protestant/Catholic brawl -­‐ Protestants alone did not have enough power -­‐ but with some Catholic allies they could hold back the power of the Popes. At this point the war ceases to be about religion and becomes about nations. Religion is simply used as the ideology that allows for war mobilization. 25% of the civilian population was killed in these wars. It probably took Germany 75-­‐100 years to recover. It also left Germany with the lesson that weak states will suffer greatly. Think about how this will play out in the centuries ahead. King Gustavus Adolphus was killed at the moment of victory -­‐ his military genius lost. The Hapsburgs almost won, but Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu switched sides and took the Protestant Cause. Richelieu -­‐ a Catholic Bishop promoted to Cardinal by Pope Gregory -­‐ felt that the Church’s role was not one of politics. Thus he was able to detach himself from the religious side of the war and examine what was in France’s interest. He saw himself loyal to the Pope only in matters of religion. Richelieu adhered to the maxim that "the ends justify the means." Although he devoutly believed in the mission of the Roman Church, he sought to assign the church a more practical role. Richelieu argued that the state is above everything, and that religion is a mere instrument to promote the policies of the state. Though he developed the idea of a balance of power, he ultimately thought that states should act upon their own self-­‐
interest. By 1631 he had crushed the Huguenot resistance, severely punished nobles who plotted against the king, and replaced his enemies in the government. In addition, he expanded the king's authority in the provinces through the use of royal agents called intendants. Richelieu insisted that the king apply the law with severity, otherwise the state could not survive. He emphasized that rigorous punishment of even small crimes would forestall greater ones. Through this reasoning, Richelieu provided his sovereign a rationale for the harsh rule he knew to be requisite with strengthening and maintaining the authority of the French State, as that was his first loyalty… “If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him.” One lesson was not lost on subsequent generations of diplomats and national leaders -­‐ that reality needs to trump ideology… even religious ideology.