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The decline of the congress system Metternich, Italy and European diplomacy

Miroslav Šediv y, a professor of history at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, produced a fine and original monograph, exploring European diplomatic history in the Italian peninsula during the years 1830–1848. Šediv y is the author of two previous diplomatic works: Metternich, the Great Powers and the Eastern Question (Pilsen, 2013) and Crisis Among the Great Powers: The Concert of Europe and the Eastern Question (London, 2017). Šediv y’s work focuses on international tension, discords, and conflicts in Italy. He stresses that international relations during those years were characterized by ‘egotism, jealousy, mistrust, fear, law-breaking and finally war’ (p.1). In pursuing their policies, Great Powers, most notably France and England as well as smaller Italian states, Piedmont in particular, weremotivated by geopolitical and economic interests which violated principles of legal conduct required of governments according to the Congress System and conflict resolution through diplomacy. Following an analysis of the heritage of the Congress of Vienna, Šediv y explores meticulously various crises and clashes in the peninsula during three periods: 1830–33, 1840, and 1846–48. They include the French occupation of Ancona, the Sulphur War between Britain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the impact of the Rhine Crisis, the Salt Wine discord between Austria and Piedmont, the Ferrara Affair (1847), and the growing tension between Austria and Piedmont that led to the eruption of war between them in early 1848. The author based the volume on extensive research inmany European archives and a broad bibliography in Italian, English, German, and French. Restoration Italy was divided into eight states as ratified at the Congress of Vienna. Austria, led by its chancellor Clemens von Metternich, constituted the hegemonic power in the peninsula during the Restoration. The Habsburgs ruled over Lombardy and Venetia, incorporating them into their empire as a single kingdom. Three states had rulers related to the Habsburgs: Tuscany, Parma, and Modena. The Congress System consisted of an array of laws and rules that were designed to solve conflicts diplomatically, ensure stability and order in international relations, and provide security to all countries. Legal guidelines and cooperation among governments constituted essential foundations of the System. Metternich, the main statesman discussed in Šediv y’s work, supported reforms and advocated cooperation. He strongly defended the Congress System and wished to preserve it. In the author’s words: