In 1815, the Congress of Vienna was signed but the old order in Europe was not fully restored. This is to explain why I came to this conclusion. Until 1789, all countries in the continent of Europe, with an exception of England, were ruled under absolute monarchy. In the French Revolution, Louis XVI was overthrown and killed by the revolutionaries on the guillotine and France became a republic until Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power. From 1804 onwards the country was ruled by Napoleon as the French empire. Napoleon, a talented militarist, invaded Europe and disrupted the ‘old order’. He replaced the House of Orange -the original rulers of Holland- by Louis, his Brother and created three kingdoms in Italy. He also dethroned the Spanish king in 1908. However, after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, all the old dynasties were restored, and that implied the restoration of legitimacy. For example, the house of Savoy was restored to to Pedimont, the House of Orange to Holland, the Pope to the Papal states, the Bourbons to France and Spain, the princes to the German states and the Habsburgs to Austria. France, which was considered as the aggressor who upset the balance of power, was weakened and the land that Napoleon acquired was stripped from her. France was restored to the pre-napoleonic France, in hopes to restore …show more content…
Napoleon caused the rise of nationalism by arousing national feelings of the Germans, the polish and the Italians. together with the exemplary success of the French army from 1792 onwards, the idea was widespread and cannot be suppressed. This greatly affected Europe, although it did not seem significant at that time-revolts did indeed happen, but they were soon suppressed but the military forces of the great powers. The spread of these ideologies that shaped the modern day Europe was impossible to be