Have you ever been the leader of something? Maybe a group project, captain of a sports team, or even just being in charge at home one day while your parents are out. If you have you know that being in charge is not always a good thing. There are always people who want to take your spot so what do you do when your power is threatened? Well, that's up for the leader to decide them self. The essential question we discussed and tried to answer in class this week was, what should people in power do when their power is threatened? This question is relating to the Congress of Vienna and how they took control of Europe after Napoleon made threats towards them. The exercise in class to depict this topic was that we were given multiple different situations which we would then have to make decisions about it just as the Congress of Vienna would. Overall, the lesson in class taught us about the Congress of Vienna and what types of choices they made.
In 1814, Napoleon was seeking to conquer more land and take control of Europe amd threatened the Congress of Vienna's power. Prince Metternich, a host from the Congress of Vienna, witnessed both the French and Haitian revolutions. These revolutions brought over a decade of wars, deaths, properties and towns devastated, and leaders killed. Metternich knew something had to be done to help the Quadruple (Quintuple) Alliance prepare for possible future revolutions. The system that the Congress of Vienna used was the Holy Alliance. The Holy Alliance stated that monarchs had divine right to rule and any revolution was treason and against God. This eliminated threats because it made it so trying to make a revolution would be against God. During this time period Europe was an extremely religious region and the majority of people would never even think to go against God. Another way it protected the Congress's power was because a revolution would be a crime. Before the Holy Alliance, a revolution was not considered treason but now it was a serious crime that had serious consequences. These two statements in the alliance made it so the Congress of Vienna always had power and no one could try and go against them.
Personally, I believe the powerful people at the Congress of Vienna made a good choice by the Holy Alliance. If the Holy Alliance did not exist, anyone could start a revolution which would lead to wars, deaths, and devastation throughout Europe. Although, I do believe that the Holy Alliance was not completely "revolution-proof." There will always be people who go against popular belief, people who are willing to commit crimes and go against God to stand up for what they believe in. Escaping these types of people is impossible because they are everywhere and everyone has different beliefs and values. For the situation of preventing future revolutions in Europe, the Congress of Vienna made the right decision by using the Holy Alliance to protect their power.
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