The three intervening decades between the Congress of Vienna and the Revolutions of 1848 are marked by enormous social, political, economic and cultural change. Liberalism, nationalism, romanticism and industrialism profoundly affected the course of Europe and compelled conservative monarchies to accept the principles of collective action and military force to curb political revolution. In the years immediately following 1815, the Quadruple and Holy Alliances served the dual purpose of preventing a restoration of Bonapartism and suppressing revolutions. By the 1820s these international associations dissipated, but the principles upon which they were founded informed the decisions of the respective governments through 1848. The classic articles and papers collected in this volume attempt to illustrate that despite the substantial changes to European society which occurred during these thirty years, European powers accepted common principles which influenced their state's domestic and foreign policies.

This is the only modern study of European international politics to cover the entire timespan from the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 to the revolutionary year of 1848.

"Th French Revolution and its sequel in Napoleonic imperialism disrupted the historic continuity of European society and shattered most of its traditions. All the significant problems of the period arise out of these events, which even determined the attitudes adopted towards the steadily - expanding Industrial Revolution. This break in continuity engendered a quest for new patterns of interpretation - nationalism, socialism, vast philosophical systems like those of Marx and Hegel, a new conceptions of history, literary and artistic ideas, all of them strands in the web of romanticism. The revolution of 1848, which took place in almost every European country, is the natural climax of this study. It was the culmination of the political and social unrest of the time - of the struggle between the aristocracy and the middle classes, the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the rising proletariat, the movements for national liberation and reunion. And in the event it confounded all the protagonists and compelled a reappraisal of ideals and a realignment of forces". - Publisher.