Response to "Back to the Future"

As Laura explained in her entry, Coffin conveys Metternich's role as a sort of peacemaker in the Congress of Vienna. While I too found this emphasis of peace refreshing following what seemed to be a continuous parade of crusades for expansion and power, I was wary of the depiction of Metternich’s foreign policy as wholly peaceful. Laura's post inspired me to take a second look at the reading. The sometimes indeterminate nature of Coffin's narrative constructs a blurry representation of Metternich's politics, but what I found the second time around I believe provides another side to Metternich's beliefs that works with his advocacy of peace as well as a sad realization that Metternich was probably not as much a removal from the brutal and power-play politics that could have been grasped from the reading. Yes, Metternich was an influential representative in the Congress of Vienna in helping to inspire peace across Europe, but his advocacy of peace did not grow out of a will to fundamentally change the European scenery. In fact, as a hardcore conservative, Metternich argued against political and social change. While Laura pointed out that with the aid of Metternich and the Congress of Vienna, major war in Europe did not materialize again until the first world war, the common human instincts and desires that inspired past wars continued to be at play in this new encouragement for peace. Generally one could say that major instigators of European wars could be both the desire for expansion and power as well as the logic that greater power for one nation or empire in turn meant that another state had been weakened. It could be said that Metternich, while trying to stabilize Europe following the tumultuous times of Napoleon with a call for peace, had not abandoned this human quality. Coffin mentions that at the Congress of Vienna, Metternich "attempted at every term to arrange international affairs...to suit his own diplomatic designs." Metternich's "diplomatic designs"? One major one was working to keep Russia's growing strength in check. While one could argue that this is a necessary factor in trying to preserve the Congress' idea of a "balance of powers," I think it is safe to say that Metternich's allegiance to Austria and Austria's proximity to Russia influenced this focus. Although Metternich's first impulse was not to grab guns and an army to fight against Russia's growing status, Metternich used the means of foreign policy to monitor Russia’s power. This competitive and fundamentally mercantilist mindset inspired both inter-European wars as well as peacemaking strategies. Metternich and the Congress of Vienna represented a new phase in European history in which maintaining European stability and a balance of powers became major focuses. However, the principles to monitor the countries’ powers and statuses transcended Europe’s progression from the Napoleon to the reconstruction era.