Crisis Among the Great Powers

The Concert of Europe and the Eastern Question

In 1840, conflict within the Ottoman Empire gave rise to a serious all-European crisis which led to a diplomatic rupture between France and the other Great Powers. The crisis was given the name of the natural frontier which divided France from the rest of Europe: the Rhine. Although the Rhine Crisis did not lead to armed conflict, many states were deeply worried by the unfolding events and by the failure of the peace so carefully negotiated at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Combined with accumulated political and economic problems, there were fears of general social upheaval – and perhaps even revolution. This book uses the Rhine Crisis to evaluate the stability of the European States System, the functionality of the Concert of Europe and its addressing of the so-called Eastern Question. In doing so, Miroslav Šedivý offers an original and deeply-researched insight into the history of international relations in the pivotal years between 1815 and 1848.