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TheConservative Order was the period inpolitical history ofEurope after the defeat ofNapoleon in 1815. From 1815 to 1830, a conscious program byconservative statesmen, includingMetternich andCastlereagh, was put into place to containrevolution and revolutionary forces by restoring the old orders, particularly the previously-rulingaristocracies. On the other hand, inSouth America, in light of theMonroe Doctrine, the Spanish and Portuguese colonies gained independence.
Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria renewed their commitment to prevent any restoration of Bonapartist power and agreed to meet regularly in conferences to discuss their common interests. The period contained the time of theHoly Alliance, a military agreement. TheConcert of Europe was the political framework that grew out of theQuadruple Alliance in November 1815.
The Conservative Order had as its main aim to stay in power and regarded the widespread nationalism to be a threat to the aristocracy.
In March 1814 the militarycoalition ofNapoleon's four major opponents (United Kingdom,Austria,Prussia, andRussia) had agreed to remain united not only to defeatFrance but also to ensure peace after the war. After Napoleon's defeat, the alliance restored the Bourbon monarchy to France and agreed to meet inVienna, Austria, in September 1814 to arrange a settlement, a meeting that would become known as theCongress of Vienna.
The conservatives' goal at the meeting, led by PrinceKlemens von Metternich of Austria, was said to be to re-establish peace inEurope. Metternich and the other four states sought to do so by restoring the old ruling families and to createbuffer zones between the major powers. To contain the still-powerful French, theHouse of Orange-Nassau was put onto the throne in theNetherlands in what had been theDutch Republic and theAustrian Netherlands (nowBelgium). Southeast of France,Piedmont (officially part of theKingdom of Sardinia) was enlarged. TheBourbon dynasty was restored to France and toSpain as well as a return of other former rulers to theItalian states. To contain the Russian empire,Poland was divided up between Austria, Prussia and Russia. Austria and Prussia were allowed to keep some of their Polish territories, and a new nominally-independent Polish kingdom was established, with theRomanov dynasty of Russia as its hereditary monarchs. Also, theGerman Confederation was created to replace the NapoleonicConfederation of the Rhine.
During the Congress of Vienna, Napoleon escaped fromElba and launched his unsuccessful "Hundred Days". That ultimately did not disrupt the meeting but as a punishment to the French for allowing Napoleon back in power, they were forced to pay anindemnity, accept an army of occupation for five years and have France's borders returned to those of 1790.
The Congress of Vienna was only the beginning of the conservative reaction bent on containing the liberal and nationalist forces unleashed by the French Revolution. Metternich and most of the other participants at the Congress of Vienna were representatives of anideology known asconservatism, which generally dates back to 1790, when its best-known figure,Edmund Burke, wroteReflections on the Revolution in France. Burke, however, was not the only kind of conservative.Joseph de Maistre was a very influential spokesperson for a counterrevolutionary and authoritarian conservatism and believed in hereditary monarchies because they would bring "order to society," a commodity in short supply in his eyes after the chaos of the French Revolution. Despite their differences, most conservatives held to some general principles and beliefs:
Many conservatives such as Metternich were not opposed to reforming governments but said that such changes must be taken gradually and that radical revolutions are aimed, rather than at benefiting the masses, as simply power grabs by the newmiddle class.
After 1815, the political philosophy of conservatism was supported by hereditary monarchs, government bureaucracies, landowning aristocracies and revived churches (Protestant orCatholic). The conservative forces appeared dominant after 1815 both internationally and domestically.
The first liberal reaction against the Conservative Orded established after the congress of Vienna manifested itself in theRevolutions of the 1820s, where Liberal groups started multiple insurrections against absolute monarchies inPortugal,Spain,Italy, theOttoman Empire (Greece) and theRussian Empire. While the Revolutions had limited success inPortugal (where a constitutional monarchy was instated) andGreece (which became independent from the Ottoman Empire), they were largely crushed in other European countries, resulting in a victory for the Conservative Order.
TheRevolutions of 1830 were the first step to the demise of the Conservative Order: inFrance, the autocratic KingCharles X wasforced to abdicate and replaced with the liberalLouis Philippe I and a constitutional monarchy was created, whileBelgium gained independence from the Netherlands, also becoming a constitutional monarchy. TheRevolutions of 1848, while not completely successful, saw the demise of the Conservative Order.
