Concert of Europe

he Concert of Europe represented the European balance of power from 1815 to 1848 and from 1871 to 1914. A first phase of the Concert of Europe, known as the Congress System or the Vienna System after the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), was dominated by five Great Powers of Europe: Prussia, Russia, Britain, France and Austria. The more conservative members of the Concert of Europe, who were also members of the Holy Alliance, used this system to oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power. Historians date its effective operation from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the early 1820s, although some see it playing a role until the Crimean War (1853–1856).