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Austria and the 1820s revolutions: Between the heritage of the Congress of Vienna and political change

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Title

Austria and the 1820s revolutions: Between the heritage of the Congress of Vienna and political change

Date

12 March 2021

Abstract

Austria’s attitude towards the Greek Revolution has long been depicted as a black and white story, with this great power being portrayed in a mostly negative light. Austria’s policy towards the insurgents has usually been assessed as reactionary, oppressive, anti-national and anti-humanitarian. A similar evaluation was adopted for its policies toward the revolutionary movements in other European regions. Did Austria and its Chancellor Metternich deserve such a one-sided portrayal of their part in the narrative or is a revisionist approach applicable in their case? The principal aim of this paper is to offer a fitting answer to this question through the re-evaluation of Austria’s conduct towards the Greek revolution within the wider context of its behaviour towards political opposition in other European countries. It will particularly focus on the principal author of its foreign policy, Prince von Metternich, and how his opinions and actions were influenced by his personal experience with the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, his allegiance to the post-Napoleonic states system as well as his geopolitical consideration of the Balkan Peninsula, the internal situation of the Ottoman Empire, the widely debated humanitarian aspect of the Greek uprising and last but not least the philhellenic movement in European society.

(Edited abstract from organiser’s website)

Type specialization

Format

Text

Language

Number Of Pages - Duration

00:20:00

Rights

BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Position: 5105 (22 views)