The Congress of Vienna and the Small Nations. What Role for the United Kingdom?
Jourdan, Annie
The Congress of Vienna and the Small Nations. What Role for the United Kingdom? - 2016.
19
The Congress of Vienna has been well studied, and new research has been recently published. But historians still focus largely on the European great powers and on the Treaty of June 1815. They show little interest in the conventions or bilateral agreements signed between the United Kingdom and the lesser nations, notably those with colonial empires. Attentive study of these conventions reveals that Britain’s generosity was a pretext. Behind the façade of proclaiming to protect Europe from French bellicosity, the United Kingdom constrained her allies – the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – to make real sacrifices. The new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was forced to hand over her some strategic possessions in the Caribbean and in the East-Indies. Portugal and Spain were forced to accept the abolition of the international slave trade, which was a harsh blow for them. Nor did the United Kingdom help those countries to recapture their South-American colonies fighting for independence. Conversely, it let the situation get worse, allowing those colonies to turn towards the United Kingdom. To be sure, the territorial gains look tiny when looked at individually, but taken as a whole they provided the United Kingdom with maritime omnipotence and commercial supremacy worldwide.
The Congress of Vienna and the Small Nations. What Role for the United Kingdom? - 2016.
19
The Congress of Vienna has been well studied, and new research has been recently published. But historians still focus largely on the European great powers and on the Treaty of June 1815. They show little interest in the conventions or bilateral agreements signed between the United Kingdom and the lesser nations, notably those with colonial empires. Attentive study of these conventions reveals that Britain’s generosity was a pretext. Behind the façade of proclaiming to protect Europe from French bellicosity, the United Kingdom constrained her allies – the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – to make real sacrifices. The new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was forced to hand over her some strategic possessions in the Caribbean and in the East-Indies. Portugal and Spain were forced to accept the abolition of the international slave trade, which was a harsh blow for them. Nor did the United Kingdom help those countries to recapture their South-American colonies fighting for independence. Conversely, it let the situation get worse, allowing those colonies to turn towards the United Kingdom. To be sure, the territorial gains look tiny when looked at individually, but taken as a whole they provided the United Kingdom with maritime omnipotence and commercial supremacy worldwide.
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