The End of the Concert of Europe

The revolutions of 1848 had weakened the concert of Europe and thus allowed the forces of nationalism to flourish. It became more difficult for countries to control their competing ambitions and act together. In addition, the dreaded revival of Bonapartism in the person of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1808–1873), the nephew of Napoleon I, added to European instability as France reasserted itself. One of Louis-Napoleon’s targets was Russia, formerly a mainstay of the concert of Europe. To limit Russia’s and Austria’s grip on power, France helped engineer the Crimean War, which not only changed the distribution of European power but also resulted in the end of serfdom in Russia and the birth of new European nations.