occupying forces. The Spanish guerrillas also enjoyed the support of Britain, whose
unrivaled mastery of the seas meant the country could lend supplies and occasional
expeditionary forces. When local French forces attempted to punish the Spanish into
submission by barbarism (including looting, torture, rape, and execution of prisoners
and suspected insurgents without trial), re sis tance to French occupation escalated. The
cost to France was high, draining away talented soldiers and cash and damaging French
morale far beyond Spain. When Napoleon invaded Rus sia in 1812 with an army num-
bering a staggering 422,000, the Rus sians also refused to give direct battle. Instead,
they retreated toward their areas of supply, destroying all available food and shelter
behind them in what came to be known as a “scorched earth” policy. The advancing
French began to suffer from severe malnutrition, with the entire army slowly starving
to death as it advanced to Moscow.
By the time the French reached the Rus sian capital, the government had already
evacuated. The French army occupying Moscow had dwindled to a mere 110,000.
Napoleon waited in vain for the tsar to surrender. After realizing the magnitude of his
vulnerability, Napoleon attempted to return to France before Rus sia’s harsh winter set
in. But, it was already too late. By the time French troops crossed the original line of
departure at the Nieman River, Napoleon’s Grande Armeé had been reduced to a mere
10,000. The proud emperor’s final defeat in 1815 by En glish and Prus sian forces at the
Battle of Waterloo (in pres ent- day Belgium) was assured.Peace at the core of the eu ro pean system
Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and the establishment of peace by the Con-
gress of Vienna, the five powers of Europe— Austria, Britain, France, Prus sia, and
Russia— known as the Concert of Eu rope, ushered in a period of relative peace in the
international po liti cal system. These great powers fought no major wars after the defeat
of Napoleon until the Crimean War in 1854, and in that war, both Austria and Prus sia
remained neutral. Other local wars of brief duration were fought, and in these, too,
some of the five major powers remained neutral. Meeting more than 30 times before
World War I at a series of ad hoc conferences, the Concert became a club of like- minded
leaders. Through these meetings, these countries legitimized both the in de pen dence
of new Eu ro pean states and the division of Africa among the colonial powers.
The fact that peace among great powers prevailed during this time seems surpris-
ing since major economic, technological, and po liti cal changes were radically altering
power relationships. Industrialization, a critical development during the nineteenth
century, was a double- edged sword. During the second half of the nineteenth century,
the powers focused all attention on the pro cesses of industrialization. Great Britain
was the leader, outstripping all rivals in its output of coal, iron, and steel and the export
of manufactured goods. In addition, Britain became the source of finance capital, the28 CHAPTER Two ■ Historical context of international relationsESSIR7_CH02_020_069_11P.indd 28 6/14/16 10:01 AM