Eu rope in the Nineteenth Century 35Eu r o pe ans by many Asians and Africans; this resentment continues to complicate peace,
humanitarian work, and development operations in these areas of the world to this day.balance of Power
During the nineteenth century, colonialism, the common interests of conservative
Eu ro pean elites, and distraction over the troubled unifications of German and Italian
principalities seemed to promote a long peace in Eu rope. But this condition of relative
peace was underpinned by another factor as well: a balance of power. The in de pen
dent Eu ro pean states, each with relatively equal power, feared the emergence of any
predominant state (hegemon) among them. As a result, they formed alliances to coun
teract any potentially more power ful faction, thus creating a balance of power. The
idea behind a balance of power is simple. States will hesitate to start a war with an
adversary whose power to fight and win wars is relatively balanced (symmetrical ), because
the risk of defeat is high. When one state or co ali tion of states is much more power ful
than its adversaries (asymmetrical ), war is relatively more likely. The treaties signed after
1815 were designed not only to quell revolution from below but also to prevent the
emergence of a hegemon, such as France had become under Napoleon. Britain or Rus sia,
at least later in the century, could have assumed a dominant leadership position—
Britain because of its economic capability and naval prowess, and Rus sia because of its
relative geographic isolation and extraordinary manpower. However, neither sought
to exert hegemonic power; each one’s respective capacity to effect a balance of power
in Eu rope was declining and the status quo was acceptable to both states.
Britain and Rus sia did play diff er ent roles, however, in the balance of power. Britain
most often played the role of off shore balancer; for example, it intervened on behalf
of the Greeks in their strug gle for in de pen dence from the Turks in the late 1820s, on
behalf of the Belgians during their war of in de pen dence against Holland in 1830,
on behalf of Turkey against Rus sia in the Crimean War in 1854–56, and again in the
Russo Turkish War in 1877–78. Thus, Britain ensured that power in Eu rope remained
relatively balanced. Rus sia’s role was as a builder of alliances. The Holy Alliance of 1815
kept Austria, Prus sia, and Rus sia united against revolutionary France, and Rus sia used
its claim on Poland to build a bond with Prus sia. Rus sian interests in the Dardanelles,
the strategic waterway linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and in Con
stantinople ( today’s Istanbul) overlapped with those of Britain. Thus, these two states,
located at the margins of Eu rope, played key roles in making the balance of power
system work.
During the last three de cades of the nineteenth century, the Concert of Eu rope
frayed, beginning with the Franco Prussian War (1870) and the Rus sian invasion of
Turkey (Russo Turkish War, 1877–78). Alliances began to solidify as the balance of
power system began to weaken. The advent of the railroad gave continental powers suchESSIR7_CH02_020_069_11P.indd 35 6/14/16 10:01 AM