Customer Reviews

A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812-1822

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book lives up to and exceeds all expectations. Kissinger shows us in great detail what his Balance of Power Doctrine is based upon by showing the great diplomat Metternich in all his glory, when the Concert of Europe truly began. When the Quadruple Alliance of Great Britain and the imperial powers allied and the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria began, it was the beginning of years of uninterrupted peace, its only flaw that it did not anticipate the rise of nationalism that had already begun under Napoleon. This is in its most basic form a philosophic justification for all the diplomatic initiatives undertook in the Nixon and Ford Administrations under Kissinger in an analogic manner. Kissinger is one of the giants of our time, and he proves that save for Metternich, he is one of the diplomats most capable of comprehending all the subleties of and exercising brilliantly the Balance of Power Doctrine. A remarkable dissertation that foreshadows the birth of a giant on the world stage.

Henry Kissinger, who wrote the essence of this book as a graduate student at Harvard, encapsulates his version of diplomatic lessons in this timeless masterpiece. Whether you are dealing with Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin or a tyrannical boss at work, this work contains insights which transcend the period of study. In picking an obsure historical period, the time around and after the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 18th century in Europe, Kissinger runs the risk of seeming irrelevant to the modern (or post-modern) sensibility. Even a cursory review of the book will disprove this. Kissenger basically discusses the problems and politics of building a coalition, proving a tyrant to be a tyrant, and finally how to construct a practical enduring peace. His writing is insightful, full of preternatural wisdom and of enduring value. The lessons transcend a time period, but also transcend an historical scale: they apply to a variety of coalitions at the national and individual level. I recommend the book whole-heartedly. You will come away with a deep understanding of politics at all levels and also why Kissinger dominated the diplomacy of his period.

I think that this book is a classic, because its historical analysis on the problems of peace after a revolutionary period is truly insightful, and contains valuable lessons that are still very important nowadays.

Kissinger allows us to understand the difficulties inherent to finding a new legitimacy, accepted by all. He also delves into the best ways to solve the disputes that often arise in coalitions that include actors whose interests differ a lot. His comments were specifically about the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, Austria, Prusia and Russia) but can be applied to many other cases.

I specially liked how he dissected the personalites of the actors in this play, Napoleon, Metternich,Castlereagh and Talleyrand, and the manner in which he highlights that those personalities influenced the course of history.

This is an important period, because as the title of the book claims, a world was restaured. The Concert of Europe began and a new era of peace started, thanks to the perspicacy of Metternich and after the instability caused by the napoleonic wars. In this book we get to know a little more of Kissinger as an historian but also as a diplomat, as he shows us the intricacies of politics and diplomacy.

Even if this book is sometimes a little slow, I give it my highest recommendation, because it leaves you with much more knowledge, not only about this period but also regarding political realism.

Belen Alcat

I am still at the beginning of the lecture but am fascinated by the sharpness shown by Dr. Kissinger in analysing an important turning point of history where two fascinating personnalities appear on the stage: Metternich and Castlereagh.

You will need to read a biography on Napoleon and Metternich before you can enjoy this reading.

Originaly Herr Doktor's disertation, this work has all of the hallmarks (in embryonic form) of Kissenger's later neo-fascism, and reactionary justifications for the iron-fist-school of politics. His selective use of information on the Napoleonic era serves his Cold War mentality well,for as with numerous other reactionaries, he uses the French Revolution and Napoleon as cudgels with which to beat the idea of revolution, in general, and the Soviet Revolution specificaly. Despite its title, and what appears on the pages, this book has nothing to do with Napoleon, Metternich, or Castlereagh, and everything to do with Kissenger's fanatical defence of his crypto-fascist philosophy that it is the duty of citezans to obey their masters, that social control from "above" (however cruel) is preferbale to revolution, and that Herr Doktor knows best. Concidering that this is a man who was able to look the other way (to be conviently "out of the loop" for the only time in his political life)while his boss was trying to tear up The Bill of Rights, one may thank fourtune that more people have seen Kubrick's Doctor Stangelove, than have read books by Kissenger. On the other hand, it's Kissenger, not people like the late Kubrick, who have their spidery fingers on the proverbial button...