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Harold Nicolson
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The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity 1812-1822 Paperback – January 1, 1946

by Harold Nicolson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    COMPASS BOOKDS
  3. Publication date
    January 1, 1946
  4. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000NURRIA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ COMPASS BOOKDS; Seventh Printing, 1965 edition (January 1, 1946)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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Harold Nicolson

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Terri P
5.0 out of 5 stars Intimate and interesting Historical commentary
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2019
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I first read this book in high school and it greatly influenced my desire to become an Historian. I read it again as a History Major at University.
Now, reading it one more time, I truly understand the intricacies and machinations of the ambassadors, royals, and politicians who attended the Congress of Vienna.
Those who want to understand today's diplomacy MUST read this book. Detailed, forthright, and humourous, Sir Harold Nicolson delves into every aspect of the Congress. I highly recommend it as a great addition to the Historian, Diplomat, Student, and Teacher..
3 people found this helpful
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Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014
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Great!
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Jeffrey Huntington
5.0 out of 5 stars An author who knows British politics
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2016
This is an excellent account of the politics (internal and international) surrounding Napoleon's last battles and the Congress of Vienna. The emphasis is very much on the British participants, and sometimes on excusing their actions. There are better (and longer) books about these events from the perspectives of the Prussians, the Austrians, and the French. There is very little said about the sexual carnival which accompanied and even supplanted the diplomatic negotiations. Beethoven and Razumovsky get a few lines.
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Martin S Barnes
3.0 out of 5 stars READ BETTER BOOKS ON THIS CARVE UP OF EUROPE AFTER DEFEAT ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2015
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READ BETTER BOOKS ON THIS CARVE UP OF EUROPE AFTER DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO 1815
NAPOLEON DID INTERUPT THEIR DELIBERATIONS BY BREAKING OUT OF ISLE OF ELBA
One person found this helpful
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Enrique De La Torre
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015
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Very well written
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The Baron
5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST DIPLOMATIC STUDY EVER
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2014
The fact that this book has been so widely forgotten is a genuine tragedy -- because it is the only book that truly explains the workings of a major diplomatic conference by a participant in a later one (who also happened to be a very talented writer) ever committed to paper.
One person found this helpful
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Fernando Villegas
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Enough
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2016
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Not the best book about that, but good enough for a first reading.
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Caleb Hanson
4.0 out of 5 stars Familiar history, new perspective
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2012
The book begins with Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1812, at the point when the rest of Europe realized that Napoleon could be beaten and they began to band together to do so. It ends ten years later with the last of the annual European Conferences and the suicide of Castlereagh. I'm passing familiar with the military history of these years, but that history is so not the point here--the Waterloo campaign gets all of three sentences: "On June 12 Napoleon left Paris determined at any price to prevent the junction of the Prussian and the British armies. On June 18 was fought the battle of Waterloo. On June 21 Napoleon returned to Paris a defeated man." No, this book is a study of international diplomacy and statesmanship OFF the battlefield, among and between the Allies and France; the eponymous Congress of Vienna does get pride of place, but is not the sole focus by any means.

Mostly a study of personalities: the suave Metternich, Henry Kissinger's hero in modern times; the club-footed Talleyrand, who changed sides within France as easily and as often as Lord Gro in "The Worm Ouroboros"; the mystical and reactionary Tsar Alexander; and mostly Castlereagh, the British Foreign Minister: glacial, inarticulate, overworked and depressed, and (so long as Britain's rule of the seas is not questioned, as indeed it wasn't) totally dedicated to a perfect balance of power. Maybe: Nicolson's sympathies are completely with Castlereagh and Britain (Britain's interests are "our" interests throughout the book), and it's not always clear, reading between the lines, that those interests were as absolutely impartial and altruistic as he makes them sound.

Note the date of publication. While overt comparisons are not drawn, the parallels with 1945 are clear: Great Britain and its allies finally defeat a continental tyrant after years of war, and now try to set up a new international order to keep the peace in future. And like 1945-46, the diplomats concentrate so much on making sure the defeated power cannot make trouble again, that they fail to anticipate that the allies will turn on each other once the common enemy is removed. More overt parallels are drawn with 1919--Nicolson was actively involved in those negotiations. (He was the husband of Vita "Portrait of a Marriage" Sackville-West, for those who are interested.) Date of publication may also account for why Prussia gets relatively short shrift in the book, by the way: either sympathy, or access to sources, may have been hard for Nicolson to come by in 1945.

So, not impartial and with some gaps in coverage, but an interesting and readable study of a neglected side of Napoleonic history. And worth pointing out that the international institutions and balance of power established by the Congress did last for generations: Nicolson kind of glosses over the Crimean and the Franco-Prussian Wars, but certainly no war engulfed the whole continent like Napoleon did until 1914, a full century later.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Felixcat
5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2015
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Great what else could I say?
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