THE BALANCE OF POWER 

IN MID 19th CENTURY EUROPE

The map of Europe took on a different look after 1848. The period of revolutions had come to an end. Many governments discovered that by cooperating with some of the demands made by the nationalists, they could make their states stronger.

In the second half of the 19th century a small number of powerful nation-states began to dominate Europe. These were different nation-states than the ones that reshaped Europe at the Congress of Vienna and resulted in the the balance of power being upset. With the creation of two new states, there was a growth of international tension. Wars and the formation of two of hostile unions set the scene for the greatest and bloodiest conflict the world had ever known - World War 1.