Evening star., 1947-01-20
Letters to The Star
Blames the Congress- Of Vienna
For Century of Turmoil
To the Editor 81 The star;

For Century OF Turmoil
To the Editor Of The star:
Shortly after the Nazis came to power
they announced that they had. once
and for all destroyed the French
Revolution. Fifteen years before that
Lenin, as he set the course of the
Russian Revolution, declared similar
intention when he said that freedom
was a bourgeois illusion" A century
before Lenin, another body In Europe,
the Holy Alliance" dedicated its efforts
to the same end-to destroy the French
Revolution. The representatives. Of the
governments which made up the Holy
Alliance" made. up the Congress of
Vienna in l814-1815. That Congress
tackled the Job in earnest. And on
January 9. 1916. George Fielding Eliot
wrote in your paper: "' the Con-
gress of Vienna met to lay the founda-
tions OF peace that was to last for
just a hundred years, unbroken save
by wars OF limited duration and extent
"a hundred years of the greatest social,
material and scientific progress the
world had ever seen" The purpose
of Mr.. Eliots column was to show our
new Secretary OF State 4 precedent for
building the peace Of the world.
I'm not going to charge what any
intelligent man can infer; in fact, can
not hut infer. Mr.. Eliot is entitled to
his opinion. But I'd like to see his
facts. There are historic facts. The
results of the Congress of Vienna led
to regimes which destroyed all civil
liberties in Europe. Political persecu-
tion by the police became the rule
everywhere. Political prisoners were
tortured. Education was restricted;
what was allowed was forced into
narrow clerical channels which dis
astrously caused widespread disaffec-
ton among the young against the exist
ing regimes. Progress finally came, but
only at the hands Of those who fought
everything the Congress Of Vienna
stood for and only in those countries
where the regimes set up by the Con-
gress of Vienna successfully were
overthrown.
Chronicle Of Disaster.
The Congress Of Vienna sowed the
seeds of violence, revolt and revolution,
side by side with the seeds Of war
which finally led to Europe's present
disastrous condition. Here's q thumbs
nail chronology OF the century:
1915, annexation Of part of saxony by
Prussia; 1915, Poland awarded to Rus
sia by Congress of Vienna: 1926, revolu-
ton in Spain against Ferdinand VII;
1920, assassination of heir to French
throne; 1923, invasion Of Spain by
French army to help Ferdinand VII;
1925, revolutionary plot in Russia by
"Decembrists" 1827-182s, war between
Russia and Turkey; 1880, revolution
sweeps Belgium against rule by Holland !;
1880, revolution in France drives Bour-
bons from throne; 1925, revolutionary
uprisings trouble Paris and Lyons; 1843,
revolution in Spain Gusts the Regent;
1846, revolt in northern Italy put down
by military; 1848, revolution, decidedly
Red, drives Louis Philippe from French
throne; 1848, revolution, decidedly lib
eral, sweeps Germany; 1848, revolution
in Vienna sweeps country and results in
ousting of Metternich. alleged architect
and inspiration of the Congress of Vi
emma; 1848, revolution in Hungary led
by Kossuth; 1848, revolution sweeps Italy
against Austrian rule, which was re-
established over Italy by the Congress
of Vienna; lS49, revolutions throughout
Hungary, Austria, Italy: l849, interven-
ton in Hungary by Russian troops to
help put down the revolution; 1851, coup
detat in France brings Louis Napoleon
to power; 1886, war of the Crimea,
with England and France allied against
Russia; 1859, revolution in italy finally
establishes countrys independence
(French troops helped. The "Holy Alli-
ance"-Russia, Prussia, Austria, Eng
land are at each others throats, but
good; 1863, revolt In Poland against
Russian rule; 1866, war between Prussia
and Austria, Schleswig Holstein is an
nexed by Prussia; 1866, war between
Italy and Austria, Venice Is made part
of Italy; 1870, war between Prussia and
France; 1871, revolution in Paris estab-
fishes Commune; 1873, revolution drives
Spanish ruler from throne "a sort of a
republic is established); 1877-7S. war be-
tween Russia and Turkey; 1904, war be-
tween Russia and Japan; 1905, revolu-
ton in Russia (the first Red; 1908, an
nexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by
Austria lights fuse for World War I;
1909, revolt in Spain against regime re-
suits in martial law; 1911, war between
Italy and Turkey; 1912, war, the first
Balkan; 1918, war the second Balkan;
1914, war the first World.
A really complete chronology Of the
revolts, revolutions and wars which
shook Europe throughout the century
would take up several columns of your
paper.
Liberation" in Name Only.
For more than generation after the
Congress of Vienna, revolt and revolu-
ton shook practically every country of
Europe, until the tyrannies and stupidi-
ties imposed on Europe by that Congress
were eliminated, or at least mitigated.
AS regards life in Europe Immediately
after 1915, following Europe's 'libera-
ton" by Wellington and his Tory asso-
ciates, here's what the historian, Emil
Reich, said in lecture at the University
of London: "The slightest attempt on
the part of any man in Germany or
Italy or Austria to discuss questions Of
,,1l;%.on - .i~n thu ahEo re ai11o ico IN