ABSTRACT
Between 1865 and 1871 the political map of Europe changed more dramatically than it had done in the previous fifty years. Admittedly, the Vienna settlement of 1815 had been modified in a number of ways before 1865, in particular by the creation of an independent Belgium in the 1830s and by the formation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1859–61. For the most part, however, the European states system set up after the Napoleonic Wars had withstood outbreaks of revolt in the 1820s and 1830s, as well as the great revolutionary ferment of 1848–9. The leading states of Europe in 1865 were the same great powers (Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia and France) which had presided over the destinies of Europe in 1815, albeit with some changes in their rank order, especially as regards Russia and France.
