Schroeder Paul W. The Transformation of European Politics 1763-1848

Oxford University Press, 1994. - 920 p.Presupposing considerable background and frequently taking issue with conventional wisdom, this important historical interpretation of international relations focuses almost entirely on the aims and tactics of statesmen responsible for foreign policy. Schroeder (Univ. of Illinois) argues, in great detail and with formidable scholarship, that a third of a century of great power equilibrium was achieved only because the players learned the hard way that balance-of-power politics, with its constantly shifting alliances, led only to war, not security. Revolutionary change in international behavior, not the restoration of old ways, came with the Congress of Vienna. Acceptance of hegemony by states unequal in power, new developments in international law, and broader international consensus permitted peace and progress.