Perhaps because, 200 years after the end of the Napoleonic wars, humankind finds itself in a place that is similar. This perception looks surprisingly modern today.
The dialectic of freedom and determinism, of what we can change and what is objectively inevitable lies at the heart of Tolstoy’s novel and his perception of history. “For history, there are lines of movement of human will, one end of which are shrouded in the unknown, while at the other end people’s consciousness of their freedom in the present moves in space, in time and in dependence on causes”, Tolstoy wrote. Tolstoy refused to accept that history is made by individuals, but he also rejected any fatalistic belief in divine determinism, instead seeing the roots of historical movement in the totality of the strivings of millions of people. More than fifty years later the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, whose deep interest in the philosophy of history is well known, would address the period that culminated in the Congress of Vienna in his great novel War and Peace. But they understood their responsibility and felt the burden of time, which made stricter demands than ever before on those who presumed to determine events. None of the emperors, chancellors and ministers who gathered in Vienna could have foreseen what was in store for the world five, ten, thirty, and a hundred years into the future. Perhaps most important: centre stage would now be taken by nations and peoples, increasingly aware of their own interests and their ability to make history, and no longer willing to submit unquestioningly to rulers and their political states. Ideas were already taking shape that would play a critical role in mankind’s history through the 19th and 20th centuries. The world stood on the threshold of profound changes in the nature of society, technology, and the economy. The significance of the time went far beyond diplomacy. The changes that had to be made in the structure of states spawned numerous threats to stability from new players operating outside the system. Heads of state and diplomats sought to create a system of international relations, which could manage the conflicts that arise inevitably between major states, while avoiding head-on collisions and minimising damage. The Congress of Vienna remained in session for many months – its activity suspended for a time by a new outburst of military action – seeking a new order for the continent’s development.
A series of political, social, and ideological storms had shaken the Old World since the last quarter of the 18th century, triggering wars, which engulfed all of the leading European nations. Two hundred years ago Europe – then the undisputed centre of the world – stood on the threshold of a new historical era.
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