IRB Media Summary of Winston S. Churchill's The Great Democracies

Annotation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The British political scene was stagnant after the war. The Tories, as we may call them, were firmly in power. They had won the struggle against Napoleon with the support of a War Cabinet drawn largely from their own party.#2 Castlereagh was the leader of the House of Commons, and he was the chief architect of the coalition that gained the final victory over Napoleon. He was not an orator, but he was a cool, collected man who thought it beneath him to inform the public openly about the government's plans and measures.#3 The European settlement in 1815, which was based on the agreements made at the Congress of Vienna, required Britain to commit herself to the new order and structure of Europe. She was a party to the settlement of the new frontiers of France, which deprived the restored Bourbons of what is now the Saarland and of parts of Savoy.#4 The Congress of Vienna, which was the final peace treaty between the European powers, was a monument to the success of classical diplomacy. It was a culmination of the intricate negotiations that took place there.