World Restored

A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh, and the Problems of Peace 1812-1822 by Henry Kissinger, 332 pages

This was future Secretary of State Kissinger's first book, an expansion of his doctoral dissertation, explicating the restoration of some concept of legitimacy after an age of revolution had cast all such claims into doubt.  It centers on the vital cooperation of Metternich, representing Austria, and Castlereagh, representing Britain, as the two statesmen undertook the delicate juggling act of competing demands: Austrian concentration on political harmony against British focus on territorial equilibrium, Napoleon's personal outlook against the Habsburgs' dynastic view, Tsar Alexander's idealism against British pragmatism, British insularity against Austrian cosmopolitanism.

It is easy to see the appeal of this study of the Congress system at the time of its publication in 1957, when the East and the West each sought security in the midst of the Cold War.  Without an established set of common assumptions governing international relations, Kissinger asserts, diplomatic solutions to conflicts are impossible and force becomes the only law.  The quest for absolute security by any party renders overall stability impossible.  Only through the acceptance of limits can a lasting peace be attained, as opposed to an uneasy truce.