Page "German Confederation" Paragraph 62

However, the defeat of Napoleon enabled conservative and reactionary regimes such as those of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empire and Tsarist Russia to survive, laying the groundwork for the Congress of Vienna and the alliance that strove to oppose radical demands for change ushered in by the French Revolution.

The Great Powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 aimed to restore Europe ( as far as possible ) to its pre-war conditions by combating both liberalism and nationalism and by creating barriers around France.

With Austria's position on the continent now intact and ostensibly secure under its reactionary premier Klemens von Metternich, the Habsburg empire would serve as a barrier to contain the emergence of Italian and German nation-states as well, in addition to containing France.

But this reactionary balance of power, aimed at blocking German and Italian nationalism on the continent, was precarious.