The Cambridge History of Warfare

The settlement of twenty-three years of war between the European powers in 1815 represented no easy task, but the victors agreed that they possessed certain interests in common – in particular a desire to control the nationalism that had swept Europe. Even more critical to European peace was the general exhaustion: none now wished to resort to war to settle territorial disputes or to fulfil hegemonic ambitions. Although the Industrial Revolution that had occurred in Britain before and during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars had provided the country's elite with unprecedented wealth and economic power, it remained content to maintain a balance of power on the continent while controlling the world's commerce.