The Congress of Vienna, the Carlsbad Decrees, and the Purpose of Compulsory State Education

"What were the major principles guiding the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna?"

The Congress of Vienna was influenced by three major principles that revolved around keeping the peace after the Napoleonic wars.

The first principle is legitimacy focused on (of course) keeping or reinstating the power of the legitimate leader/king/royal family. This basically only works though, if you believe in the idea of the natural power of your leaders. And back then, that had been widely believed.

The second principle is the balance of power. This principle was kept to make sure that the powers were "balanced" as to avoid any one power becoming too great. If one power became too great, then there was too much of a chance for it (the one power) to create more war. And the whole point of the Congress of Vienna, after all, was providing and keeping the peace.

The third principle is compensation. The principle of compensation runs a great deal along the lines of the balance of power. Compensation dealt with the powers being compensated for their losses during the Napoleonic wars. If they lost land, then they would be compensated through the gain of more land. With this though comes the fact that in order to keep a balance of power, then you would have to likewise continue giving land to the other powers to balance things out.


These three guiding principles were used by the Congress of Vienna to keep the peace and reinstate stability for their world. War was undesirable, and where there is war, death quickly follows.


         "What were the Carlsbad Decrees?"

The Carlsbad Decrees were decrees which were put into effect by those whom were on the conservative side, in order to abolish the revolutionary uproar that was occurring at that time. The terribly unfortunate occurrence that truly brought this about was the killing of an individual who was more opposed to the revolutionary ideas by an unstable university fraternity member.

The Carlsbad Decrees put the universities on a leash, dissembled the fraternities, and the like. These decrees were used to demolish the revolutionary tendencies and protect the conservative way of thinking.


"According to Rothbard, did compulsory state education emerge because governments simply wanted their people to become more knowledgeable, or were there other motivations at work?"


Murray Rothbard's idea was not that governments simply wished for their people to be educated. It was that the governments wished for their people to be educated as to instill a nationalistic vigor in them. This technique would then lay the foundations for a people that would rely on their government and trust in its strength.

It's like a parent raising a child. If you raise a child to think a certain way and act a certain way, then that child is much more likely to stick to that way of thinking and choose a life path that runs along with it. Chances are that the child won't turn around, spit on the old principles, and run down the road in the opposite direction.

This technique was supported by both Martin Luther and John Calvin as a resourceful way to instill particular religious views in young people.

Murray Rothbard's view was that the government wished to instill certain ideals and principles in its people, so that the people would trust in the deeds and wishes of the government.


Thanks for reading!