Metternich, severní Afrika a evropský státní systém v letech 1814–1848
Metternich, North Africa and European State System in 1814–1848

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the international law system established at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815 was the preservation of peace and stability in Europe. At the same congress a question was discussed whether the Ottoman empire should be included in the system. Appart from the Balkan Peninsula the empire spread across large areas of West Asia and North Africa. Eventually the declining sultan’s empire was left outside the system, which enabled the European states to interfere in its inner affairs or even deprive it of a part of its territory. The largest territorial acquisition was made by France which occupied Ottoman Algeria in 1830 without being at war with the empire. This study deals with the question of co-existence between Europe and North Africa in the before March 1848 period in a broader context of the international law history. The main attention is paid to two contradictory concepts in the foreign policy of European powers: the idea of the preservation of the North African status quo by its inclusion into the European state system, and the imperialist attitude which eventually prevailed and logically resulted in the colonisation of North Africa as well as deterioration of relationships between some of the powers.

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