Between 1815 and 1848, forces of reactionary conservatism clashed with those of liberalism throughout Europe. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna worked to ensure that no single power could dominate the continent as France had. Led by the conservative Metternich of Austria, the great European powers strove to overcome their national concerns for the good of the continent. The designs of Prussia on Saxony and of Russia on Poland nearly destroyed the Congress. However, the powers developed a settlement, which reestablished the balance of power in Europe, redrawing the map of the continent to the benefit of traditional rulers. The settlement also enabled France to reenter the community of nations and added territories to Britain's overseas empire.

From 1820 to 1832 a series of revolutions erupted that challenged the Concert of Europe. Inspired by French revolutionary ideals, liberals rose up in Spain and Italy and were put down through intervention by one of the great powers. Russia suppressed its own liberal Decembrist revolutionaries, and Greece rebelled against the Ottoman Empire. Rather than suppress this rebellion, however, the European powers aided the Christian Greeks against their Muslim overlords. In 1830, Charles the X of France provoked outrage through his reactionary July Ordinances. The resulting revolution put Louis-Philippe on the throne and secured voting rights and political power for a wealthy bourgeois elite. Belgium achieved its independence from Holland, and Polish revolutionaries were crushed by Russia. During this period Britain managed to avoid revolution through a series of reforms that granted cities greater control over their own affairs. They did away with rotten boroughs, and extended suffrage to the middle class. The Chartist movement initially pressed for greater democratic reforms, but after its final failure, its leaders turned to economic programs on behalf of workers.

In 1848, prompted by economic and financial crises, revolutions broke out across Europe. In France the impoverished and disenfranchised working classes rebelled against Louis-Philippe's bourgeois government. They succeeded in establishing a republic, but that government ultimately fell during the June Days, attacked by a coalition of moderate bourgeoisie, aristocrats, and peasants, all of whom feared working-class radicalism. In the German confederation, artisans displaced by the new industrial order rose up under the leadership of liberal nationalists who envisioned a united Germany. Initially several states passed liberal reforms, and the Frankfurt Assembly met to plan a German federation. However, conservative rulers soon rallied and sent their armies to destroy the revolutionaries, dealing a fatal blow to German liberalism. In Austria nationalists led the empire's various ethnic groups against the Hapsburg monarchy. These uprisings either were crushed outright by the Hapsburgs or failed because the nationalist aims of one group-e.g. the Magyars-clashed with those of other groups-e.g. the Romanians and South Slavs. Italian nationalists tried again to create a free united Italy, but the combined power of Austria, France, and conservative Italian rulers crushed the revolutions in Naples, Rome, Milan, and Venice.

The revolutions of 1848 began with promise and secured some liberal gains. However, they ultimately fell to a combination of class conflict, nationalist animosity, and conservative military might.