Balanceof Power

Balance of Power, in European politics, that state of things in which no one of the Great Powers (q.v.) is permitted to preponderate greatly over the rest. The doctrine that its maintenance is a chief object of diplomacy first appears in Modern Europe with the growth of the power of the House of Hapsburg under Charles V. The Thirty Years' War was partly waged in its defence, I as well as in that of Protestantism, and it was a prominent factor in promoting the various coalitions against Louis XIV., and the alliances of the various nations of Europe against Napoleon I., while at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the map of Europe was reconstructed with special reference to its maintenance. Of late years, since the growth of the doctrine of Non-Intervention (q.v.), it has fallen into some disrepute in England.