Supranationalism - Slides

In the 19th century, a balance of power was created in Europe through the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon. The goal was to reshape the main powers of Europe so that they would remain at peace as long as they were balanced. This setup mostly worked until the end of the century when the rise of colonialism and a massive build up of new military technologies eventually sparked a new web of alliances that were triggered into WWI. After WWI, the League of Nations was developed to maintain global peace through diplomacy, but it was too weak to stop the rise of Fascism and global conflict through WWII. Because of new atomic weapons and the ideological face off between the remaining superpowers in the aftermath of WWII, the need for global stability again led to diplomatic organizations and alliances.