

Initially envisioning regular Congresses among the Great Powers to resolve potential disputes, in practice, Congresses were held on an ad-hoc basis and were generally successful in preventing or localizing conflicts. The first phase, known as the Congress System or the Vienna System after the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), was dominated by the five Great Powers of Europe: Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

It is typically divided into two phases with different dynamics.

Never formally signed, and subject to disputes and jockeying for position and influence, the Concert nonetheless presented an extended period of relative peace and stability in Europe following the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars which had consumed the continent since the 1790s. The Concert of Europe was a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th Century Europe to maintain the European balance of power and the integrity of territorial boundaries. The national boundaries within Europe as set by the Congress of Vienna, 1815
