CEVAP:

Between 1648 and 1789, each succession war was concluded with a peace settlement following an international diplomatic congress that included all the warring parties, as noted in Table 2.1. The Peace of Utrecht put an end to the Spanish Succession Wars in 1713, for instance.

At these congresses, inter dynastic kinship also facilitated compromise rather than punishment. Congress diplomacy rarely had a transformative impact on the structure of the international system. Instead, it served to restore the status quo and confirm the international system established by the Peace of Westphalia.

Both winners and losers of wars had a role to play in the construction of peace. In this period, the principle of sovereign equality provided both powerful and small states with the opportunity of equal representation within the framework of congress diplomacy. The international system based on the principles of the Peace of Westphalia prevailed and was consolidated.