1815: The Holy Alliance

1815

On September 26, 1815 (September 14, Old Style), the three great powers that finally brought Napoleon to his knees – Austria, Russia, and Prussia – concluded an alliance.

Alexander I, who had not found the courage to introduce reforms in his own country, decided that, with the defeat of Napoleon, he could be a force for good across Europe. He convinced the king of France, Louis XVIII, to introduce a constitution, albeit one granting rather limited rights and freedoms, and he managed to have a large area of Poland incorporated into the Russian Empire, sincerely believing that, in so doing, he was giving the Poles, who had been deprived of their own state, autonomy and an opportunity to live in peace.

The idea of a Holy Alliance was dear to Alexander’s religious heart. He believed that God would protect legitimate rulers. In fact all the monarchs in the pact considered their primary task – maintaining peace and safeguarding their own power – to be “holy,” which is why they gave it the name they did. Gradually, all of Europe’s rulers joined, with the exception of the English king (who was not able to support unlimited power for monarchs, since he himself ruled jointly with parliament) and the Turkish sultan (who could not enter into a union of Christian states).

The members of the alliance worked in concert to protect their interests. The French Revolution and Napoleonic campaigns were still a fresh memory, and monarchs were naturally eager to defend their thrones from the threat of revolution. Several of the revolutions that erupted in Europe in subsequent years – in Spain, in Italy – were suppressed by foreign forces sent by the Holy Alliance.

The alliance held congresses almost every year, and at first rulers took a great interest in them. The topics addressed at these gatherings went far beyond the fight against revolutionaries. In fact, today some historians see the Holy Alliance as a prototype for today’s European Union. The congresses settled questions about tariffs, shipping along border rivers, and trade, and it does indeed seem that they provided Europe with a sturdy peace for many years – and themselves with secure thrones. But the forces of history eventually turned against them.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, few still believed it was a desirable state of affairs to be ruled by a monarch with unlimited powers; the cascade of European revolutions could not be stopped. Furthermore, the idea of eternal friendship among European monarchs was rather short-lived. Soon discord arose from the struggle for influence over the Balkans, efforts to subjugate the Ottoman Empire and control the Turkish Straits, the expansion of colonial empires, and many other points of contention. The allies’ conflicts became increasingly combative, and by the middle of the century actual wars began to break out among the powers – harbingers of the horrific world wars to come in the twentieth century.

After the death of Alexander I in 1825, relations between Russia and the other European powers continued to deteriorate, and, under Nicholas I, the Holy Alliance essentially ceased to exist. By the time the Crimean War broke out in 1853, it was crystal clear that an alliance among Europe’s great powers was utterly impossible.