Napoleon’s Defeat

23.3: Napoleon’s Defeat

23.3.1: The Holy Alliance

The Holy Alliance was a coalition created in 1815 by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia to prevent revolutionary influences in Europe and serve as a bastion against democracy, revolution, and secularism.

Learning Objective

Identify the members and explain the function of the Holy Alliance

Key Points

  • The Holy Alliance was a coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It was established after the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris in 1815. Ostensibly, the alliance was formed to instill the divine right of kings and Christian values in European political life.
  • In practice, the Austrian state chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich made the Alliance a bastion against democracy, revolution, and secularism. The monarchs of the three countries involved used it to band together to prevent revolutionary influence (especially from the French Revolution) from entering these nations.
  • The Alliance is usually associated with the later Quadruple and Quintuple Alliances, which included the United Kingdom and (from 1818) France with the aim of upholding the European peace settlement and balance of power in the Concert of Europe concluded at the Congress of Vienna.
  • The meetings of the Alliances were irregular and focused on reactionary initiatives that aimed to preserve the old royal order in Europe. The last meetings revealed the rising antagonism between Britain and France, especially on Italian unification, the right to self-determination, and the Eastern Question.
  • The Holy Alliance, the brainchild of Tsar Alexander I, gained a lot of support because most European monarchs did not wish to offend the Tsar by refusing to sign it. As it bound monarchs personally rather than their governments, it was easy to ignore once signed. The Quadruple Alliance, by contrast, was a standard treaty, and the four Great Powers did not invite any of their allies to sign it although the wording of the treaty left its provisions vague.
  • The intention of the Holy Alliance was to restrain republicanism and secularism in Europe in the wake of the devastating French Revolutionary Wars and the alliance nominally succeeded in this until Crimean War (1853–1856). By extension, the Alliance can be considered as the most potent prevention against any other general wars of Europe between 1815 and 1914.

Examples

Key Terms

The Holy Alliance
A coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. It was established after the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris in 1815. Ostensibly, the alliance was formed to instill the divine right of kings and Christian values in European political life.
Concert of Europe
A system, also known as the Congress System or the Vienna System after the Congress of Vienna, adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to maintain their power, oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power. It operated in Europe from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the early 1820s.
Quadruple Alliance
A treaty signed in Paris in 1815 by the great powers of United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It renewed the use of the Congress System which advanced European international relations. The alliance was originally formed to counter France and the powers promised aid to each other. It functioned until 1818.
Quintuple Alliance
An alliance that came into being at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, when France joined the earlier alliance created by Russia, Austria, Prussia and the United Kingdom.

 

The Holy Alliance was a coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia, established after the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris in 1815. Ostensibly, the alliance was formed to instill the divine right of kings and Christian values in European political life. About three months after the Final Act of the Vienna Congress, the monarchs of Orthodox (Russia), Catholic (Austria), and Protestant (Prussia) confession promised to act on the basis of “justice, love and peace,” both in internal and foreign affairs, for “consolidating human institutions and remedying their imperfections.” Despite this noble wording, the Alliance was rejected as ineffective by the United Kingdom, the Papal States, and the Islamic Ottoman Empire.

In practice, the Austrian state chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich made the Alliance a bastion against democracy, revolution, and secularism. The monarchs of the three countries involved used it to band together to prevent revolutionary influence (especially from the French Revolution) from entering these nations.

 

Quadruple and Quintuple Alliances

The Alliance is usually associated with the later Quadruple and Quintuple Alliances, which included the United Kingdom and (from 1818) France. It aimed to uphold the European peace settlement and balance of power in the Concert of Europe concluded at the Congress of Vienna. In 1818, the Tsar, Emperor Francis I of Austria, and King Frederick William III of Prussia met with the Duke of Wellington, Viscount Castlereagh, and the Duc de Richelieu at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle to demand stern measures against university demagogues. The gesture resulted in tangible action when the Carlsbad Decrees were issued the following year. The Carlsbad Decrees were a set of reactionary restrictions introduced in the states of the German Confederation that banned nationalist fraternities (“Burschenschaften”), removed liberal university professors, and expanded the censorship of the press. They aimed to quell a growing sentiment for German unification.

At the 1820 Congress of Troppau and the succeeding Congress of Laibach, Metternich tried to align his allies in the suppression of the Carbonari revolt against King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. The Quintuple Alliance met for the last time at the 1822 Congress of Verona to discuss the Italian question (in light of the efforts leading to Italian unification), the Greek question (in light of the Greek Revolution striving for Greek independence), and the Spanish question (in light of a potential French invasion of Spain to help the Spanish Royalists restore King Ferdinand VII of Spain to the absolute power). The last meetings revealed the rising antagonism between Britain and France, especially on Italian unification, the right to self-determination, and the Eastern Question (the strategic competition and political considerations of the European Great Powers in light of the political and economic instability in the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th to early 20th centuries).

Contemporary caricature of the 1822Congress of Verona, the last meeting of the Quintuple Alliance.

While Britain stood largely aloof from the Alliance’s illiberal actions, the four Continental monarchies were successful in authorizing Austrian military action in Italy in 1821 and French intervention in Spain in 1823. The Quintuple Alliance is considered defunct along with the Holy Alliance of the three original Continental members with the death of Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1825.

The Alliance is considered defunct with Alexander’s death in 1825. France ultimately went separate ways in 1830, leaving the core of Russia, Austria, and Prussia as the Central-Eastern European block which again congregated to suppress the Revolutions of 1848. The Austro-Russian alliance finally broke up in the Crimean War. Although Russia helped crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Austria took no action to support its ally, declared itself neutral, and even occupied the Wallachian and Moldavian lands on the Danube upon the Russian retreat in 1854. Thereafter, Austria remained isolated, which added to the loss of her leading role in the German lands, culminating in the defeat of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.

 

Assessment

The Holy Alliance, the brainchild of Tsar Alexander I, gained support because most European monarchs did not wish to offend the Tsar by refusing to sign it. As it bound monarchs personally rather than their governments, it was easy to ignore once signed. Only three notable princes did not sign: Pope Pius VII (it was not Catholic enough), Sultan Mahmud II of Ottoman Empire, and the British Prince Regent (because his government did not wish to pledge itself to the policing of continental Europe). Although it did not fit comfortably within the complex, sophisticated, and cynical web of power politics that epitomized diplomacy of the post Napoleonic era, its influence was more lasting than its contemporary critics expected and was revived in the 1820s as a tool of repression when the terms of the Quintuple Alliance did not fit the purposes of some of the Great Powers of Europe.

The Quadruple Alliance, by contrast, was a standard treaty and the four Great Powers did not invite any of their allies to sign it. It included a provision for the High Contracting Parties to “renew their meeting at fixed periods…for the purpose of consulting on their common interests” which were the “prosperity of the Nations, and the maintenance of peace in Europe.” The wording of Article VI of the treaty did not specify what these “fixed periods” should be, and there were no provisions in the treaty for a permanent commission to arrange and organize the conferences. This meant that the first conference in 1818 dealt with remaining issues of the French wars, but after that meetings were held ad hoc to address specific threats, such as those posed by revolutions, for which the treaty was not drafted.

The intention of the Holy Alliance was to restrain republicanism and secularism in Europe in the wake of the devastating French Revolutionary Wars, and the alliance nominally succeeded in this until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Otto von Bismarck managed to reunite the Holy Alliance after the unification of Germany, but the alliance again faltered by the 1880s over Austrian and Russian conflicts of interest with regard to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. By extension, the Alliance can be considered the most potent prevention against other general wars of Europe between 1815 and 1914.

 

Attributions