HOLY ALLIANCE

A declaration, in the form of a treaty, signed Sept. 26, 1815, by the Orthodox Czar of Russia, the Protestant King of Prussia, and the Catholic Emperor of Austria after the final victory of the Allies over napoleon i. Considered one of the most extraordinary documents in Europe's diplomatic history, it proclaimed the resolution to abide by the Biblical precept that all men are brothers. The sovereigns declared that they would on all occasions lend each other aid and assistance and would act toward their subjects and armies as fathers of families. The Holy Alliance went on to promise that governments and subjects alike would consider themselves as members of the same Christian nation and would admit no other sovereign but "God, our Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Almighty's Word, the Word of life." Inspiration for this compact was once generally credited to Baroness Julie von Krüdener, a pietistic Protestant lady with great influence over alexander i; but it is now recognized that the Czar had been nurturing for some time the idea of breaking away from the Machiavellian conception of international relations, based upon egotistical interests and power politics. Francis I, Emperor of Austria, and Frederick William III, King of Prussia, to whom the treaty was first proposed, were bewildered by its high-flown mystic tone, but signed it because they did not dare to displease their friend and ally. Afterward the treaty was countersigned by most European rulers. The Prince Regent of England, however, declined to sign an agreement that could not be submitted for approval to Parliament, where the foreign secretary, Viscount Castlereagh, had called it "a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense." Pope Pius VII refused to sign because the manifesto considered meaningless any distinction between Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. The Holy Alliance had no practical consequence, but the name became widely, if erroneously, used to designate the coalition of Great Powers established by the treaties of Paris (Nov. 25, 1815) in order to preserve peace upon the bases of the Congress of Vienna and the Paris agreement. Revolutionaries and liberals everywhere gave it the sinister connotation of a conspiracy of reactionary powers against freedom-loving peoples. The rise of international organizations in the 20th century led to new historical appraisals, which regarded the Alliance as a first attempt toward a world order governed by principles of Christian justice.

Bibliography: m. bourquin, Histoire de la Sainte Alliance (Geneva 1954), the best work. j. h. pirenne, La Sainte-Alliance, 2v. (Neuchâtel 1946–49), tries unconvincingly to prove that Alexander I used the Holy Alliance to frustrate British hegemony.

[g. de bertier de sauvigny]