Holy Alliance
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- For Holy Leagues, see Catholic League
The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Vienna on September 26, 1815.[1]
Ostensibly it was to instill the Christian values of charity and peace in European political life, but in practice Klemens Wenzel von Metternich made it a bastion against revolution. The monarchs of the three countries involved used this to band together in order to prevent revolutionary influence (especially from the French Revolution) from entering these nations. It was against democracy, revolution, and secularism. Except for Great Britain, the Vatican and the Ottoman Empire, all other European nations joined. The Holy Alliance was, in a manner of speaking, the first modern international peacekeeping organization, although it was rooted in antiquated models of politics. The Alliance is usually associated with the Quadruple and Quintuple Alliances, which included the United Kingdom and (from 1818) France with the aim of upholding the European peace settlement concluded at the Congress of Vienna. The Alliance was conventionally taken to have become defunct with Alexander's death in 1825. The Holy Alliance also tried to interfere with Latin America, and was stopped by British disapproval and the Monroe Doctrine of United States President James Monroe.
[edit] References
- ^ Holy Alliance - Catholic Encyclopedia article
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