Alexander I’s Greatest Failure as Tsar

Alexander I of Russia ruled as Tsar from 1802 to his death in 1825. In this time he did a lot for Russia as country and for the administration. With ever ruler there is usually one major failure that comes to mind; George W. Bush’s post September eleventh policy, or Winston Churchill’s Gallipoli campaign. For Alexander, his greatest failure is the Holy Alliance. The Holy Alliance was a partnership of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 by Alexander. Its main goal was to instill the Christian values of charity and peace in European political life. These three leaders used this to band together against revolutionary influence from entering there nations. With the implantation of the Holy Alliance, there are three effects that made this a failure; Alexander had a shift from his original liberal ideas to very conservative reactionary ones meaning these reforms were not pushing the country forward the country was at a standstill. The next way how the Holy Alliance was a failure was the Alexander became preoccupied with preserving peace and order in fear that there might be a revolution. Alexander spent most of his last few years trying to hold together this treaty with many other nations trying not to have war break out. The last reason this was such a huge failure is that it made Alexander Obsessed with mysticism and the Christian religion. This is not necessarily a bad thing for a normal citizen but when you are trying to have some progress in nation religion needs to stay out, because of its prominently conservative reforms that come with it. It is for these reasons that Alexander’s greatest failure as Tsar is the Holy Alliance and the implications that it had on behaviors as ruler.

Before the implantation of the Holy All...

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Pipes, Richard. "The Russian Military Colonies, 1810-1831." The Journal of Modern

History 22, no. 3 (1950): 210. www.jstor.org/stable/1871751 (accessed April 13, 2011).

Ibid., 216

Ibid., 215

Ibid., 219

"Alexander, I, Tsar of Russia (1777-1825)." Russia. http://www.russia.by/russia.by/print.php

(Accessed April 14, 2011).

Troyat, Henri. "Mystical Societies and Military Colonies." In Alexander of Russia: Napoleon's conqueror. New York: Dutton, 1982. 251-252.

Ibid., 253

Strakhovsky, Leonid Ivan. "In Quest of Salvation." In Alexander I of Russia; the man who defeated Napoleon. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1947. 176.

Strakhovsky, Leonid Ivan. "In Quest of Salvation." In Alexander I of Russia; the man who defeated Napoleon. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1947. 179.