:''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 their own 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.
References
1. Holy Alliance - Catholic Encyclopedia article