Holy Alliance

The Holy Alliance was a military agreement concluded in 1815 between the great European monarchic powers Austria, Prussia, Great Britain and Russia, after the Congress of Vienna.

Abstract

The Treaty of the Holy Alliance was signed on September 26, 1815, in Paris.

The formation proposal came from the Russian Tsar Alexander I. At the heart of the agreement was the maintenance and propagation of the "ideals of justice and the Christian faith".

The religious principles on which the treaty was based concealed the monarchs' intention to maintain absolutism as a state philosophy. Absolutism was the dominant power system in Europe.

Objectives

The objectives were also to repress liberal movements that jeopardized European balance, restoration policy and European legitimacy.

The pact was signed by Austria, Prussia, Great Britain and Russia. France adhered to the principles of the military agreement in 1818.

Among the main actions of the Holy Alliance were:

• 1819 – Stifling the action of rebels who tried Germany
• 1821 and 1822 – sending troops to Naples and Spain to fight liberals who were fighting against monarchical absolutism
• Planning military actions to retake the American colonies and restore the old process of colonialism

End of the Holy Covenant

The profits made by Great Britain from trade with the Americas were the main obstacle to the Holy Alliance.

Interventionist actions in the Americas would undermine the agreements already signed with England, which withdrew from the alliance.

The strengthening of the United States also discouraged the continuity of military interventionist action in America. In 1823 the Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed, whose motto was "America for Americans".

The core of the doctrine, led by the United States, was to prevent the intervention of European nations in American countries under the condition of a military clash.

The intentions of the Holy Alliance were also stifled within Europe itself, with the replacement of absolutism by parliamentarism in several countries.

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna aimed to restore the Ancien Régime. It also aimed to legitimize former dynasties and restore European balance after the French Revolution.

Want to know more? See :

• Congress of Vienna
• Old Regime
• French Revolution
• Monroe Doctrine
• Battle of Waterloo