He helped Austria's Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements.

He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as immoral threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. As part of the winning coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. The tsar's greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleon's invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, and the alliance collapsed by 1810. He fought a small-scale naval war against Britain, 1807-12. In 1805, he joined Britain in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon, but after the massive defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz he switched and formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon's Continental System. In foreign policy, he switched Russia back and forth four times in 1804-1812 from neutral peacemaker to anti-Napoleon to an ally of Napoleon, winding up in 1812 as Napoleon’s enemy. He purged schools of foreign teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. In the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him he ended many earlier reforms. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia but made no concrete proposals and nothing happened. In the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and, in 1803-04, major, liberal educational reforms. He was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered.Īs prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, but continued Russia's absolutist policies in practice. Indeed, Russia is one of the most fascinating civilizations in all of human history.Īlexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, and as the first Russian King of Poland and the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. It has been a superpower and a nearly failed state, a monarchy, communist dictatorship and democracy - all within a span of 100 years.

It has been invaded and overrun by Goths, Huns, Mongols, French and Germans, yet remained uniquely Russian. It is rich with natural resources, yet its people have historically been grindingly poor. It is a part of Europe and a part of Asia, yet separate from both. As Winston Churchill once said, Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

War of 1812 mod napoleon total war