HOLY ALLIANCE

a loose organization of most of the European sovereigns, formed in Paris on Sept. 26, 1815, by Alexander I of Russia, Francis I of Austria, and Frederick William III of Prussia when they were negotiating the Second Peace of Paris after the final defeat of Napoleon. The avowed purpose was to promote the influence of Christian principles in the affairs of nations. The alliance was inspired by Alexander, perhaps under the influence of the visionary Barbara Juliane von Krdener. It was eventually signed by all European rulers except the Prince Regent of Britain, the Ottoman sultan, and the Pope. Its importance was not great, but liberals and later historians believed it was a major force and symbol of conservatism and repression in central and eastern Europe. Both the Austrian prince Klemens von Metternich and Viscount Castlereagh of England, the leading figures in the diplomacy of the post-Napoleonic era, however, saw the Holy Alliance as an insignificant and ephemeral association.