Russia

Russia – Q&A

Identify the interests of Russia at the Congress of Vienna. Tsar Alexander was complex and unpredictable, and his liberal inclinations conflicted with both his religious piety and his authoritarian tendencies. One objective never faltered however, and that was his idée fixe to restoring a large Polish state with himself as King.

Describe the origins of the Congress System in terms of the Holy Alliance. Tsar Alexander’s Holy Alliance that allied Austria, Prussia and itself, illustrated the need for a defensive pact to check security in the Concert of Europe. Even though the Holy Alliance was nonsense, its basis on British concerns from ten years prior for checks and balances in continental Europe were present. Thus the origins of the Congress System, although lying primarily in the Quadruple Alliance of 1815, were significantly bolstered by Alexander’s Holy Alliance.

Why was Tsar Alexander not satisfied with the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818? Tsar Al...