Alexander I

by Janet M. Hartley

This welcome addition to Profiles in Power sets the career of Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1801-1825) in the domestic and international context of his times. Alexander spent much of his reign locked in a titanic struggle with Napoleon, which reached its climax in the 1812 invasion of Russia. After Napoleon's defeat, Alexander was the most powerful ruler on the continent, and promoted a new vision for Europe, which was ultimately embodied in the Holy Alliance. At home, he was much engaged with plans for constitutions and reform. He is thus a dominant figure in both Russian and European history in the nineteenth century . Yet for all the immediate triumphs of his reign, its long-term impact on Russia was largely negative; his personal achievements seem often directly at odds with his declared aims, and his personality is riddled with contradictions. More than once he professed an aversion to the exercise of power, asking only for a quiet life outside Russia; yet he acceded to the throne i