Alexander I of Russia

By 1807, having fought the Russians to a bloody stalemate at Ilo and crushed them at Friedland, he had reached the zenith of his power.

At the treaties of Tilsit, signed with theatrical pomp on a raft moored in the middle of the Neman River, he and the charismatic young Tsar Alexander I of Russia met as equals and effectively divided Europe between their two empires.

it was a moment of supreme triumph but one that contained the seeds of his downfall for in his quest to defeat his last remaining enemy great britain he had decreed the continental system a europe-wide economic blockade This attempt to wage economic war by strangling British trade would prove a colossal strategic error, fostering widespread resentment, encouraging massive smuggling operations, and ultimately leading him into the two fatal quagmires of Spain and Russia.

At the height of his power, Napoleon's empire began to unravel from its peripheries, bled white by two self-inflicted wounds.

But it was clear that no transfer of possessions could be devised which would be equally acceptable to all states, and the Allies recognized that if the order created at Vienna were to be maintained, there must be some guarantee that infraction of the treaties would be punished.

The mystical temperament of Alexander I led him to hope that this guarantee might be found in the basing of international relations on the precepts of the gospel, the observance of which should be ensured by the tender solicitude and arm strength of the great powers.

The Holy Alliance, which almost all rulers were invited to join except the Pope as being too Christian and the Sultan as not being Christian enough, aimed at the substitution of fraternal love for the international rivalry of the past.

But the very expansiveness of the alliance was sufficient to defeat its object, and a more real security was found in the renewal of the Treaty of Chaumont, which had been originally concluded between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia to effect the overthrow of Napoleon.

Her ministers, with the ever-present fear of the House of Commons before their eyes, could not lightly agree to suppress across the Channel those free institutions upon which the prosperity of England was alleged to rest.

On the other hand, partial geographical isolation and the hesitancy of Castlereagh, who was unwilling openly to break with the Allies, combined to minimize for a time the effect of British policy.

It was far otherwise in the case of Alexander I, ruler of a great autocratic empire, master of a supposedly invincible army.

His opinions and conduct were bound to affect deeply the course of continental affairs, the more so as he enjoyed a complete ascendancy over the soul of Frederick William III.

He became the first Tsar of all Russia, by terrorizing his people and his own family.

He had several of his 6-8 wives murdered and beat his own son to death.

The Tsar died at 53, possibly strangled by one of his many, many enemies.

One might hope this would ring in happier days, but it actually resulted in an even worse era known as the Time of Troubles.

Ivan's next son, Fyodor, became Tsar, but he was intellectually disabled.

Nobles called boyars overran the government.

His younger brother, Dimitri, was a glimmering hope for the future, but he died at the age of 9.

The official story was that he stabbed himself in the throat during an epileptic seizure.

The Russian soldiers, who'd enjoyed Paris so much, were starting to drift back home.

And Alexander had visited London and had been difficult.

The situation in Scandinavia had been sorted out to everyone's satisfaction, unless of course you happen to be either Danish or Norwegian.

The Iberian Peninsula War had ended, as had the War of 1812 in the USA.

So today we'll be covering four main items and mentioning one other thing that would have a delayed but significant impact in certain parts of the world.

So those four main events or themes are Napoleon's time on Elba and what he eventually decided to do and how that all went.

how the coalition powers reacted to that, Tsar Alexander's spiritual health, and how things finally concluded in North America.

The other event that we'll get a mention occurred thousands of miles away, more or less in my backyard, i.e. Southeast Asia.

Oh, what a splendid reign! he repeated several times, then paused, drew from his pocket a gold snuff-box, lifted it to his nose, and greedily sniffed at it.

What a splendid reign the Emperor Alexanders might have been! He looked compassionately at Belishol, and as soon as the latter tried to make some rejoinder, hastily interrupted him.

what could he wish or look for that he would not have obtained

through my friendship demanded napoleon shrugging his shoulders in perplexity but no he has preferred to surround

The tawny Indian may hold out the hand of fellowship to him across the great Pacific.

We believe that the Empress Catherine corresponded with him, and we know that the Emperor Alexander called upon him and presented him with his miniature in a gold snuff box, which the philosopher, to his eternal honor, returned.

Mr. Hobhouse is a greater man at the Hustings, Lord Brawley at Plymouth Dark, but Mr. Bentham would carry it hollow on the score of popularity at Paris or Pegu.

The reason is that our author's influence is purely intellectual.

He admits of nothing below, scarcely of anything above himself.

It is fine to hear him talk of the way in which certain subjects should have been treated by eminent poets, according to his notions of the art.

Thus he finds fault with Dryden's description of Bacchus in the Alexander's Feast, as if he were a mere good-looking youth or boon companion, flushed with a purple grace.

He shews his honest face, instead of representing the god returning from the conquest of India, crowned with vine leaves and drawn by panthers and followed by troops of satyrs, of wild men and animals that he had tamed.

Each new reign formed, at least in its beginning, a contrast to the one which had preceded it.

The reigns of Alexander I and Alexander II marked the departure in the direction of liberalism.

Those of Nicholas I and Alexander III were returned to the ideas of reaction.

In accordance with this historic schedule, Alexander III should have been followed by a sovereign of liberal tendencies.

But in this case, the optimistic expectations with which the new ruler was welcomed both by his Russian and his Jewish subjects were doomed to disappointment.

The reign of Nicholas II proved the most gloomy and the most reactionary of all.

It was universally felt that the autocratic regime was still firmly entrenched and that the old constitution of enforced safety, this charter of privileges bestowed upon the police to the disadvantage of the people, was still unshaken.

The hope of seeing Russia transformed from a state based upon brute force into a body politic resting upon law and order was dashed to the ground.

Napoleon faces the armies of Austria and Russia and wins one of the most famous victories of his career.

The battle later becomes known as the Battle of the Three Emperors because Napoleon, the Austrian Emperor Francis, and the Russian Emperor Alexander are all involved.

That is an unusually senior meeting.

Most international conferences end with a photograph.

And Britain still refuses to cooperate.

Then another major problem emerges: Russia.

Tsar Alexander I becomes increasingly unwilling to follow the Continental System strictly.

Russian economic interests are suffering.