Tsar of Russia from 1801. Defeated by Napoleon at Austerlitz in 1805, he made peace at Tilsit in 1807, but economic crisis led to a break with Napoleon's
Continental System and the opening of Russian ports to British trade; this led to Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia in 1812. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Alexander hoped through the Holy Alliance with Austria and Prussia to establish a new Christian order in Europe.
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