ALLIANCE

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 695 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: AJA-ALL

ALLIANCE , in international law, a league between independent states, defined by treaty, for the purpose of combined action, defensive or offensive, or both. Alliances have usually been directed to specific objects carefully defined in the treaties. Thus the Triple Alliance of 1688 between

Great

GREAT

Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, and the Grand Alliance of 1689 between the emperor, Holland, England, Spain and Saxony, were both directed against the power of Louis XIV. The Quadruple or Grand Alliance of 1814, defined in the treaty of Chaumont, between

Great

GREAT

Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia, had for its object the overthrow of

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

and his dynasty, and the confining of France within her traditional boundaries. The Triple Alliance of 1882 between Germany, Austria and Italy was ostensibly directed to the preservation of European peace against any possible aggressive action of France or Russia; and this led in turn, some ten years later, to the Dual Alliance between Russia and France, for mutual support in case of any hostile action of the other powers. Occasionally, however, attempts have been made to give alliances a more general character. Thus the " Holy Alliance " (q.v.) of the 26th of September 1815 was an attempt, inspired by the religious idealism of the emperor Alexander I. of Russia, to find in the " sacred precepts of the Gospel " a common basis for a general league of the European governments, its object being, primarily, the preservation of peace. So, too, by Article VI. of the Quadruple Treaty signed at Paris on the loth of November 1815which renewed that of Chaumont and was again renewed, in 1818, at Aix-la-Chapellethe

scope

SCOPE (through Ital. scopo, aim, purpose, intent, from Gr. o'KOaos, mark to shoot at, aim, o ic07reiv, to see, whence the termination in telescope, microscope, &c.)

of the Grand Alliance was extended to objects of
ALLIER 695
common

interest

INTEREST

not specifically defined in the treaties. The article runs:" In order to consolidate the intimate tie which unites the four sovereigns for the happiness of the world, the High Contracting Powers have agreed to renew at fixed intervals, either under their own auspices or by their respective ministers, meetings consecrated to great common objects and to the examination of such

measures

MEASURES

as at each one of these epochs shall be judged most salutary for the peace and prosperity of the nations and the maintenance of the tranquillity of Europe."
It was this article of the treaty of the loth of November 1815, rather than the " Holy Alliance," that formed the basis of the serious effort made by the great powers, between 1815 and 1822, to govern Europe in concert, which will be found outlined in the article on the history of Europe. In general it proved that an alliance, to be effective, must be clearly defined as to its objects, and that in the long run the treaty in which these objects are defined mustto quote Bismarck's somewhat cynical dictum " be reinforced by the interests " of the parties concerned. Yet the " moral alliance " of Europe, as

Count

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

Nesselrode called it, though it failed to secure the permanent harmony of the powers, was an effective

instrument

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

for peace during the years immediately following the downfall of

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

; and it set the precedent for those periodical meetings of the representatives of the powers, for the discussion and

settlement

SETTLEMENT
SETTLEMENT, ACT OF

of questions of international importance, which, though cumbrous and inefficient for constructive

work

WORK

, have contributed much to the preservation of the general peace (see EUROPE: History). (W. A. P.)

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