title: Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon
author:  Marie-Pierre Rey 
description: Napoleon is, of course, a familiar figure to even those only vaguely aware of the details of his career. Tsar Alexander I, the ruler most directly responsible for ending the supposed invincibility of Napoleon, receives little notice, especially on this side of the Atlantic. Rey, a professor of Russian and Soviet history at the Sorbonne, has written a detailed yet highly readable biography of a man whose character remains elusive and controversial. Alexander, the grandson of Catherine the Great, ascended the throne in 1801 after the brutal murder of his father by disgruntled nobles. Like his grandmother, he seemed influenced by Enlightenment ideas, proposed a series of liberal reforms, yet eventually became a staunch defender of autocracy. As a military leader, he could be mercurial, but he showed considerable steel in his spine in resisting Napoleons invasion. Rey probes but never resolves Alexanders contradictory impulses, but this is a well-done biography that is appropriate for general readers interested in European history. --Jay Freeman
zlib_text: © 2012 by Northern Illinois University Press
  Published by the Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, Illinois 60115
  Manufactured in the United States using acid-free paper.
  All Rights Reserved
  Design by Shaun Allshouse
  First published in French as Alexander Ier by © Éditions Flammarion, 2009
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  Rey, Marie Pierre.
  [Alexandre Ier. English]
  Alexander I : the tsar who defeated Napoleon / Marie Pierre Rey ; translated by Susan Emanuel.
  pages ; cm
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978 0 87580 466 8 (cloth) — ISBN 978 1 60909 065 4 (electronic)
  1. Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, 1777–1825. 2. Emperors—Russia—Biography. 3. Russia—
  History—Alexander I, 1801–1825. I. Emanuel, Susan, translator. II. Title. III. Title: Alexander the
  First.
  DK191.R4913 2012
  947’.072092 dc23
  [B]
  2012030680
  This book was published with the generous financial support of the Centre national du livre (Paris,
  France). Publié avec le soutien du Centre 