... increased her standing as a great power. La Harpe, a French liberal, had tutored Alexander and this had resulted in him having some very liberal ideas. However, despite his positive attitude towards reform in other European countries, its implementation of these reforming tendencies in Russia was limited. This was due to his desire for order. Alexander was petrified of losing control and consequently, when reform and improvement was presented to him, he often turned his back on it, because of the chaos he feared might accompany it. In a sense the victory against Napoleon was probably not particularly beneficial for Russia. Even at this stage, Russia was behind other European powers in its industrial and economic development, and unlike Prussia, and even to some extent Austria-Hungary, Russia learnt no lessons from the war, and consequently implemented no reforms. Perhaps, had the war been lost, Alexander may have realised the need ...

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