2728: (Un)Holy Alliance Jun 9, 2024

The phrase “unholy alliance” may seem like it would be a combination of unholy + alliance, but really it is un- + holy alliance. The term Holy Alliance specifically refers to the somewhat informal alliance between Russia, Prussia, and Austria during the negotiations following Napoleon's defeat. Though their goal was to promote a Christian approach to statecraft as a counter to France’s rationalist, enlightenment ideology that spread across Europe, though of course Prussia was Protestant, Austria, Catholic, and Russia, Eastern Orthodox.

This resulted in the Unholy Alliance of Western European nations along with the Muslim, Ottoman Empire, particularly against Russian interests. This phrase had already been generalized to mean “an alliance of powers for negative purposes and/or whose interests usually misalign” by the start of the 20th century, which does essentially view the phrase as unholy + alliance, and its uses now go outside the realm of politics solely. Meanwhile the term “holy alliance” is not used at all outside of its early 19th century context.