Alexander I of Russia

The eldest son of Paul I, Alexander came to power in 1801 after his father was murdered. Early on he spoke the language of reform - building universities, appointing a village priest's son named Mikhail Speransky as advisor, sketching plans for a parliament and constitution that never materialized. His foreign policy toward Napoleon whipsawed four times in eight years: coalition partner, then ally after brutal losses at Austerlitz and Friedland, signing the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and joining the Continental System. He seized Finland from Sweden in 1809, but the alliance with France collapsed over Poland. Napoleon's 1812 invasion became a French catastrophe, handing Alexander his greatest triumph and new Polish territory. Afterward he formed the Holy Alliance to crush revolutionary movements across Europe. In his final years he turned reactionary - purging foreign teachers, replacing Speransky with the hard artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev, creating military settlements. He died of typhus in December 1825 during a trip south, leaving no surviving children and brothers who didn't want the crown, confusion that sparked the Decembrist revolt weeks later.