"Encyclopedia of Death. Chronicles of Charon»

Part 2: Dictionary of Chosen Deaths

The ability to live well and die well is one and the same science.

Epicurus

PAUL I

(1754-1801) - Russian Emperor

Pavel was afraid of being poisoned all his life, especially when he was still heir to the throne. Not trusting domestic culinary specialists, he ordered the cook from good old England. However, this and other precautions did not help. The conspiracy of the noble elite, which received the tacit approval of the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander, led to the death of the emperor.

On the last day of his life, March 11, 1801, Paul summoned his sons, Alexander and Constantine, and ordered them to be sworn in (although they already did this when he ascended the throne). After this procedure, the emperor was in a good mood and allowed his sons to dine with him. When dinner was over and everyone was getting up from the table, Pavel suddenly said: "What happens, that cannot be avoided." And went to his sleeping quarters.

Meanwhile, the conspirators were already in action. The Mikhailovsky Palace, where the emperor was located, was guarded by troops loyal to Alexander that night. For some reason, Pavel himself removed from his doors the horse guard guards loyal to him, led by Colonel Sablukov. Even the regimental adjutant of Paul I took part in the conspiracy, who led a group of conspirators to the palace. Among them were persons who held the highest posts in the state - Count Palen, Prince Zubov, his brother Count Zubov, Prince Volkonsky, Count Benigsen and General Uvarov. At first, they allegedly intended to limit themselves to the arrest of Paul in order to force him to abdicate in favor of his eldest son.

On the way to the emperor's apartments, one of the officers stumbled upon a lackey and hit him on the head with a cane. The footman raised a cry. Pavel, hearing the noise raised by the conspirators, tried to hide through the doors that led to the empress's chambers, but they turned out to be locked. Then he rushed to the window and hid behind the curtain. The conspirators, not finding the emperor in bed, were at a loss for a moment. It seemed to them that the plot had been discovered and that it was a trap. But Count Pahlen, the most cold-blooded of them, approached the bed and, touching the sheets with his hand, exclaimed: "The nest is still warm, the bird cannot be far away." The conspirators searched the room and found the hidden emperor. Pavel stood defenseless in his nightgown in front of the conspirators, in whose hands swords flashed. Someone present said:

Sovereign, you have ceased to reign. Emperor - Alexander. By order of the emperor, we will arrest you.

Pavel turned to Zubov and said to him: - What are you doing, Platon Alexandrovich? At this time, an officer entered the room and whispered in Zubov's ear that his presence was needed below, where the guards were afraid. Zubov left, but more conspirators entered instead.

You are under arrest, Your Majesty, someone repeated.

Arrested, what does it mean - arrested? the emperor asked in a kind of stupefaction.

One of the officers answered him with hatred:

Four years ago you should have been done away with!

To this Paul replied:

What I've done?

Platon Zubov replied that his despotism had become so difficult for the nation that they came to demand his abdication.

In the description of further events, memoirists disagree. One writes that the emperor "entered into a dispute with Zubov, which lasted about half an hour and which, in the end, took on a stormy character. At this time, those of the conspirators who drank too much champagne began to express impatience, while the emperor, in his turn, spoke louder and began to gesticulate strongly.

At this time, the master of the horse, Count Nikolai Zubov, a man of enormous simplicity and extraordinary strength, being completely drunk, hit Pavel on the arm and said: "Why are you shouting like that!"

At this insult, the emperor indignantly pushed left hand Zubov, what is the last one, clenching a massive golden snuffbox, with all his might, struck with his right hand a blow to the left temple of the emperor, as a result of which he fell unconscious to the floor. At the same moment, the French valet Zubov jumped up with his feet on the emperor's stomach, and Skaryatin, an officer of the Izmailovsky regiment, taking off the emperor's scarf hanging over the bed, strangled him with it. (Other eyewitnesses say that Pavel tried to free himself, and Benigsen repeated to him twice: "Stay calm, your Majesty, it's about your life!" However, after a while, Benigsen himself took off his scarf and handed it to Prince Yashvil. Lieutenant Colonel Yashvil, whom Pavel once during the parade he hit with a stick, threw a scarf around the neck of the emperor and began to strangle him.)

On the basis of another version, Zubov, being very drunk, allegedly put his fingers into the snuffbox that Pavel held in his hands. Then the emperor was the first to hit Zubov and, thus, he himself began a quarrel. Zubov allegedly grabbed the snuffbox from the hands of the emperor and knocked him down with a strong blow. But this is hardly plausible, given that Pavel jumped right out of bed and wanted to hide. Be that as it may, it is undoubted that the snuffbox played a certain role in this event.

Another memoirist describes the scene of death as follows: the blow with the snuffbox was “a signal at which Prince Yashvil, Tatarinov, Gardanov and Skaryatin violently rushed at him [the emperor], pulled the sword out of his hands; a desperate struggle began with him, Pavel was strong and strong; they threw him to the floor, beat him, trampled him, broke his head with a sword hilt, and finally crushed Skaryatin with a scarf.

The rest of the night, the life physician Vilie processed the mutilated corpse of Pavel, so that in the morning it could be shown to the troops as proof of his natural death. But, despite all the efforts and careful make-up, blue and black spots were visible on the face of the emperor. As he lay in his coffin, his three-cornered hat was pulled down over his forehead so as to hide, as far as possible, his left eye and bruised temple.

“Despotism, absorbing everything, finally destroys the despot himself,” the future emperor Paul I wrote in his youth. His words turned out to be prophetic: having come to power and becoming a capricious ruler with the manners of a tyrant, the son of Catherine II soon died at the hands of conspirators.

Hemorrhoidal colic and political affairs

The future emperor was born in the autumn of 1754. Officially, Emperor Peter is considered his father. III Fedorovich- who, by the way, after being removed from the throne, according to one version, also died at the hands of enemies (according to the official version, the ruler died due to an attack of hemorrhoidal colic). However, there is a point of view according to which Paul I was conceived by Catherine II from her first favorite, the handsome Sergei Saltykov.

Catherine practically did not take care of her son: the boy grew up surrounded by numerous educators who developed in him arrogance, arrogance, an interest in theatricality, and a passion for mysticism. And soon Catherine II began to see Paul as a political rival and began to keep him away from political affairs.

However, on November 6, 1796, the Empress died unexpectedly, and Paul I, at the age of 42, freely ascended the Russian throne.

Farewell to female empresses

Having become emperor, Paul I set about breaking the rules established by his mother. On the day of the coronation, the ruler promulgated an act of succession to the throne, which drew a line under a century of palace coups and women's rule in Russia. And soon Paul I began to create reforms that weakened the position of the nobility. So, the monarch introduced corporal punishment to the nobility for murder, robbery, drunkenness, debauchery, and official violations. The right of nobles to file complaints was limited, and the right to file collective decisions was also abolished.

Wikimedia Commons Russian Emperor Paul I

In addition, Paul I quickly spoiled relations with the guards and received in society the glory of the "abnormal emperor", giving unpopular and unreasonable orders. “We are on a ship whose captain and crew make up a nation whose language is unfamiliar to us,” diplomat Semyon Vorontsov wrote about the reign of Paul I. I am seasick and can't get out of bed.

You come to announce to me that the hurricane is growing stronger and the ship is dying, because the captain has gone mad, beating the crew, in which there are more than 30 people who do not dare to resist his antics, since he has already thrown one sailor into the sea and killed another.

I think the ship will perish; but you say that there is hope for salvation, since the first mate is a young man, sensible and gentle, who enjoys the confidence of the crew.

I conjure you to go upstairs and introduce young man and the sailors that they should save the ship, part of which (as well as part of the cargo) belongs to a young man, that they are 30 against one, and that it is ridiculous to be afraid of death at the hands of a crazy captain, when soon everyone, including himself, will drown because of this madness. You answer me that, not knowing the language, you cannot speak to him, that you go upstairs to see what is happening. You come back to me to announce that the danger is increasing because the madman is still in control, but that you are still hopeful. Farewell! You are happier than me, my friend, because I have no more hope.

How to build your own tomb

Dissatisfaction with the activities of Paul I led to the creation of a coalition of conspirators. At first they intended to declare the emperor mentally ill and establish a regency over him, but then they made a more cruel decision: to massacre the monarch and put a more loyal ruler on the throne.

Among the conspirators were high-ranking courtiers, officials and the military, who went into action after the news that Paul I was going to remove his son Alexander from the throne - the future monarch, whom the people would call "Blessed".

“The son of Catherine could be strict and earn the gratitude of the fatherland, to the inexplicable surprise of the Russians, he began to dominate the general horror, not following any charters, except for his whim; considered us not subjects, but slaves; he executed without guilt, rewarded without merit, took away the shame from the treasury, the charm from the award, humiliated the ranks and ribbons with wastefulness in them; thoughtlessly destroyed the fruits of statesmanship, hating in them the work of his mother, - the historian Nikolai Karamzin recalled Paul I. - Heroes accustomed to victories, he taught to march ... having, like a person, a natural inclination for doing good, he fed on the bile of evil: every day he invented ways to frighten people and he himself was more afraid of everyone; thought to build himself an impregnable palace and built a tomb.

How to lock the empress in the chambers

“The story of the assassination of the emperor is surrounded by many rumors,” writes Dr. historical sciences Evgeny Anisimov. - The most common of them is the assertion that the frightened emperor hid behind the fireplace screen, from where the conspirators pulled him out. Most likely this is a lie. The conspirators instantly broke into the emperor's bedroom, and Pavel jumped out of bed to meet them. It is known that a fierce quarrel ensued between him and the murderers, Paul I threatened them with punishment.

It is unlikely that the cowardly hiding emperor could behave so decisively in front of excited, drunken and armed conspirators. It was Nikolai Zubov, irritated by the emperor's threats, who struck Pavel in the temple with a snuffbox.

The emperor fell, the rest of the conspirators attacked him and, after a long struggle, strangled him with an officer's scarf that belonged to one of the killers. Some of her contemporaries believed that as soon as Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was sleeping in her bedchamber in another wing of the castle, found out about the death of her husband, she allegedly tried to seize power like Catherine II, but the conspirators locked her in the chambers of the palace until she recognized the son of Alexander as emperor.

Despite the tragedy of what happened, the society rejoiced. “In the midst of the many assembled courtiers, the conspirators and murderers of Pavel brazenly walked around,” recalled the writer Denis Fonvizin. - They, who did not sleep the night, half-drunk, disheveled, as if proud of their crime, dreamed that they would reign with Alexander. Decent people in Russia, disapproving of the means by which they got rid of Paul's tyranny, rejoiced at his fall. Historiographer Karamzin says that the news of this event was a message of redemption in the whole state: in houses, on the streets, people cried, hugged each other, as on the day of the Holy Resurrection. This delight was expressed, however, by one nobility, other estates accepted this news rather indifferently.

The official version of the death of the emperor was apoplexy. In society, they immediately began to joke that "Paul I died from an apoplexy blow with a snuffbox to the temple."

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Alexander I burst into tears upon learning of the death of his father. “My father died of apoplexy,” the future emperor announced to the people. “Everything during my reign will be done according to the principles and heart of my beloved grandmother, Empress Catherine!”

Interestingly, after accession to the throne, Alexander I "gradually removed ... the leaders of the coup - removed not because he considered them dangerous, but out of a feeling of disgust and disgust that he experienced at their mere sight."

The blood of Paul I was the last in the era of palace coups. The unfortunate emperor was despised by Catherine's Petersburg, and the participants in the conspiracy deliberately made him out to be crazy.

“I wish you don't get too attached to this world, because you won't stay in it for long. Live well if you want to die in peace, and do not despise the pangs of conscience: this is the greatest torment for a great soul, ”from a vision.

For being crowned

Paul's mother was preparing his son's successor. She raised him herself, and did not hide her intentions either from her grandson or from her entourage, so the court looked down on Pavel and with contempt.

Interestingly, even around Paul against Catherine, someone tried to plot, the empress found out about this almost immediately, interrogated her son, and he gave her a list of people involved, which she, without reading, threw into the fire, since she knew everything from other sources . Catherine did not have enough just a few hours to have time to publish a decree on the removal of her son from the throne. She was still breathing when Pavel searched her work desk and found a package inside. Secretary of State Bezborodko, who later became Pavel's close associate, silently pointed to the fireplace.
The reason for such a depressing state of succession to the throne was the Decree of Peter the Great, which allowed the monarch not only to give preference to any member of the family over the firstborn, but also to appoint a person who did not belong to the dynasty at all, for example, an adopted son. “The Russian throne is not inherited, not elected, but occupied” (Domenico Caraccioli, Neapolitan diplomat). By this, he caused the so-called “epoch of palace coups”, the last victim of which was Paul I. Being the Grand Duke, he developed an act of succession to the throne, which he personally promulgated, having read it on April 5, 1797 at the coronation. The law canceled the Petrovsky decree, introduced inheritance by law, “so that the state was not without heirs, so that the heir was always appointed by the law itself, so that there was not the slightest doubt who would inherit, in order to preserve the right of childbirth in the inheritance, without violating natural rights, and avoid difficulties in passing from generation to generation. The decree also established a semi-Salic primogeniture - an advantage in the inheritance of male descendants, and forbade the occupation of the Russian throne by a person who did not belong to the Orthodox Church.

Thus, the coronation of Paul I itself became the cause of discontent and anger of the powerful Catherine's camarilla, which the new emperor was not going to let in.

For anti-English policy

As soon as Pavel ascended the throne, he immediately announced his withdrawal from the anti-French coalition, saying that Russia needed peace after decades of war. This, of course, greatly mixed the plans of the British and Austrians. However, in 1799, when Emperor Franz asked Paul for help, he sent an army at the head to help. The result of the famous campaign through Northern Italy and Switzerland was that at the most necessary moment the Austrians abandoned the Russians. At the same time, Russia took part in the campaign of England against the Batavian Republic (that was the name of the Netherlands during the Napoleonic occupation) and the French occupation troops. The English, under the Duke of York, suffered a utter defeat on land, but destroyed the entire Dutch fleet. At the same time, the British did not think about Russian allies at all: they did not care at all about the exchange of Russian prisoners and even had the audacity to try to use the remnants of the Russian corps against the Irish rebels. The last straw in the sea of ​​Paul's anger towards the British was the occupation in September 1800 of the island of Malta, which had previously taken away the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from the knights, after which, at the request of the knights, Paul became its grandmaster. The actions of the British prompted Paul to turn his eyes to the new monarch of France. He entered into personal and diplomatic correspondence, and personal with the First Consul, considering him not a product of the revolution, but, de facto, the emperor. It was from this correspondence that great project Indian campaign.

The British ambassador in St. Petersburg, obviously, was personally involved in initial stage in organizing a conspiracy against Paul I, but was expelled long before its execution. However, some historians believe that England did take part in the coup. A “coincidence” played a role: on December 24, 1800, an attempt was made in Paris on Napoleon, and the French believed that these events were undoubtedly connected.

For politics in the army

Paul I, being an ardent admirer of everything Prussian, introduced an uncomfortable old-fashioned uniform and drill. Strict, uncomfortable, and most importantly, meaningless borrowed orders caused irritation, reaching hatred, of almost all the officers and nobility of St. Petersburg. He arranged daily watch parades with the participation of all the generals of the highest ranks, in which Pavel himself acted as a sergeant major. An officer who was knocked off his feet could be demoted and deported to Siberia with immediate departure, not even being able to take money and necessary things. The frequency of such cases is evidenced by the fact that officers began to take large sums of money with them in case of a sudden exile.

The dissatisfaction in the guard with innovations was so great that it blocked all worthy military undertakings of the emperor. So, he limited the service life of recruits, introduced overcoats into uniforms, and limited the punishment of soldiers. As a result, only the Preobrazhensky Regiment remained the only one truly devoted to Pavel, which the conspirators managed to leave out of work on the night of the murder.

For the craziness

Pavel was, undoubtedly, based on modern psychiatry, a severe neurotic: a quick-tempered, arrogant person suffering from depression and panic attacks. This is easily explained by childhood events: the death of Anna's sister, the murder of her father, rejection from her mother, and many other events. All this was expressed later in the inability to assess interpersonal relationships. He did not know how to build parties and choose reliable favorites.

For example, Paul could only judge people by indirect remarks or by letters not addressed to him. It was this feature of Paul that the conspirators took advantage of, raising the Baltic nobleman Palen up the ranks. In addition, the emperor unconditionally trusted only his stupid barber Kudaisov, who was easily used by everyone.

This allowed the conspirators, primarily Palen, who controlled the post office and the St. Petersburg police, to manipulate Pavel and public opinion against Paul, distorting his decrees, inciting him to foolish decisions. As a result, by the end of events, all of St. Petersburg was convinced that the tsar had gone crazy, and if something was not done, a revolution awaited the country.

Modern research allows us to take a fresh look at the life of the most mysterious ruler of Russia.

Only 220 years separate us from the beginning of the reign of the Russian Emperor Paul the First. And 215 years - from the day of his murder by conspirators in his own bedroom of the Mikhailovsky Castle. The unloved son of Catherine the Great, "Russian Hamlet", "crowned Don Quixote", as his contemporaries called him, "martinet and madcap" according to many historians, ruled Russia for exactly 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. And perhaps there was no more tragic figure among the Russian rulers and at the same time. difficult to access honestly and impartially.

Already at the end of the 19th century, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen wrote in exile about "the reign of Paul, which is completely unknown to us." Even the very fact of the murder of Pavel Petrovich was recognized by the crowned family only 100 years later, in 1901. Prior to this, the official version of the apoplexy was in use. For decades, the government tsarist Russia the memoirs and the most important testimonies of the direct participants in the conspiracy were carefully controlled and even sometimes confiscated, none of which, by the way, was ever punished ...

Is it really so important what caused the death of the unfortunate emperor, whether it was a fatal blow to the temple with a massive snuffbox, or whether Paul was strangled with a silk scarf ... It is much more tragic that “on the night of the murder, Paul the First was not only deprived of his life - he was also biography. After all, history is written by the winners! And to justify the assassination of the monarch, it was easiest to create an image of an unbalanced, abnormal, dangerous person for Russia and Europe, ”says famous historian and writer Natalia Zazulina. Recently, the publishing house "Boslen" published A new book Natalia Nikolaevna “Mission of the Grand Duke. Journey of Pavel Petrovich in 1781 - 1782, dedicated to one of the most little-studied pages of the life of Pavel, then still a Grand Duke. His trip to Europe, together with his young wife Maria Feodorovna, lasted almost a year and a half! A fascinating story, sometimes reminiscent of a real detective story, full of adventures, diplomatic intrigues and exciting details of the life of all the main royal houses of Europe on the eve of the French Revolution, for the first time made available to readers many documents that had been stored for centuries in the closed archives of the Vatican, Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and personal archives of the heirs of the most high-profile surnames - participants in those events.

Not at all like a stereotyped tyrant, and Pavel himself is young, inquisitive, perfectly linguist, sincerely passionate about art, architecture and sciences: physics, mathematics, astronomy.

“On this trip, not only Paul studied Europe, but Europe, in turn, studied and evaluated the 28-year-old Grand Duke with great predilection. And she highly appreciated the mind and education of the “unlucky” son of the Russian Empress,” says Natalya Zazulina.
- Natalia Nikolaevna, this is not the first time your work is directly connected with the personality of Paul the First and the mysteries of the history of his era.
- There is an expression “Russia is a country with unread history”. I think this is very true. And working on my first big book"War of 1812. Myths and reality”, I first of all started looking for an answer to the question, why did this war even happen? It quickly became clear that the origins of the war of 1812 must be sought precisely in the era of the reign of Pavel Petrovich. Since this all started.
- Isn't it too far away?
- All of us, thinking that we know history, in fact know only what we are taught concisely from school ... However, read at least French, or German, Dutch, Italian memoirs about the period of the fall of Napoleon's empire - everywhere they write that Russia in late 18th - early 19th century was built into the English system of redistribution of Europe. Of course, we have our own view of ourselves and our history, but, you see, it is interesting and useful to know other points of view, to look at the events from the side of Europe.

By the way, the work in foreign archives was interesting and gave a lot of finds. For example, while working on a book about Pavel Petrovich and looking through informational announcements in the Vatican library, I found, for example, that in 2005 American Catholics turned to the Holy See with a request to canonize Prince Dmitry Golitsyn, a Catholic monk known as Augustine Schmettau (named after his mother). Golitsyn-Shmettau almost 180 years ago became famous for his missionary work among Indian tribes on the North American continent. Distant relatives now living in Europe attributed everything connected with his name (after all, it is flattering to have a Saint in your family!) - thus, I managed to find references to the diaries of his father, the famous diplomat Dmitry Alekseevich Golitsyn. These scattered sheets of records different years gave me invaluable material that I used when working on the book. The diplomat Golitsyn, by order of Catherine II, accompanied Paul on the French and Dutch parts of his European tour. Then Russia actually changed its main ally in Europe, moving away from Prussia, moving closer to Austria. Golitsyn actually kept an eye on the course of the visit of the Grand Duke at the most difficult stage, which greatly worried Catherine II in St. Petersburg.

Do historians have complete clarity as to what forces were behind the assassination of Paul?
- Yes, this is not hidden ... The conspiracy, as a result of which Paul I was killed, was drawn up by the family of the favorite of Catherine II - the Zubov brothers and guards officers, and paid for with English money. After all, what is 1801 ... Since 1798, Napoleon's troops have been in Egypt. The French actually made a serious step towards the East. Wars do not stop in Europe, but during the Swiss campaign of Suvorov, Russia simultaneously quarreled with both the Austrians and the British. Having lost Holland (a revolution took place there in 1795), the British tried to take revenge, and, as always, by proxy. They persuade Paul, already emperor, to send Russian troops to Holland under English command - and he sends the elite - his Gatchina grenadiers. The British shamefully lost the company. And then, having secretly agreed with the French on surrender, they took the remnants of the Russian expeditionary force to England, to the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, where they were treated even worse than prisoners. Needless to say, Paul was furious! The Austrians betrayed the Russian allies in Italy and Switzerland. Why, by and large, did Russia need the most difficult transition of Suvorov troops through the Swiss Alps?

Realizing that Russia's relations with the allies have deteriorated, Napoleon Bonaparte is doing everything to enter into a coalition with Paul and even persuade him to a military campaign in India, the most precious pearl in the crown. English colonies. By the way, the stay of the British in India was not serene. Starting from 1767, the bloody Anglo-Mysore and Anglo-Marahat wars continued unabated. fighting and the predatory policy of the British East India Company gave every chance to the united corps to be met by the maharajas of the Indian principalities, if not with joy, then with some hopes for a change in the balance of power ... The British could not allow this! They feared a war on two fronts. And in the end, they simply went for a political assassination, or rather, they paid for it.

And if the assassination had failed - as in the case of Bonaparte, for example?
- There was also a second, fallback option for eliminating the Russian emperor. Part of the English squadron under the command of Admiral Hyde-Parker was actually already in the Gulf of Finland. The shelling of St. Petersburg from the sea, following the example of the bombing of Copenhagen from the sea, was quite real! In the ensuing confusion, the conspirators would somehow try to finish what they started. It is clear that Paul was doomed.

Moreover, it is no secret that at the time of Pavel's assassination, we had severed diplomatic relations with Great Britain, Pavel expelled Lord Whitworth, the English ambassador, from Russia. By the way, the Russian capital knew about the approach of the English squadron to St. Petersburg. At one time, one of the best specialists in the 19th century, historian Igor Sergeevich Tikhonov, accurately established where Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration and his battalion were during the assassination attempt on Pavel - they took up positions on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, in case of an English landing. It was there that Bagration learned - no, not about the murder, but about the "sudden death" of Emperor Paul. That is, there is a pronounced English trace.

The elimination of the ruler of a vast country was, I think, not cheap.
- It is known that about two million gold rubles were spent on organizing the murder of Pavel Petrovich, for the British at that time - not so much money. But for almost 25 years, that is, for the entire period of the reign of Alexander the First, they got Russia in the wake of their policy.
A direct consequence of the same English policy was the return of Russia to the camp of the anti-Napoleonic coalition and, ultimately, the War of 1812. After Holland, the British never fought anywhere else on the European continent, with the exception of Waterloo, where they, in fact, skimmed all the cream and became - they, not us! - the main winners of Napoleon ...

How did the British manage to subdue Alexander the First so much?
- Alexander I, having become emperor as a result of the murder of his father, all his life was tormented by the consciousness of his involvement and guilt. Nevertheless, what do you think, when Napoleon, already in Moscow, sent his truce envoys to Tarutino, who at the headquarters of the Russian army made the decision whether to meet with the commander-in-chief Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov or not? Alexander the First is in St. Petersburg, communication with him takes time. Decisions were made by the representative of the British command, General Robert Thomas Wilson. The British did not want a separate truce between the Russians and the French. And Wilson did everything possible to prevent the meeting from taking place. And when he still failed to avoid meeting with the Marquis Lariston, he actually nullified all attempts by the French truce to make peace. England needed Napoleon, ideally, to die in Russia, and more importantly, to lose his army.

But has anyone thought about what would happen if we made peace with the French in Moscow? There would have been no fighting near Maloyaroslavets and Krasnoye, there would have been no colossal casualties among both the French and Russian troops on the road to the western border of Russia. Dumped like firewood on the streets of Vilna, Russian soldiers who died of starvation and disease. Alexander I, most likely, would have signed a peace treaty, as in Tilsit, and again would have joined the continental blockade of England. AND french army would leave Russia. But this is precisely what Britain did not want. And she succeeded. As for patriotism... In my opinion, the best patriotism is caring for the people of your country!

Did Alexander not even try to resist such humiliating "guardianship"?
- After the urgent conclusion of a peace treaty with Great Britain, in 1802, so that the young emperor would not have the slightest doubt that England would remove his hand from his throat, an absolutely sinister figure was sent to St. Petersburg as an ambassador. It was John Borlaz Warren - a living legend of Britain, in fact one of the two famous English admirals active at that time. Warren was rude, deaf from his wound, and he spoke to the king as if he were giving orders on a bridge. And Alexander I's knees buckled during their meetings. He was given to understand that if something happens, it will not happen with daddy. It will be worse and faster ... By the way, years later, when Napoleon was already defeated, the Congress of Vienna and Alexander I rested on his laurels, Warren was again returned to St. Petersburg as an ambassador. He became even more rude and noisy, because he was even more deaf. And as the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, wrote to the Austrian Metternich: “We are sending him an old acquaintance to talk about the Holy Alliance.”

As they say - nothing personal, only diplomacy and the personal interests of England, which she always knew how to observe ...

It turns out that mother Ekaterina made a mistake, giving preference to her grandson. The scale of Pavel Petrovich as a ruler is much steeper ...
- Pavel is a very interesting figure, the son of the Age of Enlightenment, the son of his mother. Impulsive, with a heavy character, but absolutely normal. Attempts to present him as insane should have somehow justified his removal. Pavel is the most educated monarch, who, alas, did practically nothing. He was, one might say, the last Russian emperor brought up by Elizaveta Petrovna in the Orthodox faith. Russian was not a second language for him, but his native language. And he perceived Orthodoxy as a faith, and not as a fashion or self-indulgence.
- But what about Pavel Petrovich's passion for Catholic chivalry, the head of which, as the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, he eventually became?
- This hobby was seriously formed later, after the European tour of the grand ducal couple. And describing it, our authors, in my opinion, exaggerate out of habit. Pavel was the son of his age, the Enlightenment, and was interested in what everyone was interested in then ... Yes, Russia has a thousand-year history, but this is the Muscovite state. And the Russian Empire began its countdown after the Great Northern War. And this - early 18th century. Our state repeatedly started counting from scratch, and we absorbed and took all the best from European history, but we always did not have enough time! The whole Renaissance bypassed Russia. And Paul understood this temporal gap well. The Order of Malta, as a powerful and beautiful European tradition brought to our soil, against the background of the confusion that the French Revolution brought, was his hope that this would become a tradition for the domestic nobility ...

But the Russian nobles always looked at these deeds of Paul as a whim. You can’t either beat Europe out of yourself by decree or, on the contrary, hammer it in. A certain naivety of Paul - she was. But, as you know, very soon everything changed again. Emperor Alexander refused the title of Grand Master of the Order of John of Jerusalem. And since 1806, by decree of the king, Malta, which became entirely English, was no longer mentioned among the overseas provinces of the Russian Empire.
- And yet, sending Paul to Europe, didn’t Catherine try to show everyone that, despite the rumors, everything is in order with them and in relations with the heir?
- And they really were all right! These were absolutely normal relations between the empress and her son for those times. In addition, Pavel Petrovich was the only legitimate heir, if something happened to him in the first years of his mother's reign, Catherine II would immediately become a usurper. And the only legitimate heirs after Pavel are the children of Anna Leopoldovna, the unfortunate Brunswick family, which languished in many years of exile in Kholmogory. By the way, the Kholmogory prisoners were much more noble than the mother herself - the empress, Ekaterina Alekseevna, and her son. The children of the ruler Anna Leopoldovna belonged to the most influential family in Europe in the 18th century - to the Guelphs! No wonder Catherine allowed them to go to Denmark to her aunt only after the birth of her two eldest grandchildren.
- Did you make any discoveries in the character and image of Pavel while working on the book?
- I think, yes. It surprised me, for example, how Paul did not make a penny of debt in 4 years, 4 months and 4 days of his reign! The state debt with which Russia came to the war of 1812 is 100 million gold guilders (80 million were left from Mother Catherine and 20 million debts were made by Alexander the First). I was also surprised by the quickness of his nature, the ability for human and Christian forgiveness. After all, he, in fact, forgave and pardoned everyone who was kept under arrest and under supervision, frightened by the revolutions in Europe, Catherine II. This is Tadeusz Kosciuszko, and Polish aristocrats who protested against the last partition of Poland. Pavel Petrovich took the word of honor from the Poles not to raise weapons against Russia and let them go. The emperor released Nikolai Novikov from the fortress, pardoned Alexander Radishchev - but for some reason no one credits him with this!

"SP": - What else did Pavel Petrovich manage to do for Russia in his 4 years, 4 months and 4 days?
- Emperor Pavel refused to participate in military coalitions, as he did not see any benefit for Russia in them. Despite the difficult relationship with Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, Paul I gave him a state funeral in the Russian capital and took part in them with his sons, paying tribute to the deceased commander. By his order, a monument was erected to Suvorov. For comparison, after the end of the war of 1812, Emperor Alexander not only did not erect a monument to Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov, but on the contrary, passing through Selesia a year after his burial (Kutuzov died in Bunzlau on April 16, 1813) - did not even visit his grave.
On the whole, Paul brought much into our lives from what he saw in Europe. Under him, there was an active expansion of educational institutions, and useful military reforms. Under him, the Russian troops received an overcoat as a uniform, which, in a modified form, has survived to this day. Following the example of France, a corps of gendarmes was created as a body for the protection of order. With his participation in Russia, a tradition arose of the care of widows and orphans by the reigning persons of houses of contempt.
Pavel I is not only Pavlovsk and Gatchina, not only the Maltese Chapel, Mikhailovsky Castle and the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, which opened its arms to its colonnades following the example of St. Peter's Square in Rome, this is a whole layer in architecture and decor, associated with his name and shaped taste!
However, perhaps the most important achievement of Emperor Paul is that he reoriented the policy of Russia, both external and internal, to the interests of Russia itself. Refusal to participate in a European war is a lot. Having lost his Gatchina grenadiers in Holland, the corps of Rimsky-Korsakov and Rosenberg in Switzerland, Pavel no longer wanted to pave the fields of Europe with Russian soldiers. It is unlikely that such a position of the Russian autocrat deserves the reproach of posterity.

In my opinion, Paul's trouble is that, as a ruler, he simply did not coincide with the interests of a stronger and more dominant state, which England became in Europe after the French Revolution. For all his repeatedly described suspicion, Emperor Paul did not feel the real danger. And Britain simply crushed him with the hands of his own subjects ...

Agree, it’s a shame to feel yourself - albeit not for a long time - as a citizen great country, but a weak state, dependent on someone else's external will.
- Personally, it seems to me that there is nothing offensive for the national self-consciousness when studying our history with you, to recognize in this or that historical period the primacy or victory of foreign political interests over the interests of Russia.

It is much more useful to sort this out, to draw some conclusions, and perhaps in the future not to repeat the mistakes once made. Love for one's country and one's history is not in endless exaltation, but in knowledge. Many of the grievances and misunderstandings in politics that Russia faces today - in Poland, in Ukraine - have their origins in a very long history. And I would like to believe that from the discussions and dialogue that have arisen during historical research one question or another, mutual understanding will finally arise.

In what year was Paul 1 killed? On the night of March 11-12 (according to the old style), 1801, as a result of a conspiracy, the Emperor of All Russia was killed, and Peter III, the “Russian Hamlet”, who carried out many reforms during his short reign. But the tsar was despised by all of Petersburg, and the conspirators deliberately made him out to be insane. Who killed Paul 1? When and where did it happen? Why was Paul 1 killed (reasons for the coup)? What did the conspirators originally plan?

Sources of information about the assassination of the emperor

Why they killed Paul 1, it becomes clear when studying the sources of data about this event. To be more precise, this is clear after reading the historical characteristics of the individuals who took the life of the emperor. The circumstances are known from the memoirs of contemporaries who communicated directly with the participants in the conspiracy against the authorities. Only two documents created by the conspirators have survived, namely a letter from Bennigsen and a note from Poltoratsky.

Some information can also be gleaned from memoirists, but they are usually quite contradictory in detail. The modern historian Yu. A. Sorokin, who specializes in this period in history Russian state, writes that the authentic facts, separated from the fiction of eyewitnesses and just contemporaries of this event, will probably never be able to reproduce.

The list of main sources from which you can find out where Paul 1 was killed, by whom and why, is rather meager for such an important historical event. Army Major General Nikolai Alexandrovich Sablukov was in the Mikhailovsky Castle at the time of the assassination, but was not directly among the conspirators. He wrote "Notes" on English language, which were intended for an extremely narrow circle of readers. They got into print only in 1865, and were first published in Russian in 1902 by Erasmus Kasprovitch.

Leonty Bennigsen (one of the conspirators) talked about the coup and the campaign against Napoleon in a letter to Fock. His speeches were recorded by several other interlocutors. Plans palace coup are mentioned from the words of Bennigsen in the memoirs of his nephew, the life physician Grive, a note by Lanzheron, Adam Czartoryski, August Kotzebue and some other personalities.

Lieutenant General Konstantin Poltoratsky (then governor of Yaroslavl) left notes describing the tragic events. Poltoratsky belonged to the third (lowest) group of participants in the conspiracy. During the assassination of Paul I, he was on guard. The lieutenant general claimed that he did not know the exact date of the crime, since his immediate superior forgot to warn him.

The Russian commander of the era of the wars with Napoleon, Alexander Lanzheron, arrived in the capital shortly after the coup d'état to collect information. His notes contain conversations with Palen, Prince Konstantin. The final part contains the author's reflections.

Why Paul 1 was killed was clear to his contemporaries, and especially to those who communicated with the participants in the conspiracy. Information about this tragic event can be gleaned from the following memoirs:

• Daria Liven, an agent of the Russian government in London (her mother-in-law was the tutor of the children of Paul I, was in Mikhailovsky Castle on the ill-fated night of March 11-12).
• Adam Czartoryski, prince, friend of Alexander I, arrived in the capital after the coup.
• Writer Mikhail Fonvizin (at the time of the murder he was 14 years old) later conducted a whole study based on conversations with conspirators, whose names he does not name.
• (8-year-old at the time of the emperor's death) later compiled detailed description events.
• Anonymous Diary of a Contemporary.
• German playwright and novelist August Kotzebue, who was in the capital on the night of the assassination (some sources mention that his son gave Alexander II a note on the death of Paul).
• Karl-Heinrich Geiking, who arrived shortly after the crime.

Why was Paul 1 killed? Prerequisites for committing a crime

Why was Paul 1 killed? In short, the main reason was his coronation itself. Such a sad outcome of the emperor's life was influenced by his actions in the internal and foreign policy. In addition, among possible causes they call the madness of Paul I, because everyone was sure that if something was not done about it, then the country would face a revolution. But here we need to talk about everything in order.

Why was Paul 1 killed? Briefly, the reasons are listed above, but now it is worth considering some of them in more detail. The prerequisites for the conspiracy can be identified as follows:

1. Methods of government, reaching the cruelty. The instability of the political course, the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear in the highest circles, the discontent of the nobles, who were deprived of privileges, led to the emergence of a plan to assassinate the king. Paul I threatened the dynasty, and this allowed the participants in the conspiracy to consider themselves remaining loyal to the Romanovs.
2. Emperor Madness. If we proceed from the data of modern psychiatry, then Paul I, of course, was a severe neurotic. The king was distinguished by an unrestrained character, often suffered from depression and panic attacks, and did not know how to choose reliable favorites. The subjects also considered the emperor crazy because of his objectively unpopular orders. For example, in 1800, Paul invited the head of the Catholic Church to move to Russia. Since 1799, the king was overwhelmed by suspicions about the infidelity of his wife and sons.
3. The fact of accession to the throne. Why was Paul 1 killed? The reasons lie in the very fact of the king's coronation. Catherine II was preparing Alexander for the throne, so the coronation of Paul I served as a pretext for dissatisfaction with a powerful circle of the empress's close associates.
4. Deterioration of relations between the king and representatives of the nobility and the guards. There is a known case when staff captain Kirpichnikov received 1000 sticks for harsh remarks about the Order of St. Anna (the order was named after the emperor's beloved). Contemporaries believed that this fact played a significant moral role in the prehistory of the murder of Paul.
5. anti-English policy. The decision to leave, taken by Paul I at the very beginning of his reign, greatly interfered with the plans of the Austrians and the British. At the initial stage of the organization, in the upcoming coup, he was clearly involved English ambassador Petersburg, but Pavel expelled him long before the murder. Some historians suggest that England did take part in the conspiracy.
6. There is a rumor that the emperor plans to imprison his wife and children in a fortress in order to marry one of the favorites (either Madame Chevalier, or Anna Gagarina), as well as a decree on the legalization of Paul's future illegitimate children.
7. Politics in the army. Pavel introduced the Prussian order in the army, which irritated almost the entire officer corps and the nobility in St. Petersburg. Dissatisfaction with the innovations was so great that it blocked all the previous successful military reforms of the emperor. Only the Preobrazhensky Regiment remained truly devoted to the royal power.

Why was Paul 1 killed (briefly)? He just thwarted the conspirators. Most likely, here it is worth talking not about one specific reason for the coup, but about several factors that influenced this event to the most significant extent.

The original plan of the conspirators

The bulk of the participants in the conspiracy, who believed in the need for change, was formed in the summer of 1799. At first, the criminals planned to simply arrest Paul in order to force him to leave the throne and pass the reign to his eldest son. Nikita Panin (ideological inspirer) and Peter Palen (technical manager) considered it necessary to introduce the Constitution, but the first spoke about the regency, and the second about the murder of Paul.

They started talking about the regency only against the background of the fact that shortly before the planning of the coup in Great Britain, the regency of his son was officially established over the crazy King George III. In Denmark, under the unbalanced Christian VII, a regent also actually ruled, who later became King Frederick VI.

True, many historians believe that the main organizers initially planned the physical elimination of the emperor, and not just the arrest or establishment of guardianship of his son. Such a "plan B" was most likely the development of Peter Palen. Even Nikita Panin was not aware of the alleged bloody denouement. At the supper preceding the penetration into the chambers of the king, the question of how to deal with the emperor after his arrest was discussed. Palen answered everything very evasively. Even then it was possible to suspect that he was planning the assassination of the sovereign.

Participants in a conspiracy against the emperor

There are very, very many of those who were initiated into criminal plans, but who killed Paul 1? The conspiracy (according to various estimates) included from 180 to 300 people, so it makes sense to name only the main ones. Historian Nathan Eidelman all of them were conditionally divided into three groups:

1. Initiators, ideological inspirers, the most dedicated persons. In the future, many of them took high positions under the new emperor. Each of these people tried to whitewash themselves, so there are so many theories and conjectures around this murder.
2. Officers involved later who were not directly involved in strategy development. They were engaged in recruitment and leadership at the next level of the hierarchy.
3. Intermediate and junior officers. People were selected on the principle of dissatisfaction with the system of Paul. Some of them became direct perpetrators, while others were only indirectly involved in the crime. For a long time, historians believed that it was among these people that one should look for the one who killed Paul 1, the son of Catherine II. After all, the initiators sought to whitewash themselves at all costs, perhaps their words are true, ordinary officers became the executors.

Nikita Panin was ideological inspirer. It was he who invented and planned everything, but did not directly participate in the crime. On the night of March 12 (the day when Paul I was killed) he was in exile. Later, Alexander I returned the former vice-chancellor to but soon the young emperor and the count quarreled. Panin was forced to return to the Dugino estate, where he spent the rest of his life.

Peter Palen was the support of the king (it was already mentioned earlier that Paul was completely unable to choose reliable favorites). This man did not hide the fact that he participated in a conspiracy against the emperor, he spoke openly about this later in personal conversations. Under Alexander, he was removed from his post, because Maria Fedorovna (wife of Paul I) convinced her son of the danger of leaving such a person with her.

Leonty Bennigsen was extremely dissatisfied with Paul. Participation in the conspiracy did not affect his later career. The commander of the Izyumsky regiment even became a general a year after the coup, although he gained general fame in the years Napoleonic Wars. It was Leonty Bennigsen who commanded the troops in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau. This was the first major battle that the French failed to win. The military leader was showered with awards, became a Knight of the Order of St. George.

The first group included three Zubov brothers: Plato - the last favorite of Catherine II, Nikolai - it was he who owned the snuffbox that killed Paul 1, Valerian - his role in the plan is not entirely clear. He lost his leg, so he was not in the Mikhailovsky Castle with the others. But it is believed that Valerian managed to recruit Alexander Argamakov, without whom the supporters of Panin and Palen would not have been able to penetrate the castle.

Place of death of Emperor Paul I

Where was Paul 1 killed? The king lost his life in the same place where he was born. The building of the Mikhailovsky Castle was erected on the site where the wooden Summer Palace of Ekaterina Petrovna stood. For many years the Mikhailovsky Castle remained Paul's dream. The sketches of the layout and the general design of the construction belonged to the emperor himself. The design process lasted almost twelve years. During these years, Paul I repeatedly turned to different examples of architecture, which he saw on a trip abroad. The emperor was killed just 39 days after moving to the Mikhailovsky Castle from the Winter Palace, where many coups took place.

And in which room was Pavel 1 killed? This tragic event took place in the emperor's own bedchamber. The room where Paul 1 was killed (photo above) was turned into a church of the apostles Peter and Paul at the behest of his grandson, Alexander II.

Murder related omens

There are several indications that Paul had a premonition of his death. On the day of the assassination, the emperor approached the mirrors in the palace and noted that his face was reflected distorted. The courtiers then did not attach any importance to this. However, Prince Yusupov (head of the palaces) fell out of favor. On the same day, Paul I talked with Mikhail Kutuzov. The conversation turned to death. The farewell words of the emperor to the Russian commander were the phrase:

To go to the next world is not to sew knapsacks.

The emperor's supper always ended at half past ten, and at ten Pavel was already in bed. It was so customary that all those present went into another room and said goodbye to the king. On the ill-fated evening before the assassination, Paul I went into the next room, but did not say goodbye to anyone, but only said that what was to be, was inevitable.

The mention of crooked mirrors and Mikhail Kutuzov is in the notes of one of the memoirists. So, the author writes (according to the commander) that the emperor, looking in the mirror with a flaw, laughed and said that he sees himself in the reflection with his neck to the side. This was an hour and a half before his violent death.

In addition, they say that some time before the murder, a holy fool (wandering nun) allegedly appeared in St. Petersburg, who predicted that the tsar would live as long as the letters in the inscription above the gates of the new palace (of the same Mikhailovsky). It was a biblical aphorism:

To your house befits the holiness of the Lord in the length of days.

There are forty-seven characters in the phrase. Paul I was in his forty-seventh year when he was assassinated.

Chronology: March 11-12, 1801

In what year Paul 1 was killed is known - it happened in 1801. And what happened immediately before the death of the emperor? How did he spend the last day of his life? On March 11 (old style), Pavel got up between four and five in the morning and worked from five to nine. At nine he went to inspect the troops, and at ten he received the usual parade ground. Then Pavel rode horseback with Ivan Kutaisov, the emperor's favorite, a Turk taken prisoner and presented to the sovereign when he was still heir to the throne.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Paul dined with his entourage. Meanwhile, Palen - one of the participants in the conspiracy - sent out invitations to accomplices for dinner at his place. Then the emperor went to replace the Preobrazhensky battalion, which occupied guards in the Mikhailovsky Castle. One of statesmen(Jacob de Sanglen) wrote in his memoirs that then Paul forced everyone to swear not to have contact with the conspirators.

On March 11, the emperor allowed his sons, who were under arrest, to dine with him. At nine o'clock Pavel started dinner. Invited were Konstantin and Alexander with their wives, Maria Pavlovna, Dame Palen and her daughter, Kutuzov, Stroganov, Sheremetyev, Mukhnov, Yusupov, Naryshkin and several court ladies. An hour later, dinner began at Platon Zubov's, which was attended by Nikolai (Platon's brother), Bennigsen "and three other persons initiated into the secret."

Before going to bed, the emperor spends about an hour with his favorite Gagarina. He descended to her by a hidden staircase. At the same time, the conspirators are having dinner at Palen's. There were about 40-60 people in his house, all of them were "hot with champagne" (according to Bennigsen), which the owner himself did not drink. It was previously decided to imprison Pavel in Shlisselburg, but Palen answered all questions about this with lengthy phrases.

Palen suggested that the conspirators split into two groups. The Zubov-Bennigsen group went to the Christmas Gates of the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the other (under the leadership of Palen) was heading to the main entrance. When approaching the second floor, the group is about ten to twelve people. Exactly at midnight, the conspirators enter the palace. They're making too much noise, the troops are trying to sound the alarm.

Soon the killers approach the royal rooms. According to one version, the valet was tricked into opening the door. Alexander Argamakov (military commander), who could freely enter the palace, told him that it was already six o'clock, the valet's clock had just stopped. There is a version that a fire was reported. At this moment, Platon Zubov was seized with panic, he tried to hide, dragging others along, but Bennigsen stopped him.

The emperor, hearing a suspicious noise, first rushed to the door to Maria Feodorovna's rooms, but it was closed there. Then he hid behind a curtain. He could have gone down to Gagarina and fled, but, apparently, he was too frightened to assess the situation soberly. At half past midnight on March 12, the conspirators succeeded in breaking into the emperor's bedroom. This was the room where Paul 1 was killed. The criminals were confused when they did not find the king in bed. in French he said that "the bird has flown away", but Bennigsen felt the bed and said that "the nest is still warm", that is, "the bird is not far away."

The room was searched. Pavel was found and demanded to write a renunciation of the throne, but he refused. The king was told that he was under arrest. The emperor was killed between 0:45 and 1:45. How was Tsar Paul 1 killed? There are several versions here:

1. A dispute broke out between Nikolai Zubov and Pavel. Soon some of the conspirators (who had drunk too much champagne) began to express impatience. The emperor, on the other hand, switched to raised tones in conversation, so that Nikolai, in a fit of anger, hit him with a massive snuffbox in his left temple. The beating began. An officer of the Izmailovsky regiment strangled the tsar with a scarf.
2. According to Bennigsen, there was a jolt, the screen fell on the lamp, so that the light went out. He went into the next room to fetch fire. In this short period of time, the sovereign was killed. All the contradictions arise because of the words of Bennigsen, who tried to prove his absence in the room at the time of the murder.
3. According to M. Fonvizin's notes, the situation developed as follows. Bennigsen left the room. At this time, Nikolai Zubov was talking with the emperor. Several threats escaped Pavel, so that the enraged Zubov hit him with a snuffbox. When Bennigsen was informed that the emperor had abdicated, he gave a scarf, with which they strangled the king.

Why was Emperor Paul 1 killed? There are versions that it was an unintentional murder, but most historians are still inclined to believe that the conspirators acted according to a carefully developed plan.

Witnesses and persons who knew about the conspiracy

Who killed Paul 1? This was definitely known to those persons who were in the emperor's bedroom on the ill-fated night. None of the first group of conspirators stained themselves with murder (even Bennigsen, as well as Platon and Nikolai Zubov, had previously left the king's bedroom). Although many historians say that this is a lie that they themselves invented in order to whitewash themselves.

The list of those present in the bedroom varies depending on the source. These could be:

1. Bennigsen.
2. Plato and Nikolai Zubov.
3. Alexander Argamakov.
4. Vladimir Yashvil.
5. I. Tatarinov.
6. Yevsey Gordanov.
7. Yakov Skaryatin.
8. Nikolai Borozdin and several other personalities.

Were aware of the conspiracy former ambassador England in Russian Empire Lord Whitworth, the Russian ambassador in London, Semyon Vorontsov, Tsarevich Alexander (according to Panin, the Tsarevich tacitly agreed to the overthrow of his father), official Dmitry Troshchinsky. The latter wrote the famous manifesto on the coronation of Alexander I. The young tsar renounced his father's policy.

Who took the life of the emperor?

But who killed Paul 1, the son of Catherine 2? In different sources, opinions again diverge. In addition, you need to pay attention to the features of the murder. It is known that first a blow with a snuffbox followed, and then the emperor was strangled with an officer's scarf. In most sources, it is believed that Platon Zubov delivered the blow. It would seem that it is clear who killed Paul 1. But the emperor died of suffocation. In addition, it is known that after being hit with a massive golden snuffbox, but before being strangled with a scarf, the king was thrown to the floor and started to be kicked.

Who killed Paul 1? An officer of the Izmailovsky regiment Skaryatin strangled his emperor with a scarf. This scarf belonged (according to different versions) either to Skaryatin, or to Paul I himself, or to Bennigsen. So, Platon Zubov (pictured above) and Yakov Skaryatin became the killers. The first struck the tsar in the temple with a golden snuffbox that belonged to Nikolai Zubov, and the second strangled Paul I with a scarf. There is also a version that Vladimir Yashvil delivered the first blow.

After the murder: the reaction of subjects, burial

Alexander was informed by Nikolai Zubov or Palen with Bennigsen. Then Konstantin was awakened, and Alexander sent his wife to Empress Maria Feodorovna. But this terrible news was reported to the empress by Charlotte Lieven, the educator of the children of Paul I. Maria Feodorovna lost consciousness, but quickly recovered and even declared that now she should rule. Until five o'clock in the morning, she did not obey the new emperor.

The next morning, a manifesto was issued, in which it was reported that the All-Russian Emperor had died last night from a stroke. Petersburgers began to congratulate each other on such "happiness", according to eyewitnesses, it really was "the resurrection of Russia to a new life." Fonvizin, by the way, also speaks in his notes about the "day of the Bright Resurrection." Is it true, a large number of people were still disgusted by the events that had taken place.

On the night after the assassination, the physician Villiers processed the corpse of the emperor in order to hide the traces of a violent death. The next morning they wanted to show the body to the soldiers. It was necessary to prove that the king was really dead, so one should swear allegiance to the new emperor. But the blue and black spots on the face of the deceased could not be hidden. Some sources report that a court painter was even called in to make up the corpse. When Paul I was lying in a coffin, his hat was pulled down over his forehead to cover his left eye and temple.

The funeral service and burial took place on the twenty-third of March. It was performed by all members of the Synod, headed by Metropolitan Ambrose.

Ghost of Emperor Paul 1

There is a legend according to which the ghost of the murdered emperor could not leave the place of his death. The ghost was seen by the soldiers of the capital's garrison and the new inhabitants of the Mikhailovsky Palace, bystanders who noticed a luminous figure in the windows. This frightening image was very actively used by the Cadets. Nicholas School who subsequently settled in the castle. It is possible that the ghost was themselves and invented to intimidate the younger ones.

N. Leskov's story "The Ghost in the Engineering Castle" drew attention to the ghost. The purpose of creating the work was to draw attention to hazing that reigned in the school.

So why was Paul 1 killed? In short, the conspirators wanted to install "their" king. They hoped that they would occupy prominent positions. Why Paul 1 was actually killed, they cannot say for sure, probably even historians who have devoted more than one year of their lives to this problem. The fact is that there can be a huge variety of reasons (including personal ones), circumstances that influenced the outcome of events, accidents and opinions.