Emperors. Psychological portraits. Life and customs of the royal court under Emperor Paul I. Barracks life of the family and environment of Paul I The reign of Alexander I in Russian historiography

However, it is difficult to imagine that Alexander, a man not stupid and not devoid of a moral sense, could not see the low and dark features of the Arakcheev nature. After all, once at the watch parade, when Pavel forced Arakcheev to resign, the Tsarevich, asking Major General P. A. Tuchkov about this news, called his future favorite a “bastard”. And yet, this "bastard" was necessary for Alexander. So, it must be, they love watchdogs, jealously guarding the master's property. And, however, Alexander was not a blind zealot of the Pavlovian and Arakcheev orders. In 1797, he secretly sent a letter to La Harpe, in which, among other things, he wrote: “The welfare of states plays no role in the management of affairs. There is only unlimited power, which creates everything topsy-turvy. It is impossible to convey all these recklessness that was committed here. Add to this severity, devoid of the slightest justice, a considerable amount of partiality and complete inexperience in business. The choice of performers is based on favoritism; merit has nothing to do with it, in a word, my unfortunate fatherland is in a position beyond description. The farmer is offended, trade is constrained, freedom and personal well-being are destroyed. Here is the picture modern Russia and judge by it how much my heart must suffer. I myself, obliged to obey all the little things military service, I lose all my time on the duties of a non-commissioned officer, resolutely not having any opportunity to surrender to my scientific pursuits, which was my favorite pastime ... I have now become the most unhappy person.

VI

And finally, Alexander himself took power in his hands. Now he himself could autocratically control the fate of a multi-million people. Once, in one of his rescripts, Paul announced that in the French Republic “perverse rules and violent inflammation of the mind” trampled on the law of morality ... Alexander was sure that he would not have to write such gloomy rescripts. His friend P. A. Stroganov told how the French people had fun when the Bastille fell. True, the same Gilbert Romm, who taught Stroganov the cheerful Jacobin philosophy, subsequently stabbed himself with a dagger, because he himself was threatened by the guillotine, but such episodes further shade the sound ideology of real republicans. Alexander and his closest friends, who were certainly called to St. Petersburg, were "republicans". In May 1801, Stroganov invited the young tsar to form a secret committee and discuss plans for state reform in it. Alexander readily agreed, and friends, jokingly, called their secret committee the Committee of Public Safety. In the meantime, liberal decrees were hastily published.

Already on March 17, when the mutilated body of Paul, covered with purple, lay in the throne room of the Mikhailovsky Castle and the curious could see the soles of the emperor’s over the knee boots and the brim of a wide hat pulled over the face of the strangled man, a number of decrees were issued that greatly facilitated philistine life. The Secret Expedition has been destroyed. Our St. Petersburg Bastille - the Peter and Paul Fortress - was empty: many prisoners in it were released. Those who were in exile began to gather in the capital, which had recently been inaccessible to them. Returned to St. Petersburg from the village and Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev. The number of persons who received again the rights they had lost under Paul was, I think, twelve thousand people. On March 15, a manifesto was published with an amnesty for emigrants. A special decree was issued to the chief police chief, where it was proposed to the police "not to cause any harm to anyone." The import of books from abroad was allowed, which was prohibited by the late emperor. Private printing houses, sealed under Paul, began to work again. The charter granted to the nobility was restored, as well as the city position. In April, the gallows were destroyed, which stood in the squares with the names of the guilty nailed to them. They changed the military uniform, and although the new uniforms with excessively high and hard collars were also very uncomfortable, everyone admired them only because the hated uniforms of the Prussian model were destroyed.

More serious reforms had to be considered and discussed thoroughly. The main thing was to get acquainted with the state of affairs in the country. The young emperor had very vague ideas about certain things of paramount importance. Peasant question, for example, seemed to him easily solvable until he became a crowned bearer. Now everything that seemed simple suddenly became difficult and complex. In addition, there was something the Emperor did not know at all. In May, an order was made on his behalf - not to print advertisements in the official journals about the sale of peasants without land by landowners. Whether the emperor forgot this order, or he somehow passed unnoticed by him, only later it turned out that Alexander did not know at all that the nobles had such a right to sell people like cattle, separating wives, husbands and children. While abroad, the tsar indignantly denied that such a right existed in Russia. However, having been convinced from one accidental complaint that Russian slavery was indeed slavery, and not a rural idyll, the tsar raised this issue in the State Council, astonishing the honorable members of the highest government institution with his ingenuous ignorance of our then order. The student of La Harpe had to learn something late that he should have thought about earlier.

The secret committee consisted of Count V.P. Kochubey, P.A. Stroganov, N.N. Novosiltsev and Prince Adam Chartorizhsky. Alexander was the youngest. Freethinkers and Republicans, as soon as they had to get involved in real politics, suddenly became very cautious and slow. It was decided that Nilo first study Russia, and then proceed to reforms. Something, however, had to be done immediately. The idea of ​​La Harpe that the law should be higher than the monarch was well understood by Alexander. Therefore, in the summer, a decree was issued on the establishment of a special commission for drawing up injections. In one of the private letters of that time, Alexander wrote: “As soon as I allow myself to break the laws, who then will consider it a duty to observe them? To be higher than them, if I could, then, of course, I would not want to, for I do not recognize a just power on earth that would not flow from the law ... ”All these well-intentioned words did not quite, however, fit in with the practice of the young sovereign. Julitta is going, someday he will, but for now he had to decide everything himself, because there were no immutable laws yet, and from all sides people are rushing, achieving something, offering their services, but you can’t trust anyone, because they are all the same people, what he, Alexander, did not want to have even as lackeys.

Letter from Alexander I to La Harpe, sent in the summer of 1798

On April 5, 1797, Paul was crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, and a month later he set off on a trip to Russia, taking Alexander and Konstantin with him. They visited Smolensk, Mogilev, Minsk, Vilna, Grodno, Mitava, Riga and Narva.

Exactly one year later, the august father and both of his sons set off from Petersburg to Moscow, and from there they went not to the West, as a year before, but to the East - to Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan. Then, through Yaroslavl, bypassing Moscow, the travelers returned to St. Petersburg.

On the second journey, however, as on the first, Paul everywhere, first of all, reviewed the troops. They instilled fear and awe in all involved. The commander of the Ufa regiment, military officer, ally of Suvorov, Colonel L. N. Engelhardt, who was with his regiment in Kazan, wrote that he went to the review with more horror than three years before to storm the Warsaw suburbs.

All that he saw could not but make the strongest and most bleak impression on Alexander. Returning from a trip, he shared his feelings and thoughts with his old friend La Harpe, taking advantage of the fact that one of his associates, Nikolai Nikolayevich Novosiltsev, went to Switzerland. Despite the fact that Novosiltsev was sixteen years older than Alexander, both of them, in terms of their views, upbringing and attitude to life, could be considered people of the same generation. N. N. Novosiltsev, Adam Czartorysky and Count P. A. Stroganov were part of the circle of the so-called "young friends" of Alexander, they all enjoyed his trust.

Alexander handed Novosiltsev a letter to pass on to La Harpe, which sheds light on many conflicts in the future reign of Alexander.

Below you will read the most important fragments of the letter explaining the problem of abdication.

“At last, I can freely enjoy the opportunity to talk with you, my dear friend. How long have I not enjoyed this happiness. This letter will be given to you by Novosiltsev; he is traveling with the sole purpose of seeing you and asking for your advice and instructions on a matter of extreme importance - on ensuring the good of Russia, provided that a free constitution is introduced in it ... In order for you to better understand me, I must go back.

My father, upon his accession to the throne, wanted to change everything decisively. His first steps were brilliant, but subsequent events did not match them. Everything turned upside down at once, and therefore the disorder, which already dominated affairs to a too great extent, only increased.

The military lose almost all their time exclusively in parades. In everything else, there is absolutely no strictly defined plan. Today they are ordering something that will be canceled in a month. No arguments are allowed, except when all the evil has been done. Finally, to put it in one word, the welfare of the state plays no role in the management of affairs: there is only unlimited power, which creates everything topsy-turvy. It is impossible to enumerate all the follies that have been committed here; add to this severity, devoid of the slightest justice, a considerable amount of partiality and complete inexperience in business. The choice of performers is based on favoritism; no merit here. In short, my unfortunate homeland is in a position beyond description. The farmer is offended, trade is constrained, freedom and personal well-being are destroyed.

Here is a picture of modern Russia, and judge by it how much my heart must suffer. I myself, obliged to obey all the minutiae of military service, lose all my time in the performance of the duties of a non-commissioned officer, having absolutely no opportunity to devote myself to my scientific studies, which constituted my favorite pastime; I have now become the most miserable person.

You know my thoughts, tending to leave my homeland. At present, I do not foresee the slightest possibility of carrying them out, and then the unfortunate situation of my Fatherland forces me to give my thoughts a different direction. I thought that if my turn ever came to reign, instead of exiling myself voluntarily, I would do incomparably better, devoting myself to the task of granting freedom to the country and thereby preventing it from becoming in the future the plaything in the hands of some madmen. This made me change my mind about many things, and it seems to me that this would be the best example of a revolution, since it would be produced by a legitimate authority, which would cease to exist as soon as the constitution was completed and the nation had elected its representatives. Here is my thought...

We intend during the present reign to commission the translation into Russian of as many useful books as possible, but only those of them will appear in print, the printing of which will be possible, and we will save the rest for the future; thus, as far as possible, let us begin the dissemination of knowledge and enlightenment of minds. But when my turn comes, then it will be necessary to endeavor, of course, gradually to form a representative body of the people, which, properly directed, would constitute a free constitution, after which my power would completely cease, and I, if Providence would patronize our work, retired. anywhere and would live happy and contented, seeing the prosperity of his homeland and enjoying it. These are my thoughts, my dear friend. God grant that we may ever achieve our goal - to grant freedom to Russia and save it from the encroachments of despotism and tyranny. This is my only desire, and I will willingly devote all my labors and all my life to this goal, which is so dear to me.

#history of Russia #history #people #autocracy #society #Pavel I

The words “government in Russia is autocracy limited by a noose” belong to the writer Germaine de Stael (daughter of the French rich Necker).

On the night of March 11-12, 1801, a group of guards conspirators (N. I. Panin, I. L. Talyzin, the three Zubov brothers, P. A. Palen and L. L. Bennngsen) without much difficulty entered the newly built Mikhailovsky Palace. The autocratic emperor was strangled with a scarf in his own bedchamber, and for order he was hit on the head with a heavy snuffbox. Nothing fundamentally new, if compared, for example, with the murder in 1174. Paul came to the throne on November 6, 1796, he did not rule for another five years.

At the end of the XIV century. in Lithuania, on the orders of his own nephew Jagiello, Prince Keistut (Kestutis), who did a lot to strengthen the united Lithuanian state, was strangled with a golden cord. The very birth of Pavel Petrovich was the subject of controversy. According to the official version, he was born on September 20, 1754 from the marriage of the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Fedorovich (the future Peter III) and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna (the future Catherine II, a man-killer). Many believed that Catherine gave birth to a dead boy, who was replaced in the nearest Chukhon village, whose inhabitants were evicted to Siberia. There are reasons to consider the father of the unlucky Emperor Count Sergei Saltykov, who simply carried out the delicate order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who wanted to have an heir to the throne.

According to Catherine II, for 9 (!) years after the marriage (in 1745), the intimate life of the young couple did not develop due to a rare illness that the heir to the throne suffered from. Due to phimosis and the pain associated with it, Peter could not have intimate relationships at all before the special operation. Catherine II did not allow her son to the throne and even planned to transfer the throne directly to her beloved grandson Alexander. Pavel hated his mother. He had a curious appearance, had a bad temper, in which dreamy self-esteem was combined with suspicion of almost all the people around him.

And this notorious man at the age of 44 receives unlimited power over a vast country. In the ensuing cascade of reasonable, contradictory and completely ridiculous decisions and actions of the miserable son of Catherine the Great, historians are trying to figure it out. Some consider the emperor an unfulfilled reformer, since Paul limited the corvée to three days, personally received complaints from the population, and talked a lot about the need for reforms. Others find him a madcap and a failed tyrant. At the same time, they point to the introduction of the strictest censorship, the closure of private printing houses, complete arbitrariness in rewards and punishments, regulation appearance and behaviour. To answer the question why they were killed, one should try to answer the question: who benefits? Paul I was hated by all the nobility. He suspended the validity of the Charter to the nobility (1785), restored corporal punishment for the nobles. Thousands of people were exiled.

After participating in coalition wars against Napoleonic France (suffice it to recall the brilliant Italian and Swiss campaigns of the invincible in 1799), Paul suddenly made an alliance with Napoleon and began to prepare a joint expedition to India. Economic relations with England, to which almost all Russian grain went, deteriorated, and the nobility could no longer endure this. By the time he came to power, Pavel Petrovich's relationship with his wife was completely upset. Princess of Württemberg Sofnia-Dorotea-Augusta-Lunza, in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna, gave birth to 4 sons and 6 daughters. Paul I believed that after 1788 all children were born to Maria Feodorovna not from him. In his letter to F. V. Rostopchin, he wrote: “To you, as one of the few whom I absolutely trust, I bitterly admit that the official attitude of Tsarevich Alexander depresses me.

Did my numerous enemies inspire him with a vulgar fable about the origin of his father? It is all the more sad that Alexander, Konstantin and Alexandra are my blood children. Others? .. God knows! .. It is wise, having finished with a woman everything in common in life, to have children from her. In my vehemence, I drew up a manifesto "on the recognition of my son Nikolai as illegal," but Bezborodko begged me not to make it public. But still, I’m thinking of sending Nicholas to Württemberg, to the “uncles”, from my eyes: the Hoff-Fourier bastard should not be in the role of the Russian Grand Duke - an enviable fate!

Goff-furrier D. G. Babkin was 12 years younger than Maria Feodorovna and became the fathers of her daughter Anna (1795) and son Nikolai (1796), who became the next emperor from the House of Romanov, without having a drop of blood from the Romanov family. Paul I managed to approve a new law on succession to the throne, according to which the throne was transferred from father to eldest son. At the same time, he constantly talked about his desire to deprive almost all of his children of their rights to the throne. The emperor's fate was sealed. ‘That was the last palace coup in the pre-revolutionary period Russian history. “My father, upon his accession to the throne, wanted to change everything decisively. His first steps were brilliant, but subsequent events did not match them.

Everything is turned upside down at once, and therefore the disorder, which already dominated affairs to a too great extent, only increased even more. The military lose almost all their time exclusively in parades. In everything else, there is absolutely no strictly defined plan. Today they are ordering something that will be canceled in a month. No arguments are allowed, except when all the evil has been done. Finally, to say in one word - the welfare of the state does not play any role in the management of affairs: there is only unlimited power, which creates everything topsy-turvy.

It is impossible to list all the recklessness that was committed here<…>My unfortunate fatherland is in a position beyond description. The farmer is offended, trade is constrained, freedom and personal well-being are destroyed. Here is a picture of modern Russia, and judge by it how much my heart must suffer. I myself, obliged to obey all the little things of military service, lose all my time to perform the duties of a non-commissioned officer, resolutely having no opportunity to devote myself to my scientific studies, which are my favorite pastime: I have now become the most unhappy person, ”son Alexander complained about his father Pavel Petrovich to his tutor Swiss Laharpe, who was already abroad, less than a year after his father's accession.

On the night of March 12, 1801, with the help of a scarf and a snuffbox, however, in the wrong hands, Alexander Pavlovich was able to calm down about his future, but did he become happy from this? Emperors no longer tried to rise above the nobility. They slowed down the adoption of the necessary decisions, maneuvered between the groups standing at the throne, but took a step forward or two steps back only together with the nobility and bureaucracy.

The military lose almost all their time exclusively in parades. In everything else, there is absolutely no strictly defined plan. Today they are ordering what will be canceled in a month ... The well-being of the state does not play any role in the management of affairs: there is only unlimited power that does everything topsy-turvy. It is impossible to enumerate all the recklessness that was committed here ... My unfortunate fatherland is in a position that defies description. The farmer is offended, trade is constrained, freedom and personal well-being are destroyed. Here is a picture of modern Russia, and judge by it how much my heart must suffer ... ".

Alexander's wife Elizaveta wrote to her mother that Paul I ordered the flogging of the officer responsible for supplying the royal kitchen, because the porridge seemed bad to him; he was beaten in front of their eyes with a rather thick stick chosen by the king himself. It hurt, it hurt terribly to see so much injustice and rudeness every day, she complained.

Count Steding wrote to Stockholm: "The fear of the people was added to the anxiety of the nobility ..." And Prince Adam Czartoryski, who spent many years next to Paul and his family, shows us his extremely changeable character: "... the emperor for the rest of the day became pleased or irritated, condescending or strict and even terrible.

The remarkable historian Boris Muravyov wrote: “Every day, Pavel was present at the parade of the horse guards. And if any officer made a mistake, the tsar whipped him with his cane, degraded him, exiled him to Siberia, or immediately and forever forced him to put on the uniform of a simple soldier! For a slip they were punished with a whip, a prison, and they even pulled out their nostrils, cut off their tongue or ears, and subjected them to other tortures ... ".

At last Paul held the much-desired scepter in his hands and had the absolute, limitless power to settle scores with all who despised or shunned him! Finally, the hour of revenge has struck! .. He exiled his opponents and the last favorite of Catherine II; he summoned the people of his late father to the capital. From all over the Empire, as on the day of the Resurrection, the elders who died 35 years ago a civil death, alien to the mores of the court, showed up, all manners of which consisted in an impudent gait and look ...

The tsar dismissed 7 marshals and more than 300 senior officers for petty offenses or simply because he did not like them. Hundreds of civilians thought to be "Jacobins" were persecuted. Pavel reduced the number of "governorships", restored the "colleges". He again declared the nobles subject to corporal punishment, from which Catherine II delivered them in 1785; he reduced corvee and dues, thereby limiting their rights to serfs. Were these decisions prompted by a sense of justice or a display of generosity towards the peasants? No! Exclusively by the hatred he had for the nobility. Even after returning Radishchev and his ilk from exile, he nevertheless sent hundreds of unfortunates to Siberia and reduced half a million Ukrainian tillers to the status of serfs, some of whom he distributed to his supporters. In the newspapers of that time one could read: "... courtyard people are for sale: a girl of 18 years old, who knows how to sew flowers and mend linen, from peasants; a man of 40 years old, a woman of 35 years old, a son of 14 and a girl of 16 years old; they are all of good behavior ; a gray parrot who speaks pure Russian and sings songs, and a bay trotter ... The footman and his wife are immediately given into service, the footman is a tailor, and the wife is a good washerwoman and sews flowers in the vestibule and weaves blonds; both are of good behavior ..".

Paul I withdrew from circulation the famous "Instruction" of the late empress, which she was inspired by the works of Montesquieu and Beccaria. Everything that his mother created during the 34 years of her reign was consigned to oblivion. One faster than the other followed more than 500 contradictory and mostly unenforceable laws of the new king. He, who considered himself the vicar of God on earth, behaved like a tyrant. Under the blows of his club, Russia became hell.

Passionately carried away, like his father, by the army, Paul I especially followed what is called "drill" (drilling), and the uniforms of his soldiers. In less than 5 years, he changed the uniforms of the Horse Guards nine times! Old Marshal Suvorov didn't care about anything new form, cocked hats, wigs, pigtails in the Prussian manner, which the soldiers were required to wear. "Powder is not gunpowder, a buckle is not a cannon, a scythe is not a cleaver, and I am not a German, but a natural hare," he said. For expressing dissatisfaction, he was exiled to his village.

The new despot, who, along with everyone else, beat off a step in public ceremonies, extended his "concern" to civilians: he forced them to cut their hair, lengthen too short a dress, banned vests that reminded him of the hated French Revolution. Everyone - men and women - had to immediately get out of their carriages when they had the unprecedented honor of meeting His Royal Majesty, and greet Him in a deep bow, standing even in the mud, even in a puddle, even in the snow. And woe to the disobedient or absent-minded - the police grabbed them and severely punished them. Soon the streets of the capital began to empty at the hour of the royal walk. But the soldiers began to distribute bread, meat, vodka, money more often. Punishments, floggings, arrests, and even exile hit mainly the officers; for this, a dull button was enough, the leg raised out of tune when marching!

Like a real theater director, Paul I led numerous rehearsals for official ceremonies. At the same time, in order to save money, he canceled balls and ordered the replacement of chandeliers in palaces with candles. In order for the order to be absolutely impeccable, he resorted to the secular talents and experience of his servant-barber, raising him to the dignity of a count and appointing him a personal adviser, and then a chief master of the horse! During rare receptions at court, the despot showed his tongue to someone he did not like, sent the marshal, officer or lackey to convey to him an insulting curse. Once he "kindly" informed the Minister of Bavaria that he was a "brute"! Punishments rained down. Those who dared to defend themselves faced resignation, exile, exile to Siberia...

The number of exiles increased with frightening speed, everywhere - at court, in cities, in the army, in the most remote corners of the Empire - fear reigned. No one knew what awaited him tomorrow. Siberia was inhabited by extraordinary people. Fyodor Golovkin wrote that Pavel exiled not those who were most guilty - no one even thought of becoming disobedient - but the calmest, least servile. A few years later, not a single person, not a single family would be found in St. Petersburg in the state in which Catherine left them when she died.

Was it different foreign policy Paul I with the same features as the internal one? .. He stopped the war against Persia, which he received as a "legacy" from Catherine II. He informed the foreign courts about Russia's commitment to peace, and offered to restore the thrones overturned by the French Revolution. Foreign books and clothes were forbidden to them, and the border was closed. In December 1798 he created a "second coalition" with England, Austria and Turkey. He published in the newspapers a challenge to other sovereigns: let him who refuses to enter into an alliance with Russia come to settle the dispute in a joust! He sent the Black Sea squadron of Admiral Ushakov to the Aegean Sea, which occupied the Ionian Islands, landed troops in southern Italy and captured Rome, occupied by the French, in 1799. Suvorov, eager to measure his strength with Bonaparte, was returned from exile. At the head of the Russian and Austrian troops, he occupied Turin and Milan, defeated the French generals Moreau, Joubert and MacDonald. He then crossed the Alps at St. Gotthard, but the defeat of the armies of Korsakov and the Prince de Conde forced him to retreat and take up winter quarters in Bavaria.

Meanwhile, disputes arose between Russia and Austria. In addition, the British refused to transfer the island of Malta to Russia, which caused the fury of Paul I, who by that time had accepted the title of Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. And then, abruptly changing course, the king withdrew his armies and concluded the "Act of Armed Neutrality" with Sweden, Prussia and Denmark (January 1801) in order to block the British from entering the Baltic Sea and preserve the inviolability of ships flying a neutral flag. He expelled Louis XVIII and his small court from Mitava (Jelgava), the then capital of Russian Courland, and canceled the payment of a pension of 200 thousand rubles assigned to him. His wild hatred of Bonaparte turned into passionate adoration; complete contempt gave way to ardent admiration! .. Deftly taking advantage of this, Bonaparte, without demanding payment of expenses and without setting any conditions, sent the Russian officers and soldiers held in French captivity to their homeland.

The Russian Tsar Alexander Pavlovich entered the world historiography as the winner of the French emperor Napoleon I and the champion of peace in Europe. He took part in (1814-15), advocated the creation of the Holy Alliance (1815) and took part in subsequent conferences.

Born December 23, 1777 in St. Petersburg. Alexander Pavlovich was the first child of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna. His grandmother, the empress regnant (Great), took him from his parents (he was removed from parental care) and raised him herself to prepare him for succession. She was determined to disinherit her own son Paul, who repelled her with his instability.

Catherine invited Denis Diderot, an encyclopedist, to become Alexander's personal mentor. When he refused, she chose Frederick-Cesar La Harp, a Swiss republican and educator who instilled in his student a sincere affection for philosophy.

In Gatchina, Alexander received military training under the leadership of a strong and tough officer Alexei Arakcheev. Alexander was fluent in English and excellent French, but did not know Russian. His education was continued after he was 16 years old, when his grandmother gave him in marriage to Princess Louise of Baden-Durlach, who was 14 years old, in 1793. The girl, who became Elizaveta Alekseevna, was loved by everyone except her husband.

Catherine had already written a manifesto that deprived her son of his rights and appointed her grandson as heir to the throne when she died suddenly on November 17, 1796. Alexander, who knew about this, did not dare to publish the manifesto and Paul became emperor.

Continuity

At the court of Catherine II, Alexander was preparing to become her successor. Since the relationship between Catherine and her son Paul was hostile, she tried to change Alexander's succession. Paul reigned for 5 years. On March 11, 1801, a palace uprising led to the assassination of Paul with the assistance of Alexander. None of the participants in the conspiracy was tried or officially punished.

Ascension to the throne

Alexander became king the next day. The conspirators revealed the secret to him, assuring him that they would not kill his father, but would only demand that he renounce. After the darkness in which Pavel plunged Russia, he, with four friends, from noble families, but driven by liberal ideas - Prince Adam Czartorysky, Count Pavel Stroganov, Count Viktor Kochubey and Nikolai Vasiltsev - formed a private committee (Tacit Committee). Its avowed purpose was to make "good laws, which are the source of the welfare of the nation".

Domestic politics

Ongoing reforms:

Early foreign policy

Plan for the creation of a European federation:

Alexander was forced to declare war on Napoleon after his coronation in 1804. He hoped for the help of the Austrian generals. But at Austerlitz, in Moravia, they were defeated. December 2, 1805 Emperor Francis II signs a peace treaty with France. In 1806, Napoleon defeated Prussia at Jena and Auerstedt. Alexander I rushed to help a friend. The battles were in East Prussia. After a partial success in Eylau, the Russian army was destroyed in Friedland on June 14, 1807. Then the two emperors met (June 25) on a raft in the middle of the Neman near Tilsit (now Sovetsk). Alexander accepted all the conditions of the winner:

• break with England;
• join the Continental System to isolate and weaken Great Britain;
• recognize the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

In response, Napoleon gave him the freedom to expand at the expense of Sweden and Turkey.

From Tilsit to the Invasion of 1812

The bulk of the Russians were irritated and humiliated by the Tilsit Union. Alexander's entourage did not want to stop trading with England. He reformed and strengthened his own troops. The popularity of the monarch was falling, all segments of the population accused him of a useless sacrifice of Russian blood and the ruin of the country. During the war of 1809 between France and Austria, Alexander, despite his promises, did not get involved in the affairs of Napoleon, but only feigned a military offensive. In vain he pressed Napoleon for a promise not to establish a sovereign Kingdom of Poland. Napoleon annexed German lands in the Baltic, including the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, a fief of the Tsar's son-in-law. The two monarchs were preparing for war.

Defeat of Napoleon

Napoleon and his famous army of 600,000 broke into Russia on June 24, 1812. Subsequently, the bloody French entered deserted and burning Moscow. Alexander did not ask for a peace treaty. He appointed Kutuzov commander in chief. Kutuzov pursued the enemy and drove him out of the country. Alexander did not want peace until he reached Paris in March 1814. Napoleon abdicated. Alexander became the most powerful monarch in Europe. He inspired the convening of the greatest International Congress in history at Vienna in the autumn of 1814. When Napoleon returned from exile in Elba and regained his throne, the war resumed, ending with his final defeat on June 18, 1815, at Waterloo.

last decade

The king subsequently became a religious mystic and professed a non-dogmatic "universal religion" under strong influence Quaker and Moravian beliefs. He received Poland, founded it as a kingdom with him. After returning home, he no longer thought about reforms. After the Second Treaty of Paris, inspired by piety, he concluded Holy Union which was to bring peace based on Christian love for the monarchs and peoples of Europe. The monarchs of this alliance showed themselves as champions of despotism and defenders of the armed order.

Alexander I died on December 1, 1825 in Taganrog. The sudden death of the tsar, his mysticism, the bewilderment and blunders of his entourage - all this went into the creation of the legend of his "departure" for the Siberian retreat. The refusal to open the royal tomb after his death only deepened the mystery.

The reign of Alexander I in Russian historiography