Emperor Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine the Great from her only son Pavel Petrovich and the German princess Sophia of Württemberg, in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna. He was born in St. Petersburg on December 25, 1777. Named after Alexander Nevsky, the newborn Tsarevich was immediately taken away from his parents and brought up under the supervision of a royal grandmother, which greatly influenced the political views of the future autocrat.
Alexander's entire childhood passed under the control of the reigning grandmother, he almost did not communicate with his parents, however, despite this, he, like Father Pavel, loved and was well versed in military affairs. The tsarevich served in active service in Gatchina, at the age of 19 he was promoted to colonel.
The Tsarevich possessed insight, quickly grasped new knowledge and learned with pleasure. It was in him, and not in her son Paul, that Catherine the Great saw the future Russian emperor, but she could not put him on the throne, bypassing her father.
At the age of 20, he became Governor-General of St. Petersburg and the chief of the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment. A year later, he begins to sit in the Senate.
Alexander was critical of the policies pursued by his father, Emperor Paul, so he became involved in a conspiracy to remove the emperor from the throne and the accession of Alexander. However, the condition of the Tsarevich was the preservation of the life of his father, therefore the violent death of the latter brought the Tsarevich a feeling of guilt for life.
The personal life of Alexander I was very eventful. The crown prince's marriage began early - at the age of 16 he was married to the fourteen-year-old princess of Baden, Louise Maria Augusta, who changed her name in Orthodoxy, becoming Elizaveta Alekseevna. The newlyweds were very suitable for each other, for which among the courtiers they received the nicknames Cupid and Psyche. In the first years of marriage, the relationship between the spouses was very tender and touching, the Grand Duchess was very loved and respected at court by everyone except her mother-in-law Maria Feodorovna. However, the warm relations in the family soon changed to cool ones - the newlyweds had too different characters, besides, Alexander Pavlovich often cheated on his wife.
The wife of Alexander I was distinguished by modesty, did not like luxury, was engaged in charity work, balls and social events, she preferred walking and reading books.
For almost six years, the marriage of the Grand Duke did not bear fruit, and only in 1799 did Alexander I have children. The Grand Duchess gave birth to a daughter, Maria Alexandrovna. The birth of the baby led to an intra-family scandal in the imperial family. Alexander's mother hinted that the child was not born from the Tsarevich, but from Prince Czartoryski, in an affair with whom she suspected her daughter-in-law. In addition, the girl was born a brunette, and both parents were blond. Emperor Paul also hinted at betrayal of his daughter-in-law. Tsarevich Alexander himself recognized his daughter and never spoke about the possible betrayal of his wife. The happiness of fatherhood was short-lived, the Grand Duchess Maria lived for a little over a year and died in 1800. The death of her daughter briefly reconciled and brought the spouses closer.
Numerous novels more and more alienated the crowned spouses, Alexander, without hiding, cohabited with Maria Naryshkina, and Empress Elizabeth, in 1803, began an affair with Alexy Okhotnikov. In 1806, the wife of Alexander I gave birth to a daughter, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, despite the fact that the spouses had not lived together for several years, the emperor recognized the daughter as his, which made the girl the first in line to the Russian throne. The children of Alexander I did not please him for long. The second daughter died at the age of 18 months. After the death of Princess Elizabeth, the relationship of the married couple became even cooler.
Married life with largely did not work out because of Alexander's fifteen-year relationship with the daughter of the Polish aristocrat M. Naryshkina, before Chetvertinskaya's marriage. Alexander did not hide this connection, his family and all the courtiers knew about it, moreover, Maria Naryshkina herself at every opportunity tried to prick the emperor's wife, hinting at an affair with Alexander. Over the years of the love affair, Alexander was credited with the paternity of five of Naryshkina's six children:
In 1813, the emperor parted with Naryshkina, as he suspected her in connection with another man. The emperor suspected that Emmanuel Naryshkin was not his son. After parting, the former lovers remained on friendly terms. Of all the children of Mary and Alexander I, Sofya Naryshkina lived the longest. She died at 16, on the eve of her wedding.
In addition to children from Maria Naryshkina, Emperor Alexander had other favorites.
The paternity of the last four children among researchers of the emperor's biography remains controversial. Some historians doubt at all whether Alexander I had children.
Having ascended the throne in March 1801, Alexander I Pavlovich proclaimed that he would continue the policy of his grandmother Catherine the Great. In addition to the title of the Russian emperor, Alexander was titled Tsar of Poland from 1815, Grand Duke of Finland from 1801, and Protector of the Order of Malta from 1801.
Alexander I (from 1801 to 1825) began his reign with the development of radical reforms. The Emperor abolished the Secret Expedition, prohibited the use of torture against prisoners, allowed books to be imported from abroad and opened private printing houses in the country.
Alexander took the first step towards the abolition of serfdom by issuing a decree "On free farmers" and introduced a ban on the sale of peasants without land, but these measures did not make any special changes.
Alexander's reforms in the education system were more fruitful. A clear gradation of educational institutions was introduced according to the level of educational programs, so there were county and parish schools, provincial gymnasiums and colleges, universities. During 1804-1810. Kazan and Kharkov universities were opened, a pedagogical institute was opened in St. Petersburg, a privileged Tsarskoye Selo lyceum, and the Academy of Sciences was restored in the capital.
From the first days of his reign, the emperor surrounded himself with young educated people with progressive views. One of these was the lawyer Speransky, it was under his leadership that the Peter's collegia in the Ministry were reformed. Speransky also began developing a project for the reorganization of the empire, which provided for the separation of powers and the creation of an elected representative body. Thus, the monarchy would be transformed into a constitutional one, but the reform met with opposition from the political and aristocratic leaders, so it was not carried out.
During the reign of Alexander I, the history of Russia changed dramatically. The emperor was active in domestic politics at the beginning of his reign, but after 1815 they began to decline. In addition, each of his reforms met with fierce resistance from the Russian nobility. Since that time, there have been no significant transformations in the Russian Empire. In 1821-1822, a secret police was established in the army, secret organizations and Masonic lodges were banned.
The exceptions were the western provinces of the empire. In 1815, Alexander I granted the Polish kingdom a constitution, according to which Poland became a hereditary monarchy within Russia. In Poland, the bicameral Sejm was preserved, which, together with the king, was the legislative body. The constitution was liberal in nature and in many ways resembled the French Charter and the Constitution of England. Also in Finland, the implementation of the constitutional law of 1772 was guaranteed, and the peasants of the Baltic were freed from serfdom.
After the victory over Napoleon, Alexander saw that the country needed a military reform, so in 1815, Minister of War Arakcheev was instructed to develop its project. It implied the creation of military settlements as a new military-agricultural class, which would complete the army on a permanent basis. The first such settlements were introduced in the Kherson and Novgorod provinces.
The reign of Alexander I left its mark on foreign policy as well. In the first year of his reign, he concluded peace treaties with England and France, and in 1805-1807 became a member of the French emperor Napoleon. The defeat at Austerlitz aggravated the position of Russia, which led to the signing of the Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon in June 1807, which implied the creation of a defensive alliance between France and Russia.
More successful was the Russian-Turkish confrontation in 1806-1812, which ended with the signing of the Brest Peace Treaty, according to which Bessarabia ceded to Russia.
The war with Sweden in 1808-1809 ended with the victory of Russia; according to a peace treaty, the empire received Finland and the Aland Islands.
Also, during the reign of Alexander during the Russian-Persian war, Azerbaijan, Imereti, Guria, Mengrelia and Abkhazia were annexed to the empire. The empire received the right to have its own Caspian fleet. Earlier, in 1801, Georgia became part of Russia, and in 1815 - the Duchy of Warsaw.
However, the greatest victory of Alexander is the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, therefore it was he who led the years 1813-1814. In March 1814, the Emperor of Russia entered Paris at the head of the coalition armies, he also became one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress to establish a new order in Europe. The popularity of the Russian emperor was colossal; in 1819 he became the godfather of the future Queen of England Victoria.
According to the official version, Emperor Alexander I Romanov died on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog from complications of brain inflammation. Such an early death of the emperor caused a lot of rumors and legends.
In 1825, the health of the emperor's wife sharply deteriorated, the doctors advised the southern climate, it was decided to go to Taganrog, the emperor decided to accompany his wife, relations with whom had become very warm in recent years.
While in the south, the emperor visited Novocherkassk and the Crimea, on the way he caught a bad cold and died. Alexander was in good health and never got sick, so the death of the 48-year-old emperor became suspicious for many, and many considered his unexpected desire to accompany the empress on a trip suspicious too. In addition, the body of the king was not shown to the people before the burial, the farewell took place with a closed coffin. Even more rumors were generated by the imminent death of the emperor's wife - Elizabeth died six months later.
In the years 1830-1840. the deceased tsar began to be identified with a certain old man Fyodor Kuzmich, who in his features resembled the emperor, besides, he possessed excellent manners that were not characteristic of a simple vagabond. There were rumors among the population that the emperor's double was buried, and the tsar himself lived under the name of the elder until 1864, while the Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna herself was also identified with the hermit Vera the Silencer.
The question of whether Elder Fyodor Kuzmich and Alexander are one person has not yet been clarified, only genetic examination can put all the "i" s.
Alexander I Pavlovich (1777-1825). Russian Emperor, son of Emperor Paul I and Princess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg-Mempelgard (baptized Maria Fedorovna), grandson of Catherine II.
Alexander, born of the second marriage of Emperor Paul I, was a long-awaited child, since his birth provided a direct succession to the throne.
From the first days after the birth of the heir, Catherine II took her grandson from her parents and herself took up his upbringing. For this, the best teachers were involved, including the Swiss Frederic Cesar de Lagarpe, who was an adherent of the ideas of cosmopolitanism, abstract humanism and universal justice divorced from real life. The future emperor took these ideas as immutable truths and remained in their captivity for almost his entire life.
On the night of March 11-12, 1801, as a result of a conspiracy organized by British diplomacy, Emperor Paul I was killed and the throne passed to Alexander. Alexander's involvement in the conspiracy is beyond doubt. The death of his father shocked Alexander, since he had no doubt that the removal of Paul I from power would be limited to his abdication. The indirect sin of parricide weighed heavily on the soul of Alexander Pavlovich for all subsequent years.
On March 12, 1801, Alexander I became the Russian emperor. Ascending the throne, he proclaimed that he would rule the country "according to the laws and according to the heart of our deceased Empress Catherine the Great."
Alexander I began his reign with the preparation of a series of radical reforms. Speransky became the inspirer and direct developer of these reforms. The reforms mainly concerned the social sphere: the foundations of non-class education were laid, ministries were created instead of the Collegiums of Peter I, where the one-man command of ministers was introduced and their personal responsibility was envisaged, the State Council (the highest legislative body) was established. The decree on free farmers was of particular importance. According to this law, for the first time in the history of Russia, it was allowed to release peasants free for ransom.
Foreign policy of Alexander I was no less active. In 1805, Russia again entered (in the third in a row) anti-French coalition with England, Turkey and Austria. The defeat of the coalition forces at Austerlitz put an end to this alliance and put Russia in a very difficult position. The fame of Napoleon's invincibility thundered all over the world. One by one the allies betrayed Alexander I. Under these conditions, in Tilsit on June 13-14, 1807, a meeting between Alexander I and Napoleon took place, where the Act on the offensive and defensive alliance of Russia and France was signed.
In 1801 Georgia and a number of Transcaucasian provinces voluntarily joined Russia. Russia received the exclusive right to have its own military fleet in the Caspian Sea. On the southern borders, from 1806 to 1812, Russia fought against an old enemy - Turkey. At the last stage of the war, Field Marshal M. Kutuzov was at the head of the Russian army. He managed to surround the Turkish army and issue an ultimatum. The ultimatum was accepted by the Turkish side in view of the hopelessness of the situation. According to the Brest Peace Treaty, Bessarabia with the fortresses Khotin, Bendery, Izmail, Akkerman retreated to Russia.
In the north, from 1808 to 1809, there was a war with Sweden. In March 1809, the troops of Field Marshal M. Barclay de Tolly made a campaign on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia to the Aland Islands and Stockholm. Sweden urgently asked for peace. According to the peace treaty signed in Friedrichsgam, Finland and the Aland Islands retreated to Russia.
Patriotic War of 1812
On June 12, 1812, the huge Napoleonic army, which included the troops of most European countries, which is why it was nicknamed "the army of twelve languages", crossed the borders of Russia and began an offensive on Moscow. Alexander I entrusted the waging of the war with Napoleon to Field Marshal General Barclay de Tolly and Bagration, and at a critical moment, when the Russian troops left Smolensk, appointed Field Marshal M. Kutuzov as commander-in-chief.
The decisive battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 was the battle near the village of Borodino (110 km west of Moscow). During this battle, the forces of Napoleon's army were undermined. The Russian army inflicted irreparable losses on the enemy - over 58 thousand people, or 43% of the entire composition of the forces participating in the battle. But the Russian army also lost 44 thousand killed and wounded (including 23 generals). Napoleon's goal - the complete defeat of the Russian army - was not achieved. “Of all my battles,” Napoleon wrote later, “the most terrible is the one I gave near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy to win, while the Russians acquired the right to be invincible. "
Considering the heavy losses of the Russian army, Kutuzov, at a military council in Fili, decided to leave Moscow without a fight. Kutuzov argued this decision as follows: "Leaving Moscow, we will keep the army, having lost the army, we will lose both Moscow and Russia." On September 2, 1812, Russian troops left Moscow without a fight, and half of the Moscow population (about 100,000 people) left with them. From the first day of the entry of Napoleon's troops, fires began in Moscow. The fire destroyed up to 75% of houses, burned down shopping stalls, shops, factories, the Kremlin suffered.
At this time, near the village of Tarutino (80 km south of Moscow), Kutuzov took measures to replenish the army and procure everything necessary to continue the war. A partisan movement developed in the rear of the French troops. Partisan detachments of Davydov, Dorokhov, Seslavin and others controlled all the roads leading to Moscow. Torn away from their rear, Napoleon's army, virtually locked up in Moscow, began to starve.
Attempts by Napoleon to conclude peace were unsuccessful, Alexander I rejected all negotiations on an armistice. Under these conditions, Napoleon had only one way out: to leave Moscow and retreat to the western borders of Russia in order to spend the winter there and resume the struggle in 1813.
On October 7, the 110,000-strong French army left Moscow and moved towards Kaluga. But Kutuzov blocked Napoleon's path at Maloyaroslavets, forcing him to retreat along the war-ravaged Smolensk road, where the retreating was subjected to continuous attacks by the Cossack detachments of Ataman Davydov and partisans. Lack of food for soldiers, forage for horses, the onset of cold weather led to the rapid degradation of the French army. Exhausted, frostbitten, feeding on fallen horses, the French retreated with little or no resistance. On November 16, Napoleon, leaving his army to the mercy of fate, crossed the river. Berezin and fled from Russia. The "Grand French Army" as an organized military force ceased to exist.
The catastrophe of the French army in Russia put Alexander I at the head of the anti-Napoleonic coalition. England, Prussia, Austria and a number of other states hastened to join it. On March 31, 1814, the emperor entered Paris at the head of the Russian army. At the Vienna Congress of the victorious powers (1815), the Russian emperor became the head of the Holy Alliance, whose main task was to collectively suppress any antimonarchist (revolutionary) movements in Europe.
Under pressure from Alexander I, Louis XVIII, who was enthroned to the French throne, including by Russian bayonets, was soon forced to give his subjects a constitutional charter. But the point here, according to the Russian historian V. V. Degoev, “is not only in the liberal fantasies of the tsar, as K. Metternich thought, but also in the very pragmatic desire to see France as a loyal partner of Russia in her foreign policy over time”. However, according to the Decembrist I. D. Yakushkin, "the charter of Louis XVIII enabled the French to continue the work they had begun in the year 89".
Russia's participation in the creation of the Holy Alliance marked the final transition of the emperor from liberalism to conservatism and the idea of an unlimited monarchy.
Since 1816, military settlements began to be created in Russia - a special organization of troops, with the goal of reducing state spending on the army. Here the soldiers combined military service with farming. The system of military settlements was headed by the general of artillery Arakcheev. By this time, he was already an all-powerful temporary worker in Russia, fully justifying his coat of arms motto "Betrayed without flattery." Alexander I handed over the conduct of all internal affairs to Arakcheev, and he himself preferred to deal with foreign policy.
The counter-reforms carried out in the second half of the reign of Alexander I were radical. The Ministry of Public Education was transformed into the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs, persecution of the press began, and "liberal professors" were expelled from St. Petersburg University. In 1821 a secret police was created, in 1822 all secret societies were banned, and subscriptions were collected from all military and civilians not to participate in such. This era was named in the history of "Arakcheevschina".
Despite the measures taken, conspiracies were repeatedly created in the country with the aim of overthrowing the emperor. The most serious preparations were made for the autumn of 1825 - the winter of 1826. The Emperor knew about this, but did not take any preventive measures. In August 1825, Alexander I left for Taganrog to treat his wife, who was sick with consumption, but unexpectedly fell ill and died on November 19, 1825.
There is a legend among the people that the emperor did not die, but went to Siberia, where he lived under the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich until his death in 1864 in Tomsk. During the autopsy, the tomb of Alexander I in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress turned out to be empty. However, an urn with ashes was found at the feet of the coffin of his wife Elizaveta Alekseevna. According to the most widespread version, Alexander I, inclined to mysticism, wanted by his departure to Siberia and the life of an ascetic elder to atone for the death of his father Paul I, in the conspiracy against whom he was directly involved.
The sudden mysterious death of Emperor Alexander I left Russia without a legitimate heir to the throne. In accordance with the Law on Succession to the throne, the second oldest son of Paul I, Constantine, was supposed to ascend, but he renounced the imperial crown, and the third son of Paul I, Nicholas I, ascended the throne.
General S. A. Tuchkov noted in his "Notes" for the years 1766-1808: Although the Emperor Alexander said in his manifesto, published upon his accession to the throne, that he would follow in everything in the footsteps of the great Catherine, but politics, the internal government of the state and the organization of troops - everything was altered. Everyone knows with what inconsistency Alexander I followed either the suggestions of the English cabinet or the will of Napoleon. On the part of the government, he showed at the beginning a great penchant for liberties and constitution, but this was the same mask. The spirit of his despotism was revealed in the army, which many considered at first necessary for maintaining discipline. ... under Alexander, his courtyard became almost completely like a soldier's barracks ... Emperor Alexander showed a penchant for mystical books, societies and individuals who were engaged in this.
The historian A.I. Turgenev (brother of one of the main Decembrists N.I. Turgenev) called Alexander I "A republican in words and an autocrat in deeds" and believed that "Paul's despotism is better than latent and changeable despotism" Alexandra.
In a marriage with Princess Louise (Elizaveta Alekseevna), Alexander I had two daughters: Maria and Elizabeth (both died in infancy). The emperor was more than cold with his wife, despite the fact that contemporaries called Elizaveta Alekseevna the most beautiful empress of all times and peoples. The relationship between the Empress and A.S. Pushkin remained a secret. Only recently were documents published indicating that from the age of 14, Pushkin was in love with the emperor's wife, and she reciprocated. Not being Russian by blood, Elizaveta Alekseevna carried her love for Russia through her whole life. In 1812, in connection with the invasion of Napoleon, she was asked to leave for England, but the Empress replied: "I am Russian, and I will die with the Russians."
The entire imperial court adored its mistress, and only mother Alexandra Maria Feodorovna, nicknamed "cast-iron" for her cruelty and deceit, hated her daughter-in-law. The widow of Paul I could not forgive Elizaveta Alekseevna for interference in the events that followed the death of her husband. Upon learning of the death of Paul I, Maria Feodorovna demanded the crown for herself, and Alexander I was inclined to abdicate. But at the most critical moment Elizaveta Alekseevna exclaimed: “Madame! Russia is tired of the power of a fat German woman. Let her rejoice in the young king. "
Since 1804, Alexander I cohabited with Princess M. Naryshkina, who gave birth to several children to the emperor. However, even then the legal spouse remained the most loyal person to Alexander I. Elizaveta Alekseevna was repeatedly offered to carry out a coup d'etat and ascend the throne. Given her popularity, it was easy to do this (even the Society of Elizabeth's Friends emerged). However, Elizaveta Alekseevna stubbornly refused power.
Alexander I the Blessed
Battles and victories
Russian emperor, winner of Napoleon. Alexander I gracefully rejected the official command of the Russian troops: “All people are ambitious; I admit frankly that I am no less ambitious ... But when I think how little experience I am in the art of war ... in spite of my ambition, I am ready to willingly sacrifice my glory for the good of the army. " And after the victory over Bonaparte he summed up: "God sent down power and victory to me so that I could bring peace and tranquility to the universe."
Not as a commander, but as the initiator of a relentless, inexorable struggle and the organizer of the victory over the greatest commander of the era - this is how Alexander I strove to go down in history.
The eldest son of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich (later Emperor Paul I) and his second wife Maria Feodorovna, who went down in history as Alexander I Pavlovich the Blessed, was born on December 12 (23), 1777. He was brought up in the traditions of the European Enlightenment, which instilled in him faith in the theory of social contract, into the initially good human nature, into the perniciousness of autocracy, the natural equality of all people and the beneficialness of public freedoms ... All these signs of an enlightened humanist coexisted well in the emperor with a jealous, painfully proud attitude towards autocratic power and himself as its bearer.
The future emperor received a fairly versatile education, studied history and literature, geography, mathematics, botany, physics, state and political sciences, knew foreign languages - French, German, English, even Latin. At the same time, significant gaps remained in Alexander's knowledge; in particular, in the field of military sciences, he, like many of his predecessors and successors on the Russian throne, was strongly associated with a passion for the purely external side of military affairs.
Catherine II named one of her grandsons Constantine in honor of Constantine the Great, and the other - Alexander in honor of Alexander Nevsky. This choice of names expressed the hope that Constantine would free Constantinople from the Turks, and the newly-minted Alexander the Great would become the sovereign of a new empire that swept Europe and Asia.
He grew up at the intellectual court of Catherine the Great. His tutor, the Swiss F. Laharpe, introduced him to the principles of humanity of Rousseau, the military teacher Count N.I. Saltykov - with the traditions of the Russian aristocracy, his father passed on to him his passion for the military parade. Catherine II considered her son Paul unable to take the throne and planned to erect her grandson Alexander on him.
Alexander I. 1802
Elizaveta Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I
Alexander owed many of his character traits to his grandmother, who took his son away from his mother and made him live in Tsarskoe Selo, near her, far from his parents, who lived in their palaces (in Pavlovsk and Gatchina) and rarely appeared at the “big court”. However, the child, as can be seen from all the reviews about him, was an affectionate and gentle boy, so tinkering with him for the royal grandmother was a great pleasure.
For some time he served in the Gatchina troops formed by his father; here he developed deafness of the left ear "from the strong hum of the cannons."
“All people are ambitious; I confess frankly that I am no less ambitious ... But when I think how little experience I am in the art of war, in comparison with my enemy, and that, despite my good will, I can make a mistake, from which the precious blood of my children will be shed , then, in spite of my ambition, I am ready to willingly sacrifice my glory for the good of the army. Let those who are more worthy of them reap their laurels. "
Alexander I
Immediately after the accession of Emperor Paul, Alexander Pavlovich was promoted to colonel of the guard on November 7, 1796. In 1797, Alexander was appointed the St. Petersburg military governor, chief of the Semyonovsky guards regiment, commander of the capital garrison, chairman of the food supply commission, and performed a number of other duties. From 1798, he also chaired the War Department, and from the next year he sat in the Senate.
12 (24 March) 1801, after the assassination of his father Paul I, became the next emperor of All Russia. The solemn ceremony of coronation took place on 15 (27 September) 180] in Moscow. Alexander I also became the first king of Poland (from 1815) and the first Grand Duke of Finland (from 1809).
17 (28) September 1793 Great Prince. Alexander Pavlovich married the Baden princess Louise, who adopted the name of Elizaveta Alekseevna (1779-1826) in Orthodoxy, from whom he had two daughters who died in early childhood. Lacking hope for his own legitimate offspring, he will eventually transfer the right to inherit the throne to his brother Nikolai Pavlovich.
In the manifesto of March 12, 1801, the new emperor assumed the obligation to rule the people "according to the laws and according to the heart of the reposed august grandmother of our empress Empress Catherine the Great in Bose." In decrees, as well as in private conversations, the emperor expressed the basic rule by which he would be guided: in place of personal arbitrariness, actively establish strict legality. The emperor more than once pointed out the main flaw suffered by the Russian state order. He called this defect "the arbitrariness of our government." To eliminate it, it was necessary to develop fundamental laws, which were almost nonexistent in Russia. It was in this direction that the transformative experiments of the first years were carried out.
Within a month, Alexander returned to the service all those previously dismissed by Pavel, lifted the ban on the import of various goods and products into Russia (including books and notes), declared an amnesty for the fugitives, restored the noble elections, etc. On April 2, 1801, they were the letters of gratitude to the nobility and cities were restored, the ominous Secret Chancellery, an organ of political investigation, was liquidated.
The military activities of Alexander I are primarily associated with the European direction of Russian foreign policy, but during his reign the empire waged victorious wars in several directions.
At first, Alexander I maneuvered in foreign policy between Great Britain and France. In 1805-1807. participated in anti-French coalitions. In 1807-1812. in Russian foreign policy, there was a temporary rapprochement with Napoleonic France.
Successful wars with Iran (1804-1813), Turkey (1804-1812), Sweden (1808-1809), which increased the territory of the empire, are associated with the name and reign of Alexander I. Eastern Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812), part of the former Poland (the so-called Duchy of Warsaw, 1815) were annexed to Russia. The main foreign policy events of his reign were, of course, the unsuccessful participation for Russia in the 3rd (1805-1806) and 4th (1807) anti-French coalitions, and then - the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813– 1814, ending with the defeat of Napoleon and the destruction of Napoleonic France. Alexander I led the anti-French coalition of European powers (1813–1814). He was one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress (1814-1815), initiators and organizers of the Holy Alliance (1815-1854). In addition, it was Alexander who initiated the creation and strengthening of the system of military settlements, which had become a previously unknown innovation in the training and management of military personnel.
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From the book Jews, Christianity, Russia. From prophets to general secretaries the author Kats Alexander Semyonovich From the book St. Petersburg. Autobiography the author Kirill Mikhailovich KorolevRock club and cafe "Saigon", 1980s Alexander Bashlachev, Alexander Zhitinsky, Leonid Sivoedov, Sergei Korovin One can argue to the point of hoarseness about how much the phenomenon, which is usually called "Russian rock", musically corresponds to the real, classical
From the book of Gaddafi. Chronicle of the murder the author Egorin Anatoly ZakharovichJacob's accursed lineage and blessed caravan Who among us has not heard of Jacob's family? More precisely, who does not honor the race of Jacob? Why not, when people all over the world are proud to be the descendants of Jacob, peace be upon him, and his son Joseph, the prophet of God, overseeing
From the book I get to know the world. History of the Russian tsars the author Istomin Sergey VitalievichEmperor Alexander I - Blessed Years of life 1777-1825 Years of reign 1801-1825 Father - Paul I Petrovich, Emperor of All Russia. Mother - in Orthodoxy Maria Fedorovna, before the adoption of Orthodoxy - Sophia-Dorothea, Princess of Württemberg-Stuttgart.
From the book Rus and its autocrats the author Anishkin Valery GeorgievichALEXANDER I PAULOVICH BLESSED (b. 1777 - d. 1825) Russian Emperor (1801-1825). The eldest son of Paul I. The upbringing of Alexander I was led by his grandmother Catherine II. He ascended the throne after the assassination of Paul I as a result of a conspiracy. He was married (1793) to the daughter of the Margrave of Baden
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Elizaveta Alekseevna (Louise Badenskaya) |
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Maria Alexandrovna (1799-1800) Elizaveta Alexandrovna (1806-1808) |
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Accession to the throne
Unspoken committee
State Council
Holy Synod
Ministerial reform
Financial reform
Education reform
Peasant liberation projects
Military settlements
Forms of opposition: unrest in the army, noble secret societies, public opinion
Foreign policy
Franco-Russian union
Patriotic War of 1812
Expansion of Russia
Personality
Estimates of contemporaries
Interesting Facts
Memory of Alexander I
Film incarnations
Alexander Column
Alexander I (Blessed) (Alexander Pavlovich; 12 (23) December 1777, St. Petersburg - 19 November (1 December) 1825, Taganrog) - Emperor of All Russia from 11 (24) March 1801 to 19 November (1 December) 1825, the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Maria Feodorovna.
At the beginning of his reign, he carried out moderately liberal reforms developed by the Secret Committee and M. M. Speransky. In foreign policy, he maneuvered between Great Britain and France. In 1805-07 he participated in the anti-French coalitions. In 1807-1812, he temporarily became close to France. He fought successful wars with Turkey (1806-1812), Persia (1804-1813) and Sweden (1808-1809). Under Alexander I, the territories of Eastern Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812), Azerbaijan (1813), the former Duchy of Warsaw (1815) were annexed to Russia. After the Patriotic War of 1812, he headed the anti-French coalition of European powers in 1813-1814. He was one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815 and the organizers of the Holy Alliance.
In the last years of his life, he often spoke of his intention to abdicate the throne and “retire from the world,” which, after his unexpected death from typhoid fever in Taganrog, gave rise to the legend of “Elder Fyodor Kuzmich”. According to this legend, it was not Alexander who died in Taganrog, but his double, while the tsar lived for a long time as an old hermit in Siberia and died in Tomsk in 1864.
The name was given by the grandmother Catherine II (who loved him very much), based on the proposed creation of the Greek Empire with the capital in Byzantium. Catherine named one of her grandsons Constantine in honor of Constantine the Great, another - Alexander in honor of Alexander Nevsky - according to the plan, Constantine was to free Constantinople from the Turks, and Alexander was to become the emperor of the new empire. However, there is information that she wanted to see Constantine on the throne of the Greek Empire.
Grew up at the intellectual court of Catherine the Great; the educator - a Swiss Jacobin Frederic Cesar Laharpe introduced him to the principles of humanity of Rousseau, the military teacher Nikolai Saltykov - with the traditions of the Russian aristocracy, his father passed on to him his addiction to the military parade and taught him to combine his spiritual love for humanity with practical concern for his neighbor. Catherine II considered her son Paul unable to take the throne and planned to erect Alexander on him, bypassing his father.
In 1793 he married the daughter of the Margrave of Baden, Louise Maria Augusta ( Luise Marie Auguste von Baden), which took the name of Elizaveta Alekseevna.
For some time he served in the Gatchina troops formed by his father; here he developed deafness of the left ear "from the strong hum of the cannons."
At half past midnight on March 12, 1801, Count P.A.Pahlen informed Alexander about the murder of his father.
Already in the manifesto of March 12, 1801, the new emperor assumed the obligation to rule the people " according to the laws and according to the heart of his wise grandmother". In decrees, as well as in private conversations, the emperor expressed the basic rule by which he would be guided: in place of personal arbitrariness, actively establish strict legality. The emperor more than once pointed out the main flaw suffered by the Russian state order. He called this shortcoming “ the arbitrariness of our government". To eliminate it, it was necessary to develop fundamental laws, which almost did not exist in Russia yet. It was in this direction that the transformative experiments of the first years were carried out.
Within a month, Alexander returned to the service all those previously dismissed by Pavel, lifted the ban on the import of various goods and products into Russia (including books and musical notes), announced an amnesty for the fugitives, restored the noble elections, etc. nobility and cities, liquidated the secret office.
Even before Alexander ascended the throne, a group of "young friends" rallied around him (P.A.Stroganov, V.P. Kochubei, A.A. government management.
On June 5 (17), 1801, the Russian-English convention was signed in St. Petersburg, which ended the interstate crisis, and on May 10, the Russian mission in Vienna was restored. On September 29 (October 8), 1801, a peace treaty was signed with France, on September 29 (October 11), a secret convention was concluded.
September 15 (Old Style) 1801 in the Assumption Cathedral of Moscow was crowned by the Metropolitan of Moscow Platon (Levshin); the same rite of coronation was used as under Paul I, but the difference was that Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna "did not kneel before her husband, but took the crown on her head while standing."
From the first days of the new reign of the emperor, people were surrounded, whom he called to help him in his transformative work. Those were former members of the grand-ducal circle: Count P. A. Stroganov, Count V. P. Kochubei, Prince A. Czartorysky and N. N. Novosiltsev. These people formed the so-called "Secret Committee", which met during 1801-1803. in the secluded room of the emperor and together with him worked out a plan for the necessary transformations. The task of this committee was to help the emperor " in systematic work on the reform of the shapeless building of empire government". It was supposed to first study the current state of the empire, then transform individual parts of the administration and complete these individual reforms " code established on the basis of the true national spirit". The "Secret Committee", which functioned until November 9, 1803, for two and a half years considered the implementation of the Senate and ministerial reform, the activities of the "Indispensable Council", the peasant question, coronation projects in 1801 and a number of foreign policy events.
We started with the central office. The State Council, which met at the personal discretion of Empress Catherine, on March 30 (April 11), 1801, was replaced by a permanent institution called the "Indispensable Council" for the consideration and discussion of state affairs and decisions. It consisted of 12 high dignitaries without division into departments. January 1, 1810 (designed by M.M.Speransky) The Permanent Council was transformed into the State Council. It consisted of the General Assembly and four departments - laws, military, civil and spiritual affairs, state economy (later it temporarily existed and the 5th - for the affairs of the Kingdom of Poland). To organize the activities of the State Council, the State Chancellery was created, and Speransky was appointed its secretary of state. Under the Council of State, a Law Drafting Commission and a Petition Commission were established.
The chairman of the State Council was Alexander I, one of its members appointed by the emperor. The State Council included all the ministers, as well as persons from the highest dignitaries, appointed by the emperor. The Council of State did not issue laws, but served as an advisory body in the development of laws. Its task is to centralize legislative affairs, ensure the uniformity of legal norms, and prevent contradictions in laws.
On September 8, 1802, a personal decree "On the Rights and Duties of the Senate" was signed, which determined both the very organization of the Senate and its relation to other higher institutions. The Senate was declared the supreme body in the empire, concentrating the highest administrative, judicial and controlling powers. He was given the right to make representations on the issued decrees if they contradicted other laws.
Due to a number of conditions, these newly granted rights to the Senate could not raise its significance in any way. In terms of its composition, the Senate remained a collection of far from the first dignitaries of the empire. Direct relations between the Senate and the supreme power were not created, and this predetermined the nature of the Senate's relations with the Council of State, ministers and the Committee of Ministers.
The Holy Synod also underwent changes, whose members were the highest spiritual hierarchs - metropolitans and bishops, but the Synod was headed by a civil official with the rank of chief prosecutor. Under Alexander I, representatives of the higher clergy no longer gathered, but were summoned to meetings of the Synod at the choice of the chief prosecutor, whose rights were significantly expanded.
From 1803 to 1824, the post of chief prosecutor was performed by Prince A. N. Golitsyn, who from 1816 was also the minister of public education.
On September 8, 1802, the Manifesto "On the Establishment of Ministries" began a ministerial reform - 8 ministries were approved, replacing the Peter's collegia (liquidated by Catherine II and restored by Paul I):
Cases were now decided solely by the minister, who was accountable to the emperor. Each minister had a deputy (deputy minister) and an office. Ministries were subdivided into departments headed by directors; departments - into divisions headed by the heads of divisions; branches - on tables led by clerks. A Committee of Ministers was established to jointly discuss matters.
On July 12, 1810, the manifesto "On the division of state affairs into special administrations," prepared by M. M. Speransky, was published; on June 25, 1811, "The General Establishment of Ministries" was issued.
This manifesto shared all state affairs " executive"Into five main parts:
The manifesto proclaimed the creation of new central government bodies - the Ministry of Police and the Main Directorate of Spiritual Affairs of various confessions.
The number of ministries and the Main Directorates equated to them thus reached twelve. The preparation of a unified state budget began.
At the end of 1808, Alexander I entrusted Speransky with the development of a plan for the state transformation of Russia. In October 1809, a project called " Introduction to the Code of State Laws"Was presented to the emperor.
The objective of the plan is to modernize and Europeanize state administration by introducing bourgeois norms and forms: "In order to strengthen the autocracy and preserve the estate system."
Estates:
Separation of powers:
Elections - four-stage with an electoral property qualification for voters: landowners - landowners, the top of the bourgeoisie.
The State Council is created under the emperor. However, the emperor retains full power:
The project met with stubborn opposition from senators, ministers and other high dignitaries, and Alexander I did not dare to implement it.
By the beginning of 1811 prepared Senate restructuring project, and in June it is submitted for consideration to the Council of State.
It was proposed to transform the Senate into two institutions:
The peculiarity of the judicial Senate was the duality of its composition: some senators were appointed from the crown, others were elected by the nobility.
The State Council sharply criticized this project, but the majority voted in favor. However, Speransky himself advised not to accept it.
Thus, of the three branches of top management - legislative, executive and judicial - only two were transformed; the third (that is, the judicial) reform did not touch. As for the provincial administration, even a reform project has not been developed for this area.
According to the estimate of 1810, all issued into circulation banknotes (the first Russian paper money) were 577 million; external debt - 100 million. The estimate of income for 1810 promised an amount of 127 million; the cost estimate required 193 million. A deficit was foreseen - 66 million notes.
It was planned to stop issuing new banknotes and gradually withdraw old ones; further - to increase all taxes (direct and indirect).
In 1803, a new regulation on the organization of educational institutions who introduced new principles to the education system:
Levels of the education system:
The entire education system was in charge General Directorate of Schools... 6 educational districts were formed, headed by trustees... Over the trustees were scientific councils at universities.
Five universities were founded: in 1802 - Dorpat, in 1803 - Vilensky, in 1804 - Kharkov and Kazan. Opened in 1804, the St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute was transformed in 1819 into a university.
1804 - University charter provided universities with significant autonomy: the election of the rector and professors, their own court, non-interference of the higher administration in the affairs of universities, the right of universities to appoint teachers to the gymnasiums and schools of their educational district.
1804 - the first censorship charter. At universities, censorship committees were created from professors and masters, subordinate to the Ministry of Public Education.
Privileged secondary educational institutions - lyceums were founded: in 1811 - Tsarskoselsky, in 1817 - Richelievsky in Odessa, in 1820 - Nezhinsky.
In 1817, the Ministry of Public Education was transformed into Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education.
In 1820, instructions on the "correct" organization of the educational process were sent to universities.
In 1821, the verification of the fulfillment of the 1820 instructions began, which was carried out very rigidly, biasedly, which was especially observed in the Kazan and St. Petersburg universities.
Upon accession to the throne, Alexander I solemnly announced that from now on the distribution of state peasants would cease.
December 12, 1801 - decree on the right to purchase land by merchants, bourgeois, state and appanage peasants outside the cities (landlord peasants receive this right only in 1848)
1804-1805 - the first stage of reform in the Baltics.
March 10, 1809 - the decree canceled the right of landlords to exile their peasants to Siberia for minor offenses. The rule was confirmed: if a peasant received freedom once, then he could not be reinforced behind the landlord. Received freedom a native of captivity or from abroad, as well as taken by recruitment. The landowner was ordered to feed the peasants in the years of famine. With the permission of the landowner, the peasants could trade, take bills of exchange, engage in contracts.
The practice of organizing military settlements began in 1810.
For the years 1810-1811. in connection with the difficult financial situation of the treasury, over 10,000 state peasants were sold to private individuals.
In November 1815, Alexander I bestowed a constitution on the Kingdom of Poland.
In November 1815, Russian peasants were forbidden to “seek freedom”.
In 1816, new rules for organizing military settlements.
In 1816-1819. the peasant reform in the Baltics is nearing completion.
In 1818, Alexander I instructed the Minister of Justice Novosiltsev to prepare the State Charter for Russia.
In 1818, several tsarist dignitaries received secret instructions to develop projects for the abolition of serfdom.
In 1822 the right of landowners to exile peasants to Siberia was renewed.
In 1823 - the decree confirmed the right of hereditary nobles to own serfs.
In 1818, Alexander I instructed Admiral Mordvinov, Count Arakcheev and Kankrin to develop projects for the abolition of serfdom.
Mordvinov's project:
Arakcheev project:
Kankrin Project:
At the end of 1815, Alexander I began to discuss the project of military settlements, the first experience of the implementation of which was carried out in 1810-1812 at the reserve battalion of the Yeletsky musketeer regiment, located in the Bobylevsky headman of the Klimovsky district of the Mogilev province.
The development of a plan for the creation of settlements was entrusted to Arakcheev.
Project goals:
In August 1816, preparations began for the transfer of troops and residents to the category of military settlers. In 1817, settlements were introduced in the Novgorod, Kherson and Slobodsko-Ukrainian provinces. Until the end of the reign of Alexander I, the number of districts of military settlements continued to grow, gradually surrounding the border of the empire from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
By 1825, there were 169,828 regular army soldiers and 374,000 state peasants and Cossacks in the military settlements.
In 1857, the military settlements were abolished. They already numbered 800,000 people.
The introduction of military settlements met with stubborn resistance from peasants and Cossacks, who were turning into military settlers. In the summer of 1819, an uprising broke out in Chuguev near Kharkov. In 1820, the peasants were agitated on the Don: 2556 villages were engulfed in revolt.
16 oct. 1820 The head company of the Semyonovsky regiment filed a request to cancel the imposed rigid order and replace the regimental commander. The company was tricked into the arena, arrested and sent to the casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
In 1821 a secret police was introduced into the army.
In 1822 - a decree was issued prohibiting secret organizations and Masonic lodges.
The introduction of military settlements met with stubborn resistance from peasants and Cossacks, who were turning into military settlers. In the summer of 1819, an uprising broke out in Chuguev near Kharkov. In 1820, the peasants were agitated on the Don: 2556 villages were engulfed in revolt.
On October 16, 1820, the head company of the Semyonovsky regiment filed a request to cancel the rigid orders introduced and replace the regimental commander. The company was tricked into the arena, arrested and sent to the casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The whole regiment stood up for her. The regiment was surrounded by the military garrison of the capital, and then in full force was sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The first battalion was handed over to a military court, which sentenced the instigators to drive through the ranks, and the rest of the soldiers to exile in distant garrisons. Other battalions were assigned to various army regiments.
Under the influence of the Semyonovsky regiment, fermentation began in other parts of the capital's garrison: proclamations were spread.
In 1821, a secret police was introduced into the army.
In 1822 - a decree was issued prohibiting secret organizations and Masonic lodges.
In 1805, by the conclusion of a number of treatises, a new anti-French coalition was actually formed, and on September 9, 1805, Alexander left for the army. Although the commander was M.I. Kutuzov, in fact, Alexander began to play the main role in decision-making. The emperor bears the main responsibility for the defeat of the Russian-Austrian army at Austerlitz, nevertheless, serious measures were taken against a number of generals: General. AF Lanzheron was dismissed from service, gene. AND I. Przhibyshevsky and Loshakov were put on trial, the Novgorod Musketeer Regiment was deprived of distinction. On November 22 (December 4), 1805, an armistice was concluded, according to which Russian troops were to leave Austrian territory. On June 8 (20), 1806, a Russian-French peace treaty was signed in Paris. In September 1806, Prussia began a war against France, and on November 16 (28), 1806, Alexander announced the Russian Empire's attack against France. On March 16, 1807, Alexander left for the army through Riga and Mitava, and on April 5, he arrived at the General Apartment. L. L. Bennigsen. This time Alexander intervened less in the affairs of the commander than in the previous campaign. After the defeat of the Russian army in the war, he was forced to negotiate peace with Napoleon.
The reason for the war was the refusal of the King of Sweden Gustav IV Adolf to offer Russia to join the anti-British coalition.
Russian troops occupied Helsingfors (Helsinki), laid siege to Sveaborg, took the Aland Islands and Gotland, the Swedish army was pushed out to the north of Finland. Under pressure from the British fleet, Aland and Gotland had to be abandoned. Buxgewden, on his own initiative, goes to the conclusion of an armistice, which was not approved by the emperor.
In December 1808, Buxgewden was replaced by O. F. von Knorring. On March 1, the army crossed the Gulf of Bothnia in three columns, the main commander was P.I. Bagration.
June 25 (July 7) 1807 concluded with France Peace of Tilsit, under which he recognized territorial changes in Europe, pledged to conclude a truce with Turkey and withdraw troops from Moldova and Wallachia, join the continental blockade (break off trade relations with England), provide Napoleon with troops for the war in Europe, and also act as an intermediary between France and Great Britain. The British, in response to the Peace of Tilsit, bombarded Copenhagen and took the Danish fleet away. October 25 (November 6) 1807 Alexander announced the severance of trade ties with England. In 1808-1809, Russian troops successfully waged the Russian-Swedish war, annexing Finland to the Russian Empire. On September 15 (27), 1808, Alexander I met with Napoleon in Erfurt and on September 30 (October 12) 1808 signed a secret convention, in which, in exchange for Moldavia and Wallachia, he pledged to act jointly with France against Great Britain. During the Franco-Austrian War of 1809, Russia, as an official ally of France, advanced to the Austrian borders the corps of general. S.F. Golitsyn, however, he did not conduct any active military operations and limited himself to meaningless demonstrations. In 1809, the union broke up.
In 1806-1812, Russia waged a war against Turkey.
On June 12 (24), 1812, when the Great Army launched an invasion of Russia, Alexander was at the ball at the general. Bennigsen in the Zakret estate near Vilna. Here he received a message about the beginning of the war. On June 13 (25), he gave an order to the army:
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"For a long time, WE have noticed the actions of the French Emperor hostile to Russia, but always hoped to reject them in meek and peaceful ways. Finally, seeing the incessant renewal of obvious insults, with all OUR desire to maintain silence, WE were forced to take up arms and gather OUR troops; but even then while still caressing reconciliation, remained within the boundaries of OUR Empire, not breaking the peace, but being only ready for defense. All these measures of meekness and peacefulness could not keep the calm we wanted. The French Emperor opened the first war by attacking OUR troops at Kovna. And so, Seeing him by no means unyielding to peace, there is nothing for us to do but calling on the help of the Witness and Defender of the Truth, the Almighty Creator of Heaven, to put OUR forces against the forces of the enemy. The blood of the Slavs has been flowing in them since ancient times. Warriors! You defend the faith, Fatherland, freedom. I with you. For a beginner God. Alexander. " |
and also issued a manifesto on the beginning of the war with France, which ended with the words
Then Alexander sent to Napoleon A.D. Balashov with a proposal to start negotiations on the condition that the French troops leave the empire. On June 13 (25) he left for Sventsiany. Arriving at the active army, he did not declare MB Barclay de Tolly commander-in-chief and thereby assumed command. On the night of 7 (19) July, he left the army in Polotsk and departed for Moscow. Alexander approved a plan of defensive military operations and forbade peace negotiations until at least one enemy soldier remained on Russian soil. December 31, 1812 (January 12, 1813) issued a manifesto, v. which, among other things, said:
Participated in the development of the campaign plan 1813-1814. He was at the headquarters of the Main Army and was present at the main battles of 1813-1814, leading the anti-French coalition. March 31, 1814 at the head of the allied forces entered Paris. He was one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress, which established a new European order.
During the reign of Alexander, the territory of the Russian Empire expanded significantly: Eastern and Western Georgia, Mingrelia, Imeretia, Guria, Finland, Bessarabia, most of Poland (which formed the Kingdom of Poland) passed into Russian citizenship. The western borders of the empire were finally established.
The unusual character of Alexander I is especially interesting because he is one of the most important characters in the history of the 19th century. All his policies were clear and well thought out. An aristocrat and a liberal, at the same time mysterious and well-known, he seemed to his contemporaries a mystery, which everyone unravels according to his own idea. Napoleon considered him an "inventive Byzantine", northern Talma, an actor who is capable of playing any prominent role. It is even known that Alexander I was called the "Mysterious Sphinx" at court. A tall, slender, handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes. Fluent in three European languages. He had an excellent upbringing and excellent education.
Another element of Alexander I's character was formed on March 23, 1801, when he ascended the throne after the murder of his father: a mysterious melancholy, ready at any moment to turn into extravagant behavior. At the beginning, this character trait did not manifest itself in any way - young, emotional, impressionable, at the same time benevolent and selfish, Alexander from the very beginning decided to play a great role on the world stage and with youthful zeal began to realize his political ideals. Temporarily leaving in office the old ministers who overthrew Emperor Paul I, one of his first decrees appointed the so-called. an unspoken committee with the ironic name "Comité du salut public" (refers to the French revolutionary "Committee of Public Safety"), consisting of young and enthusiastic friends: Viktor Kochubei, Nikolai Novosiltsev, Pavel Stroganov and Adam Czartoryski. This committee was to develop a scheme for internal reforms. It is important to note that the liberal Mikhail Speransky became one of the tsar's closest advisers and drew up many reform projects. Their goals, based on their admiration for English institutions, far exceeded the capabilities of the time, and even after they were elevated to the ranks of ministers, only a small fraction of their programs were realized. Russia was not ready for freedom, and Alexander, a follower of the revolutionary-minded Laharpe, considered himself a "lucky coincidence" on the throne of the tsars. He spoke with regret about "the state of barbarism in which the country was due to the serfdom."
In 1793, Alexander married Louise Maria Augusta of Baden (who took the name Elizaveta Alekseevna in Orthodoxy) (1779-1826, daughter of Karl Ludwig Badensky. Both of their daughters died in early childhood:
The paternity of both girls in the imperial family was considered doubtful - the first was considered to be born from Czartoryski; the father of the second was the cavalry headquarters captain Alexei Okhotnikov.
For 15 years, Alexander had practically a second family with Maria Naryshkina (nee Chetvertinskaya). She bore him two daughters and a son and insisted that Alexander divorce his marriage to Elizaveta Alekseevna and marry her. Also, researchers note that from his youth Alexander had a close and very personal relationship with his sister Ekaterina Pavlovna.
Historians count 11 of his illegitimate children (see List of illegitimate children of Russian emperors # Alexander I).
The complexity and inconsistency of his personality cannot be discounted. With all the variety of reviews of contemporaries about Alexander, they all coincide in one thing - the recognition of insincerity and secrecy as the main character traits of the emperor. The origins of this must be sought in the unhealthy environment of the imperial house.
Catherine II adored her grandson, called him "Mr. Alexander", read, bypassing Paul, to be the heir to the throne. The august grandmother actually took the child away from the parents, setting only the dates for dating, she herself was engaged in raising her grandson. She composed fairy tales (one of them, "Tsarevich Chlor", has come down to us), believing that literature for children is not at the proper level; compiled "Grandma's Alphabet", a kind of instruction, a set of rules for the education of the heirs to the throne, based on the ideas and views of the English rationalist John Locke.
From his grandmother, the future emperor inherited the flexibility of mind, the ability to seduce the interlocutor, a passion for acting, bordering on duplicity. In this, Alexander almost surpassed Catherine II. "Be a man with a stone heart, and he will not resist the conversion of the sovereign, this is a real deceiver," wrote Alexander's associate MM Speransky.
The Grand Dukes - brothers Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich - were brought up in a Spartan way: they got up early, slept on hard, ate simple, healthy food. The unpretentiousness of life later helped to endure the hardships of military life. The main educator of the heir was the Swiss republican Federic Cesar Laharpe. In accordance with his convictions, he preached the power of reason, the equality of people, the absurdity of despotism, the abomination of slavery. His influence on Alexander I was enormous. In 1812, the emperor confessed: "If it were not for Laharpe, there would be no Alexander."
Alexander argued that under Paul, “three thousand peasants were handed out like a sack of diamonds. If civilization were more developed, I would have stopped serfdom, even if it cost me my head. " Solving the issue of universal corruption, he was left without people loyal to him, and the filling of government positions with Germans and other foreigners only led to greater resistance to his reforms from the “old Russians”. So the reign of Alexander, begun with a great opportunity for improvement, ended with the weighting of the chains around the necks of the Russian people. This was less due to the corruption and conservatism of Russian life and more due to the personal qualities of the tsar. His love of freedom, despite its warmth, was not grounded in reality. He flattered himself, introducing himself to the world as a benefactor, but his theoretical liberalism was associated with aristocratic willfulness, which did not tolerate objection. “You always want to teach me! - he objected to Derzhavin, the Minister of Justice, - but I am the emperor and I want this and nothing else! " "He was ready to agree," wrote Prince Czartoryski, "that everyone can be free if they freely did what he wanted." Moreover, this patronizing temperament was combined with the tendency of weak characters to seize on every opportunity to postpone the application of the principles that he publicly supported. Under Alexander I, Freemasonry became almost a state organization, but it was prohibited by a special Imperial Decree in 1822. At that time, the largest Masonic lodge of the Russian Empire, "Pontus Euxinsky", was located in Odessa, which the Emperor visited in 1820. The Emperor himself, before his passion for Orthodoxy , patronized the Freemasons and in his views was more republican than the radical liberals of Western Europe.
In the last years of the reign of Alexander I, A.A. Arakcheev gained special influence in the country. A manifestation of conservatism in Alexander's policy was the establishment of military settlements (since 1815), as well as the defeat of the professors of many universities.
On August 16, 1823, Alexander issued a secret manifesto, in which he accepted the abdication of his brother Constantine from the succession to the throne and appointed his younger brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, the legal heir.
The emperor died on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog from fever with brain inflammation. A. Pushkin wrote an epitaph: “ He spent his whole life on the road, caught a cold and died in Taganrog».
The sudden death of the emperor gave rise to a lot of rumors among the people (N.K. Schilder, in his biography of the emperor, cites 51 opinions that arose within a few weeks after the death of Alexander). One of the rumors reported that “ the sovereign fled in disguise to Kiev and there he will live about Christ with a soul and will begin to give advice that the present sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich needs for better government". Later, in the 30-40s of the XIX century, a legend appeared that Alexander, tormented by remorse (as an accomplice in the murder of his father), faked his death far from the capital and began a wandering, hermitic life under the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich (died January 20 (February 1) 1864 in Tomsk).
This legend appeared already during the life of the Siberian elder and became widespread in the second half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, unreliable evidence appeared that during the opening of the tomb of Alexander I in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which was carried out in 1921, it was found that it was empty. Also in the Russian émigré press in the 1920s, I.I.Balinsky's story about the history of the opening in 1864 of the tomb of Alexander I, which turned out to be empty, appeared. In it, allegedly in the presence of Emperor Alexander II and the minister of the court Adalberg, the body of a long-bearded old man was laid.
The question of the identity of Fyodor Kuzmich and Emperor Alexander has not been unambiguously defined by historians. The final answer to the question whether Elder Theodore had anything to do with Emperor Alexander could only be a genetic examination, the possibility of which is not ruled out by the specialists of the Russian Center for Forensic Science. Archbishop Rostislav of Tomsk spoke about the possibility of such an examination (the relics of a Siberian elder are kept in his diocese).
In the middle of the 19th century, similar legends appeared regarding Alexander's wife, Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, who died after her husband in 1826. She began to be identified with the hermit of the Syrkov monastery Vera the Silent, who first appeared in 1834 in the vicinity of Tikhvin.
Under Alexander I, the Patriotic War of 1812 ended victoriously, and many monuments dedicated to the victory in that war were somehow connected with Alexander.
The Alexander Column is a menhir, one of the most famous monuments of St. Petersburg.
It was erected in the Empire style in 1834 in the center of Palace Square by the architect Auguste Montferrand by order of the younger brother of Emperor Alexander I, Nicholas I, in memory of the victory over Napoleon.
The column is a monolithic obelisk, which stands on a pedestal decorated with bas-reliefs with a dedicatory inscription "Alexander I grateful Russia"... At the top of the column is a sculpture of an angel by Boris Orlovsky. The angel's face is given the features of Alexander I.
In his left hand the angel holds a four-pointed Latin cross, and in his right hand he raises to the sky. The angel's head is tilted, his gaze fixed on the ground.
The column is facing the Winter Palace.
It is not only an outstanding architectural monument, but also a great engineering achievement of its era.
Emperor Alexander the First Pavlovich the Blessed
(1777-1825)
Reign: 1801-1825
On December 12, 1777, the first son was born in the family of the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich.
In his honor, a thanksgiving service was served in the court church, and cannons in the Peter and Paul Fortress announced the birth of the first-born to the royal couple by a shot. The name of the baby was given in honor of the saint
Alexander Nevsky. Little Alexander was immediately excommunicated from his parents.
The reigning grandmother, Ekaterina2, considered her son incapable of giving the boy a proper upbringing and placed her grandson in her chambers.
Catherine had high hopes for her grandson. She dreamed that during the reign, Alexander would glorify his name for centuries, like the man after whom he was named. The Empress hated her son and adored her grandson. She also took away her second grandson, the son of Pavel Petrovich,
Constantine.
Since 1785, the boys were assigned as an educator, Adjutant General Saltykov, who was distinguished by his devotion to the empress. Alexander, along with virtues, had such character traits as stubbornness and cunning.
Growing up, he began to understand that the relationship between father and grandmother is the relationship between the empress and the heir to the throne. He felt that he himself was drawn into their struggle from birth.
Catherine all her life believed that her grandson was madly in love with her and catches her every word. Alexander pretended that it was so, but he himself denied everything that was connected with Catherine. Alexander was greatly influenced by the educator Frederic Cesar Laharpe, a Swiss lawyer, a man of high morality and a real humanist. He conveyed to Alexander the essence of the French enlightenment. Constantine, unlike his brother, did not accept these ideas at all.
Alexander idolized the teacher. One of the principles preached by Laharpe was the following: the ruler must be an honest, educated and enlightened person, aware of the responsibility for the fate of millions of his subjects. Laharpe instilled in his pupil that the emperor could not afford to have friends.
Pavel Petrovich forced the grown-up sons to join the military service in Gatchina.
It was in Gatchina that the future emperor met Arakcheev, who later became his main favorite. Arakcheev taught artillery, introduced the grand dukes to the basics of ballistics.
Even during the life of Catherine and Paul, Alexander had the idea of renouncing the future throne. He began to think that he was born to be not a ruler, but an ordinary ordinary citizen. His views on life were completely shared by his wife Elizaveta Alekseevna. They managed to maintain the spiritual closeness that arose between them for many years.
The events leading up to his accession to the throne turned his feelings around. He did not take part in the conspiracy against his father, but silently assisted him. Alexander did not want his father dead. The thought that he himself had become the cause of the death of his father was painful to him.
After becoming emperor, he got up early, worked for a long time on documents, received court ministers.
Alexander traveled a lot, he traveled hundreds of thousands of miles across Russia. He was in the Ukraine, Belarus, the Urals and Siberia. He met with the local authorities, was interested in the living conditions of all strata of society. The impression from the trips was painful, and there were no longer any illusions about possible transformations from the height of the throne.
His reign was marked by the fact that he pardoned many prisoners, dismissed from service again, took their places. The Secret Expedition, which under Paul was engaged in affairs related to treason to the emperor, was destroyed.
In 1801, Alexander allowed the peasants to buy land, and from 1803 the serfs were given the right to buy out entire villages along with the land. This was certainly not enough, but it was these first steps that paved the way for subsequent reforms.
Foreign policy was led by Kochubei, Zubov and Palen, they developed a draft of a new constitution, according to which the emperor followed the decisions of the aristocracy in everything. Alexander politely but firmly rejected attempts to limit imperial power. He had completely different plans.
While Alexander hovered in dreams of rebuilding society, discussing his plans with like-minded people, the ministers and the Senate continued to rule the country as before. It was incredibly difficult to get out of the networks of this routine.
Alexander1 was not ready to carry out drastic reforms in society. He was also frightened by the uncertainty associated with his position during these changes. He was afraid to part with life, like his grandfather and father. He was extremely careful and suspicious. The brothers Zubov and Palen failed to create opposition to the sovereign. Palen was deprived of all posts, the same fate awaited the Zubov brothers.
Petersburg governor instead of Palen, M.I. Kutuzov.
The first assistant to the sovereign was M.M. Speransky. He was instructed to prepare a document with a public education plan for all sectors of society. On the basis of this document, the State Council was created under the emperor.
The state carried out reforms in the education system: new universities, gymnasiums and schools were opened. Karamzin was awarded the title of historiographer and allowed to begin work on the history of the Russian state.
All these transformations took place against the backdrop of military events in Europe.
Alexander, ascending the throne, said that he would not interfere in the affairs of other states. In France at that time, Napoleon Bonaparte persistently strove for power, not hiding his claims on the territory of neighboring countries.
Alexander closely watched the events in France. In 1803, the Camp of Boulogne appeared, from where Napoleon was going to attack the British Isles. After Napoleon became emperor of France, Russia entered into a friendly alliance with England and Prussia. War smelled in Europe.
By 1805, a coalition was formed against Napoleon, which included: Russia, Austria, Prussia and England. Russian troops were on their way to Europe.
The first battle of the Russian-Austrian army on December 2, 1805 near Austerlitz ended in the complete defeat of the allies. Alexander himself narrowly escaped captivity. This brutal lesson helped him understand the gravity of the French threat. From that moment on, the emperor began to regard Napoleon as his personal mortal enemy. The figure of Arakcheev became more noticeable at court. At the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit, Alexander, talking one-on-one with Napoleon, used his charm and was able to deceive him. By concluding peace, the emperors carried out the division of Europe, but at the same time the conditions were dictated by the winner. Alexander could only dream that the proud tyrant would break his neck on Russian soil.
The second meeting between Alexander and Napoleon took place in Erfurt, where with his characteristic restraint, benevolence, calmness. Alexander managed to get Napoleon's consent to the annexation of Moldavia and Velachia. Finland, as well as the withdrawal of French troops from the Duchy of Warsaw and a significant reduction in contributions from Prussia. The negotiations were very tense.
After the negotiations, Napoleon was denied the hand of the sister of the Russian emperor, Ekaterina Pavlovna. Napoleon also failed to get the hand of Alexander's other sister. The French emperor was furious.
The society was filled with dissatisfaction with the shameful peace of Tilsit and the foreign policy of the emperor. Alexander Pavlovich spoke about his actual attitude to the events that had taken place only with the closest people.
Since 1808, Alexander took up the restructuring of the Russian army. He seriously feared war. Barclay de Tolly and Arakcheev helped him reform the army. The size of the army by 1811 reached 225 thousand people.
In the spring of 1812, Napoleon openly threatened Russia. He sent provocative messages to the emperor to throw him off balance, but Alexander did not respond to provocations. He vowed to no longer make a "shameful peace."
When the Russian troops left Moscow, courtiers were found, persuading the emperor to go to peace negotiations, but the emperor was firm. Neither June nor August 1812 did he respond to Napoleon's requests for peace talks. In confrontation with Napoleon, he behaved like a domineering, far-sighted and strong ruler.
He was shocked by the fire in Moscow and in despair then turned to the Almighty for help. It seemed to Alexander that God had heard his prayer. He did not agree to negotiate with Napoleon. It was December 1812. The alignment of forces was not in favor of the French. After the Battle of Borodino, the army of the conquerors no longer had victories and, retreating across the Russian land devastated by it, looked deplorable. Field Marshal Kutuzov had no intention of pursuing the French outside of Russia, but Alexander thought otherwise. He wanted to free all of Europe from the tyrant.
In a foreign campaign, Alexander was constantly with the army.
Alexander brought the Russian army to Paris. On April 6, 1814, Napoleon signed his abdication and was sent to the island of Elba. Napoleon's final downfall occurred at the Battle of Waterloo. June 18, 1815, after which the tyrant was exiled to the island of St. Helena.
After the fall of Napoleon, there was a change in the emperor's mood.
The projects for the emancipation of the peasants were not adopted and other constitutional changes, previously approved by the emperor, were not made.
Alexander was struck by the betrayal of the former allies, England and Austria, who tried to deprive Russia of influence in Europe. Russia was ignored, as if there was no victorious march of the Russian army across Europe. Alexander proposed the idea of creating a Sacred Union of all Christian peoples of Europe. He wrote the main provisions of the treaty of alliance and presented it to the rulers of European countries. It was signed by France, Austria, Prussia and Russia.
Alexander believed in the principles of goodness on which the union was based.
The emperor's illusions collapsed. Fear returned to him, he was afraid of the conspirators who might oppose him.
In the role of the emperor, he sometimes showed cruelty, suppressed the uprising of soldiers
Semyonovsky regiment. However, as a person, Alexander was a humanist. He knew that the idea of a regicide was ripening in secret societies. He understood that he was in real danger. Alexander left the conspirators free, but in 1822 banned the existence of Masonic lodges and secret societies in Russia.
He began to move away from the reality that frightened him.
In the fall of 1825, Alexander made a trip to the Crimea and during his trip in the small town of Taganrog fell seriously ill, and a few days later on November 19, 1825 he died.
The sudden death of the emperor amazed everyone. He was a healthy and physically strong man, for his 48 years he did not suffer from anything serious.
After his death, there was an uprising on December 14, 1825, the death of Alexander's wife1-worried the people and gave rise to many rumors and speculations.
The coffin was displayed with the lid closed. Nobody saw the face of the deceased. By order of Nikolai Pavlovich, who took the reins into his own hands, the coffin was opened only at night for relatives and friends
Alexandra.
Rumors that another person was buried instead of the emperor. The people remembered how the emperor said that he wanted to abdicate the throne. He felt guilty for the death of his father. He prepared a manifesto and deposited an envelope with documents in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Copies were sent to the State Council, Senate and Synod. On the envelope was the inscription: "Keep until My demand."
And this meant only one - the intention of Alexander to abdicate the throne. Only three people knew about the content of the manifesto: Golitsyn, Arakcheev and Metropolitan Filaret.
The death of the emperor remained a mystery to everyone.
In the 1930s and 1940s, rumors that Alexander was alive again found ground. They came from Siberia, where in 1836 a certain old man appeared
Fyodor Kuzmich, who amazed everyone with his degree, majesty and ability to speak. Everything in him betrayed an educated, well-mannered and pious person.
He was well aware of the war of 1812, talked about the stay of Russian troops in Paris, he helped people, taught children to read and write, but he never mentioned the name of Paul1 in conversation and did not keep up the conversation about
Alexandre1 Pavlovich.
The elder died on January 20, 1864 at the age of 87 in a lonely cell near Tomsk. He was buried in the cemetery of the Tomsk Mother of God-Alekseevsky monastery. His grave became a place of pilgrimage, which was also visited by representatives of the royal family.
The version about Alexander's departure from worldly life has many supporters, but there are also opponents based on the history of the emperor's illness in
Taganrog, certificate of his death, act, autopsy.
Perhaps, over time, new researchers will put an end to this mysterious story and give an answer to numerous questions related to the life and death of Emperor Alexander1. His drama consisted in the fact that he tried to combine a man and a ruler in himself.
Milestones of the board
1801 - decree allowing serfs to buy land.
1803-decree on the redemption of villages along with the land.
1805 - the defeat of the Russian army at Austerlitz.
1808 - the beginning of the reform of the Russian army.
1810-publication of "Introduction to the Code of State Laws".
1811 - the creation of the State Council under the emperor.
1812-Patriotic War.
1821 - the creation of secret societies in Russia.
1822 - the refusal of Konstantin Pavlovich from the throne.
1823-writing of a special manifesto on the transfer of power to Nikolai Pavlovich.
Material used from the book: "Encyclopedia of Kings and Emperors."
