Who goes after Alexander 1. Alexander I - The Blessed Emperor. Supreme Government Reform
Immediately after accession to the throne, the new emperor Alexander I, the son of Paul I and the beloved grandson of Catherine II, assumed the obligation to rule the people "according to the law and after the heart of his wise grandmother." He wanted to restore order and respect the rule of law, granted amnesty to the fugitives, and restored the noble elections. Under him, the defeat of the "Great Army" of Napoleon, which invaded Russia in 1812, began. And at the end of his life, he abandoned liberal ideas, turned to mysticism.
By the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, the Russian Empire, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, was a strictly regulated absolute autocracy. It consisted, in fact, of two layers of the population - obedient to the will of the monarch of the nobility and subordinate to the landlords of the uneducated serfs. The privileges of noblemen exempted from compulsory service, and the cruel dependence of serfs attached to the land, caused many uprisings.
Alexander, who until his ascension was not very eager to engage in state affairs, was inspired from the first days of his reign. He expressed various ideas for transforming the country, thinking about the liberation of the peasants. His teacher, the Swiss Jacobin Frederic Lagarp, introduced him to the principles of humanity from childhood, the Russian military teacher Nikolai Saltykov instilled in him an interest in the history of the Fatherland. Father Paul conveyed to him a love of military parades and a beautiful uniform. From the grandmother of Catherine II, he inherited the name Alexander in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky and imperial ambitions, she wanted to see her grandson as the creator and ruler of the Greek empire with a capital in Constantinople.
Around him in 1801, the Secret Committee was formed, which included Count P. A. Stroganov, Count V. P. Kochubey, Prince A. Chartorysky, embraced by the ideas of the country's transformation. Later, in 1810, on the basis of the committee on the project of M. M. Speransky, the State Council was created and with it the State Chancellery. But he had to get to know European affairs closely in 1805, when Napoleon ruled in France - “emperor without a clan, without a tribe, upstart”, who pursued an aggressive policy, which caused outrage in a number of countries.
Alexander suggested opposing the upstart together and punishing him. The main hostilities unfolded in December 1805 near the village of Austerlitz. Alexander I and the Austrian Emperor Franz 11 commanded the troops. But Napoleon on the battlefield proved that he was not an upstart, but a real military tactician, his mobile army precisely fulfills all orders. The French defeated the coalition forces. Russians and Austrians fled, both emperors fled. Franz II was forced to abandon the title of emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and Alexander I in 1807 signed the infamous Tilsit world for Russia.
But in 1812, the brilliant Napoleon with his army for some reason invaded Russia. And although at first the Russians retreated and even surrendered Moscow without a fight, in the end, the troops led by M. I. Kutuzov managed to expel the French from Russia with battles. Kutuzov believed that the Russians should not continue military operations outside the country - Moscow was burnt, cities and villages were miserable, but Alexander wanted to appear in Europe as a winner. And he led the overseas campaign of the Russian army.
After returning to his homeland, Alexander left no trace of liberalism. He had a favorite - Count A. A. Arakcheev, member of the State Council, a cruel, limited pedant. Instead of liberating the peasants, Arakcheev proposed military settlements in which the peasants combined the work of an agricultural worker with military service.
Alexander I died unexpectedly. During a trip to the Crimea, he caught a cold and, while in Taganrog, died suddenly. In a closed coffin, the body was delivered to St. Petersburg and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
And recently, a monument to the emperor appeared in the garden of the same name. In the heart of Moscow, which during the reign of Alexander was “burned by fire” and “given to the Frenchman”. These events in the minds of modern Russian people are embedded in the plot of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, but then they were perceived as an unprecedented defeat, which still did not break the emperor.
Not long ago foreigners ruled in Belokamennaya. The time has come victorious - and the Russian army entered Paris. The emperor was not considered and was not an outstanding commander, but Bonaparte did not yield.
Probably, it was high time to emphasize in this way our respect for the monarch, who is one of the architects of modern Europe. The emperor himself did not pursue loud fame, he considered modesty to be the most advantageous tactic. It is no coincidence that for a long time the only monument to the winner of Napoleon was the Pillar of Alexandria in St. Petersburg, established during the reign of his stern brother. But there on the column is a sculpture of an angel with a cross, and not the figure of a sovereign.
The legend of the emperor’s departure is also memorable: even some historians of the imperial family believed that Alexander did not die, but left to wander in the form of the humble pilgrim Fyodor Kuzmich. The history of the Tomsk elder Theodore is a special chapter in the history of Tsar Alexander. Mystic. Legend.
By the appearance of such a legend, the character of the king, who for many years sought peace, sought the path to the City of Heaven, had.
I immediately recall how he was “branded” by Pushkin: “The ruler is weak and crafty.” And those who are in a hurry to recklessly idealize the winner of Napoleon should remember these lines. Pushkin also formulated the ceremonial version of the emperor’s story: “He took Paris, he founded the Lyceum.” The Army and the Enlightenment are indeed the main directions of the policy of Alexander Pavlovich.
He was considered an outstanding diplomat. They talked about cold hypocrisy, about the indifferent duplicity of the pupil of Catherine the Great. Many were fascinated by his coldness, and scared away many. That's who knew how to hide thoughts and intentions, not to mention emotions. That was what he was before leaving for faith. The main task of the diplomat is unchanged - to sell your concessions more expensively and to buy partners' concessions cheaper.
Alexander did not always equate his policy with the interests of Russia. In his youth, he completely underestimated the Fatherland: we did not have such a second Westerner on the throne. The horizons of his ambition extended wider than their native aspens. He absorbed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Catherine’s Greek project. He made plans for a universal scale - and, surprisingly, brought a lot to mind. It is enough to say two words: “The Holy Union”!
Clothing was given to us to cover the shame, and language - to distract the interlocutors from the unsightly truth. The grandson of the great Catherine clearly followed this rule, having received court lessons from motherhood. After all, he had to rush between two yards. On the one hand - the powerful empress, tearing him from his parents, on the other - the Russian Hamlet, the Gatchina exile, Pavel Petrovich. And everywhere he was loved: he skillfully made a favorable impression. Cynicism eroded gradually.
The Russian Empire at that time was not in political isolation. In Europe, from the time of Elizabethan times, from the time of Bestuzhev, not a single capital political enterprise was dispensed with without the participation of the northern empire. Europeans didn’t recognize Russian culture, they looked down on Orthodoxy - we see traces of these prejudices in the Didro Encyclopedia. Only two manifestations of Russia were respected: the army and diplomacy.
Peter and Kurakin, Bestuzhev and Rumyantsev, Bezborodko and Suvorov "forced themselves to respect." But back in the Alexander years, Denis Davydov spoke of “Russophobia” (then this word was written that way). And the duplicity of the allies in the fight against Napoleon crossed the borders of the tolerant.
The defeated France weakened after the revolutionary wars. England did not have sufficient ground forces. Russia after 1815 under Alexander did not fight in Europe, but the military dominance of Petersburg was felt. This alarmed Alexander’s allies already in 1814. They were not limited to newspaper cartoons of Russian barbarians. European Chancellors immediately moved on to secret negotiations. Perhaps Alexander knew about these maneuvers. Since the time of Potemkin, international espionage in Russia has been excellently developed, agents of St. Petersburg worked in all European capitals.
The powers hastily established a secret anti-Russian military alliance. Alexander did not pay attention to these maneuvers. I did not allow myself to be offended. Why? There may be several explanations. He feared Napoleon more than all the monarch allies combined. But Talleyrand and Metternich knew the price. Talleyrand in the literal sense. After all, the French diplomat for several years was a paid agent of the Russian tsar ...
He believed in the Holy Alliance with unexpected sincerity. He was no longer a young skeptic, but a Christian, prone to mysticism and even exaltation. “The fire of Moscow lit up my soul,” - this legendary recognition explains a lot in Alexander’s politics.
The fuse, as you know, did not last long: by the 1850s there were more contradictions than a brace. And the Paris treatise of 1855 destroyed the world of the Holy Union, excluded Russia (as it turned out, for a while) from the club of European arbiters. And the club itself has lost its meaning.
The Russian Empire at the time of Alexander finally settled on the banks of the Vistula. And the emperor’s generous liberal gifts could neither satisfy the nobility nor temper the anxiety of London, Vienna and Paris. But what to him, the winner, to all this fuss! He knew what the triumph of Agamemnon, Caesar and Augustus was.
The emperor’s spirit is in the Moscow Alexander Gardens, and in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which was also called Alexandrovsky. And in Paris. The spring of 1814 ... Russian history did not know such spectacular victories. The Russian emperor entered Paris on a gray horse, which Napoleon had once presented to him.
Some Parisian shouted: "We have long been waiting for the arrival of Your Majesty!" Alexander answered with a smile: "I would have come to you earlier, but the courage of your troops delayed me." He read Plutarch and knew the value of winged expressions, which embodied the strength and generosity of the hero. Such an answer flattered the French; they repeated it not without enthusiasm. Alexander in Paris collected a collection of such small victories.
Derzhavin then greeted the king with a cheerful soldier's song:
Have fun, blessed king
Alexander the Blessed!
Russian land is strong:
She cried for you
Breast, did not spare life:
Give us a cup of wine!
The first fifteen years of reign ended epic, in the halo of victory and worldwide influence. And then fatigue rolled over - and the companions ceased to recognize the sovereign. He began to shun politics with her lies and blood. I was looking for the truth in conversations with the monks, in the Gospel. A strong reason for repentance is indirect participation in the murder of his father. Much reminded him of this atrocity. He prayed, he destroyed the monarch's ambition. So he left.
Considering the era from an academic distance, historians did not exalt it. For example, Sergei Melgunov, known to many for his sensational book Red Terror in Russia, did not regret the caustic irony when he wrote about Alexander and his time. Nor did Soviet historians favor him. And then interest arose in the "most mysterious emperor", in the "royal mystic." And now - official recognition in the form of a monument at the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. Happy Birthday Emperor! 237 years is not a joke.
Alexander I ascended the Russian throne, intending to carry out a radical reform of the political system of Russia by creating a constitution that guaranteed all subjects personal freedom and civil rights.
The Russian emperor since 1801. The eldest son of Paul I. At the beginning of the reign, he carried out moderately liberal reforms developed by the Secret Committee and M. M. Speransky. In foreign policy, maneuvered between Britain and France. In 1805-07 he participated in anti-French coalitions. In 1807-12 temporarily became close to France. He waged successful wars with Turkey (1806-12) and Sweden (1808-09). Under Alexander I, territories of Eastern Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Besarabia (1812), Azerbaijan (1813), and the former Duchy of Warsaw (1815) were annexed to Russia. After the Patriotic War of 1812, in 1813-14 he led the anti-French coalition of European powers. He was one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress of 1814-15 and the organizers of the Holy Alliance.
ALEXANDER I, Russian emperor (1801-25), first-born of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (later Emperor Paul I) and Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna.
Immediately after birth, Alexander was taken from his parents by his grandmother Empress Catherine II, who intended to raise from him the ideal sovereign, the continuer of his work. On the recommendation of D. Didro, the Swiss F.C. Lagarp, a republican by conviction, was invited to the teachers to Alexander. The Grand Duke grew up with a romantic faith in the ideals of the Enlightenment, sympathized with the Poles, who lost statehood after the partition of Poland, sympathized with the French Revolution and critically evaluated the political system of the Russian autocracy. Catherine II forced him to read the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and herself explained to her its meaning. At the same time, in the last years of the grandmother’s reign, Alexander found more and more discrepancies between the ideals she declared and everyday political practice. He had to carefully hide his feelings, which contributed to the formation of such features in him as pretense and deceit. This was reflected in the relationship with his father during a visit to his residence in Gatchina, where the spirit of militarism and strict discipline reigned. Alexander constantly had to have, as it were, two masks: one for the grandmother, the other for the father. In 1793 he was married to Princess Louise of Baden (in Orthodoxy, Elizaveta Alekseevna), who enjoyed the sympathy of Russian society, but was not loved by her husband.
It is believed that shortly before her death, Catherine II intended to bequeath to Alexander the throne bypassing her son. Apparently, the grandson was aware of her plans, but did not agree to accept the throne.
After the accession of Paul, the situation of Alexander became even more complicated, for he had to constantly prove his loyalty to the suspicious emperor. The attitude of Alexander to the policy of his father was sharply critical. It was these sentiments of Alexander that contributed to his involvement in the conspiracy against Paul, but on the condition that the conspirators would save his father's life and would only seek his abdication. The tragic events of March 11, 1801 seriously affected Alexander’s state of mind: he felt guilty for the death of his father until the end of his days.
Alexander I ascended the Russian throne, intending to carry out a radical reform of the political system of Russia by creating a constitution that guaranteed all subjects personal freedom and civil rights. He was aware that such a “revolution from above” would actually lead to the liquidation of the autocracy and was ready, if successful, to withdraw from power. However, he also understood that he needed a certain social support, like-minded people. He needed to get rid of the pressure both from the side of the conspirators who had overthrown Paul, and the “Catherine old men” who supported them. In the first days after the accession, Alexander announced that Russia would be ruled “according to the laws and after the heart” of Catherine II. On April 5, 1801, the Permanent Council was created, the legislative body under the sovereign, which received the right to protest the actions and decrees of the king. In May of the same year, Alexander introduced a draft decree on the prohibition of the sale of peasants without land to the council, but members of the Council made it clear to the emperor that the adoption of such a decree would cause ferment among the nobles and lead to a new coup d'etat. After that, Alexander concentrated his efforts on developing reform with his “young friends” (V. P. Kochubey, A. A. Chartorysky, P. A. Stroganov, N. N. Novosiltsev). By the time of Alexander’s coronation (September 1801), the Permanent Council had prepared the draft “The Most Gracious Letter to the Russian people,” containing guarantees of the basic civil rights of citizens (freedom of speech, press, conscience, personal security, guarantee of private property, etc.), a draft a manifesto on the peasant question (prohibition of the sale of peasants without land, establishing a procedure for the redemption of peasants from the landowner) and a draft reorganization of the Senate. During the discussion of the projects, sharp contradictions were revealed between the members of the Permanent Council, and as a result, none of the three documents was published. It was only announced that the distribution of state peasants to private hands was stopped. Further consideration of the peasant question led to the appearance on February 20, 1803 of the decree on “free cultivators”, allowing landowners to let the peasants free and secure land for them, which for the first time created the category of personally free peasants.
At the same time, Alexander carried out administrative and educational reforms.
In those same years, Alexander himself already felt a taste of power and began to find advantages in autocratic rule. Disappointment in the inner circle forced him to seek support in people personally loyal to him and not connected with the dignity of the aristocracy. He first draws A. A. Arakcheev, and later M. B. Barclay de Tolly, who became Minister of War in 1810, and M. M. Speransky, to whom Alexander entrusted the development of a new draft state reform. Speransky’s project involved the actual transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy, where the sovereign’s power would be limited to a bicameral parliamentary type. The implementation of the Speransky plan began in 1809, when the practice of equating court ranks with civilian ones was canceled and an educational qualification was introduced for civilian officials. On January 1, 1810, the Council of State was established, replacing the Indispensable. It was assumed that the initially broad powers of the State Council would then be narrowed after the establishment of the State Duma. During 1810-11, the State Council discussed the plans proposed by Speransky for financial, ministerial and senate reforms. The implementation of the first of them led to a reduction in the budget deficit; by the summer of 1811 the transformation of the ministries was completed. Meanwhile, Alexander himself was under extreme pressure from the court environment, including members of his family, who sought to prevent radical reforms. Apparently, a certain influence on him was also exerted by the “Note on Ancient and New Russia” by N. M. Karamzin, which apparently gave the emperor a reason to doubt the correctness of his chosen path. Of no small importance was the factor of Russia's international position: the growing tension in relations with France and the need to prepare for war made it possible for the opposition to interpret Speransky's reformist activity as anti-state, and Speransky himself to be declared a Napoleonic spy. All this led to the fact that Alexander, inclined to compromise, although he did not believe in Speransky’s guilt, dismissed him in March 1812.
Having come to power, Alexander tried to pursue his foreign policy as if from a “clean slate." The new Russian government sought to create a collective security system in Europe, linking all the leading powers among themselves with a series of treaties. However, already in 1803, peace with France turned out to be unprofitable for Russia; in May 1804, the Russian side recalled its ambassador from France and began to prepare for a new war.
Alexander considered Napoleon a symbol of violating the rule of law of the world order. But the Russian emperor overestimated his capabilities, which led to the disaster near Austerlitz in November 1805, and the emperor’s presence in the army, his inept orders had the most harmful consequences. The peace treaty signed in June 1806 with France, Alexander refused to ratify, and only the defeat at Friedland in May 1807 forced the Russian emperor to agree. At his first meeting with Napoleon in Tilsit in June 1807, Alexander managed to prove himself an outstanding diplomat and, according to some historians, actually “beat” Napoleon. An alliance and an agreement on the division of zones of influence were concluded between Russia and France. As the further development of events showed, the Tilsit agreement proved to be more advantageous to Russia, allowing Russia to accumulate strength. Napoleon sincerely considered Russia his only possible ally in Europe. In 1808, the parties discussed plans for a joint campaign against India and the division of the Ottoman Empire. At a meeting with Alexander in Erfurt (September 1808), Napoleon recognized Russia's right to Finland captured during the Russian-Swedish war (1808-09), and Russia recognized France’s right to Spain. However, already at this time, relations between the allies began to heat up thanks to the imperial interests of both sides. So, Russia was not satisfied with the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw, the continental blockade was harmful to the Russian economy, and in the Balkans each of the two countries had their own far-reaching plans. In 1810, Alexander refused to Napoleon, asking for the hands of his sister, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (later the Queen of the Netherlands), and signed a neutral trade clause, effectively nullifying the continental blockade. There is an assumption that Alexander was going to deliver a preemptive strike to Napoleon, but after France concluded allied treaties with Austria and Prussia, Russia began to prepare for a defensive war. On June 12, 1812, French troops crossed the Russian border. The Patriotic War of 1812 began.
The invasion of the Napoleonic armies in Russia (about which he learned while in Vilna) was perceived by Alexander not only as the greatest threat to Russia, but also as a personal insult, and Napoleon himself became from now on a deadly personal enemy. Not wanting to repeat the experience of Austerlitz and obeying the pressure of his entourage, Alexander left the army and returned to Petersburg. During the entire time that Barclay de Tolly carried out a retreat that provoked sharp criticism of both society and the army, Alexander almost did not show his solidarity with the military leader. After Smolensk was left, the emperor yielded to universal requirements and appointed M.I. Kutuzov to this post. With the expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russia, Alexander returned to the army and was in it during the foreign campaigns of 1813-14.
The victory over Napoleon strengthened the authority of Alexander, he became one of the most powerful rulers of Europe, who felt like a liberator of its peoples, who was entrusted with a special mission, determined by God's will, to prevent further wars and ruins on the continent. He considered the peace of Europe also a necessary condition for the implementation of his reformist ideas in Russia itself. To ensure these conditions, it was necessary to maintain the status quo determined by the decisions of the Vienna Congress (1815), according to which the territory of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Russia and the monarchy was restored in France, and Alexander insisted on the establishment of a constitutional-monarchical system in this country, which should was a precedent for the establishment of such regimes in other countries. The Russian emperor, in particular, managed to secure the support of the Allies for his idea of \u200b\u200bintroducing a constitution in Poland. As a guarantor of compliance with the decisions of the Vienna Congress, the emperor initiated the creation of the Holy Union (September 14, 1815) - the prototype of international organizations of the 20th century. Alexander was convinced that he owed victory to Napoleon to the providence of God, his religiosity was constantly increasing. Baroness J. Krudener and Archimandrite Photius had a strong influence on him. According to some reports, his faith acquired an ecumenical character, and he gradually became a mystic.
Alexander directly participated in the activities of the congresses of the Holy Alliance in Aachen (September-November 1818), Troppau and Laibach (October-December 1820 - January 1821), Verona (October-December 1822). However, the strengthening of Russian influence in Europe provoked opposition from the Allies.
In 1825, the Holy Alliance essentially collapsed.
Having strengthened his authority as a result of the victory over the French, Alexander also made another series of reformist attempts in the domestic politics of the post-war period. As far back as 1809, the Grand Duchy of Finland was created, which became essentially autonomy with its own Sejm, without whose consent the tsar could not change the law and introduce new taxes, and the Senate (government). In May 1815, Alexander announced the granting of a constitution to the Kingdom of Poland, which provided for the creation of a bicameral Diet, a system of local government and freedom of the press. In 1817-18, a number of people close to the emperor (including A. A. Arakcheev) were engaged, on his orders, in developing projects for the phased elimination of serfdom in Russia. In 1818, Alexander instructed N. N. Novosiltsev to prepare a draft constitution for Russia. The draft "State Charter of the Russian Empire", providing for the federal structure of the country, was ready by the end of 1820 and approved by the emperor, but its introduction was postponed indefinitely. The king complained to his inner circle that he had no assistants and could not find suitable people for governor posts. Former ideals increasingly seemed to Alexander only fruitless romantic dreams and illusions divorced from real political practice. A sobering effect was exerted on Alexander by the news of the uprising of the Semenovsky regiment (1820), which he perceived as a threat of a revolutionary explosion in Russia, to prevent which it was necessary to take tough measures. Nevertheless, the dreams of reform did not leave the emperor until 1822-23.
One of the paradoxes of Alexander’s domestic policy after the war was the fact that attempts to renew the Russian state were accompanied by the establishment of a police regime, later called “Arakcheevschina”. Its symbol was military settlements, in which Alexander himself, however, saw one of the ways to free peasants from personal dependence, but which caused hatred in the widest circles of society. In 1817, instead of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education was created, headed by the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod and the head of the Bible Society, A. N. Golitsyn. Under his leadership, the defeat of Russian universities was actually carried out, and severe censorship reigned. In 1822, Alexander banned the activities of Masonic lodges and other secret societies in Russia and approved the Senate proposal, allowing landowners to exile their peasants to Siberia for "evil deeds". However, the emperor was aware of the activities of the first Decembrist organizations, but did not take any measures against their members, believing that they shared the errors of his youth.
In the last years of his life, Alexander again often told his relatives about his intention to abdicate and “leave the world,” which, after his unexpected death from typhoid fever in Taganrog, gave rise to the legend of “Elder Fedor Kuzmich.” According to this legend, it was not Alexander who died and then was buried in Taganrog, but his double, while the tsar still lived for a long time as an old hermit in Siberia and died in 1864. But there is no documentary evidence of this legend.
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 Fedorovna. He was born in St. Petersburg on December 25, 1777. Named in honor of Alexander Nevsky, the newborn prince was immediately taken away from his parents and brought up under the control of the royal grandmother, which greatly influenced the political views of the future autocrat.
Childhood and youth
All childhood of Alexander passed under the control of the reigning grandmother, he almost did not communicate with his parents, however, despite this, he, like Father Paul, loved and was well versed in military affairs. The tsesarevich served in Gatchina, at the age of 19 he was promoted to colonel.
Tsesarevich possessed insight, quickly grasped new knowledge and studied with pleasure. It was in him, and not in her son Pavel, that Catherine the Great saw the future Russian emperor, however, she could not sit him on the throne, bypassing her father.
At the age of 20, he became the Governor General of St. Petersburg and the chief of the Semenovsky 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 whose goal was the removal of the emperor from the throne and the accession of Alexander. However, the condition of the crown prince was to preserve the life of his father, so the violent death of the latter brought the crown prince a sense of guilt for life.
Married life
The personal life of Alexander I was very eventful. The Czarevich’s marriage began early - at the age of 16 he was married to the fourteen-year-old Baden princess Louise Maria Augusta, who changed her name in Orthodoxy and became Elizaveta Alekseevna. The newlyweds were very close to each other, for which among the courtiers they received the nickname Cupid and Psyche. In the early years of marriage, the relationship between the spouses was very tender and touching, the Grand Duchess was very much loved and respected by the court, except for the mother-in-law of Maria Fedorovna. However, warm relations in the family soon changed to cool ones - the newlyweds had too different characters, in addition, Alexander Pavlovich often cheated on his wife.
The wife of Alexander I was modest, did not like luxury, was engaged in charity, balls and social events, she preferred walking and reading books.
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna
For almost six years, the marriage of the Grand Duke did not bear fruit, and only in 1799 did children of Alexander I appear. 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 prince, but from Prince Czartoryski, in a novel with which she suspected her daughter-in-law. In addition, the girl was born a brunette, and both parents were blond. Emperor Paul also hinted at the betrayal of his daughter-in-law. Tsarevich Alexander himself recognized his daughter and never spoke out about the possible betrayal of his wife. The happiness of fatherhood was short-lived; Grand Duchess Maria lived a little over a year and died in 1800. The death of her daughter briefly reconciled and brought the spouses together.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexandrovna
Numerous romances increasingly estranged the crowned spouses, Alexander, without hiding, cohabited with Maria Naryshkina, and the Empress Elizabeth began an affair with Alexei Okhotnikov in 1803. In 1806, the wife of Alexander I gave birth to a daughter, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, despite the fact that the couple had not lived together for several years, the emperor recognized his daughter, which made the girl first in line for 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 couple became even cooler.
Love affair with Maria Naryshkina
Matrimonial life did not work out in many respects due to the fifteen-year relationship of Alexander with the daughter of the Polish aristocrat M. Naryshkina, until the Chetvertinsky 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 a love affair, Alexander was credited with paternity of five of the six children of Naryshkina:
- Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1803,
- Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1804,
- Sofya Dmitrievna, born in 1808,
- Zinaida Dmitrievna, born in 1810,
- Emanuel Dmitrievich, born in 1813.
In 1813, the emperor broke up with Naryshkina, as he suspected her of having another man. The emperor suspected that Emanuel Naryshkin was not his son. After the separation between the former lovers, friendships remained. Of all the children of Maria and Alexander I, Sofia Naryshkina lived the longest. She died at age 16, on the eve of her wedding.
Illegitimate children of Alexander I
In addition to children from Maria Naryshkina, the emperor Alexander also had other favorites.
- Nikolai Lukash, born in 1796 from Sofia Meshcherskaya;
- Maria, born in 1819 from Maria Turkestanova;
- Maria Alexandrovna Paris (1814), mother Margarita Josephine Weimer;
- Alexandrova Wilhelmina Alexandrina Paulina, born in 1816, mother unknown;
- (1818), mother Elena Rautenshtrauh;
- Nikolay Isakov (1821), mother - Maria Karacharova.
The paternity of the last four children among researchers of the emperor's biography remains controversial. Some historians generally doubt whether Alexander I had children.
Domestic Policy 1801-1815
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 Russian emperor, Alexander was titled the Tsar of Poland from 1815, the Grand Duke of Finland from 1801 and the 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, banned the use of torture against prisoners, allowed to import books from abroad and open private printing houses in the country.
Alexander took the first step towards the abolition of serfdom by issuing a decree “On free cultivators”, and imposed a ban on the sale of peasants without land, but these measures did not make any significant changes.
Education Reforms
More fruitful were the reforms of Alexander in the education system. A clear gradation of educational institutions was introduced according to the level of educational programs, so county and parish schools, provincial gymnasiums and schools, universities appeared. Throughout 1804-1810 Kazan and Kharkov universities were opened, a pedagogical institute, the privileged Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, was opened in St. Petersburg, and the Academy of Sciences was restored in the capital.
From the first days of the reign, the emperor surrounded himself with young educated people with progressive views. The lawyer Speransky became one of these; it was under his leadership that the Peter's Colleges in the Ministry were reformed. Speransky also began developing a project to reorganize 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, however, the reform met with opposition from the political and aristocratic elites, therefore, it was not carried out.
Reforms of 1815-1825
Under the reign of Alexander I, the history of Russia has 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, no significant changes have occurred in the Russian Empire. In 1821-1822, the secret police were established in the army, secret organizations and Masonic lodges were banned.
Exceptions were the western provinces of the empire. In 1815, Alexander 1 granted the Polish kingdom a constitution, according to which Poland became a hereditary monarchy within Russia. In Poland, the bicameral Diet 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 states were freed from serfdom.
Military reform
After the victory over Napoleon, Alexander saw that the country needed a military reform, therefore, since 1815, Minister of War Arakcheev was tasked with developing her project. It implied the creation of military settlements as a new military-agricultural estate that would complement the army on an ongoing basis. The first such settlements were introduced in the Kherson and Novgorod provinces.
Foreign policy
The reign of Alexander I left its mark in foreign policy. In the first year of his reign, he concluded peace treaties with England and France, and in 1805-1807 became part of the French emperor Napoleon. The defeat at Austerlitz exacerbated the situation of Russia, which led to the signing of the Tilsit Peace with Napoleon in June 1807, which implied the creation of a defensive alliance of France and Russia.
More successful was the Russian-Turkish confrontation of 1806-1812, which ended with the signing of the Brest Peace, by which Bessarabia went to Russia.
The war with Sweden in 1808-1809 ended with the victory of Russia; under a peace treaty, the empire received Finland and the Aland Islands.
Also during the reign of Alexander during the Russo-Persian war, Azerbaijan, Imereti, Guria, Mengreli and Abkhazia were annexed to the empire. The empire gained 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 Russian emperor 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 enormous, in 1819 he became the godmother of the future Queen of England Victoria.
Death of the emperor
According to the official version, Emperor Alexander I Romanov died on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog from complications of inflammation of the brain. Such an early death of the emperor caused a lot of rumors and legends.
In 1825, the health of the emperor’s wife sharply worsened, doctors advised the southern climate, it was decided to go to Taganrog, the emperor decided to accompany his wife, whose relations have become very warm in recent years.
Being in the south, the emperor visited Novocherkassk and Crimea, on the way he caught a cold and died. Alexander was in good health and never hurt, 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 before the burial was not shown to the people, goodbye occurred with a closed coffin. Even more rumors arose and the quick death of the emperor’s wife - Elizabeth died six months later.
Emperor is an old man
In 1830-1840 they began to identify the deceased tsar with a certain old man, Fedor Kuzmich, who resembled the emperor with his features, and also possessed excellent manners that were not characteristic of a simple vagabond. Among the population there were rumors that the emperor’s double was buried, and the tsar himself lived under the name of the elder until 1864, while the empress Elizaveta Alekseevna herself was also identified with the hermit Vera Silent.
The question of whether the elder Fedor Kuzmich and Alexander are one person has still not been clarified; only a genetic examination can put all the dots on the “i”.
Russian Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich was born on December 25 (12 according to the old style) on December 1777. He was the first-born of Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) and Empress Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828).
Immediately after the birth of Alexander, grandmother Empress Catherine II took away from her parents, who intended to raise the baby as an ideal sovereign. On the recommendation of the philosopher Denis Didro, Swiss Frederic Lagarp, a Republican by conviction, was invited to the teachers.
Grand Duke Alexander grew up with faith in the ideals of the Enlightenment, sympathized with the French Revolution and critically evaluated the system of Russian autocracy.
Alexander’s critical attitude to the policies of Paul I contributed to his involvement in a conspiracy against his father, but on the condition that the conspirators save the life of the king and will only seek his abdication. The violent death of Paul on March 23 (11 in the old style) on March 1801 seriously affected Alexander - he felt guilty for the death of his father until the end of his days.
In the first days after accession to the throne in March 1801, Alexander I created the Permanent Council - the legislative body under the sovereign, who had the right to protest the actions and decrees of the king. But due to contradictions between members, not one of his projects was made public.
Alexander I carried out a number of reforms: the merchants, bourgeoisie and state-owned (related to the state) villagers were given the right to buy uninhabited land (1801), ministries and a cabinet were established (1802), a decree on free cultivators was issued (1803), creating the category personally free peasants.
In 1822, Alexander Masonic lodges and other secret societies.
Emperor Alexander I died on December 2 (November 19, old style) in 1825 from typhoid fever in Taganrog, where he accompanied his wife, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, for treatment.
The emperor often told his relatives about his intention to abdicate and "leave the world", which gave rise to the legend of the old man Fyodor Kuzmich, according to which Alexander's double died and was buried, while the tsar lived as an old hermit in Siberia and died in 1864 year.
Alexander I was married to the German princess Louise-Maria-Augusta of Baden-Baden (1779-1826), who adopted the name Elizabeth Alekseevna during the transition to Orthodoxy. From this marriage two daughters were born who died in infancy.
The material is based on open source information
