Russian Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich was born on December 25 (12 according to the old style) December 1777. He was the firstborn of Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) and Empress Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828).

Immediately after the birth, Alexander was taken away from his parents by his grandmother, Empress Catherine II, who intended to raise the baby as an ideal sovereign. On the recommendation of the philosopher Denis Diderot, the Swiss Frederic Laharpe, a republican by conviction, was invited to be educators.

Grand Duke Alexander grew up with faith in the ideals of the Enlightenment, sympathized with the French Revolution and critically assessed the system of Russian autocracy.

Alexander's critical attitude towards 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 tsar and would only seek his abdication. The violent death of Paul on March 23 (11 according to the old style), 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 Indispensable Council - a legislative advisory body under the sovereign, which had the right to protest the actions and decrees of the king. But due to controversy among members, none of his projects were made public.

Alexander I carried out a number of reforms: merchants, philistines and state-owned (related to the state) villagers were granted the right to buy uninhabited lands (1801), ministries and the cabinet of ministers were established (1802), a decree was issued on free cultivators (1803), which created the category of personal free peasants.

In 1822, Alexander Masonic lodges and other secret societies.

Emperor Alexander I died on December 2 (November 19 according to the old style), 1825, from typhoid fever in Taganrog, where he accompanied his wife, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, for treatment.

The emperor often spoke to his relatives about his intention to abdicate the throne and "remove from the world", which gave rise to the legend of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, according to which Alexander's double died and was buried in Taganrog, while the tsar lived as an old hermit in Siberia and died in 1864.

Alexander I was married to the German princess Louise-Maria-August of Baden-Baden (1779-1826), who adopted the name of Elizabeth Alekseevna during the transition to Orthodoxy. From this marriage two daughters were born who died in infancy.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

And recently, a monument to the emperor appeared in the garden of the same name. In the very heart of Moscow, which during the reign of Alexander was both “burned down by fire” and “given to the French”. These events in the minds of modern Russian people are built into the plot of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, but then they were perceived as an unheard-of defeat, which still did not break the emperor.

For a short time, foreigners ruled in Belokamennaya. The victorious time has come - and the Russian army entered Paris. The emperor was not considered and was not an outstanding commander, but he did not concede to Bonaparte.

It is probably 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 chase loud glory, he considered modesty the most advantageous tactic. It is no coincidence that for a long time the only monument to the conqueror of Napoleon was the Pillar of Alexandria in St. Petersburg, erected during the reign of his stern brother. But there on the column is a sculpture of an angel with a cross, and not a figure of the sovereign.

The legend about the departure of the emperor is also memorable: even some historians of the imperial family believed that Alexander did not die, but went to wander in the form of a humble pilgrim Fyodor Kuzmich. The story of the Tomsk Elder Theodore is a special chapter in the history of Tsar Alexander. Mystic. Legend.

The appearance of such a legend was due to the character of the king, who for many years sought peace, sought the way to the City of Heaven.

I immediately remember how Pushkin “branded” him: “The ruler is weak and crafty.” And those who are in a hurry to recklessly idealize the victorious 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 Alexander Pavlovich's policy.

He was considered an outstanding diplomat. They talked about the cold hypocrisy, about the indifferent duplicity of the pupil of Catherine the Great. Many were fascinated by his coldness, and many were scared away. That's really who knew how to hide thoughts and intentions, not to mention emotions. This is how he was before he left the faith. The main task of a diplomat remains the same – to sell his concessions at a higher price and to buy his partners’ concessions at a lower price.

Alexander did not always identify his policy with the interests of Russia. In his younger years, he completely underestimated the Fatherland: we have never had a second such Westerner on the throne. The horizons of his ambition stretched wider than native aspens. He absorbed the idea of ​​Catherine's Greek project. He made plans on a universal scale - and, surprisingly, he brought a lot to mind. Here it is enough to say two words: "Holy Union"!

Clothes are given to us to cover shame, and language is given to distract interlocutors from the ugly truth. The grandson of the great Catherine clearly followed this rule, having received court lessons from childhood. After all, he had to rush between two courtyards. On the one hand, the powerful empress, who separated him from his parents, on the other hand, the Russian Hamlet, the Gatchina exile, Pavel Petrovich. And everywhere he was loved: he skillfully made a favorable impression. The cynicism wore off gradually.

The Russian Empire at that time was not in political isolation. In Europe, since Elizabethan times, since the time of Bestuzhev, not a single capital political enterprise could do without the participation of the northern empire. Europeans did not recognize Russian culture, treated Orthodoxy with condescension - we see traces of these prejudices in Diderot's Encyclopedia. Only two manifestations of Russia were treated with respect: the army and diplomacy.

Pyotr and Kurakin, Bestuzhev and Rumyantsev, Bezborodko and Suvorov "forced to respect themselves." But even in the years of Alexander, Denis Davydov spoke about "Russophobia" (then this word was written that way). And the duplicity of the allies in the fight against Napoleon crossed the borders of tolerable.

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 St. Petersburg was felt. Alexander's allies were already worried about this in 1814. They were not limited to newspaper caricatures of Russian barbarians. The European chancellors immediately proceeded to secret negotiations. Perhaps Alexander knew about these maneuvers. International espionage in Russia since the time of Potemkin has been excellently developed, agents of St. Petersburg worked in all European capitals.

The secret anti-Russian military alliance of the powers was hastily established. Alexander paid no attention to these maneuvers. I did not allow myself to be offended. Why? There may be several explanations for this. He feared Napoleon more than all the allied monarchs combined. And Talleyrand and Metternich knew the price. Talleyrand - literally. After all, the French diplomat was a paid agent of the Russian Tsar for several years ...

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 confession explains a lot about Alexander's politics.

The fuse, as you know, did not last long: by the 1850s, there were more contradictions than ties. And the Treaty of Paris in 1855 destroyed the world of the Holy Union, expelled Russia (as it turned out, for a while) from the club of arbiters of the destinies of Europe. And the club itself has lost its meaning.

The Russian Empire in the time of Alexander finally settled on the banks of the Vistula. And the generous liberal gifts of the emperor could neither satisfy the gentry nor allay the anxiety of London, Vienna and Paris. But what does he, the winner, care about all this fuss! He knew what the triumph of Agamemnon, Caesar and Augustus meant.

The spirit of the emperor hovers in the Moscow Alexander Garden, and in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which was also called Alexandrovsky. And in Paris. Spring of 1814... The history of Russia has never known such spectacular victories. The Russian emperor entered Paris on a gray horse that Napoleon had once given him.

Some Parisian shouted: “We have been waiting for the arrival of Your Majesty for a long time!”. Alexander replied 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 popular expressions, which embody the strength and generosity of the hero. This answer flattered the French, they repeated it not without enthusiasm. Alexander in Paris collected a collection of such small victories.

Derzhavin then greeted the tsar with a cheerful soldier's song:

Rejoice, blessed king,
Alexander the Blessed!
Russian land is strong:
She cared about you
Breasts, did not spare life:
Give us a cup of wine!

The first fifteen years of the reign ended epic, in a halo of victory and worldwide influence. And then fatigue set in - and the companions stopped recognizing the sovereign. He began to shun politics with its lies and blood. I searched for the truth in conversations with monks, in the Gospel. A strong reason for repentance is indirect participation in the murder of his father. Many things reminded him of this atrocity. He prayed, he destroyed the monarch's ambition in himself. And so he left.

Considering the era from an academic distance, historians did not exalt it. For example, Sergei Melgunov, known to many from the sensational book The Red Terror in Russia, did not spare the caustic irony when writing about Alexander and his time. Soviet historians did not favor him either. And then interest arose in "the most mysterious emperor", in the "royal mystic". And now - official recognition in the form of a monument near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. Happy birthday emperor! 237 years is no joke.

Alexander I

Emperor Alexander I.
Portrait by V.L. Borovikovsky from the original by E. Vigee-Lebrun. 1802.

Blessed

Alexander I Pavlovich Romanov (Blessed) (1777-1825) - Russian emperor from March 12 (24), 1801 - after the assassination of the emperor by conspirators from aristocratic circles Paul I.

At the beginning of his reign, his domestic policy showed a desire for moderate liberalism. The necessary transformations were discussed by members of the Unspoken Committee - the "young friends" of the emperor. Ministerial (1802), Senate (1802), university and school (1802-1804) reforms were carried out, the State Council was created (1810), the Decree on free cultivators was issued (1803), etc. After 1815, the trend intensified in the tsar's domestic policy to conservatism (see Arakcheevshchina, military settlements).

He went down in history as a skilled politician and diplomat. He sought to create multilateral European unions (see the Holy Alliance), widely used negotiations with politicians and monarchs of Europe at congresses and in personal meetings (see the Tilsit treaties of 1807).

His foreign policy was mainly dominated by the European direction. In the first years of his reign, he tried to maintain peaceful relations with the powers that fought for hegemony in Europe (France and England), but after the intensification of aggressive tendencies in the policy of Napoleon I, Russia became an active participant in the Third and Fourth anti-Napoleonic coalitions. As a result of the victory in the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809. The Grand Duchy of Finland was annexed to Russia. The defeat of Napoleon during the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813-1814. strengthened the international prestige of Russia and Alexander I personally - by decision of the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815, in which the Russian Tsar was an active participant, most of the Polish lands (the Kingdom of Poland) were annexed to Russia.

Foreign policy in the eastern direction - the solution of the eastern issue - was expressed in the support of national movements in the Balkans, the desire to annex the Danubian principalities and gain a foothold in Transcaucasia (see the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812, the Bucharest peace treaty of 1812, the Gulistan peace treaty of 1813 G.).

The exchange of envoys in 1809 marked the beginning of Russian-American diplomatic relations.

Since 1815, a conservative trend has intensified in the foreign policy of Alexander I: with his consent, the Austrian troops suppressed the revolutions in Naples and Piedmont, and the French - in Spain; he took an evasive position in relation to the Greek uprising of 1821, which he considered as a speech by his subjects against the legitimate monarch (sultan).

Orlov A.S., Georgiev N.G., Georgiev V.A. Historical dictionary. 2nd ed. M., 2012, p. 11-12.

Other biographical material:

Persons:

Dolgorukov Petr Petrovich (1777-1806), prince, peer and close associate of Alexander I.

Elizaveta Alekseevna (1779-1826), Empress, wife of Emperor Alexander I.

Mordvinov Nikolai Semenovich (1754-1845), count, admiral.

Novosiltsev Nikolai Nikolaevich (1761-1836), personal friend of Alexander I.

Platov Matvey Ivanovich (1751 - 1818), cavalry general. Ataman.

Rostopchin Fedor Vasilievich (1763-1826), Russian statesman.

Speransky Mikhail Mikhailovich (1772-1839), prominent statesman.

Emperor Alexander at the Monk Seraphim of Sarov.
Salavat Shcherbakov. Moscow, Alexander Garden.

Literature:

Bezhin L. "LG-dossier" N 2, 1992.

Bogdanovich M. H., History of the reign of Alexander I and Russia in his time, vol. 1-6, St. Petersburg, 1869-1871;

Vallotton A. Alexander I. M. 1991.

Documents for the history of Russia's diplomatic relations with the Western European powers, from the conclusion of a general peace in 1814 to the congress in Verona in 1822. St. Petersburg. 1823. Vol. 1. Part 1. Vol. 2. 1825. -

Kizevetter A. A., Emperor Alexander I and Arakcheev, in the book: Historical essays, M., 1912;

Lenin, V.I. Works. T. IV. S. 337. -

Marx, K. and Engels, F. Works. T. IX. pp. 371-372, 504-505. T. XVI. Part II. S. 17, 21, 23, 24.-

Martens, F. F. Collection of treatises and conventions concluded by Russia with foreign powers. Vol. 2, 3, 4. Ch. 1.6.7, 11, 13, 14. St. Petersburg. 1875-1905. -

Martens, F. F. Russia and England at the beginning of the 19th century. "Bulletin of Europe". 1894. Prince. 10. S. 653-695. Book. 11. S. 186-223. -

Materials for the history of the Eastern question in 1808-1813 -

International politics of modern times in treaties, notes and declarations. Part 1. From the French Revolution to the Imperialist War. M. 1925. S. 61-136. -

Merezhkovsky D.S. Alexander the First M. "Armada", 1998.

Mironenko S. V. Autocracy and reforms: Political struggle in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. M., 1989.

Nikolai Mikhailovich, leader prince. Emperor Alexander I. Experience of historical research. T. 1-2-SPb. 1912.-

Picheta, V.I. International policy of Russia at the beginning of the reign of Alexander I (until 1807). In book. "Patriotic war and Russian society". T. 1. M. . pp. 152-174.-

Picheta, V. I. Russia's International Policy after Tilsit. In book. "Patriotic war and Russian society". T. 2. M. . pp. 1-32. -

Pokrovsky M. H., Alexander I, in the book: History of Russia in the 19th century, ed. Pomegranate, v. 1, St. Petersburg, b. G.;

Popov, A. N. Patriotic War of 1812. Historical research. T. 1. Relations between Russia and foreign powers before the war of 1812. M. 1905. VI, 492 p. -

Presnyakov A. E., Alexander I, P., 1924;

Predtechensky A. V., Essays on socio-political. history of Russia in the first quarter. XIX century., M.-L., 1957.

Okun S. B., Essays on the history of the USSR. The end of the 18th - the first quarter of the 19th century, L., 1956;

Safonov M.M. The problem of reforms in the government policy of Russia at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. L., 1988.

Sakharov A. N. Alexander I // Russian autocrats (1801-1917). M., 1993.

Collection of the Russian Historical Society. T. 21, 70, 77, 82, 83, 88, 89, 112, 119, 121, 127. St. Petersburg. 1877-1908. -

Solovyov S. M., Emperor Alexander I. Politics - diplomacy, St. Petersburg, 1877;

Solovyov, S. M. Emperor Alexander I. Politics-diplomacy. Collected works. SPb. . S. 249-758 (there is a separate edition: SPb. 1877. 560 s). - Nadler, V. K. Emperor Alexander I and the idea of ​​the Holy Alliance. T. 1-5. [Kharkiv]. 1886-1892. -

Stalin, I. V. On Engels' article "The Foreign Policy of Russian Tsarism". "Bolshevik". M. 1941. No. 9. S. 1-5.-

Suvorov N. On the history of the city of Vologda: On the stay in Vologda of royal persons and other remarkable historical persons // VEV. 1867. N 9. S. 348-357.

Troitsky N. A. Alexander I and Napoleon. M., 1994.

Fedorov V.A. Alexander I // Questions of history. 1990. No. 1;

Schilder, N.K. Emperor Alexander the First. His life and reign. Ed. 2. Vol. 1-4. SPb. 1904-1905.-

Czartoryski, A. Mémoires du prince Adam Czartoryski et correspondance avec l empereur Alexandre I-er. Pref. de M. Ch. De Mazade. T. 1-2. Paris. 1887. (Czartorizhsky, A. Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartorizhsky and his correspondence with Emperor Alexander I. T. 1-2. M .. 1912). -

Vandal, A. Napoleon et Alexandre I-er. L alliance russe sous le premier empire. 6th ed. T. 1-3. Paris. . (Vandal, A. Napoleon and Alexander I. The Franco-Russian Union during the First Empire. T. 1-3. St. Petersburg. 1910-1913). -

See also literature to the article The Congress of Vienna 1814 - 1815.

Scroll depicting a funeral procession
during the funeral of Emperor Alexander I (detail).

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 personal freedom and civil rights to all subjects.

Russian emperor since 1801. The eldest son of Paul I. At the beginning of his reign, he carried out moderately liberal reforms developed by the Unofficial Committee and M. M. Speransky. In foreign policy, he maneuvered between Great Britain and France. In 1805-07 he participated in anti-French coalitions. In 1807-12 he temporarily became close to France. He waged successful wars with Turkey (1806-12) and Sweden (1808-09). Under Alexander I, the territories of Eastern Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812), Azerbaijan (1813), and the former Duchy of Warsaw (1815) were annexed to Russia. After the Patriotic War of 1812, in 1813-14 he headed 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, Emperor of Russia (1801-25), firstborn of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (later Emperor Paul I) and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna.

Immediately after his birth, Alexander was taken from his parents by his grandmother, Empress Catherine II, who intended to raise him as an ideal sovereign, a successor to her work. On the recommendation of D. Diderot, the Swiss F. C. Laharpe, a republican by conviction, was invited to educate Alexander. The Grand Duke grew up with a romantic belief in the ideals of the Enlightenment, sympathized with the Poles who lost their statehood after the partitions of Poland, sympathized with the French Revolution and critically assessed the political system of the Russian autocracy. Catherine II forced him to read the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and she herself explained to him its meaning. At the same time, in the last years of the grandmother's reign, Alexander found more and more inconsistencies between her declared ideals and everyday political practice. He had to carefully hide his feelings, which contributed to the formation in him of such traits as pretense and slyness. This was also reflected in the relationship with his father during a visit to his residence in Gatchina, where the spirit of the military and strict discipline reigned. Alexander constantly had to have, as it were, two masks: one for his grandmother, the other for his 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 the throne to Alexander, 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 position of Alexander became even more complicated, because he had to constantly prove his loyalty to the suspicious emperor. Alexander's attitude to his father's policy was sharply critical. It was these sentiments of Alexander that contributed to his involvement in a conspiracy against Paul, but on the condition that the conspirators save his father's life and would only seek his abdication. The tragic events of March 11, 1801 seriously affected the state of mind of Alexander: 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 personal freedom and civil rights to all subjects. He was aware that such a "revolution from above" would actually lead to the liquidation of the autocracy and was ready, if successful, to retire from power. However, he also understood that he needed a certain social support, like-minded people. He needed to get rid of pressure from both the conspirators who overthrew Paul and the “Catherine old men” who supported them. Already in the first days after the accession, Alexander announced that he would govern Russia “according to the laws and according to the heart” of Catherine II. On April 5, 1801, the Permanent Council was created - a legislative advisory body attached to the sovereign, which received the right to protest the actions and decrees of the king. In May of the same year, Alexander submitted to the council a draft decree banning the sale of peasants without land, but members of the Council made it clear to the emperor that the adoption of such a decree would cause unrest among the nobles and lead to a new coup d'état. After that, Alexander concentrated his efforts on developing a reform in the circle of his “young friends” (V.P. Kochubey, A.A. Czartorysky, P.A. Stroganov, N.N. Novosiltsev). By the time of Alexander's coronation (September 1801), the Indispensable Council prepared a draft of the Most Merciful Letter Complained to the Russian People, which contained guarantees of the basic civil rights of subjects (freedom of speech, press, conscience, personal security, guarantee of private property, etc.), a draft manifesto on the peasant question (prohibition of the sale of peasants without land, the establishment of a procedure for the redemption of peasants from the landowner) and a draft reorganization of the Senate. During the discussion of the drafts, sharp contradictions between the members of the Permanent Council were exposed, and as a result, none of the three documents was made public. It was only announced that the distribution of state peasants into private hands would be stopped. Further consideration of the peasant question led to the appearance on February 20, 1803 of the decree on “free cultivators”, which allowed the landowners to release the peasants to freedom and assign land to them as property, which for the first time created the category of personally free peasants.

In parallel, Alexander carried out administrative and educational reforms.

In the same years, Alexander himself already felt the taste of power and began to find advantages in autocratic rule. Disappointment in his immediate environment forced him to seek support in people who were personally devoted to him and not connected with the high-ranking aristocracy. He brought closer first 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 of state reform. Speransky's project assumed the actual transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy, where the sovereign's power would be limited by a bicameral legislature of a parliamentary type. The implementation of Speransky's plan began in 1809, when the practice of equating court ranks with civil ranks was abolished and an educational qualification for civil officials was introduced. On January 1, 1810, the Council of State was established, replacing the Indispensable Council. 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 plans for financial, ministerial and senatorial reforms proposed by Speransky were discussed in the State Council. 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 experienced the strongest pressure from the court environment, including members of his family, who sought to prevent radical reforms. Apparently, N.M. Karamzin’s “Note on Ancient and New Russia” also had a certain influence on him, which obviously gave the emperor a reason to doubt the correctness of the path he had chosen. 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 activities as anti-state, and to declare Speransky himself a Napoleonic spy. All this led to the fact that Alexander, inclined to compromises, although he did not believe in Speransky's guilt, dismissed him in March 1812.

Having come to power, Alexander tried to carry out his foreign policy as if from a “clean slate”. The new Russian government sought to create a system of collective security in Europe, linking all the leading powers among themselves with a series of agreements. 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 the violation of the legality of the world order. But the Russian emperor overestimated his capabilities, which led to the disaster near Austerlitz in November 1805, and the presence of the emperor in the army, his inept orders had the most disastrous consequences. Alexander refused to ratify the peace treaty with France signed in June 1806, and only the defeat near Friedland in May 1807 forced the Russian emperor to agree to an agreement. 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 was concluded between Russia and France. As the further development of events showed, the Tilsit agreement turned out to be more beneficial for Russia, allowing Russia to accumulate forces. 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 Russo-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 due to the imperial interests of both sides. Thus, Russia was not satisfied with the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw, the continental blockade harmed the Russian economy, and in the Balkans, each of the two countries had their own far-reaching plans. In 1810, Alexander refused Napoleon, who asked for the hand of his sister, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (later Queen of the Netherlands), and signed a provision on neutral trade, which effectively nullified 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 into Russia (which he learned about 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 mortal personal enemy for him. Not wanting to repeat the experience of Austerlitz and submitting to the pressure of his entourage, Alexander left the army and returned to St. Petersburg. During the entire time that Barclay de Tolly carried out a retreat, which provoked sharp criticism from both society and the army, Alexander almost did not show his solidarity with the commander. After Smolensk was abandoned, the emperor gave in to the general demands and appointed M. I. Kutuzov to this post. With the expulsion of the 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 devastation on the continent. He also considered the tranquility of Europe a necessary condition for the realization of his reformist plans in Russia itself. To ensure these conditions, it was necessary to maintain the status quo, determined by the decisions of the Congress of Vienna (1815), according to which the territory of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was ceded to Russia, and the monarchy was restored in France, and Alexander insisted on the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in this country, which should was to serve as a precedent for the establishment of similar regimes in other countries. The Russian emperor, in particular, managed to enlist the support of his allies for his idea of ​​introducing a constitution in Poland. As a guarantor of compliance with the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, the emperor initiated the creation of the Holy Alliance (September 14, 1815) - the prototype of international organizations of the 20th century. Alexander was convinced that he owed his victory over 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 himself 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 made another series of reform attempts in the domestic politics of the post-war period. As early as 1809, the Grand Duchy of Finland was created, which essentially became an autonomy with its own diet, without whose consent the tsar could not change legislation and introduce new taxes, and a 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 Sejm, a system of local self-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 to develop projects for the phased elimination of serfdom in Russia. In 1818, Alexander gave the task to N. N. Novosiltsev to prepare a draft constitution for Russia. The draft "State charter of the Russian Empire", which provided 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 tsar complained to his inner circle that he had no assistants and could not find suitable people for governorships. Former ideals more and more seemed to Alexander only fruitless romantic dreams and illusions, divorced from real political practice. The news of the uprising of the Semyonovsky regiment (1820), which he perceived as a threat of a revolutionary explosion in Russia, had a sobering effect on Alexander, 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 of the post-war period was the fact that attempts to renew the Russian state were accompanied by the establishment of a police regime, later called "Arakcheevshchina". Military settlements became its symbol, in which Alexander himself, however, saw one of the ways to free the peasants from personal dependence, but which aroused 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 procurator 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, cruel censorship reigned. In 1822, Alexander banned the activities of Masonic lodges and other secret societies in Russia and approved the proposal of the Senate, which allowed the landowners to exile their peasants to Siberia for "bad deeds". At the same time, 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 delusions of his youth.

In the last years of his life, Alexander again often spoke to his loved ones about his intention to abdicate the throne and “remove 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 and was then buried in Taganrog, but his double, while the tsar lived for a long time as an old hermit in Siberia and died in 1864. But there is no documentary evidence of this legend.

Name: Alexander I (Alexander Pavlovich Romanov)

Age: 47 years old

Activity: Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia

Family status: was married

Alexander I: biography

Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich, sometimes erroneously referred to as Tsar Alexander I, ascended the throne in 1801 and ruled for almost a quarter of a century. Russia under Alexander I waged successful wars against Turkey, Persia and Sweden, and later became embroiled in the war of 1812 when Napoleon attacked the country. During the reign of Alexander I, the territory expanded due to the annexation of Eastern Georgia, Finland, Bessarabia and part of Poland. For all the transformations introduced by Alexander I, he was called Alexander the Blessed.

The biography of Alexander I was originally supposed to be outstanding. Not only was he the eldest son of the emperor and his wife Maria Feodorovna, but the grandmother did not have a soul in her grandson. It was she who gave the boy a sonorous name in honor and, in the hope that Alexander would create history following the example of the legendary namesakes. It is worth noting that the name itself was unusual for the Romanovs, and only after the reign of Alexander I did it firmly enter the family name book.

The personality of Alexander I was formed under the tireless supervision of Catherine the Great. The fact is that the empress initially considered the son of Paul I incapable of taking the throne and wanted to crown her grandson “over the head” of her father. The grandmother tried to ensure that the boy almost did not communicate with his parents, however, Pavel had influence on his son and he took over his love for military science from him. The young heir grew up affectionate, smart, easily acquired new knowledge, but at the same time he was very lazy and proud, which is why Alexander I did not manage to learn how to focus on painstaking and lengthy work.

Contemporaries of Alexander I noted that he had a very lively mind, incredible insight and was easily carried away by everything new. But since two opposite natures, grandmother and father, actively influenced him from childhood, the child was forced to learn to please absolutely everyone, which became the main characteristic of Alexander I. Even Napoleon called him an “actor” in a good sense, and Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin wrote about Emperor Alexander "in the face and life of a harlequin."

Fascinated by military affairs, the future Emperor Alexander I served in active service in the Gatchina troops, which were personally formed by his father. The result of the service was the deafness of the left ear, but this did not prevent Paul I from making his son a colonel of the guard when he was only 19 years old. A year later, the son of the ruler became the military governor of St. Petersburg and led the Semenovsky Guards Regiment, then Alexander I briefly presided over the military parliament, after which he began to sit in the Senate.

Reign of Alexander I

Emperor Alexander I ascended the throne immediately after the violent death of his father. A number of facts confirm that he was aware of the plans of the conspirators to overthrow Paul I, although he may not have suspected regicide. It was the new head of the Russian Empire who announced the "apoplexy" that struck his father, literally a few minutes after his death. In September 1801, Alexander I was crowned.

The very first decrees of Alexander I showed that he intended to eradicate judicial arbitrariness in the state and introduce strict legality. Today it seems incredible, but at that time there were practically no strict fundamental laws in Russia. Together with his closest associates, the emperor formed a secret committee with which he discussed all plans for state reform. This community was called the Committee of Public Salvation, and is also known as the Public Movement of Alexander I.

Reforms of Alexander I

Immediately after Alexander I came to power, the transformations became visible to the naked eye. His reign is usually divided into two parts: at first, the reforms of Alexander I occupied all his time and thoughts, but after 1815 the emperor became disillusioned with them and began a reactionary movement, that is, on the contrary, clamped people in a vise. One of the most important reforms was the creation of the "Indispensable Council", which was later transformed into the State Council with several departments. The next step is the creation of ministries. If earlier decisions on any issues were taken by majority vote, now a separate minister was responsible for each industry, who regularly reported to the head of state.

The reforms of Alexander I also touched upon the peasant question, at least on paper. The emperor thought about the abolition of serfdom, but he wanted to do it gradually, but he could not determine the steps for such a slow emancipation. As a result, the decrees of Alexander I on "free cultivators" and the ban on the sale of peasants without the land on which they live turned out to be a drop in the ocean. But Alexander's transformations in the field of education became more significant. By his order, a clear gradation of educational institutions was created according to the level of the educational program: parish and district schools, provincial schools and gymnasiums, and universities. Thanks to the activities of Alexander I, the Academy of Sciences was restored in St. Petersburg, the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was created, and five new universities were founded.

But the sovereign's naive plans for the rapid transformation of the country ran into opposition from the nobles. He could not quickly implement his reforms because of the fear of a palace coup, plus the attention of Alexander 1 of the war was occupied. Therefore, despite good intentions and the desire for reform, the emperor could not bring all his desires to life. In fact, in addition to educational and state reform, only the Polish constitution is of interest, which the ruler's associates considered as a prototype for the future Constitution of the entire Russian Empire. But the turn of Alexander I's domestic policy towards reaction buried all the hopes of the liberal nobility.

Politics of Alexander I

The starting point for a change of opinion about the need for reform was the war with Napoleon. The emperor realized that in the conditions that he wanted to create, a quick mobilization of the army was impossible. Therefore, Emperor Alexander 1 shifts politics from liberal ideas to the interests of state security. A new reform is being developed, which turned out to be the most accustomed: military reforms.

With the help of the Minister of War, a project is being created for a completely new type of life - a military settlement, which was a new estate. Without much burdening the country's budget, it was supposed to maintain and equip a standing army with a strength at the wartime level. The growth in the number of such military districts continued throughout the years of the reign of Alexander I. Moreover, they were preserved under the successor Nicholas I and were abolished only by the emperor.

Wars of Alexander I

In fact, the foreign policy of Alexander I was reduced to a series of constant wars, thanks to which the country's territory increased significantly. After the end of the war with Persia, Russia of Alexander I received military control in the Caspian Sea, and also expanded its possessions by annexing Georgia. After the Russian-Turkish war, Bessarabia and all the states of Transcaucasia replenished the possessions of the Empire, and after the conflict with Sweden, Finland. In addition, Alexander I fought with England, Austria and started the Caucasian War, which did not end during his lifetime.

The main military adversary of Russia under Emperor Alexander I was France. Their first armed conflict took place as early as 1805, which, despite periodic peace agreements, constantly flared up again. Finally, inspired by his fantastic victories, Napoleon Bonaparte sent troops into the territory of Russia. The Patriotic War of 1812 began. After the victory, Alexander I concluded an alliance with England, Prussia and Austria and made a number of foreign campaigns, during which he defeated Napoleon's army and forced him to abdicate. After that, the Kingdom of Poland also went to Russia.

When the French army ended up on the territory of the Russian Empire, Alexander I declared himself commander-in-chief and forbade peace negotiations until at least one enemy soldier remained on Russian soil. But the numerical advantage of Napoleon's army was so great that the Russian troops constantly retreated inland. Soon the emperor agrees that his presence interferes with the military leaders, and leaves for St. Petersburg. Mikhail Kutuzov becomes the commander-in-chief, who was very respected by soldiers and officers, but most importantly, this man has already proved himself to be an excellent strategist.

And in the Patriotic War of 1812, Kutuzov again showed his sharp mind as a military tactician. He outlined a decisive battle near the village of Borodino and positioned the army so well that it was covered by natural relief from two flanks, and in the center the commander-in-chief placed artillery. The battle was desperate and bloody, with huge losses on both sides. The battle of Borodino is considered a historical paradox: both armies declared their victory in the battle.

To keep his troops on alert, Mikhail Kutuzov decides to leave Moscow. The result was the burning of the former capital and its occupation by the French, but Napoleon's victory in this case turned out to be Pirova. In order to feed his army, he was forced to move to Kaluga, where he had already concentrated the forces of Kutuzov and did not let the enemy go further. Moreover, partisan detachments delivered effective blows to the invaders. Deprived of food and unprepared for the Russian winter, the French began to retreat. The final battle near the Berezina River put an end to the defeat, and Alexander I issued a Manifesto on the victorious end of the Patriotic War.

Personal life

In his youth, Alexander was very friendly with his sister Ekaterina Pavlovna. Some sources even hinted at a relationship more than just brother and sister. But these conjectures are very unlikely, since Catherine was 11 years younger, and at the age of 16, Alexander I had already connected his personal life with his wife. He married a German woman, Louise Maria Augusta, who, after the adoption of Orthodoxy, became Elizaveta Alekseevna. They had two daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, but both died at the age of one, so it was not the children of Alexander I who became the heir to the throne, but his younger brother Nicholas I.

Due to the fact that his wife could not give him a son, the emperor's relationship with his wife cooled greatly. He practically did not hide his love relationships on the side. At first, Alexander I cohabited for almost 15 years with Maria Naryshkina, the wife of Chief Jägermeister Dmitry Naryshkin, whom all the courtiers called in his eyes "an exemplary cuckold." Maria gave birth to six children, and the paternity of five of them is usually attributed to Alexander. However, most of these children died in infancy. Also, Alexander I had an affair with the daughter of the court banker Sophie Velho and with Sophia Vsevolozhskaya, who gave birth to his illegitimate son, Nikolai Lukash, a general and war hero.

In 1812, Alexander I became interested in reading the Bible, although before that he was basically indifferent to religion. But he, like his best friend Alexander Golitsyn, was not satisfied with the framework of Orthodoxy alone. The emperor was in correspondence with Protestant preachers, studied mysticism and various currents of the Christian faith, and sought to unite all denominations in the name of "universal truth." Russia under Alexander I became more tolerant than ever before. The official church was outraged by such a turn and began a secret behind-the-scenes fight against the like-minded emperor, including Golitsyn. The victory remained with the church, which did not want to lose power over the people.

Emperor Alexander I died at the beginning of December 1825 in Taganrog, during the next trip, which he loved very much. The official cause of death of Alexander I was fever and inflammation of the brain. The sudden death of the ruler caused a wave of rumors, spurred on by the fact that shortly before that, Emperor Alexander had drawn up a manifesto in which he transferred the right of succession to his younger brother Nikolai Pavlovich.

People began to say that the emperor faked his death and became a hermit Fyodor Kuzmich. Such a legend was very popular during the lifetime of this really existing old man, and in the 19th century it received additional arguments. The fact is that it was possible to compare the handwriting of Alexander I and Fyodor Kuzmich, which turned out to be almost identical. Moreover, today genetic scientists have a real project to compare the DNA of these two people, but so far this examination has not been carried out.