December 23, 1777 was born Alexander I - one of the most controversial Russian emperors. The winner of Napoleon and the liberator of Europe, he went down in history as Alexander the Blessed. However, contemporaries and researchers accused him of weakness and hypocrisy. “The Sphinx, not unraveled to the grave, They are still arguing about it again,” - this is how poet Peter Vyazemsky wrote about him almost a century after the birth of the autocrat. About the era of the reign of Alexander I - in the material RT.
Exemplary son and loving grandson
Alexander I was the son of Paul I and the grandson of Catherine II. The empress did not like Paul and, not seeing in him a strong ruler and a worthy successor, she gave all unspent maternal feelings to Alexander.
From childhood, the future Emperor Alexander I often spent time with his grandmother in the Winter Palace, but at the same time he managed to visit Gatchina, where his father lived. According to the doctor of historical sciences Alexander Mironenko, it was this duality, the desire to please the grandmother and father, who were so different in temperaments and views, that formed the contradictory character of the future emperor.
“Alexander I in his youth loved to play the violin. During this time, he corresponded with his mother, Maria Feodorovna, who told him that he was too fond of playing a musical instrument and that he should prepare more for the role of autocrat. Alexander I replied that it would be better to play the violin than, like his peers, play cards. He did not want to reign, but at the same time he dreamed of curing all ulcers, correcting any disorders in the structure of Russia, doing everything as it should be in his dreams, and then abdicate, ”Mironenko said in an interview with RT.
According to experts, Catherine II wanted to pass the throne to her beloved grandson, bypassing the legitimate heir. And only the sudden death of the Empress in November 1796 violated these plans. Paul I ascended the throne. A short, lasting only four years, reign of the new emperor, who received the nickname "Russian Hamlet", began.
The eccentric Paul I, obsessed with drill and parades, was despised by the whole of Catherine's Petersburg. Soon, among those dissatisfied with the new emperor, a conspiracy arose, the result of which was a palace coup.
“It is not clear whether Alexander understood that the removal of his own father from the throne is impossible without murder. Nevertheless, Alexander went for it, and on the night of March 11, 1801, the conspirators entered the bedroom of Paul I and killed him. Most likely, Alexander I was ready for such an outcome of events. Subsequently, from the memoirs it became known that Alexander Poltoratsky, one of the conspirators, quickly informed the future emperor that his father had been killed, which means that he had to take the crown. To the surprise of Poltoratsky himself, he found Alexander awake in the middle of the night in full uniform, ”said Mironenko.
Tsar Reformer
Having ascended the throne, Alexander I began to develop progressive reforms. Discussions took place in the Unspoken Committee, which included close friends of the young autocrat.
“According to the first reform of government, undertaken in 1802, the colleges were replaced by ministries. The main difference was that in collegiums decisions are made collectively, in ministries all responsibility rests with one minister, who now had to be chosen very carefully,” Mironenko explained.
In 1810, Alexander I created the State Council - the highest legislative body under the emperor.
“The famous painting by Repin - the solemn meeting of the State Council on its centennial anniversary - was written in 1902, on the day the Private Committee was approved, and not in 1910,” Mironenko noted.
The State Council, as part of the transformation of the state, was developed not by Alexander I, but by Mikhail Speransky. It was he who laid the foundation of Russian state administration on the principle of separation of powers.
“We should not forget that in an autocratic state this principle was difficult to implement. Formally, the first step - the creation of the State Council as a legislative body - was taken. Since 1810, any imperial decree was issued with the wording: "Having heeded the opinion of the State Council." At the same time, Alexander I could issue laws without listening to the opinion of the State Council,” Mironenko explained.
Tsar Liberator
After the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns, Alexander I, inspired by the victory over Napoleon, returned to the long-forgotten idea of reforms: changing the form of government, limiting autocracy by the constitution and solving the peasant question.
Alexander I in 1814 near Paris
© F. Kruger
The first step in resolving the peasant issue was the decree on free cultivators of 1803. For the first time in many centuries of serfdom, peasants were allowed to be liberated, giving them land, albeit for a ransom. Of course, the landowners were in no hurry to free the peasants, especially with the land. As a result, very few were free. However, for the first time in the history of Russia, the authorities gave the peasants the opportunity to leave serfdom.
The second significant state act of Alexander I was a draft constitution for Russia, which he instructed Nikolai Novosiltsev, a member of the Private Committee, to develop. An old friend of Alexander I fulfilled this order. However, this was preceded by the events of March 1818, when in Warsaw, at the opening of the meeting of the Polish Council, Alexander, by decision of the Congress of Vienna, granted Poland a constitution.
“The emperor uttered words that shocked all of Russia at that time: “Someday the grace-filled constitutional principles will be extended to all the lands subject to my scepter.” It's like saying in the 1960s that Soviet power will no longer exist. Many representatives of influential circles were frightened by this. As a result, Alexander did not dare to adopt the constitution,” Mironenko said.
The plan of Alexander I to free the peasants was also not fully implemented.
“The emperor understood that it was impossible to free the peasants without the participation of the state. A certain part of the peasants must be redeemed by the state. One can imagine such an option: the landowner went bankrupt, his estate was put up for auction and the peasants were personally liberated. However, this was not implemented. Although Alexander was an autocratic and domineering monarch, he was still within the system. The unrealized constitution was supposed to modify the system itself, but there were no forces that would support the emperor at that moment, ”Mironenko explained.
According to experts, one of the mistakes of Alexander I was his conviction that the communities in which the ideas of reorganizing the state are discussed should be secret.
“Away from the people, the young emperor discussed reform projects in the Unspoken Committee, not realizing that the already emerging Decembrist societies partly share his ideas. In the end, neither of these attempts were successful. It took another quarter of a century to understand that these reforms were not so radical, ”Mironenko concluded.
Mystery of death
Alexander I died during a trip to Russia: he caught a cold in the Crimea, lay “in a fever” for several days and died in Taganrog on November 19, 1825.
The body of the late emperor was to be transported to Petersburg. The remains of Alexander I were embalmed. The procedure was unsuccessful: the complexion and appearance of the sovereign changed. In St. Petersburg, during a public farewell, Nicholas I ordered that the coffin be closed. It was this incident that gave rise to unceasing disputes about the death of the king and aroused suspicions that "the body was changed."
© Wikimedia Commons
The most popular version is associated with the name of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich. The elder appeared in 1836 in the Perm province, and then ended up in Siberia. In recent years, he lived in Tomsk in the house of the merchant Khromov, where he died in 1864. Fyodor Kuzmich himself never spoke about himself. However, Khromov assured that the elder was Alexander I, who had secretly departed from the world. Thus, a legend arose that Alexander I, tormented by remorse because of the murder of his father, staged his own death and set off to wander around Russia.
Subsequently, historians tried to debunk this legend. After studying the surviving notes of Fyodor Kuzmich, the researchers came to the conclusion that the handwriting of Alexander I and the elder have nothing in common. Moreover, Fyodor Kuzmich wrote with errors. However, lovers of historical secrets believe that the point in this matter has not been set. They are convinced that until a genetic examination of the remains of the old man has been carried out, it is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion about who Fyodor Kuzmich really was.
Alexander 1 Pavlovich (born 12 (23) December 1777 - death November 19 (December 1), 1825) - Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia (since March 12 (24), 1801), eldest son of Emperor Paul 1 and Mary Fyodorovna.
Death of Paul 1
When on the morning of March 12, 1801, the news of the death of the sovereign flew around Petersburg with lightning speed, there was no limit to the delight and jubilation of the people. “On the streets,” according to the testimony of one of his contemporaries, “people wept for joy, embraced each other, as on the day of the Holy Resurrection of Christ.” This general joy was caused not so much by the fact that the difficult time of the reign of the deceased emperor had irrevocably passed, but by the fact that the adored heir of Paul, Alexander 1, brought up by himself, ascended the throne.
Upbringing. Alexander's education
When Grand Duke Paul 1 Petrovich had a son - the first-born Alexander, Catherine 2 from the very first year of her grandson's life took care of his upbringing. She herself began to study with him and his brother Konstantin, who was born a year and a half later, she herself compiled the alphabet for the children, wrote several fairy tales, and eventually a small guide to Russian history. When the grandson Alexander grew up, the Empress appointed Count N.I. Saltykova, and the teachers were chosen from the most educated people of that era - M.N. Muravyov, a famous writer, and Pallas, a famous scientist. Archpriest Samborsky taught Alexander the Law of God and in his lessons inspired the pupil to "find his neighbor in every human condition."
Since Catherine was preparing Alexander for the throne, even intending to bypass her son, she soon took care of giving her beloved grandson a solid education in legal sciences, most necessary for the future ruler of a great power. They were invited to teach by the Swiss citizen Laharpe, a man of noble soul, imbued with a deep love for people and the desire for truth, goodness and justice. Laharpe was able to exert the most beneficial influence on the future emperor. Subsequently, Alexander told La Harpe's wife: "Everything that disposes people to me, I owe to my tutor and mentor, your husband." Sincere friendly relations were soon established between the teacher and the student, which remained until the death of La Harpe.
Personal life
Unfortunately, the upbringing of the future emperor ended quite early, when he was not yet 16 years old. At this young age, he had already entered into marriage, at the request of Catherine, with a 14-year-old Baden princess, named after the adoption of Orthodoxy, Elizaveta Alekseevna. Alexander's wife was distinguished by a gentle character, infinite kindness to those who suffer, and an extremely attractive appearance. From his marriage to Elizaveta Alekseevna, Alexander had two daughters, Maria and Elizaveta, but both of them died in early childhood. Therefore, it was not the children of Alexander who became the heir to the throne, but his younger brother.
Due to the fact that his wife could not give birth to his son, the relationship between the sovereign and his wife cooled greatly. He practically did not hide his love relationships on the side. At first, for almost 15 years, the emperor cohabited 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 6 children, while the paternity of five of them is usually attributed to Alexander. However, most of these children died in infancy. The sovereign also 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.
Wife Elizaveta Alekseevna and favorite Maria Naryshkina
Accession to the throne
Upon accession to the throne, Alexander 1 announced in a manifesto that he would rule the power “according to the laws and according to his heart” of his great grandmother, Catherine 2: “Yes, marching along her wise intentions,” the new emperor promised in his first manifesto, “we will achieve to elevate Russia to the top glory and deliver inviolable bliss to all our faithful subjects.
The very first days of the new reign were marked by great favors. Thousands of people exiled under Paul were returned, thousands of others were restored in their civil and official rights. Corporal punishment for nobles, merchants and clergy was abolished, torture was abolished forever.
Domestic policy. Transformations. reforms
Soon radical changes began in the state administration itself. 1802, September 8 - ministries are established. For a more perfect development of legislative issues, the sovereign formed an Unspoken Committee, which included friends of Alexander's youth, persons who enjoyed the emperor's special confidence: N.N. Novosiltsev, Prince Adam Czartoryski, Count P.A. Stroganov and Count V.P. Kochubey. The Committee was entrusted with the task of drawing up bills for the transformation of the entire Russian national and state life.
The emperor chose the famous Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky, later a count, as his closest collaborator. Speransky was the son of a simple priest. After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, he took a teaching position in this educational institution, and then moved to the civil service, where he was able to quickly advance with his enormous ability to work and extensive knowledge.
On behalf of the sovereign, Speransky drew up a coherent plan for reforms in legislation, administration and courts, the main feature of which was the admission of the participation of popular representation in all areas of public life. But, realizing that the population of Russia was not yet ripe for participation in state activities, the emperor did not begin to implement the entire Speransky plan, but carried out only some parts of it. So, on January 1, 1810, the Council of State was opened in the presence of Alexander himself, who in his opening speech said, among other things: protect the empire with good laws."
Once a week, Alexander 1 attended the meetings of the Council in person, and Speransky reported to him on the cases that were considered at the remaining meetings.
Portraits of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (young)
Foreign policy
Upon accession to the throne, one of the most basic concerns of the sovereign was the establishment of the external world of Russia, exhausted by wars in the previous reigns. Everything possible was done in this direction, and for some time, albeit a short one, not only Russia, but all of Europe enjoyed peace.
However, European political relations were such that already in 1805, Russia, despite the peacefulness of its emperor, was forced to take part in the struggle of the European powers with France, led by the great conqueror, who based his rise from a simple officer to a huge emperor on victories. powers. Starting a fight with him, Alexander 1 entered into an alliance with Austria and England and began to direct military operations himself. The war ended unsuccessfully for the allies. Several times Napoleon defeated the Austrian troops, and then, on the fields of Austerlitz, he met, on November 20, 1805, the allied Russian-Austrian army, which included both emperors, Alexander and Franz. In a desperate battle, Napoleon emerged victorious. Austria hurried to make peace with him, and the Russian army returned home.
However, the next year hostilities against Napoleon resumed. This time, Russia was in alliance with Prussia, which inadvertently hurried to start a fight without waiting for the arrival of Russian troops. Near Jena and Auerstedt, Napoleon defeated the Prussian army, occupied the capital of Prussia, Berlin, and took possession of all the lands of this state. The Russian army was forced to act alone. In the big battle at Preussisch-Eylau, Napoleon, who attacked the Russian army, failed, but in 1807 he was able to defeat the Russians near Friedland.
The war ended with a meeting between Napoleon and Alexander in Tilsit, on a raft in the middle of the Neman River. A peace was concluded between France and Russia, according to which Russia was to accept the continental system invented by Bonaparte against England - not to allow English goods to itself and not to have any trade relations with England at all. For this, Russia received in its possession the Bialystok region and freedom of action in Eastern Europe.
Napoleon and Emperor Alexander 1 - a date in Tilsit
Patriotic War - 1812
The peace of Tilsit turned out to be fragile. Less than 2 years later, disagreements reappeared between Russia and France. The war was inevitable, and soon it broke out - as soon as Napoleon completed all the preparations for it.
In order to destroy Russia, Napoleon gathered the forces of almost all of Europe subject to him and, at the head of a 600,000-strong army, on June 12 (24), 1812, invaded Russian borders. The Patriotic War began, glorifying Alexander and Russia and causing the fall of Napoleon.
Russia, led by Alexander 1, was not only able to defend its existence as a state, but then liberated the whole of Europe from the power of the hitherto invincible conqueror.
1813, January 1 - the Russian army, under the command of the emperor and Kutuzov, entered the Duchy of Warsaw created by Napoleon, cleared it of the remnants of the "Great Army" and moved to Prussia, where it was met with popular rejoicing. The Prussian king immediately entered into an alliance with Alexander and gave his army under the command of Kutuzov. Unfortunately, the latter soon died from his labors, bitterly mourned by all of Russia.
Napoleon, hastily gathering a new army, attacked the allies near Lutzen and defeated them. In the second battle, at Bautzen, the French were again victorious. In the meantime, Austria decided to join Russia and Prussia by sending her army to help them. At Dresden, there was a battle of now three allied armies with the army of Napoleon, who again was able to win the battle. However, this was his last success. First in the Kulm Valley, and then in a stubborn battle near Leipzig, in which more than half a million people took part and which is called the “battle of the peoples” in history, the French were defeated. This defeat was followed by Napoleon's abdication and removal to the island of Elba.
Alexander became the arbiter of the destinies of Europe, its liberator from Napoleonic power. When he returned to St. Petersburg on July 13, the Senate, the Synod and the Council of State unanimously asked him to take the name "Blessed" and allow him to erect a monument during his lifetime. The sovereign refused the latter, declaring: “May a monument be built to me in your feelings, as it was built in my feelings for you!”
Congress of Vienna
1814 - the Congress of Vienna took place, at which the European states were restored to their former possessions, violated by the conquests of the French, and Russia for the liberation of Europe received almost the entire Duchy of Warsaw, called the Kingdom of Poland. 1815 - Napoleon left the island of Elba, arrived in France and wanted to regain the throne. But at Waterloo, he was defeated by the British and Prussians, and then exiled to St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the meantime, Alexander 1 had the idea to form a Holy Union from the sovereigns of the Christian peoples to unite all of Europe on the basis of the gospel truths and to combat the destructive revolutionary ferment of the masses. According to the terms of this alliance, Alexander in subsequent years took an active part in the suppression of popular uprisings that now and then arose in various parts of Europe.
Last years of reign
The Patriotic War had a strong influence on the character and views of the emperor, and the second half of his reign was little like the first. No changes were made in the administration of the state. Alexander became thoughtful, almost stopped smiling, began to be weary of his position as a monarch, and several times even expressed his intention to renounce the throne and retire to private life.
In the last years of his reign, Count A.A. Arakcheev, who became the only speaker to the sovereign of all management affairs. Arakcheev was also very religious, and this feature brought him even closer to the sovereign.
Inside Russia at the end of the reign was restless. In some parts of the troops, there was ferment among the officers, who had been in Europe during numerous campaigns and learned there new ideas about the state order. The sovereign even received information about the existence of a conspiracy aimed at changing the form of supreme government in Russia. But, feeling tired from all the labors and unrest experienced, the sovereign did not take measures against the conspirators.
By the end of 1825, the health of Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna became so weak that doctors advised her not to stay in St. Petersburg for the winter, but to go south. Taganrog was chosen as the seat of the empress, where Alexander decided to leave earlier in order to make the necessary preparations for the arrival of his wife, and on September 1 he left Petersburg.
Death of Alexander 1
Life in the warm southern climate had a beneficial effect on the health of Elizaveta Alekseevna. The sovereign took advantage of this and left Taganrog to visit neighboring places along the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, as well as travel through the Crimea. On November 5, he returned to Taganrog completely ill, having caught a bad cold while traveling through the Crimea, but refused the help of doctors. Soon his health became life threatening. The sovereign partook of the Holy Mysteries and felt the approach of death. His wife, who was always with him, begged him to allow doctors, this time the emperor agreed to accept their help, but it was too late: the body was so weakened by the disease that at 11 am on November 19, Alexander 1 the Blessed quietly died.
The ashes of the sovereign were transported to St. Petersburg and on March 13, 1826, they were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
He was born on December 23, 1777. From early childhood, he began to live with his grandmother, who wanted to raise a good sovereign out of him. After the death of Catherine, Paul ascended the throne. The future emperor had many positive character traits. Alexander was dissatisfied with his father's rule and entered into a conspiracy against Paul. On March 11, 1801, the king was killed, Alexander began to rule. Upon accession to the throne, Alexander the 1st promised to follow the political course of Catherine the 2nd.
1st stage of transformation
The beginning of the reign of Alexander the 1st was marked by reforms, he wanted to change the political system of Russia, create a constitution that guaranteed rights and freedom to everyone. But Alexander had many opponents. On April 5, 1801, the Permanent Council was created, whose members could challenge the decrees of the king. Alexander wanted to free the peasants, but many opposed this. Nevertheless, on February 20, 1803, a decree on free cultivators was issued. So in Russia for the first time there was a category of free peasants.
Alexander carried out an education reform, the essence of which was to create a state system, the head of which was the Ministry of Public Education. In addition, an administrative reform was carried out (the reform of the highest authorities) - 8 ministries were established: foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, military ground forces, naval forces, justice, commerce and public education. The new governing bodies had sole power. Each separate department was controlled by a minister, each minister was subordinate to the senate.
2nd stage of reforms
Alexander introduced M.M. Speransky, who was entrusted with the development of a new state reform. According to Speransky's project, it is necessary to create a constitutional monarchy in Russia, in which the sovereign's power would be limited by a bicameral body of a parliamentary type. The implementation of this plan began in 1809. By the summer of 1811, the transformation of the ministries was completed. But in connection with the foreign policy of Russia (tensioned relations with France), Speransky's reforms were perceived as anti-state, and in March 1812 he was dismissed.
There was a threat from France. June 12, 1812 began. After the expulsion of Napoleon's troops, the authority of Alexander the 1st increased.
Post-war reforms
In 1817-1818. people close to the emperor were engaged in the phased elimination of serfdom. By the end of 1820, a draft State statutory charter of the Russian Empire was prepared, approved by Alexander, but it was not possible to introduce it.
A feature of the domestic policy of Alexander the 1st was the introduction of a police regime, the creation of military settlements, which later became known as "Arakcheevshchina". Such measures caused dissatisfaction among the broad masses of the population. In 1817, the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education was created, headed by A.N. Golitsyn. In 1822, Emperor Alexander the 1st banned secret societies in Russia, including Freemasonry.
The upbringing and views of young Alexander I and young Paul were in many ways similar. Like his father, Alexander was brought up in the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment about the "true", "legitimate" monarchy. Since 1783, his mentor was the Swiss F.-Z. de La Harpe, a professional lawyer, a follower of the encyclopedists. For Alexandre, La Harpe was not just a teacher, but also a moral authority. Documents show that Alexander's views in his youth were quite radical: he sympathized with the French Revolution and the republican form of government, condemned the hereditary monarchy, serfdom, favoritism and bribery that flourished at the St. Petersburg court. There is reason to believe that court life with its intrigues, the whole behind-the-scenes side of “big politics”, which Alexander could closely observe even during the life of Catherine, aroused in him indignation, a feeling of disgust for politics as such, a desire not to take part in it. He also treated the rumors about Catherine's plan to transfer the throne to him, bypassing Paul.
Thus, unlike Paul I, when Alexander ascended the Russian throne, he was apparently not particularly power-hungry and had not yet had time to abandon the ideals of youth (he was 23 at that time). Through the prism of these ideals, he looked at the actions of his father, completely not sympathizing with either his goals or methods. Alexander dreamed of first carrying out a revolution that “would be carried out by legitimate authority,” and then retiring from business.
Back in the mid-90s, a small circle of like-minded people formed around Alexander. These were, firstly, V.P. Bezborodko, secondly, Prince. Adam A. Czartoryski - a wealthy Polish nobleman in the Russian service, then A.S. Stroganov is the son of one of the most noble and wealthy people of that time and, finally, Nikolai N. Novosiltsev is Stroganov's cousin. In this circle of "young friends" the vices of Pavlov's reign were discussed and plans for the future were made.
It should be noted, however, that the life experience of Alexander and the members of his circle was very different. So, Stroganov and Kochubey witnessed the events in revolutionary France. The first was there at the very beginning of the revolution with his tutor Gilbert Romm, attended meetings of the National Assembly, became a Jacobin and was returned home by force in 1790. The second came to France already in 1791-1792. after several years of living abroad and, in particular, in England, where he studied the English state system. Upon his return to Russia, Kochubey was appointed ambassador to Constantinople, where he spent another five years. Prince Adam Czartoryski also visited England for educational purposes, who also had an experience of a completely different kind: he fought against Russia during the second partition of Poland. The oldest member of this circle was N.N. Novosiltsev - by the time of Alexander's accession in 1801, he was already 40 years old. As for Alexander, his life experience was limited only by his knowledge of the St. Petersburg court and the negative perception of the reign, first of his grandmother, and then of his father. In conversations with members of the circle, Alexander admired revolutionary France and expressed a naive belief in the possibility of creating a "true monarchy" through transformation from above. The "young friends" were more skeptical and realistic, but did not disappoint the Grand Duke, hoping to extract certain benefits from their position.
Historians have argued a lot about how much Alexander was privy to the plans of the conspirators against Paul 1 and, therefore, how much he was guilty of his death. Surviving circumstantial evidence indicates that most likely Alexander hoped that Paul could be persuaded to abdicate in his favor and, thus, the coup would be legal and bloodless. The accomplished assassination of Paul put the young emperor in a completely different situation. With his sensitivity, romantic faith in justice and legality, he could not help but perceive what had happened as a tragedy that overshadowed the very beginning of his reign. At the same time, if Alexander had received power legally, his hands would have been sufficiently untied. Now he was dependent on those who obtained the throne for him by crime and who constantly put pressure on him, reminding him of the possibility of a new coup. In addition, behind the backs of the conspirators stood the party of old Catherine's nobles ("Catherine's old men", as they were called) - an influential and numerous party, with strong family ties. The main thing for these people was the preservation of the old order. It is no coincidence that in Alexander's manifesto on his accession to the throne, he promised "God to rule the people entrusted to us according to the law and according to the heart in the Bose of the reposed august grandmother of our Empress Catherine the Great."
Events of the beginning of the reign
Indeed, the first decrees of the emperor confirmed this promise. Already on March 13-15, 1801, decrees were issued on the issuance of decrees of resignation to all those dismissed from military and civil service without trial, members of the Smolensk circle were amnestied, to whom ranks and nobility were returned; On March 15, an amnesty was announced for political prisoners and fugitives who had taken refuge abroad, the ban on the import of various industrial goods was lifted; March 31 - the ban on the activities of private printing houses and the importation of books from abroad is lifted. Finally, on April 2, the emperor announced in the Senate 5 manifestos, restoring the full effect of the Letters of Complaint to the nobility and cities. At the same time, it was announced the liquidation of the Secret Expedition of the Senate and the transfer of the investigation on political cases to institutions in charge of criminal proceedings. One of the manifestos on April 2 was addressed to the peasants; it promised not to increase taxes and permitted the export of agricultural products abroad.
It would seem that the "old people" should be satisfied, but the real meaning of the manifestos turned out to be wider than a simple restoration of Catherine's order. For example, the withdrawal of political affairs from the direct jurisdiction of the sovereign was perceived in principle as a limitation of his power. This revealed the second (no less significant than the first) goal of the conspirators: to create a state system that would legally limit the rights of any despot-sovereign in favor of the top of the aristocracy. Control over the activities of the monarch, the creation of a mechanism that protects against despotic tendencies, fully met Alexander's convictions, and therefore on April 5, 1801, a decree appeared on the creation of an Indispensable Council - a legislative advisory body under the Sovereign (in 1810 replaced by the State Council).
There was nothing fundamentally new in the very fact of creating such a Council: the urgent need for such a body was felt by all the rulers after Peter I. However, the legal status and rights were usually not fixed in laws, the situation was different with the Indispensable Council. Although the supreme power in the country continued to remain completely in the hands of the sovereign and he retained the right to legislate without the consent of the Council, the members of the Council received the opportunity to monitor the activities of the monarch and submit representations, i.e., in essence, to protest those actions or decrees of the emperor with which they didn't agree. The real role of the Council in governing the country was to be determined depending on how the relationship between the members of the Council and the monarch developed in practice.
However, in addition to relationships, the attitude of the Sovereign to the Council was also important - how seriously he took it and how much he was going to reckon with it. Alexander was going to fulfill his obligations exactly, and, as the subsequent development of events showed, this was his mistake. As for the relationship with the Council, they, in turn, depended on the composition of this body of power.
Initially, the Council consisted of 12 people, mostly heads of the most important state institutions. In addition to them, the Council included confidants of the emperor and the main participants in the conspiracy against Paul. Basically, all of these were representatives of the highest aristocracy and bureaucracy - those on whom Alexander 1 depended to the greatest extent. However, such a composition of the Council gave hope to get rid of this dependency, because Catherine's nobles were there next to Pavlov's, and they could not help but compete with each other for influence on the emperor. Quite quickly, the sovereign learned to use this situation to his advantage.
With such a balance of power, the young emperor could hope to find among the members of the Council and supporters of broader reforms, but he was going to develop a plan for these reforms with his "young friends". Alexander saw the main goal of the changes in the creation of a constitution that would guarantee his subjects the rights of a citizen, similar to those formulated in the famous French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. He, however, agreed with the opinion that initially the system of government should be reformed in such a way as to guarantee property rights.
Meanwhile, without waiting for the reform plan to be created, in May 1801, Alexander submitted to the Permanent Council a draft decree prohibiting the sale of serfs without land. According to the emperor, this decree was to be the first step towards the elimination of serfdom. It was followed by the next one - permission to purchase populated lands to non-nobles with the condition that the peasants living on these lands would become free. When a certain number of free peasants would appear as a result, it was planned to extend a similar procedure for selling land to the nobles. Thus, Alexander's plan was similar to the plan that Catherine had at one time, which he most likely did not know about. At the same time, the emperor was quite cautious and did not reveal all the details even to the people closest to him, but already at the first stage he had to face the furious resistance of the serf-owners.
Without rejecting the emperor's proposal in principle, the members of the Council, however, quite firmly made it clear to him that the adoption of such a decree could cause both unrest among the peasantry and serious dissatisfaction among the nobles. The Council believed that the introduction of such a measure should be included in the system of laws on the rights of owners of estates, which should be developed.
In other words, it was proposed to postpone the adoption of the decree for an indefinite period. It is significant that Alexander's "young friends" - Stroganov and Kochubey - agreed with this opinion of the Council. However, the king did not give up and personally appeared at the meeting of the Council to defend his project. A discussion took place in which the emperor was supported by only one of the members of the Council. Alexander, who hoped for the enlightenment of the nobility, apparently did not expect such a reaction and was forced to retreat. The only result of his attempt to limit serfdom was the ban on publishing advertisements for the sale of serfs in the newspapers, which the landowners soon learned to easily circumvent.
The most important consequence of Alexander's failure in trying to solve the peasant problem was the final transfer of the preparation of reforms to the circle of "young friends", and he agreed with their opinion that the work should be carried out in secret. Thus, the Unofficial Committee was created, which included Stroganov, Kochubey, Czartorysky, Novosiltsev, and later the old “Catherine nobleman” Count A.V. Vorontsov.
Already at the first meeting of the Unspoken Committee, a certain divergence in ideas about his tasks became clear between the emperor and his friends, who believed that it was necessary to start first of all with a study of the state of the state, then carry out a reform of the administration, and only then proceed to the creation of a constitution. Alexander, agreeing in principle with this plan, wished to deal directly with the third stage as soon as possible. As for the official Indispensable Council, the real result of the first months of its work was the project “The most merciful letter, complained to the Russian people”, which was supposed to be made public on the day of the coronation on September 15, 1801. The letter was supposed to reaffirm all the privileges indicated in the Letters of Complaint of 1785 ., as well as common to all residents of the country the rights and guarantees of private property, personal security, freedom of speech, press and conscience. A special article of the charter guaranteed the inviolability of these rights. Simultaneously with this document, a new draft on the peasant question was prepared. Its author was the last favorite of Catherine and one of the leaders of the 1801 coup. P.A. Zubov. According to his project, again (as under Paul 1), the sale of peasants without land was prohibited and a procedure was established according to which the state was obliged to redeem the peasants from the landowners if necessary, and also stipulated the conditions under which the peasants could redeem themselves.
The third draft prepared for the coronation was that of the reorganization of the Senate. The document was being prepared for quite a long time, so there were several versions of it. The essence of all of them, however, boiled down to the fact that the Senate was to become the body of the supreme leadership of the country, combining executive, judicial, control and legislative functions.
In essence, all three acts prepared for the coronation together represented a single program for turning Russia into a “true monarchy”, which Alexander I dreamed of, but their discussion showed that the tsar had practically no like-minded people. In addition, the discussion of projects was hampered by the constant rivalry of the court factions. Thus, members of the Unspoken Committee resolutely rejected Zubov's project on the peasant question as too radical and untimely. The project of reorganization of the Senate caused a whole storm in the tsar's circle. The "young friends" of the emperor, united with La Harpe, who arrived in Russia, proved to Alexander the impossibility and harmfulness of any restriction of autocracy.
Thus, people from the inner circle of the king, those on whom he placed his hopes, turned out to be greater monarchists than he himself. As a result, the only document published on the day of the coronation was a manifesto, the entire content of which was reduced to the abolition of recruitment for the current year and the payment of 25 kopecks per capita tax.
Why did it happen that the tsar-reformer actually found himself alone, that is, in a situation where no serious reforms were already possible? The first reason is the same as several decades earlier, when Catherine II carried out her reform plan: the nobility - the main support and guarantor of the stability of the throne, and, consequently, of the political regime in general - did not want to give up even a fraction of its privileges, in the protection of which it was ready go till the end. When, after the Pugachev uprising, the nobility rallied around the imperial throne and Catherine realized that she could not be afraid of a coup, she managed to carry out a series of transformations, as decisive as possible without fear of disturbing political stability. At the beginning of the XIX century. there was a certain decline in the peasant movement, which strengthened the position of Alexander's opponents and gave them the opportunity to frighten the young tsar with major upheavals. The second most important reason was connected with the disappointment of a significant part of educated people, not only in Russia, but throughout Europe, in the effectiveness of the Enlightenment. The bloody horrors of the French Revolution have become for many a kind of sobering cold shower. There was a fear that any changes, reforms, and especially those leading to a weakening of the tsarist power, could ultimately turn into a revolution.
There is one more question that cannot be ignored: why did Alexander I not dare, on the day of his coronation, to publish at least one of the three prepared documents - the one about which, as it seems, there was no particular controversy - the Letter to the Russian people? Probably, the emperor was aware that the Letter, not being backed up by other legislative acts, would have remained a mere declaration. That is why she did not raise objections. Either all three documents should have been published together, or none at all. Alexander chose the second path, and this, of course, was his defeat. However, the undoubted positive result of the first months of his reign was the political experience acquired by the young emperor. He resigned himself to the need to reign, but he did not abandon his reform plans either.
Upon his return from Moscow from the coronation celebrations at meetings of the Unspoken Committee, the tsar again returned to the peasant question, insisting on the issuance of a decree prohibiting the sale of peasants without land. The king decided to reveal the second point of the plan - to allow the sale of populated lands to non-nobles. Once again, these proposals aroused strong objections from the "young friends". In words, they fully agreed with the condemnation of the practice of selling peasants without land, but still frightened the king with a noble rebellion. It was a strong argument that could not help but work. As a result, this round of Alexander's reform attempts also ended with a minimal result: December 12, 1801. a decree appeared on the right of non-nobles to buy land without peasants. Thus, the nobility's monopoly on land ownership was broken, but so insensitively that an explosion of discontent could not be feared.
The next steps of Alexander I were associated with the reorganization of state administration and corresponded to the practice of previous reigns that had developed in this area. In September 1802, a series of decrees created a system of eight ministries: Military, Naval, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Commerce, Finance, Public Education and Justice, as well as the State Treasury as a ministry. The ministers and chief executives, as ministers, formed the Committee of Ministers, in which each of them undertook to submit for discussion their most submissive reports to the emperor. Initially, the status of the Committee of Ministers was uncertain, and only in 1812 did the corresponding document appear.
Simultaneously with the creation of the ministries, the Senate reform was also carried out. Decree on the rights of the Senate, he was defined as "the supreme seat of the empire", whose power was limited only by the power of the emperor. Ministers had to submit annual reports to the Senate, which he could protest before the sovereign. It was this point, enthusiastically greeted by the top of the aristocracy, that a few months later became the cause of the conflict between the tsar and the Senate, when an attempt was made to protest the report of the Minister of War, already approved by the emperor, and it was about setting the terms of compulsory service for nobles who had not completed the officer rank. The Senate saw this as a violation of noble privileges. As a result of the conflict, a decree of March 21, 1803 followed, forbidding the Senate to make submissions on newly issued laws. Thus the Senate was effectively reduced to its former position. In 1805 it was transformed, this time into a purely judicial institution and with some administrative functions. The main governing body was, in fact, the Committee of Ministers.
The incident with the Senate largely predetermined the further development of events and plans of the emperor. By turning the Senate into a representative body with broad rights, Alexander did what he had abandoned a year earlier. Now he was convinced that exclusively noble representation without legal guarantees to other estates becomes only an obstacle for him, something can be achieved only by concentrating all power in his hands. In fact, Alexander went down the path that his “young friends” and old mentor La Harpe pushed him from the very beginning. Apparently, by this time the emperor himself felt a taste of power, he was tired of constant teachings and lectures, the incessant disputes of his entourage, behind which the struggle for power and influence was easily guessed. So, in 1803, in a dispute with G.R. Derzhavin, who at that time was the Prosecutor General of the Senate, Alexander uttered significant words that could hardly be heard from him before: “You always want to teach me, I am an autocratic sovereign and I want to.”
The beginning of 1803 was also marked by some shifts in the solution of the peasant question. This time the initiative came from the camp of the high-ranking aristocracy from Count Rumyantsev, who wished to set his peasants free and asked to establish a legal order for this. The count's appeal was used as a pretext for issuing the Decree on Free Ploughmen on February 20, 1803.
The decree on free cultivators had an important ideological significance: for the first time it approved the possibility of freeing peasants with land for a ransom. This provision later formed the basis of the 1861 reform. peasants transferred to this category. The practical application of the decree was supposed to show how ready the nobility really was to give up their privileges. The results were discouraging: according to the latest data, during the entire period of the decree, 111,829 male souls were released, that is, approximately 2% of all serfs.
A year later, the government took another step: on February 20, 1804, the “Regulations on the Livonian Peasants” appeared. The situation with the peasant question in the Baltics was somewhat different than in Russia, since the sale of peasants without land was prohibited there. The new provision consolidated the status of "householders" as lifelong and hereditary tenants of land and gave them the right to buy their land into their property. According to the provision, the “housekeepers” were exempted from recruitment duty, and they could be subjected to corporal punishment only by a court verdict. The size of their duties and payments was clearly defined. Soon the main provisions of the new law were extended to Estonia. Thus, a layer of prosperous peasantry was created in the Baltic countryside.
In October 1804, another innovation was introduced here by decree: merchants who had risen to the rank of 8th grade were allowed to buy populated lands and own them on the basis of an agreement with the peasants. In other words, the peasants bought in this way ceased to be serfs and became free. It was, as it were, a truncated version of the original program for the elimination of serfdom. However, such half-measures could not achieve the ultimate goal. Speaking about attempts to resolve the peasant issue in the early years of the reign of Alexander I, it should be mentioned that at that time the practice of granting state peasants to landowners ceased. True, about 350,000 state-owned peasants were put on temporary lease.
Along with attempts to resolve the most important issues in the life of Russia, the government of Alexander I carried out major reforms in the field of public education. January 24, 1803 Alexander approved a new regulation on the organization of educational institutions. The territory of Russia was divided into six educational districts, in which four categories of educational institutions were created: parish, district, provincial schools, as well as gymnasiums and universities. It was assumed that all these educational institutions would use uniform curricula, and the university in each educational district would represent the highest level of education. If before that there was only one university in Russia - Moscow, then in 1802 the University of Dorpat was restored, and in 1803 the university in Vilna was opened. In 1804 Kharkov and Kazan universities were founded. At the same time, the Pedagogical Institute was opened in St. Petersburg, later renamed the Main Pedagogical Institute, and since 1819 transformed into a university. In addition, privileged educational institutions were opened: in 1805, the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl, and in 1811, the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Specialized higher educational institutions were also created - the Moscow Commercial School (1804), the Institute of Communications (1810). Thus, under Alexander I, the work begun by Catherine II to create a system of public education was continued and corrected. As before, however, education remained inaccessible to a significant part of the population, especially the peasants.
The first stage of the reforms of Alexander I ended in 1803, when it became clear that it was necessary to look for new ways and forms of their implementation. The emperor also needed new people who were not so closely connected with the top of the aristocracy and wholly devoted only to him personally. The choice of the king settled on A.A. Arakcheev, the son of a poor and humble landowner, in the past favorite of Paul I. Gradually, the role of Arakcheev became more and more significant, he became a confidant of the emperor, and in 1807 an imperial decree followed, according to which the orders announced by Arakcheev were equated with nominal imperial decrees . But if the main activity of Arakchiev was the military-police, then a different person was needed to develop plans for new reforms. They became M.M. Speransky.
Activities of M.M. Speransky
The son of a village priest, Speransky, not only, like Arakcheev, did not belong to the aristocracy, but was not even a nobleman. He was born in 1771 in the village of Cherkutino, Vladimir province, studied first at the Vladimir, then at the Suzdal and, finally, at the St. Petersburg seminary. Upon graduation, he was left there as a teacher and only in 1797 began his career as a titular adviser in the office of the Prosecutor General of the Senate, Prince A. B. Kurakin. This career was swift in the full sense of the word: already four and a half years later, Speransky had the rank of a real state councilor equal to the rank of general in the army and giving the right to hereditary nobility.
In the first years of the reign of Alexander I, Speransky still remained in the shadows, although he was already preparing some documents and projects for members of the Unofficial Committee, in particular, on ministerial reform. After the implementation of the reform, he was transferred to serve in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1803 on behalf of the emperor, Speransky compiled a “Note on the Structure of Judicial and Government Institutions in Russia”, in which he showed himself to be a supporter of a constitutional monarchy, created by gradually reforming society on the basis of a carefully developed plan. However, the Note had no practical value. Only in 1807. after unsuccessful wars with France and the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit, in the conditions of an internal political crisis, Alexander again turned to reform plans.
But why did the choice of the emperor fall on Arakcheev and Speransky, and what were they for him? First of all, they were obedient executors of the will of the monarch, who wished to turn two not noble, but personally devoted to him people into all-powerful ministers, with whose help he hoped to realize his plans. Both of them were, in essence, zealous and diligent officials, independent by virtue of their origin from one or another group of high-ranking aristocracy. Arakcheev was supposed to protect the throne from a noble conspiracy, Speransky - to develop and implement a reform plan based on the ideas and principles suggested by the emperor.
Speransky did not receive a new role immediately. At first, the emperor entrusted him with some "private matters." Already in 1807, Speransky was invited several times to dinner at the court, in the autumn of this year he accompanied Alexander to Vitebsk for a military review, and a year later - to Erfurt, to meet with Napoleon. It was already a sign of high confidence.
The reform plan drawn up in 1809 by Speransky in the form of an extensive document entitled “Introduction to the Code of State Laws” was, as it were, a statement of the thoughts, ideas and intentions of the sovereign himself. Speransky insisted on the identity of the historical destinies of Russia and Europe, the processes that took place in them. The first attempts to change the political system took place during the accession to the throne of Anna Ioannovna and in the reign of Catherine II, when she convened the Legislative Commission. Now it's time for a major change. This is evidenced by the state of society, in which respect for ranks and titles has disappeared, and the authority of the authorities has been undermined. It is necessary to implement a genuine separation of powers, creating independent legislative, judicial and executive powers. Legislative power is exercised through a system of elected bodies - dumas, starting with the volost and up to the State Duma, without the consent of which the autocrat should not have the right to legislate, except when it comes to saving the fatherland. The State Duma exercises control over the executive power - the government, whose ministers are responsible to it for their actions. The absence of such responsibility is the main shortcoming of the ministerial reform of 1802. The emperor retains the right to dissolve the Duma and call new elections. Members of provincial dumas elect the highest judicial body of the country - the Senate. The top of the state system is the State Council. The members of the Council of State are appointed by the Sovereign, who himself presides over it. The Council includes ministers and other senior officials. If a disagreement arises in the Council of State, the king, at his choice, approves the opinion of the majority or minority. Not a single law could come into force without discussion in the State Duma and the State Council.
Speransky did not bypass the issue of civil rights either. He believed that the entire population of the country, including serfs, should be endowed with them. Among such rights, he attributed the impossibility of punishing someone without a court decision. Political rights, i.e., the right to participate in elections, were supposed to be given to Russian citizens who own land and capital, including state peasants. The right to be elected to representative bodies was limited by a property qualification. Already from this it is clear that Speransky's project did not involve the abolition of serfdom. Speransky believed that it was impossible to abolish serfdom by a single legislative act, but conditions should be created under which it would be beneficial for the landowners themselves to let the peasants go free.
Speransky's proposals also contained a plan for the phased implementation of reforms. The first step was the establishment at the beginning of 1810 of the Council of State, which was to be entrusted with the discussion of the previously drawn up "Civil Code", that is, laws on the fundamental rights of the estates, as well as the financial system of the state. After discussing the "Civil Code", the Council would begin to study the laws on the executive and judiciary. All these documents in the aggregate were supposed to draw up by May 1810 the “State Code”, that is, the actual constitution, after which it would be possible to proceed with the election of deputies.
The implementation of Speransky's plan was to turn Russia into a constitutional monarchy, where the sovereign's power would be limited by a bicameral legislature of a parliamentary type. Some historians even consider it possible to talk about the transition to a bourgeois monarchy, however, since the project retained the class organization of society, and even more so serfdom, this is not true.
The implementation of Speransky’s plan began in 1809. In April and October, decrees appeared, according to which, firstly, the practice of equating court ranks with civil ones, which allowed dignitaries to move from court service to higher positions in the state apparatus, ceased, and secondly, a mandatory educational qualification for civil ranks was introduced. This was supposed to streamline the activities of the state apparatus, make it more professional
In accordance with the plan already in the first months of 1810, a discussion of the problem of regulating state finances took place. Speransky drew up the "Plan of Finavs", which formed the basis of the tsar's manifesto on February 2. The main purpose of the document was to eliminate the budget deficit, stop issuing depreciated banknotes and increase taxes, including on noble estates. These measures gave a result, and already next year the budget deficit was reduced, and state revenues increased.
At the same time, during 1810, the State Council discussed the draft Code of Civil Laws prepared by Speransky and even approved the first two parts of it. However, the implementation of the next steps of the reform was delayed. Only in the summer of 1810 did the transformation of the ministries begin, which was completed by June 1811: the Ministry of Commerce was liquidated, the ministries of police and communications, the State Control (as a ministry), and a number of new Main Directorates were created.
At the beginning of 1811, Speransky presented a new draft of the reorganization of the Senate. The essence of this project was significantly different from what was originally planned. This time Speransky suggested dividing the Senate into two - government and judicial, that is, to separate its administrative and judicial functions. It was assumed that the members of the Judicial Senate were to be partly appointed by the sovereign, and partly elected from the nobility. But even this very moderate project was rejected by the majority of the members of the State Council, and although the tsar approved it anyway, it was never implemented. As for the creation of the State Duma, then, as it seems, in 1810 - 1811. and there was no speech. Thus, almost from the very beginning of the reforms, a deviation from their original plan was discovered, and it was not by chance that in February 1811 Speransky turned to Alexander with a request for his resignation.
The results of the internal policy of 1801 - 1811.
What are the reasons for the new failure of reforms? Why was the supreme power unable to carry out fundamental reforms that were clearly overdue and the need for which was quite obvious to the most far-sighted politicians?
The reasons are essentially the same as in the previous stage. The very rise of Speransky, his transformation - an upstart, a "priest" - into the first minister aroused envy and anger in court circles. In 1809, after decrees regulating the state service, hatred for Speransky intensified even more and, by his own admission, he became the object of ridicule, caricatures and vicious attacks: after all, the decrees prepared by him encroached on the long-established and very convenient order for the nobility and bureaucracy. When the State Council was created, general discontent reached its climax.
The nobility was afraid of any changes, rightly suspecting that in the end these changes could lead to the elimination of serfdom. Even the phased nature of the reforms and the fact that they did not in fact encroach on the main privilege of the nobility, and indeed their details were kept secret, did not save the situation. The result was general discontent; in other words, as in 1801-1803, Alexander I faced the danger of a noble rebellion. The matter was complicated by foreign policy circumstances - the war with Napoleon was approaching. Perhaps the desperate resistance of the top of the nobility, intrigues and denunciations of Speransky (he was accused of Freemasonry, of revolutionary convictions, that he was a French spy, reported all careless statements addressed to the sovereign) in the end still would not have had an effect on the emperor if in the spring of 1811 the camp of opponents of the reforms had not suddenly received ideological and theoretical reinforcement from a completely unexpected quarter. In March of this year, in the salon of his sister, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, who lived in Tver, and with her active support, the remarkable Russian historian N.M. Karamzin handed over to the emperor the "Note on Ancient and New Russia" - a kind of manifesto of the opponents of change, a generalized expression of the views of the conservative direction of Russian social thought.
According to Karamzin, autocracy is the only possible form of political structure for Russia. To the question whether it is possible to limit autocracy in Russia in any way without weakening the saving royal power, he answered in the negative. Any changes, "any news in the state order is an evil, which should be resorted to only when necessary." However, Karamzin admitted, “so much new has been done that even the old would seem to us dangerous news: we have already lost the habit of it, and it’s harmful for the glory of the sovereign to solemnly admit ten years of delusions produced by the vanity of his very shallow-minded advisers ... we must look for means fit for the present." The author saw salvation in the traditions and customs of Russia and its people, who do not need to take an example from Western Europe and, above all, France. One of these traditional features of Russia is serfdom, which arose as a result of “natural law”. Karamzin asked: “And will the farmers be happy, freed from the power of the master, but betrayed as a sacrifice to their own vices, tax-farmers and unscrupulous judges? There is no doubt that the peasants of a reasonable landowner, who is content with a moderate quitrent or a tithe of arable land for tax, are happier than state-owned ones, having in him a vigilant trustee and supporter.
Nothing fundamentally new was contained in Karamzin's "Note": many of his arguments and principles were already known in the previous century. Repeatedly heard them, apparently, and the emperor. However, this time these views were concentrated in one document written by a person not close to the court, not invested with power that he was afraid of losing. For Alexander, this was a sign that the rejection of his policy embraced broad sections of society and Karamzin's voice was the voice of public opinion.
The denouement came in March 1812, when Alexander announced to Speransky the termination of his official duties, and he was exiled to Nizhny Novgorod, and then to Perm (returned from exile only at the end of Alexander's reign). Apparently, by this time, the pressure on the emperor had intensified, and the denunciations he received about Speransky had acquired such a character that it was simply impossible to continue to ignore them. Alexander was forced to appoint an official investigation into the activities of his closest collaborator, and he probably would have done just that if he had believed the slander a little. At the same time, Speransky's self-confidence, his careless statements, which immediately became known to the emperor, his desire to independently resolve all issues, pushing the sovereign into the background - all this overwhelmed the cup of patience and caused Speransky's resignation and exile.
Thus ended another stage of the reign of Alexander I, and with it one of the most significant attempts in Russian history to carry out a radical state reform. A few months after these events, the Patriotic War with Napoleon began, followed by foreign campaigns of the Russian army. Several years passed before the problems of domestic politics again attracted the attention of the emperor.
wiki.304.ru / History of Russia. Dmitry Alkhazashvili.
Alexander 1 (Blessed) short biography for children
Alexander 1 - briefly about the life of the Russian emperor, who received the name Blessed for delivering the country from the invasion of the invincible army of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov - the eldest son and heir of Emperor Paul I. Born in 1777. The Great Empress Catherine II, his grandmother, did not entrust the upbringing of the future ruler of Russia to her son and daughter-in-law, and from birth she personally monitored the life and education of her grandson, in fact taking him away from her parents.
She dreamed of raising a future great ruler from Alexander, and it was her grandson, and not her son, that she saw as her heir. Catherine II forgot that in the same way her son was taken away from her, not entrusting the upbringing of the future emperor to a young woman.
The character of Alexander I, in short, was complex. Since childhood, he had to constantly hide and control his feelings. The Grand Empress adored her grandson immensely and made no secret of her intention to make Alexander her successor. This could not but irritate Pavel Petrovich. The future emperor had to make a lot of efforts to remain an equally loving son and grandson.
This is how his character was formed - under the guise of a benevolent, courteous and pleasant person, the emperor skillfully hid his true feelings. Even Napoleon, an astute diplomat, failed to unravel the true attitude of Alexander I towards him.
Until the end of his life, the emperor was haunted by suspicions of his involvement in a conspiracy against Paul I, as a result of which he was killed. Perhaps this is what at the end of his life prompted Alexander I to talk about the desire to abdicate the throne and start the life of an ordinary person.
Having come to power, the young emperor decided not to make the mistakes of his father, who saw the main opposition in the nobility. Alexander I understood that this is a serious force that is better to have in your friends. Therefore, everyone who fell into disgrace under his father was returned to the court. The bans and censorship imposed by Paul I were abolished. The emperor also understood the seriousness of the peasant question. The main merit of Alexander I was the introduction of the decree "On free cultivators". Unfortunately, many other bills that improve the life of the peasants remained only on paper.
In foreign policy, Alexander I adhered to the tactics of maintaining good relations with Great Britain and France. But for many years he had to fight with the French troops. After the expulsion of the enemy from the territory of Russia, he led a coalition of European countries against Napoleon.
Alexander I died suddenly, at the age of 47. It happened in Taganrog in 1825. The mysterious circumstances of his death and confusion with the heirs were the cause of the Decembrist uprising in the same year.
More short biographies of the great commanders:
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