Nicholas I Pavlovich - born: June 25 (July 6), 1796. Date of death: February 18 (March 2), 1855 (aged 58).
The Nikolaev era in Russian history is amazing in itself: an unprecedented flourishing of culture and police arbitrariness, the strictest discipline and widespread bribery, economic growth and backwardness in everything. But before coming to power, the future autocrat hatched completely different plans, the implementation of which could make the state one of the richest and most democratic in Europe.
The reign of Emperor Nicholas 1 is usually called a period of gloomy reaction and hopeless stagnation, a period of despotism, barracks order and cemetery silence, and hence the assessment of the emperor himself as a strangler of revolutions, a jailer of the Decembrists, a gendarme of Europe, an incorrigible martinet, "a fiend of uniform enlightenment", "a boa constrictor , 30 years strangling Russia. Let's try to figure everything out.
The starting point of the reign of Nicholas 1 was December 14, 1825 - the day when the Decembrist uprising took place. He became not only a test of the character of the new emperor, but also had a significant impact on the subsequent formation of his thoughts and actions. After the death of Emperor Alexander 1 on November 19, 1825, a situation of the so-called interregnum arose. The emperor died childless, and his middle brother Constantine was to inherit the throne. However, back in 1823, Alexander signed a secret manifesto appointing his younger brother Nicholas as heir.
In addition to Alexander, Konstantin and their mother, only three people knew about this: Metropolitan Filaret, A. Arakcheev and A. Golitsyn. Nicholas himself, until the death of his brother, did not suspect this, therefore, after his death, he swore allegiance to Konstantin, who was in Warsaw. From this, according to V. Zhukovsky, a three-week “struggle not for power, but for the sacrifice of honor and duty by the throne” began. Only on December 14, when Constantine confirmed his renunciation of the throne, Nicholas issued a manifesto about his accession. But by this time, conspirators from secret societies began to spread rumors in the army, as if Nicholas intended to usurp the rights of Constantine.
December 14, morning - Nikolai familiarized the Guards generals and colonels with the will of Alexander 1 and documents on the abdication of Constantine and read out a manifesto on his accession to the throne. All unanimously recognized him as the legitimate monarch and pledged to swear in the troops. The Senate and the Synod have already sworn in, but in the Moscow regiment, the soldiers, incited by the conspirators, refused to take the oath.
There were even armed skirmishes, and the regiment went to the Senate Square, where it was joined by part of the soldiers from the Life Guards of the Grenadier Regiment and the guards crew. The rebellion flared up. “Tonight,” Nicholas 1 said to A. Benkendorf, “perhaps both of us will not be in the world, but at least we will die, having fulfilled our duty.”
Just in case, he gave the order to prepare crews to take his mother, wife and children to Tsarskoye Selo. “It is not known what awaits us,” Nikolai turned to his wife. “Promise me to show courage and, if I have to die, to die with honor.”
Intending to prevent bloodshed, Nicholas 1 with a small retinue went to the rebels. They fired at him. The exhortations of either Metropolitan Seraphim or Grand Duke Michael did not help. And the shot of the Decembrist P. Kakhovsky in the back of the St. Petersburg governor-general made it completely clear: the negotiating ways have exhausted themselves, one cannot do without buckshot. “I am an emperor,” Nikolai later wrote to his brother, “but at what cost. My God! At the cost of the blood of my subjects." But, based on what the Decembrists really wanted to do with the people and the state, Nicholas 1 was right in his determination to quickly suppress the rebellion.
Consequences of the uprising
“I saw,” he recalled, “that either I should take it upon myself to shed the blood of some and save almost certainly everything, or, sparing myself, decisively sacrifice the state.” At first, he had an idea - to forgive everyone. However, when during the investigation it turned out that the performance of the Decembrists was not an accidental outbreak, but the fruit of a long conspiracy, which set as its task, first of all, regicide and a change in the form of government, personal impulses faded into the background. There was a trial and punishment to the full extent of the law: 5 people were executed, 120 were sent to hard labor. But that's all!
Whatever they write or say for Nicholas 1, he, as a person, is much more attractive than his "friends on the 14th". After all, some of them (Ryleev and Trubetskoy), having incited people to speak, did not come to the square themselves; they were going to destroy the entire royal family, including women and children. After all, it was they who had the idea, in case of failure, to set fire to the capital and retreat to Moscow. After all, it was they (Pestel) who were going to establish a 10-year dictatorship, distract the people with wars of conquest, bring in 113,000 gendarmes, which was 130 times more than under Nicholas 1.
What was the emperor like?
By nature, the emperor was a rather generous person and knew how to forgive, not attaching importance to personal insults and believing that he should be above this. He could, for example, before the entire regiment ask for forgiveness from an officer unjustly offended by him, and now, given the awareness of the conspirators of their guilt and the complete repentance of most of them, he could demonstrate "mercy to the fallen." Could. But he did not do this, although the fate of the majority of the Decembrists and their families was mitigated as much as possible.
For example, Ryleev's wife received a financial assistance of 2,000 rubles, and Pavel Pestel's brother Alexander was given a lifetime pension of 3,000 rubles a year and he was assigned to the cavalry guard regiment. Even the children of the Decembrists, who were born in Siberia, with the consent of their parents, were determined in the best educational institutions at public expense.
It would be appropriate to cite the statement of Count D.A. Tolstoy: “What the great sovereign would have done for his people if he had not met December 14, 1825 at the first step of his reign, is unknown, but this sad event should have had on him a huge impact. He, apparently, should be attributed to that dislike for any liberalism, which was constantly noticed in the orders of Emperor Nicholas ... "And this is well illustrated by the words of the tsar himself:" The revolution is on the threshold of Russia, but, I swear, it will not penetrate into it until it remains in me breath of life, until by the grace of God I am emperor." From the time of December 14, 1825, Nicholas 1 celebrated this date every year, considering it the day of his true accession to the throne.
What many noted in the emperor is the desire for order and legality.
“My fate is strange,” Nicholas 1 wrote in one of his letters, “they tell me that I am one of the most powerful sovereigns in the world, and I should say that everything, that is, everything that is permissible, should be for me it is possible that I could, therefore, at my own discretion, do what I please. In fact, however, the opposite is true for me. And if I am asked about the reason for this anomaly, there is only one answer: duty!
Yes, this is not an empty word for someone who is accustomed to understand it from youth, like me. This word has a sacred meaning, before which every personal impulse recedes, everything must fall silent before this one feeling and yield to it until you disappear into the grave. That is my slogan. He is tough, I confess, it is more painful for me under him than I can express, but I am created to suffer.
Contemporaries about Nicholas 1
This sacrifice in the name of duty is worthy of respect, and the French politician A. Lamartine said well: “It is impossible not to respect a monarch who demanded nothing for himself and fought only for principles.”
The maid of honor A. Tyutcheva wrote about Nicholas 1: “He had an irresistible charm, could charm people ... Extremely unpretentious in everyday life, already being an emperor, he slept on a hard camp bed, hiding himself in a simple overcoat, observed moderation in food, preferred simple food, and almost did not drink alcohol. He stood up for discipline, but he himself was above all disciplined. Order, clarity, organization, the utmost clarity in actions - that's what he demanded of himself and others. I worked 18 hours a day."
Principles of Government
The emperor paid great attention to the Decembrists' criticism of the orders that existed before him, trying to clarify for himself a possible positive beginning in their plans. He then brought close to him two of the most prominent initiators and conductors of the liberal undertakings of Alexander 1 - M. Speransky and V. Kochubey, who had long since departed from their former constitutional views, who were to lead the work on creating a code of laws and reforming public administration.
“I have noted and will always celebrate,” the emperor said, “those who want fair demands and want them to come from legitimate authority ...” He also invited N. Mordvinov to work, whose views had previously attracted the attention of the Decembrists, and then often disagreed with government decisions. The emperor raised Mordvinov to the dignity of a count and awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
But in general, people who think independently irritated Nicholas I. He often admitted that he preferred not smart, but obedient performers. Hence his constant difficulties in personnel policy and the selection of worthy employees. Nevertheless, Speransky's work on the codification of laws successfully ended with the publication of the Code of Laws. The situation was worse with regard to resolving the issue of alleviating the situation of the peasants. True, within the framework of government guardianship, it was forbidden to sell serfs at public auctions with the fragmentation of families, give them as gifts, give them to factories or exile them to Siberia at their discretion.
The landlords were given the right to release the householders by mutual consent to freedom, and they even had the right to acquire real estate. When the estates were sold, the peasants received the right to freedom. All this paved the way for the reforms of Alexander II, but led to new types of bribery and arbitrariness in relation to the peasants on the part of officials.
Law and autocracy
Much attention was paid to education and upbringing. Nicholas 1 raised his first-born son Alexander in a Spartan way and declared: “I want to educate a man in my son before I make him a sovereign.” The poet V. Zhukovsky was his teacher, the teachers were the best specialists of the country: K. Arseniev, A. Pletnev and others. M. Speransky taught the law of Alexander 1, who convinced the heir: law that it is based on truth. Where truth ends and untruth begins, right ends and autocracy begins.
Nicholas 1 shared the same views. A. Pushkin also thought about the combination of intellectual and moral education, who, at the request of the tsar, compiled a note “On Public Education”. By this time, the poet had already completely departed from the views of the Decembrists. And the emperor himself set an example of service to duty. During the cholera epidemic in Moscow, the tsar went there. The Empress brought children to him, trying to keep him from traveling. “Take them away,” said Nicholas 1, “thousands of my children are suffering in Moscow now.” For ten days, the emperor visited cholera barracks, ordered the construction of new hospitals, shelters, and provided financial and food assistance to the poor.
Domestic politics
If in relation to revolutionary ideas, Nicholas 1 pursued an isolationist policy, then the material inventions of the West attracted his close attention, and he liked to repeat: "We are engineers." New factories began to appear, railroads and highways were laid, industrial output doubled, and finances stabilized. The number of the poor in European Russia was no more than 1%, while in European countries it ranged from 3 to 20%.
Much attention was also paid to the natural sciences. By order of the emperor, observatories were equipped in Kazan, Kyiv, near St. Petersburg; different scientific societies appeared. Nicholas 1 paid special attention to the archeographic commission, which was engaged in the study of ancient monuments, analysis and publication of ancient acts. Under him, many educational institutions appeared, including Kiev University, St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, Technical School, military and naval academies, 11 cadet corps, a higher school of law and a number of others.
It is curious that, at the request of the emperor, in the construction of temples, volost administrations, schools, etc., it was prescribed to use the canons of ancient Russian architecture. No less interesting is the fact that it was during the "gloomy" 30-year reign of Nicholas 1 that an unprecedented surge of Russian science and culture took place. What names! Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Zhukovsky, Tyutchev, Koltsov, Odoevsky, Pogodin, Granovsky, Bryullov, Kiprensky, Tropinin, Venetsianov, Beauvais, Montferan, Tone, Rossi, Glinka, Verstovsky, Dargomyzhsky, Lobachevsky, Jacobi, Struve, Shchepkin, Mochalov, Karatygin and other brilliant talents.
The emperor supported many of them financially. New magazines appeared, university public readings were organized, literary circles and salons opened their activities, where any political, literary, philosophical issues were discussed. The emperor personally took A. Pushkin under his protection, forbidding F. Bulgarin to publish any criticism of him in the Northern Bee, and invited the poet to write new fairy tales, because he considered his old ones to be highly moral. But… Why is the Nicholas era usually described in such gloomy terms?
As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Building, as it seemed to him, an ideal state, the tsar essentially turned the country into a huge barracks, introducing only one thing into the minds of people - obedience with the help of cane discipline. And now they have reduced the admission of students to universities, established control over censorship itself, and expanded the rights of gendarmes. The works of Plato, Aeschylus, Tacitus were banned; the works of Kantemir, Derzhavin, Krylov were censored; entire historical periods were excluded from consideration.
Foreign policy
During the period of intensification of the revolutionary movement in Europe, the emperor remained faithful to his allied duty. Based on the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, he helped to suppress the revolutionary movement in Hungary. As a sign of "gratitude", Austria allied itself with England and France, who sought to weaken Russia at the first opportunity. It was necessary to pay attention to the words of the member of the English Parliament T. Attwood in relation to Russia: "... It will take a little time ... and these barbarians will learn to use the sword, bayonet and musket with almost the same skill as civilized people." Hence the conclusion - as soon as possible to declare war on Russia.
Bureaucracy
But it was not the loss in the Crimean War that was the most terrible defeat of Nicholas 1. There were worse defeats. The emperor lost the main war to his officials. Under him, their number increased from 16 to 74,000. The bureaucracy became an independent force acting according to its own laws, capable of torpedoing any attempts at reform, which weakened the state. And there was no need to talk about bribery. So during the reign of Nicholas 1, there was an illusion of the country's prosperity. The king understood all this.
Last years. Death
“Unfortunately,” he admitted, “more than often you are forced to use the services of people whom you do not respect ...” Already by 1845, many noted the emperor’s depression “I work to stun myself,” he wrote to King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia. And what is such a recognition worth: “For almost 20 years now I have been sitting in this beautiful place. Often such days happen that, looking at the sky, I say: why am I not there? I'm so tired".
At the end of January 1855, the autocrat fell ill with acute bronchitis, but continued to work. As a result, pneumonia began, and on February 18, 1855, he died. Before his death, he told his son Alexander: “I wanted to take on all the difficult, all the hard, to leave you a kingdom of peace, order and happiness. Providence judged otherwise. Now I’m going to pray for Russia and for you…”
Nicholas I Romanov
Years of life: 1796–1855
Russian emperor (1825–1855). King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland.
From the Romanov dynasty.
In 1816 he made a three-month journey through the European 
Russia, and since October 1816. to May 1817 traveled and lived in England.
In 1817 Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov married the eldest daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William II, Princess Charlotte Frederick-Louise, who adopted the name Alexandra Feodorovna in Orthodoxy.
In 1819, his brother, Emperor Alexander I, announced that the heir to the throne, the Grand Duke, wanted to renounce his right to succeed to the throne, so Nicholas would become the heir as the next brother in seniority. Formally, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich renounced his rights to the throne in 1823, since he had no children in a legal marriage and was married in a morganatic marriage to the Polish Countess Grudzinskaya.
On August 16, 1823, Alexander I signed a manifesto appointing his brother Nikolai Pavlovich as heir to the throne.
However, he refused to proclaim himself emperor until the final expression of the will of his elder brother. He refused to recognize Alexander's will, and on November 27 the entire population was sworn in to Constantine, and Nikolai Pavlovich himself swore allegiance to Constantine I as emperor. But Konstantin Pavlovich did not accept the throne, at the same time he did not want to formally renounce him as emperor, to whom the oath had already been taken. An ambiguous and very tense interregnum was created, which lasted twenty-five days, until December 14th.
Emperor Nicholas I
After the death of Emperor Alexander I and the abdication of the throne by Grand Duke Konstantin, Nicholas was nevertheless proclaimed emperor on December 2 (14), 1825.
To this day, the officers-conspirators, who later became known as "Decembrists", appointed a rebellion with the aim of seizing power, allegedly protecting the interests of Konstantin Pavlovich. They decided that the troops would block the Senate, in which the senators were preparing for the oath, a revolutionary delegation consisting of Pushchin and Ryleev would burst into the Senate premises demanding not to swear and to declare the tsarist government deposed and issue a revolutionary manifesto to the Russian people.
The uprising of the Decembrists greatly impressed the emperor and instilled in him fear of any manifestations of free thought. The uprising was severely suppressed, and 5 of its leaders were hanged (1826).
After the suppression of the rebellion and large-scale repressions, the emperor centralized the administrative system, strengthened the military-bureaucratic apparatus, established the political police (the Third Branch of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery), and also established strict censorship.
In 1826, a censorship charter was issued, nicknamed "cast iron", according to which it was forbidden to print almost everything that had political overtones.
Autocracy of Nicholas Romanov
Some authors have nicknamed him "the knight of autocracy". He firmly and fiercely defended the foundations of the autocratic state and fiercely suppressed attempts to change the existing system. During the reign, the persecution of the Old Believers resumed again.
On May 24, 1829 Nikolai the First Pavlovich was crowned in Warsaw as the King (Tsar) of Poland. Under him, the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 was suppressed, during which he was declared deprived of the throne by the rebels (Decree on the dethronement of Nicholas I). After the suppression of the uprising, the Kingdom of Poland lost its independence, and the Sejm and the army were divided into provinces.
Meetings of commissions were held, which were designed to alleviate the situation of serfs, a ban was introduced to kill and exile peasants to hard labor, sell them singly and without land, attribute them to newly opened factories. The peasants received the right to own private property, as well as to redeem themselves from the estates being sold.
A reform of the management of the state village was carried out and a “decree on obligated peasants” was signed, which became the foundation for the abolition of serfdom. But these measures were belated in nature, and during the life of the king, the liberation of the peasants did not happen.
The first railways appeared in Russia (since 1837). From some sources it is known that the emperor got acquainted with steam locomotives at the age of 19 during a trip to England in 1816. He became the first Russian stoker and the first Russian to ride on a steam locomotive.
Property guardianship over state peasants and the status of obliged peasants were introduced (laws of 1837–1841 and 1842), Russian laws were codified (1833), the ruble was stabilized (1839), new schools were founded under it - technical, military and educational.
In September 1826, the emperor received Pushkin, who was released by him from Mikhailov's exile, and listened to his confession that on December 14 Alexander Sergeevich was with the conspirators. After that, he did this to him: he saved the poet from general censorship (he decided to personally censor his works), instructed Pushkin to prepare a note “On Public Education”, called him after the meeting “the smartest man in Russia”.
However, the tsar never trusted the poet, seeing him as a dangerous "leader of the liberals", the great poet was under police surveillance. In 1834, Pushkin was appointed chamber junker of his court, and the role that Nikolai played in Pushkin's conflict with Dantes is estimated by historians rather contradictory. There are versions that the tsar sympathized with Pushkin's wife and arranged a fatal duel. After the death of A.S. Pushkin, a pension was assigned to his widow and children, but the tsar tried in every possible way to limit the memory of him.
He also doomed Polezhaev, who was arrested for free poetry, to years of soldiery, twice ordered M. Lermontov to be exiled to the Caucasus. By his order, the magazines "Telescope", "European", "Moscow Telegraph" were closed.
Significantly expanded the territory of Russia after the wars with Persia (1826–
1828) and Turkey (1828–1829), although the attempt to make the Black Sea an inland Russian sea met with active resistance from the great powers led by Great Britain. According to the Unkar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833, Turkey was obliged to close the Black Sea straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles) to foreign warships at the request of Russia (the agreement was canceled in 1841). Russia's military successes caused a backlash in the West because the world powers were not interested in strengthening Russia.
The tsar wanted to intervene in the internal affairs of France and Belgium after the revolutions of 1830 that took place there, but the Polish uprising prevented the realization of his plans. After the suppression of the Polish uprising, many provisions of the Polish Constitution of 1815 were repealed.
He took part in the defeat of the Hungarian revolution of 1848-1849. The attempt of Russia, ousted from the markets of the Middle East by France and England, to restore its position in this region led to a clash of powers in the Middle East, which resulted in the Crimean War (1853–1856). In 1854 England and France entered the war on the side of Turkey. The Russian army suffered a number of defeats from the former allies and was unable to provide assistance to the besieged fortress city of Sevastopol. At the beginning of 1856, following the results of the Crimean War, the Treaty of Paris was signed, the most difficult condition for Russia was the neutralization of the Black Sea, i.e. the prohibition to have naval forces, arsenals and fortresses here. Russia became vulnerable from the sea and lost the opportunity to conduct an active foreign policy in this region.
During his reign, Russia participated in wars: the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, the Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828, the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-29, the Crimean War of 1853-56.
Among the people, the tsar received the nickname "Nikolai Palkin", because in childhood he beat his comrades with a stick. In historiography, this nickname was established after the story of L.N. Tolstoy "After the Ball".
Death of Tsar Nicholas 1
He died suddenly on February 18 (March 2), 1855 at the height of the Crimean War; according to the most common version - from transient pneumonia (he caught a cold shortly before his death, taking a military parade in a light uniform) or flu. The emperor forbade doing an autopsy and embalming his body.
There is a version that the king committed suicide by drinking poison, due to defeats in the Crimean War. After his death, the Russian throne was inherited by his son, Alexander II.
He was married once in 1817 to Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III, who received the name Alexandra Feodorovna after converting to Orthodoxy. They had children:
- Alexander II (1818-1881)
- Maria (08/6/1819-02/09/1876), was married to the Duke of Leuchtenberg and Count Stroganov.
- Olga (08/30/1822 - 10/18/1892), was married to the King of Württemberg.
- Alexandra (12/06/1825 - 29/07/1844), married to Prince of Hesse-Kassel
- Konstantin (1827-1892)
- Nicholas (1831-1891)
- Mikhail (1832-1909)
Personal qualities of Nikolai Romanov
He led an ascetic and healthy lifestyle. Was an Orthodox believer 
a Christian, he did not smoke and did not like smokers, did not drink strong drinks, walked a lot and did drills with weapons. He had a remarkable memory and a great capacity for work. Archbishop Innokenty wrote about him: "He was ... such a crowned bearer, for whom the royal throne served not as a head to peace, but as an incentive to unceasing work." According to the memoirs of the maid of honor of Her Imperial Majesty, Anna Tyutcheva, her favorite phrase was: "I work like a galley slave."
The king's love for justice and order was well known. I personally visited military formations, examined fortifications, educational institutions, government agencies. He always gave concrete advice to correct the situation.
He had a pronounced ability to form a team of talented, creatively gifted people. The employees of Nicholas I Pavlovich were the Minister of Public Education Count S. S. Uvarov, the commander Field Marshal His Serene Highness Prince I. F. Paskevich, the Minister of Finance Count E. F. Kankrin, the Minister of State Property Count P. D. Kiselev and others.
The height of the king was 205 cm.
All historians agree on one thing: the tsar was undoubtedly a bright figure among the rulers-emperors of Russia.
Rise to power
After the childless Emperor Alexander I, the Russian throne, by virtue of the laws of succession to the throne, was to pass to his brother, Konstantin Pavlovich, who bore the title of Tsarevich. But back in 1819, Emperor Alexander, in a confidential conversation, informed his younger brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, that he would soon take the throne, since he decided to abdicate the throne and retire from the world, and brother Konstantin also renounces his rights to the throne. After this conversation, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich began to diligently fill in the gaps in his education by reading. But, having no official paper about the renunciation of his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin from the rights to the throne, Nikolai Pavlovich, having learned about the death of Alexander, was the first to take the oath to Emperor Konstantin. But then, during an emergency meeting of the State Council, a sealed package was opened, placed there by Emperor Alexander the First back in 1823, with a handwritten inscription: "Keep until my demand, and in the event of my death, open before any other action, in an emergency meeting ". Similar sealed packages were kept, just in case, also in the synod, the senate and the Moscow Assumption Cathedral; their contents were not known to anyone. The opened packages contained:
1) a letter from Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich to the late sovereign dated January 14, 1822, on the voluntary abdication of the Russian throne, with a request to approve such an intention with his imperial word and the consent of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna;
2) the answer of Alexander I dated February 2 of the same year about the consent to the request of Konstantin Pavlovich both on his part and on the part of the Empress Mother;
3) a manifesto of August 16, 1823, approving the right to the throne, on the occasion of the voluntary abdication of the crown prince, for Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. But after opening and reading, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich himself still refused to proclaim himself emperor until the final expression of the will of his elder brother. Konstantin's confirmation of his previous abdication was received in St. Petersburg on December 12, and on the same day a manifesto on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I followed.
Governing body
From the very beginning of his reign, Nicholas I declared the need for reforms and created a "committee on December 6, 1826" to prepare the reforms. An important role in the state began to play "His Majesty's Own Chancellery", which was constantly expanding by creating many branches.
Nicholas I instructed a special commission led by M.M. Speransky to develop a new Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. By 1833, two editions had been printed: The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, starting with the Council Code of 1649 and up to the last decree of Alexander I, and The Code of Current Laws of the Russian Empire. The codification of laws, carried out under Nicholas I, streamlined Russian legislation, facilitated the conduct of legal practice, but did not bring changes to the political and social structure of Russia.
Emperor Nicholas I was an autocrat in spirit and an ardent opponent of the introduction of a constitution and liberal reforms in the country. In his opinion, society should live and act like a good army, regulated and in accordance with the laws. The militarization of the state apparatus under the auspices of the monarch is a characteristic feature of the political regime of Nicholas I.
He was extremely suspicious of public opinion, literature, art, education fell under the yoke of censorship, and measures were taken to limit the periodical press. As a national dignity, official propaganda began to extol unanimity in Russia. The idea "The people and the tsar are one" was the dominant one in the education system in Russia under Nicholas I.
According to the "theory of official nationality" developed by S.S. Uvarov, Russia has its own way of development, does not need the influence of the West and should be isolated from the world community. The Russian Empire under Nicholas I was called the "gendarme of Europe" for keeping peace in European countries from revolutionary uprisings.
In social policy, Nicholas I emphasized the strengthening of the estate system. In order to protect the nobility from "contamination", the "December 6 Committee" proposed to establish a procedure according to which the nobility was acquired only by inheritance. And for service people to create new estates - "bureaucratic", "eminent", "honorary" citizens. In 1845, the emperor issued a "Decree on Majorates" (the indivisibility of noble estates during inheritance).
Serfdom under Nicholas I enjoyed the support of the state, and the tsar signed a manifesto in which he stated that there would be no changes in the position of serfs. But Nicholas I was not a supporter of serfdom and secretly prepared materials on the peasant question in order to make things easier for his followers.
The most important aspects of foreign policy during the reign of Nicholas I were the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance (Russia's struggle against revolutionary movements in Europe) and the Eastern Question. Russia under Nicholas I participated in the Caucasian War (1817-1864), the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), the Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829), as a result of which Russia annexed the eastern part of Armenia , the entire Caucasus, received the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
During the reign of Nicholas I, the most memorable was the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Russia was forced to fight against Turkey, England, France. During the siege of Sevastopol, Nicholas I was defeated in the war and lost the right to have a naval base on the Black Sea.
The unsuccessful war showed Russia's backwardness from the advanced European countries and how unviable the conservative modernization of the empire turned out to be.
Nicholas I died on February 18, 1855. Summing up the reign of Nicholas I, historians call his era the most unfavorable in the history of Russia, starting from the Time of Troubles.
Therefore, he could not count on the throne, which determined the direction of his upbringing and education. From an early age, he was fond of military affairs, especially its outer side, and prepared for a military career.
In 1817, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich married the daughter of the Prussian king, who received the name Alexandra Feodorovna in Orthodoxy. They had 7 children, the eldest of whom was the future Emperor Alexander II.
In 1819, Emperor Alexander I informed Nicholas of the intention of their brother Konstantin Pavlovich to renounce his right to the throne, and, accordingly, power would have to pass to Nicholas. In 1823, Alexander I issued a Manifesto proclaiming Nikolai Pavlovich the heir to the throne. The manifesto was a family secret and was not published. Therefore, after the sudden death of Alexander I in 1825, confusion arose with the accession of a new monarch to the throne.
On December 14, 1825, the oath to the new Emperor Nicholas I Pavlovich was appointed. On the same day, the "Decembrists" planned an uprising with the aim of overthrowing autocracy and demanding the signing of the "Manifesto to the Russian people", which proclaimed civil liberties. Informed, Nicholas postponed the oath to December 13, and the uprising was crushed.
Domestic policy of Nicholas I
From the very beginning of his reign, Nicholas I declared the need for reforms and created a "committee on December 6, 1826" to prepare the reforms. An important role in the state began to play "His Majesty's Own Chancellery", which was constantly expanding by creating many branches.
Nicholas I instructed a special commission led by M.M. Speransky to develop a new Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. By 1833, two editions had been printed: The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, starting with the Council Code of 1649 and up to the last decree of Alexander I, and The Code of Current Laws of the Russian Empire. The codification of laws, carried out under Nicholas I, streamlined Russian legislation, facilitated the conduct of legal practice, but did not bring changes to the political and social structure of Russia.
Emperor Nicholas I was an autocrat in spirit and an ardent opponent of the introduction of a constitution and liberal reforms in the country. In his opinion, society should live and act like a good army, regulated and in accordance with the laws. The militarization of the state apparatus under the auspices of the monarch is a characteristic feature of the political regime of Nicholas I.
He was extremely suspicious of public opinion, literature, art, education fell under the yoke of censorship, and measures were taken to limit the periodical press. As a national dignity, official propaganda began to extol unanimity in Russia. The idea "The people and the tsar are one" was the dominant one in the education system in Russia under Nicholas I.
According to the "theory of official nationality" developed by S.S. Uvarov, Russia has its own way of development, does not need the influence of the West and must be isolated from the world community. The Russian Empire under Nicholas I was called the "gendarme of Europe" for keeping peace in European countries from revolutionary uprisings.
In social policy, Nicholas I emphasized the strengthening of the estate system. In order to protect the nobility from "contamination", the "December 6 Committee" proposed to establish a procedure according to which the nobility was acquired only by inheritance. And for service people to create new estates - "bureaucratic", "eminent", "honorary" citizens. In 1845, the emperor issued a "Decree on Majorates" (the indivisibility of noble estates during inheritance).
Serfdom under Nicholas I enjoyed the support of the state, and the tsar signed a manifesto in which he stated that there would be no changes in the position of serfs. But Nicholas I was not a supporter of serfdom and secretly prepared materials on the peasant question in order to make things easier for his followers.
Foreign policy of Nicholas I
The most important aspects of foreign policy during the reign of Nicholas I were the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance (Russia's struggle against revolutionary movements in Europe) and the Eastern Question. Russia under Nicholas I participated in the Caucasian War (1817-1864), the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), the Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829), as a result of which Russia annexed the eastern part of Armenia , the entire Caucasus, received the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
During the reign of Nicholas I, the most memorable was the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Russia was forced to fight against Turkey, England, France. During the siege of Sevastopol, Nicholas I was defeated in the war and lost the right to have a naval base on the Black Sea.
The unsuccessful war showed Russia's backwardness from the advanced European countries and how unviable the conservative modernization of the empire turned out to be.
Nicholas I died on February 18, 1855. Summing up the reign of Nicholas I, historians call his era the most unfavorable in the history of Russia, starting from the Time of Troubles.
Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov, the future Emperor Nicholas I, was born on July 6 (June 25, O.S.) 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo. He became the third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Nicholas was not the eldest son and therefore did not claim the throne. He was supposed to devote himself to a military career. At the age of six months, the boy received the rank of colonel, and at the age of three he already flaunted in the uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.
Responsibility for the upbringing of Nikolai and his younger brother Mikhail was assigned to General Lamzdorf. Home education consisted of the study of economics, history, geography, law, engineering and fortification. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of foreign languages: French, German and Latin. The humanities did not give Nikolai much pleasure, but everything that was connected with engineering and military affairs attracted his attention. As a child, Nikolai mastered the flute and took drawing lessons, and this familiarity with art allowed him to be considered a connoisseur of opera and ballet in the future.
In July 1817, the wedding of Nikolai Pavlovich took place with Princess Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia, who after baptism took the name Alexandra Feodorovna. And from that time on, the Grand Duke began to take an active part in the arrangement of the Russian army. He was in charge of the engineering units, under his leadership educational institutions were created in companies and battalions. In 1819, with his assistance, the Main Engineering School and schools for guards ensigns were opened. Nevertheless, he was disliked in the army for his excessive pedantry and pickiness to trifles.
In 1820, a turning point occurred in the biography of the future Emperor Nicholas I: his elder brother Alexander I announced that in connection with the refusal of the heir to the throne, Constantine, the right to reign was transferred to Nicholas. For Nikolai Pavlovich, the news came as a shock, he was not ready for this. Despite the protests of his younger brother, Alexander I secured this right with a special manifesto.
However, on December 1 (November 19, O.S.), 1825, Emperor Alexander I suddenly died. Nicholas again tried to give up his reign and shift the burden of power to Constantine. Only after the publication of the royal manifesto, indicating the heir of Nikolai Pavlovich, did he have to agree with the will of Alexander I.
The date of the oath before the troops on Senate Square was December 26 (December 14 according to the old style). It was this date that became decisive in the speech of the participants in various secret societies, which went down in history as the Decembrist uprising.
The plan of the revolutionaries was not implemented, the army did not support the rebels, and the uprising was suppressed. After the trial, five leaders of the uprising were executed, and a large number of participants and sympathizers went into exile. The reign of Nicholas I began very dramatically, but there were no other executions during his reign.
The crowning of the kingdom took place on August 22, 1826 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and in May 1829 the new emperor assumed the rights of autocrat of the Polish kingdom.
The first steps of Nicholas I in politics were quite liberal: A. S. Pushkin returned from exile, V. A. Zhukovsky became the mentor of the heir; Nicholas's liberal views are also indicated by the fact that the Ministry of State Property was headed by P. D. Kiselev, who was not a supporter of serfdom.
Nevertheless, history has shown that the new emperor was an ardent supporter of the monarchy. Its main slogan, which determined state policy, was expressed in three postulates: autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality. The main thing that Nicholas I strove for and achieved with his policy was not to create something new and better, but to preserve and improve the existing order.
The emperor's desire for conservatism and blind adherence to the letter of the law led to the development of an even greater bureaucracy in the country. In fact, a whole bureaucratic state was created, the ideas of which continue to live to this day. The most severe censorship was introduced, a division of the Secret Chancellery was created, headed by Benckendorff, which conducted a political investigation. A very close observation of the printing business was established.
During the reign of Nicholas I, some changes also affected the existing serfdom. Uncultivated lands in Siberia and the Urals began to be developed, peasants were sent to their rise, regardless of desire. Infrastructure was created on the new lands, the peasants were supplied with new agricultural equipment.
Under Nicholas I, the first railway was built. The gauge of Russian roads was wider than European, which contributed to the development of domestic technology.
A financial reform began, which was supposed to introduce a unified system for calculating silver coins and banknotes.
A special place in the policy of the tsar was occupied by concern about the penetration of liberal ideas into Russia. Nicholas I sought to destroy any dissent not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. Without the Russian tsar, the suppression of all kinds of uprisings and revolutionary riots was not complete. As a result, he received the well-deserved nickname "the gendarme of Europe."
All the years of the reign of Nicholas I are filled with military operations abroad. 1826-1828 - Russian-Persian war, 1828-1829 - Russian-Turkish war, 1830 - suppression of the Polish uprising by Russian troops. In 1833, the Unkar-Iskelesi Treaty was signed, which became the highest point of Russian influence on Constantinople. Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships to the Black Sea. True, this right was soon lost as a result of the conclusion of the Second London Convention in 1841. 1849 - Russia is an active participant in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary.
The culmination of the reign of Nicholas I was the Crimean War. It was she who was the collapse of the political career of the emperor. He did not expect that Great Britain and France would come to the aid of Turkey. The policy of Austria also aroused fear, the unfriendliness of which forced the Russian Empire to keep an entire army on the western borders.
As a result, Russia lost its influence in the Black Sea, lost the opportunity to build and use military fortresses on the coast.
In 1855, Nicholas I fell ill with the flu, but, despite being unwell, in February he went to a military parade without outerwear ... The emperor died on March 2, 1855.