Russian Emperor Alexander I was born on December 23, 1777. During his reign, Russia won a number of major military victories and expanded its borders.
Under Alexander I, large-scale reforms also took place in the country, which, however, received mixed assessments in the expert community.
"Adjusted absolutely everyone"
Alexander was born in St. Petersburg in the family of the heir to the Russian throne, Paul, son of Catherine II.
“The Empress was serious about preparing her grandson for future state activity.
She carefully selected teachers for him, approved plans for education and upbringing.
Thanks to the mentors, Alexander, in his youth, formed very liberal views for his era, ”said Vitaly Zakharov, a professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in an interview with RT.
According to historians, Catherine was skeptical about her son's abilities and considered the option of transferring power directly to her grandson, but did not have time to implement it.
Alexander, maneuvering between his grandmother and father, developed diplomatic skills from childhood.
Paul I ascended the throne after the death of his mother in 1796.
Soon Alexander was appointed military governor of St. Petersburg and chief of the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment.
Paul turned out to be a very unpopular monarch among the aristocrats.
As experts recall, he eliminated many noble privileges granted by previous rulers.
In addition, he was impulsive and at any moment could humiliate one of his noble subjects.
All this contributed to the emergence of a conspiracy directed against the emperor.
Its organizers, according to some researchers, were supported by representatives of the British crown, since Paul had secret negotiations with France on joint actions against England, including a campaign in British India.
On the night of March 23-24, 1801, the conspirators entered the chambers of Paul I and killed him.
To the question of whether Alexander I played any role in this, historians still cannot unambiguously answer.
Assassination of Emperor Paul I, 19th century French engraving
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© The Print Collector/Print Collector
“Alexander was aware of the conspiracy.
Of course, he wasn't told directly that his father's assassination was planned.
But deposed emperors, as you know, do not live long anyway.
And he nodded in response to the proposal to overthrow Paul.
Therefore, he carried the sin of parricide until the end of his life, ”said in a conversation with RT the head of the Department of the History of the Fatherland of the St. Petersburg State Medical University.
I.P.
Pavlova Igor Zimin.
As Andrey Bogdanov, a leading researcher at the IRI RAS, noted, for his part, Alexander l defiantly mourned his father as if he had been innocently killed, demonstrating his innocence in what happened.
“Otherwise, he simply could not behave.
All we know about him is his official position.
Everything else is speculation.
As for the transfer of power in the empire after the death of Paul, Alexander was the rightful heir.
And he suited absolutely everyone, ”Bogdanov emphasized in a conversation with RT.
Alexander I, painting by Jean-Louis Voile, 1802
© Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
On March 24, 1801, Alexander I headed the Russian Empire, and on September 27 of the same year he was officially crowned.
In the first months of his reign, he reversed most of Paul's innovations.
In particular, Alexander restored noble privileges, returned 12,000 disgraced from exile, and abolished the Secret Expedition, which was engaged in detective work.
Reforms and wars
Alexander I established a new advisory body from representatives of the highest nobility - the Indispensable Council.
An Unofficial Committee was also formed, which included people from the closest circle of the monarch, and at whose meetings issues of reforming the public administration system, the abolition of serfdom, and education were discussed.
Although serfdom continued to exist under Alexander I, the life of the peasants became easier.
The practice of granting state-owned peasants to private individuals was abolished, and decrees were issued limiting the arbitrariness of landlords in relation to serfs.
When selling dependent peasants, it was forbidden to break families.
Representatives of this class, illegally at the disposal of the landowners, received the right to file claims for the return of freedom.
The decree on free cultivators of 1803 provided for the release of peasants for a ransom.
Merchants, philistines and state peasants under Alexander I received the right to acquire uninhabited lands.
Entrepreneurs had the opportunity to establish trading houses, and the peasants to conduct independent trade, as a result of which the families of some former serfs became dynasties of large manufacturers in one generation.
Alexander I carried out a large-scale reform of public administration.
The system of administration he created lasted with minimal changes until 1917.
Instead of the Petrine collegiums, ministries and main departments were established, reminiscent in their structure of European authorities.
The Committee of Ministers was established to jointly discuss national problems.
Local authorities were assigned to the "profile" ministries.
The State Council also appeared under the emperor.
Court ranks under Alexander became honorary and no longer gave specific advantages for promotion.
High-class officials were obliged to graduate from the university or take exams for its course.
Serious efforts were directed to the development of education.
Five new universities appeared in the Russian Empire.
At the same time, higher education institutions received broad autonomy.
The prestigious Alexander Lyceum was established.
In addition, a system of classless free education arose in the empire, which included parish and district schools, as well as gymnasiums.
Alexander I
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© Sepia Times/Universal Images Group
Historians call foreign policy one of the key areas of activity of Alexander I.
As a result of wars with Persia and Turkey, lands in the Caucasus and Bessarabia became part of Russia.
After the war with Sweden, Finland and the Åland Islands were annexed to the empire.
As a result of two unsuccessful wars against Napoleonic France, Alexander I had to agree in 1807 to the conclusion of the unpopular Peace of Tilsit, recognizing the conquests of Bonaparte in Europe.
Under pressure from France, Russia joined the continental blockade of Great Britain.
Due to the fact that London was an important trading partner for St. Petersburg, this dealt a painful blow to the Russian economy.
According to historians, against the background of the economic problems of Russia, which was looking for ways to establish trade with Britain, and Bonaparte's unwillingness to reckon with Russian interests in the Polish issue, relations between Paris and St. Petersburg escalated.
Peace of Tilsit, painting by Nicolas Goss, 19th century
© Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
On June 24, 1812, French troops invaded Russia.
Napoleon's army had a serious numerical advantage, and the Russian troops were maneuvering, retreating towards Moscow.
On September 7, there was a general battle - Borodino.
Historians do not have a single opinion about who won it.
The French were unable to defeat the Russian army and suffered critical losses, but the Russians retreated after the end of the battle, temporarily leaving the battlefield behind the enemy, and then Moscow.
Having lost a significant part of his army, and also not being able to provide troops with provisions and ammunition, Napoleon was forced to begin a retreat.
Russian troops blocked his path to the south, and he had to return to the west along the already devastated road.
The French suffered several painful defeats along the way.
There is no consensus among experts regarding the personal contribution of Alexander I to the victory.
“The liberation of Russian lands is not the result of the activities of Alexander I himself, but of the patriots who drove the enemy out of the country.
The orders of the emperor himself during the war were mostly defeatist, ”says Bogdanov.
Battle of Borodino, painting by Peter von Hess
© Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
At the same time, Igor Zimin, for his part, emphasizes that during the war, "Alexander I showed real firmness."
“He declared that he would not make any contact with Napoleon until the French left Russia.
Therefore, Bonaparte sent unanswered dispatches from Moscow to St. Petersburg one after another.
Alexander behaved completely differently than the European monarchs, ”the specialist recalled.
After Napoleon's army left Russia, Alexander I set out to create a new anti-French coalition and sent Russian troops on foreign campaigns.
In March 1814 they entered Paris.
The Russian emperor became one of the initiators of the Congress of Vienna, which determined the post-war structure of Europe.
To ensure international balance, he also proposed the establishment of a Holy Alliance.
According to historians, after the defeat of Napoleon, Russia became the most powerful of the European powers, and the word of Alexander I became decisive in international matters.
The entry of Russian troops into Paris in 1814, painting by Alexei Kivshenko, 1880
© Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
After the end of the war, Alexander granted personal freedom to the peasants of the Baltic states and the Constitution to the Kingdom of Poland.
However, the growth of revolutionary sentiment in Europe and unrest in Russia itself forced the emperor to stop liberal reforms.
He banned Masonic lodges and created a secret police force in the army.
In 1825, the emperor went on a trip to the south.
According to the official version, he caught a bad cold in the Crimea and on December 1 died from the consequences of the disease in Taganrog.
The throne passed to his younger brother Nicholas.
After some time, there were rumors that the emperor staged his own death and went to Siberia under the name of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who supposedly looked like a monarch.
Elder Feodor Kuzmich, painting by an unknown artist, 19th century
© Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
“Now it is impossible to evaluate all the arguments for and against this version.
But in the story of Alexander's death, there really are strange moments, in particular, that the procedure for parting with his body did not go through.
All i can be dotted only if the remains of the emperor are exhumed,” says Zakharov.
According to Andrei Bogdanov, many of the reforms of Alexander I did not lead to any concrete achievements.
However, despite the diverse assessments of the actions of the emperor, historians still consider him a prominent historical figure.
“Alexander I left a noticeable mark on history.
His reforms, the victory over Napoleon are events whose memory lives on for centuries,” summed up Igor Zimin.