Father of Nicholas 1. Emperor Nicholas I

Family of Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich (the Blessed) (12.12.1777-19.11.1825) Years of reign: 1801-1825 ParentsFather - Emperor Paul I Petrovich (20.09.1754-12.01.1801).Mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna, Princess Sophia-Dorothea- Augusta Louise of Württemberg

Family of Emperor Nicholas I Pavlovich (Unforgettable) (06.25.1796-02.18.1855) Years of reign: 1825-1855 ParentsFather - Emperor Paul I Petrovich (09.20.1754-12.01.1801).Mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna, Princess Sophia-Dorothea- Augusta Louise of Württemberg (10/14/1759-10/24/1828). Empress Consort

Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (Bloody) (05/06/1868-07/17/1918) Years of reign: 1894-1917 ParentsFather - Emperor Alexander III Alexandrovich (02/26/1845-10/20/1894).Mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna, Princess Maria Sophia Frederica-Dagmara of Denmark (11/14/1847-1928). Empress Consort

Appendix 5 Response to a request submitted on May 7, 1907 by the right-wing parties of the Duma about the discovery of a conspiracy against the Sovereign Emperor, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and P. A. Stolypin Gentlemen, members of the State Duma, I must first of all state that I have just

Chapter III Some political meetings of Emperor Nicholas II on Russian territory in 1912. Assessing the relationship between Russia and the Austro-German Union In 1912, Emperor Nicholas II had several political meetings on Russian territory. The first of

Terror. Once again the GPU is leading the white militants. Death of Maria Vladislavovna. Head of Emperor Nicholas II. The Hunt for Kutepov Probably, during prayer or at night, when Kutepov was left alone, he asked God how it could happen that the great Christian Orthodox

MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE AND REIGN OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II 1868, May 6 - birth of Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich in Tsarskoye Selo. May 20 (Spirit Day) - baptism of the Grand Duke in the church of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace. 1871, April 27 - birth of his brother, Grand Duke George

Chapter One THE MARRIAGE OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II AND THE GERMAN PRINCESS ALICE OF HESS November 14 (26), 1894, on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, 25 days after the death of Emperor Alexander III, took place in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace

Chapter Two CORONATION OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II The coronation of Nicholas II took place on May 14 (26), 1896 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. Many foreign guests were present, among whom were the Emir of Bukhara, Queen of Greece Olga Konstantinovna, twelve crown princes, including

MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II AND THE IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE REIGN 1868, May 6 (18). Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich was born on May 20 (June 2). Baptism of Nikolai Alexandrovich. 1875, December 6. Received the rank of ensign. 1880, May 6. Received the rank of second lieutenant. 1881, March 1. The highest

As you know, Nicholas I died on February 18 (March 2), 1855. It was officially announced that the emperor caught a cold while taking part in the parade in a light uniform and died of pneumonia (pneumonia). As usually happens, in the very first days after the death of Nicholas, legends arose about his sudden death, and they began to spread with lightning speed. The first version is that the tsar could not survive the defeat in the Crimean War and committed suicide. The second is that physician Martin Mandt poisoned the emperor. What really happened?

Emperor Nicholas I

“Completely unexpected even for St. Petersburg”

Poet, journalist and (which is very important!) Doctor of Medical Sciences V.L. Paykov already discussed this in Soviet times: “Rumors about suicide, about an artificially induced cold, about taking poison when the cold began to go away, etc., came from the palace, from the medical world, spread among the literary public, wandered in the philistine environment<…>Such a physically strong person as Nicholas I was could not die from a cold, even its severe form.”

And here the question involuntarily arises: were there any serious reasons for denying the official version of the emperor’s death? The answer to this question is obvious: of course they were.

First of all, as historian E.V. writes. Tarle, Russians and foreigners who knew Nicholas’s nature always said that they could not imagine the emperor “sitting down as a loser at the diplomatic green table for negotiations with the victors.” This is where the version comes from that Nicholas I took the news of the defeat of the Russian troops near Evpatoria hard. He allegedly realized that this was a harbinger of defeat in the entire Crimean War, and therefore asked Martin Mandt to give him poison, which would allow him to die, protecting himself from shame.

Supporters of another version, the doctor’s fellow contemporaries, unanimously accused him of underestimating the condition of his crowned patient and of inadequacy of treatment methods.

The writing fraternity also played a role. She preferred the suicide version.

As Tarle noted, rumors of suicide “were widespread in Russia and Europe (and had an impact on minds),” and “sometimes these rumors were believed by people who were not at all guilty of gullibility and frivolity.” For example, publicist N.V. Shelgunov and historian N.K. Schilder.

In particular, Schilder succinctly stated: “I was poisoned.” But Shelgunov gave us this version of the rumors about the “highest” death: “Emperor Nicholas died completely unexpectedly even for St. Petersburg, which had never heard anything about his illness before. It is clear that the sudden death of the sovereign caused speculation. By the way, they said that the dying emperor ordered to call his grandson, the future crown prince. The Emperor lay in his office, on a camp bed, under a soldier's overcoat. When the Tsarevich entered, the Emperor allegedly said to him: “Learn to die,” and these were his last words. But there was other news. It was said that Emperor Nicholas, shocked by the failures of the Crimean War, felt unwell and then caught a severe cold. Despite his illness, he ordered a review of the troops. On the day of the parade, a sudden frost hit, but the sick sovereign did not find it convenient to postpone the parade. When the riding horse was brought up, the physician Mandt grabbed him by the bit and, wanting to warn the emperor about the danger, allegedly said: “Sire, what are you doing? This is worse than death: it is suicide,” but Emperor Nicholas, without answering anything, mounted his horse and gave him spurs.” It turns out that the form of voluntary death of Nicholas I was not poison, but an artificially induced cold.

Naturally, there were immediately those who considered all the rumors about the Tsar’s suicide to be without any basis. For example, in 1855 a book by Count D.N. was published. Bludov "The last hours of the life of Emperor Nicholas I." So there it is said about the death of the king: “This precious life was put to an end by a cold, which at first seemed insignificant, but, unfortunately, was combined with other causes of disorder, which had long been hidden in a constitution that was only [outwardly] strong, but in fact shocked , even exhausted by the labors of extraordinary activity, worries and sorrows..."

"Iron" health of the emperor

Surprisingly, many contemporaries considered the emperor’s health “iron.” In reality, it was not so heroic. Nikolai Pavlovich was an ordinary person, and the impression of the indestructibility of his health was rather the result of his conscious efforts to shape the appearance of “the master of a huge empire.” In fact, as Tarle notes, “that something was wrong with the sovereign recently was clear to absolutely everyone who had access to the court.”

However, the emperor’s health deteriorated much earlier than “everyone” noticed it. In December 1837, a terrible fire engulfed the Winter Palace. This fire lasted about thirty hours. As a result, the second and third floors of the palace were completely burned out and many valuable works of art were lost forever. This event left an indelible mark on the psyche of Nicholas I: every time he saw fire or smelled smoke, he turned pale, felt dizzy and his heartbeat quickened.

Historians generally believe that Nicholas I’s health problems began in 1843. While traveling across Russia, on the road from Penza to Tambov, his carriage overturned, and the Tsar broke his collarbone. From that time on, Nikolai Pavlovich’s health began to noticeably change, and most importantly, he developed nervous irritability.

But the emperor felt especially bad in 1844–1845. His “legs hurt and were swollen”; doctors were afraid that he would develop dropsy. He even went to Italy, to Palermo, for treatment. And in the spring of 1847, Nikolai Pavlovich’s dizziness intensified. The longer he ruled the country, the gloomier he looked at the future of Russia, at the fate of Europe, and at his personal life. He experienced the death of many figures of his reign very hard - Prince A.N. Golitsyna, M.M. Speransky, A.Kh. Benckendorf. The death of his daughter Alexandra in 1844 and the tragic events of the French Revolution of 1848 also clearly did not improve his health.

In January 1854, the emperor began to complain of pain in his foot. The then head of the gendarmerie L.V. Dubelt wrote about this: “Mandt says that he has erysipelas, while others claim that it is gout.” V.L. Paykov already clarified in Soviet times: “In the last years of his life, attacks of gout became more frequent against the background of the appearance of obesity, which, apparently, was associated with a violation of the diet.” One might think that the Soviet researcher stood behind the emperor’s eating chair every day.

A. Kozlov. News from Sevastopol. Lithography. 1854–1855

Painful blow

Of course, the Crimean campaign dealt a strong blow to Nicholas I. Relatives often saw the king in his office “crying like a child when he received every bad news.” “Still, one should not exaggerate the significance of unfavorable news about what happened near Yevpatoria,” believed historian P.K. Solovyov. – Hoping for the best, the king was preparing for the worst. In letters dated early February 1855, Nicholas I indicated to Adjutant General M.D. Gorchakov and Field Marshal I.F. Paskevich on the possibility of “failure in Crimea”, on the need to prepare the defense of Nikolaev and Kherson. He considered the likelihood of Austria entering the war to be very high and gave orders regarding possible military operations in the Kingdom of Poland and Galicia. The tsar did not have any special illusions regarding the neutrality of Prussia.”

He realized long ago: the leading European powers have never loved and will never love Russia. Of course, a lot of explanations can be found for this Russophobia of theirs: France, beaten by the Russians in 1812–1814, dreamed of revenge. Already in 1815, she concluded a secret “defensive alliance” with England and Austria, directed against Russia. Another problem was the so-called “eastern question,” that is, the security of Russia’s southern borders and strengthening its positions in the Balkans. Russia's patronage of the Orthodox population of the Balkan Peninsula interfered with the expansionist machinations of England and Austria. In addition, England, which saw Russia as its main geopolitical enemy, was concerned about the successes of the Russians in the Caucasus and feared their possible advance into Central Asia, which it had its own plans for. As for Prussia, it, like Austria, was ready to support any action directed against Russia. By the middle of the 19th century, Nicholas I found himself in diplomatic isolation, and this could not help but sadden him.

W. Simpson. Landing in Evpatoria. It took place on September 2 (14), 1854. They reported to Nikolai:
coalition expeditionary force transported 61 thousand soldiers to Crimea

Yes, the failure to storm Yevpatoria dealt a painful blow to Nikolai Pavlovich’s pride, but it was not the event that predetermined the outcome of the entire war. The fate of the campaign depended on the defenders of Sevastopol, who continued to fight until the end of August 1855. So the defeat at Evpatoria could not push the emperor to commit suicide.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna testified: “It was not in his character to complain.” He constantly repeated: “I must serve everything in order. And if I become decrepit, then I’ll go into pure retirement. If I’m not fit to serve, I’ll leave, but as long as I have the strength, I’ll try until the end. I will bear my cross as long as I have enough strength.”

So the historian Paykov rightly believed that “one should not forget the important circumstance that Nicholas I was a military man to the core, who knew full well that wars bring with them not only losses, but also defeats. And you must be able to accept defeats with dignity. And on their basis to build the building of future victory. The character of this man, strong, decisive, purposeful, the entire history of his thirty-year reign does not give the slightest reason to assume suicide on his part due to private military failures.”

However, many of the emperor's sentimental contemporaries could not come to terms with the prosaic picture of his death. Here is Prince V.P. Meshchersky romantically asserted: “Nikolai Pavlovich was dying of grief, and precisely from Russian grief. This dying had no signs of physical illness - it came only at the last minute - but the dying took place in the form of an undoubted predominance of mental suffering over his physical being.

The last days of Nicholas I

Director of His Majesty's Office, poet V.I. Panaev testified that no matter how hard Nikolai Pavlovich tried “to overcome himself, to hide his inner torment, it began to be revealed by the gloominess of his gaze, pallor, even some kind of darkening of his beautiful face and the thinness of his whole body. Given his state of health, the slightest cold could develop a dangerous disease in him. And so it happened. Not wanting to refuse Count Kleinmichel (P.A. Kleinmichel was the Minister of Railways, who oversaw the construction of the Nikolaev Railway. - Author) in the request to be seated by his father with his daughter, the sovereign went to the wedding, despite the severe frost, wearing a red Horse Guards uniform with elk trousers and silk stockings. This evening was the beginning of his illness: he caught a cold...

Neither in the city, nor even at court did they pay attention to the sovereign’s illness; They said he was unwell, but he was not lying down. The Emperor did not express concerns about his health, either because he really did not suspect any danger, or, more likely, in order not to disturb his kind subjects. For this last reason, he forbade the printing of bulletins about his illness.”

He was sick for five days, but then he got stronger and went to the Mikhailovsky Manege to review the troops. Upon returning, I felt unwell: the cough and shortness of breath resumed. But the next day the emperor again went to Manege to inspect the marching battalions of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. On February 11, he could no longer get out of bed. And on the 12th I received a telegram about the defeat of Russian troops near Yevpatoria. “How many lives have been sacrificed for nothing,” Nikolai Pavlovich repeated these words many times in the last days of his life.

Near Yevpatoria, on February 5 (17), 1855, 168 Russian soldiers and officers were killed, 583 people were wounded (including one general), and another 18 people were missing.

On the night of February 17-18, the emperor became noticeably worse. He began to experience paralysis. What caused it? This remains a mystery. If we assume that he did commit suicide, then who exactly gave him the poison? It is known that two physicians were at the patient’s bedside: Martin Mandt and Philippe Carell. In memoirs and historical literature they usually point to Dr. Mandt. But, for example, Colonel I.F. Savitsky, the adjutant of Tsarevich Alexander, argued: “The German Mandt, a homeopath, the tsar’s beloved physician, whom popular rumor accused of the death (poisoning) of the emperor, was forced to flee abroad, told me about the last minutes of the great ruler: “After receiving the dispatch about the defeat at Evpatoria, Nicholas I called me to him and said: “You have always been loyal to me, and therefore I want to talk to you confidentially - the course of the war revealed the fallacy of my entire foreign policy, but I have neither the strength nor the desire to change and go differently dear, that would go against my beliefs. Let my son, after my death, make this turn. I am unable and must leave the stage, so I called you to ask you to help me. Give me poison that would allow me to give up my life without unnecessary suffering, quickly enough, but not suddenly (so as not to cause misunderstandings).”

However, according to Savitsky's memoirs, Mandt refused to give the emperor poison. But on the same night, February 18 (March 2), 1855, the emperor died.

And by morning, rapid decomposition of the body began, and yellow, blue and purple spots appeared on the face of the deceased. The heir to the throne, Alexander, was horrified to see his father so disfigured, and called two doctors: N.F. Zdecauer and I.I. Myanovsky - professors of the Medical-Surgical Academy. He ordered them to use any means necessary to remove “all signs of poisoning in order to present the body in proper form four days later for a public farewell according to tradition and protocol.”

“He was too much of a believer to give in to despondency.”

Supporters of the poisoning version claim that the two summoned professors, in order to hide the real cause of death, literally repainted the face of the deceased and properly processed it. But the new method of embalming the body that they allegedly used was not yet well developed, and it did not prevent its rapid decomposition. But at the same time, it is somehow forgotten that Zdecauer and Mianowski were therapists and never practiced embalming at all!

It is also alleged that the last will of Nicholas I was a ban on the autopsy of his body: allegedly he feared that the autopsy would reveal the secret of his death, which the desperate emperor wanted to take with him to the grave. But this is not entirely true. Nikolai Pavlovich wrote his last spiritual will on May 4, 1844. And in this document there is no mention of the ritual according to which he would be buried in the event of his death. However, back in 1828, during the funeral of his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, he publicly stated that during his burial the ceremony should be simplified as much as possible.

V.L. In this regard, Paykov writes: “When Nicholas I died, the “simplified ceremony” of the funeral was interpreted as a desire to quickly hide the body of the deceased in the grave, and with it the secret of his “mysterious” death. But it was just about Nicholas I’s desire to save public funds on his funeral.”

As for the rapid decomposition of the body of the deceased, it could be due to the fact that there were no special refrigeration chambers at that time. But the air temperature in St. Petersburg that day suddenly rose sharply from -20°C to +2°C. Plus, as noted by the maid of honor A.F. Tyutchev, “farewell to the emperor took place in a small room, where many people gathered who wanted to say goodbye to the king, and the heat was almost unbearable.”

So the rumors about the king’s suicide are unfounded.

And two more important points.

Firstly, Nicholas I was a deeply religious man who cared about the posthumous fate of his soul. His daughter, Olga Nikolaevna, said: “He was too much of a believer to give in to despondency.” And even more so, he hardly even allowed the thought of suicide.

But here is the testimony of the Emperor’s aide-de-camp V.I. Dena: “Whoever knew Nikolai Pavlovich closely could not help but appreciate the deeply religious feeling that distinguished him and which, of course, would have helped him with Christian humility to endure all the blows of fate, no matter how severe, no matter how sensitive to his pride they were.” .

Any Christian knows that unauthorized death is a grave offense, a mortal sin, surpassing even murder. Suicide is the only one of the most terrible sins that cannot be repented of. So the 58-year-old emperor clearly would not dare to cross this, challenging God himself and refusing to recognize Him as the boss of human life.

Secondly, speaking about the death of Nicholas I, we must not forget about one more circumstance. The Emperor was on the verge of old age - in July 1855 he would have turned 59 years old. Of course, in modern times this is not much. But in comparison with other Pavlovichs, Nikolai was almost a long-liver. For comparison: his elder brother Alexander I died at the age of 47, Konstantin Pavlovich - at 52, Mikhail Pavlovich - at 51, Ekaterina Pavlovna - at 30.

Nicholas I was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Alexandra Feodorovna, his wife, died on October 20 (November 1), 1860 in Tsarskoe Selo, and she was also buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

By the way

The historian Tarle notes: “For the enemies of the Nicholas regime, this alleged suicide was, as it were, a symbol of the complete failure of the entire system of merciless oppression, the personification of which was the tsar, and they wanted to believe that in the night hours of February 17-18, left alone with Mandt, the culprit who created this system and led Russia to a military catastrophe, realized his historical crimes and pronounced a death sentence on himself and his regime. The broad masses in rumors of suicide drew evidence of the approaching collapse of the system, which so recently seemed indestructible.”

A symbol of failure... I realized... I pronounced a sentence on myself... All this, perhaps, is so. But from awareness to a concrete step there is an abyss. As they say, “it happens that you don’t want to live, but this does not mean at all that you want not to live.” And if so, then one cannot but agree with the historian P.A. Zayonchkovsky, who makes the following conclusion: “The events in Sevastopol sobered him up. However, rumors about the king’s suicide are without any basis.”

Sergey Nechaev

Emperor of Russia Nicholas I

Years of reign of Nicholas I 1825 - 1855

Nicholas set himself the task of not changing anything, not introducing anything new in the foundations, but only maintaining the existing order, filling in the gaps, repairing revealed dilapidations with the help of practical legislation, and doing all this without any participation from society, even with the suppression of social independence, by government means alone; but he did not remove from the queue those burning questions that had been raised during the previous reign, and, it seems, he understood their burning importance even more than his predecessor. So, a conservative and bureaucratic mode of action is the characteristic of the new reign; to support what exists with the help of officials - this is another way to describe this character. (V. O. Klyuchevsky “Course of Russian History”)

Brief biography of Nicholas I

• 1796, June 25 - birthday of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, the future Emperor Nicholas I.
• 1802 - beginning of systematic education

  Nikolai was raised somehow, not at all according to Rousseau’s program, like his older brothers Alexander and Konstantin. He prepared himself for a very modest military career; he was not initiated into issues of higher politics, and was not allowed to participate in serious state affairs. Until the age of 18, he did not even have specific official occupations; only this year he was appointed director of the engineering corps and given his command of one guards brigade, therefore two regiments

• 1814, February 22 - acquaintance with the Prussian Princess Charlotte.
• 1816, May 9 - August 26 - educational trip around Russia.
• 1816, September 13 - 1817, April 27 - educational trip to Europe.
• 1817, July 1 - marriage to Princess Charlotte (named Alexandra Fedorovna at baptism into Orthodoxy).
• 1818, April 17 - birth of the first-born Alexander (future emperor)
• 1819, July 13 - Alexander I informed Nicholas that the throne would eventually pass to him due to Constantine’s reluctance to reign
• 1819, August 18 - birth of daughter Maria
• 1822, September 11 - birth of daughter Olga
• 1823, August 16 - secret manifesto of Alexander I, declaring Nicholas heir to the throne
• 1825, June 24 - birth of daughter Alexandra
• 1825, November 27 - Nicholas received news of the death of Alexander I in Taganrog on November 19
• 1825, December 12 - Nicholas signed the Manifesto on his accession to the throne
• 1825, December 14 - in St. Petersburg
• 1826, August 22 - coronation in Moscow
• 1827, September 21 - birth of son Konstantin
• 1829, May 12 - coronation in Warsaw as Polish constitutional monarch
• 1830, August - the beginning of the cholera epidemic in Central Russia
• 1830, September 29 - Nikolai arrived in cholera-ridden Moscow
• 1831, June 23 - Nicholas calmed the cholera riot on Sennaya Square in St. Petersburg

  In the summer of 1831 in St. Petersburg, at the height of the cholera epidemic, rumors arose among the townspeople that the disease was brought in by foreign doctors who were spreading the infection in order to plague the Russian people. This madness reached its climax when a huge excited crowd found itself on Sennaya Square, where there was a temporary cholera hospital.

  Having rushed inside, people broke glass in the windows, broke furniture, drove out hospital servants and beat local doctors to death. There is a legend that the crowd was calmed down by Nicholas, who reproached them with the words “It is a shame for the Russian people, having forgotten the faith of their fathers, to imitate the riot of the French and Poles.”

• 1831, August 8 - birth of son Nicholas
• 1832, October 25 - birth of son Mikhail
• 1843, September 8 - the birth of the first grandson of Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future heir to the throne.
• 1844, July 29 - death of his beloved daughter Alexandra
• 1855, February 18 - death of Emperor Nicholas I in the Winter Palace

Domestic policy of Nicholas I. Briefly

In domestic policy, Nikolai was guided by the idea of ​​“arranging private public relations so that a new state order could then be built on them” (Klyuchevsky). His main concern was the creation of a bureaucratic apparatus that would become the basis of the throne as opposed to the nobility, which lost its trust after December 14, 1825. As a result, the number of bureaucrats increased manifold, as well as the number of clerical cases.

At the beginning of his reign, the emperor was horrified to learn that he had carried out 2,800 thousand cases in all official places in the Department of Justice alone. In 1842, the Minister of Justice presented a report to the sovereign, which stated that in all official places of the empire, another 33 million cases, which were set out on at least 33 million written sheets, had not been cleared. (Klyuchevsky)

Nicholas I Pavlovich. Born June 25 (July 6), 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo - died February 18 (March 2), 1855 in St. Petersburg. Emperor of All Russia from December 14 (26), 1825, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland.

Main dates of the reign of Nicholas I:

♦ 1826 - Founding of the Third Department at the Imperial Chancellery - a secret police to monitor the state of minds in the state;
♦ 1826-1832 - Codification of the laws of the Russian Empire by M. M. Speransky;
♦ 1826-1828 - War with Persia;
♦ 1828 - Founding of the Technological Institute in St. Petersburg;
♦ 1828-1829 - War with Turkey;
♦ 1830-1831 - Uprising in Poland;
♦ 1832 - Cancellation of the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, approval of the new status of the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire;
♦ 1834 - The Imperial University of St. Vladimir was founded in Kiev (the university was founded by decree of Nicholas I on November 8 (20), 1833 as the Kiev Imperial University of St. Vladimir on the basis of the Vilna University and the Kremenets Lyceum, which were closed after the Polish uprising of 1830-1831);
♦ 1837 - Opening of the first railway in Russia, St. Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo;
♦ 1837-1841 - Reform of state peasants carried out by Kiselyov;
♦ 1841 - The sale of peasants individually and without land is prohibited;
♦ 1839-1843 - Financial reform of Kankrin;
♦ 1843 - The purchase of peasants by landless nobles is prohibited;
♦ 1839-1841 - Eastern crisis, in which Russia acted together with England against the France-Egypt coalition;
♦ 1848 - Peasants received the right to purchase their freedom from the land when selling the landowner's estate for debts, as well as the right to acquire real estate;
♦ 1849 - Participation of Russian troops in the suppression of the Hungarian uprising;
♦ 1851 - Completion of the construction of the Nikolaev railway, connecting St. Petersburg with Moscow. Opening of the New Hermitage;
♦ 1853-1856 - Crimean War. Nikolai did not live to see its end - he died in 1855.

Mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Nicholas was the third son of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna. Born a few months before the accession of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich to the throne. He was the last of the grandchildren born during her lifetime. The birth of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was announced in Tsarskoe Selo with cannon fire and bell ringing, and news was sent to St. Petersburg by messenger.

He received a name unusual for the Romanov dynasty. The court historian M. Korf even specifically noted that the baby was given a name “unprecedented in our royal house.” In the imperial house of the Romanov dynasty, children were not named after Nikolai. There is no explanation for the naming of the name Nicholas in the sources, although Nicholas the Wonderworker was highly revered in Rus'. Perhaps Catherine II took into account the semantics of the name, which goes back to the Greek words “victory” and “people”.

Odes were written for the birth of the Grand Duke, the author of one of them was G.R. Derzhavin. Name day - December 6 according to the Julian calendar (Nicholas the Wonderworker).

According to the order established by Empress Catherine II, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich from birth entered the care of the Empress, but the death of Catherine II, which soon followed, stopped her influence on the course of the Grand Duke’s upbringing. His nanny was the Livonian Charlotte Karlovna Lieven. She was Nikolai's only mentor for the first seven years. The boy sincerely became attached to his first teacher, and during early childhood, “the heroic, knightly noble, strong and open character of the nanny Charlotte Karlovna Lieven” left an imprint on his character.

Since November 1800, General M.I. Lamzdorf became the teacher of Nikolai and Mikhail. The choice of General Lamzdorf for the post of educator of the Grand Duke was made by Emperor Paul I. Paul I indicated: “just don’t make my sons such rakes as German princes.” In the highest order dated November 23 (December 5), 1800, it was announced: “Lieutenant General Lamzdorf has been appointed to serve under His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich.” The general stayed with his pupil for 17 years. It is obvious that Lamzdorf fully satisfied the pedagogical requirements of Maria Fedorovna. So, in a parting letter in 1814, Maria Feodorovna called General Lamzdorf the “second father” of the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail.

The death of his father, Paul I in March 1801, could not help but be imprinted in the memory of four-year-old Nicholas. Subsequently, he described what happened in his memoirs: “The events of this sad day remained in my memory as well as a vague dream; I was awakened and saw Countess Lieven in front of me. When I was dressed, we noticed through the window, on the drawbridge under the church, guards who had not been there the day before; the entire Semyonovsky regiment was here in an extremely careless appearance. None of us suspected that we had lost our father; we were taken down to my mother, and soon from there we went with her, my sisters, Mikhail and Countess Lieven to the Winter Palace. The guard went out into the courtyard of the Mikhailovsky Palace and saluted. My mother immediately silenced him. My mother was lying in the back of the room when Emperor Alexander entered, accompanied by Konstantin and Prince Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov; he threw himself on his knees in front of mother, and I can still hear his sobs. They brought him water, and they took us away. It was happiness for us to see our rooms again and, I must say in truth, our wooden horses, which we had forgotten there.”

This was the first blow of fate dealt to him at a very tender age. From then on, the care of his upbringing and education was concentrated entirely and exclusively in the hands of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, out of a sense of delicacy for whom Emperor Alexander I refrained from any influence on the education of his younger brothers.

The greatest concerns of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the upbringing of Nikolai Pavlovich consisted of trying to divert him from his passion for military exercises, which was revealed in him from early childhood. The passion for the technical side of military affairs, instilled in Russia by Paul I, took deep and strong roots in the royal family - Alexander I, despite his liberalism, was an ardent supporter of the shift parade and all its subtleties, like Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. The younger brothers were not inferior to the elders in this passion. From early childhood, Nikolai had a special passion for military toys and stories about military operations. The best reward for him was permission to go to a parade or divorce, where he watched everything that happened with special attention, dwelling even on the smallest details.

Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich received a home education - teachers were assigned to him and his brother Mikhail. But Nikolai did not show much diligence in his studies. He did not recognize the humanities, but he was well versed in the art of war, was fond of fortification, and was familiar with engineering.

Nikolai Pavlovich, having completed his course of education, was horrified by his ignorance and after the wedding tried to fill this gap, but the predominance of military activities and family life distracted him from constant desk work. “His mind is not cultivated, his upbringing was careless,” Queen Victoria wrote about Emperor Nicholas I in 1844.

Nikolai Pavlovich’s passion for painting is known, which he studied in childhood under the guidance of the painter I. A. Akimov and the author of religious and historical compositions, Professor V. K. Shebuev.

During the Patriotic War of 1812 and the subsequent military campaigns of the Russian army in Europe, Nicholas was eager to go to war, but was met with a decisive refusal from the Empress Mother. In 1813, the 17-year-old Grand Duke was taught strategy. At this time, from his sister Anna Pavlovna, with whom he was very friendly, Nicholas accidentally learned that Alexander I had visited Silesia, where he saw the family of the Prussian king, that Alexander liked his eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte, and that it was his intention that Nicholas I saw her sometime.

Only at the beginning of 1814 did Emperor Alexander I allow his younger brothers to join the army abroad. On February 5 (17), 1814, Nikolai and Mikhail left St. Petersburg. On this trip they were accompanied by General Lamzdorf, cavaliers: I.F. Savrasov, A.P. Aledinsky and P.I. Arsenyev, Colonel Gianotti and Dr. Ruehl. After 17 days they reached Berlin, where 17-year-old Nicholas first saw the 16-year-old daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia, Princess Charlotte..

Princess Charlotte - future wife of Nicholas I in childhood

After spending one day in Berlin, the travelers proceeded through Leipzig and Weimar, where they met with sister Maria Pavlovna. Then through Frankfurt am Main, Bruchsal, where Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna was then located, Rastatt, Freiburg and Basel. Near Basel, they first heard enemy shots, as the Austrians and Bavarians were besieging the nearby Güningen fortress. Then, through Altkirch, they entered France and reached the rear of the army in Vesoul. However, Alexander I ordered the brothers to return to Basel. Only when news arrived of the capture of Paris and the exile of Napoleon I to the island of Elba, the Grand Dukes received permission to arrive in Paris.

On November 4 (16), 1815 in Berlin, during an official dinner, the engagement of Princess Charlotte and Tsarevich and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was announced.

After the military campaigns of the Russian army in Europe, professors were invited to the Grand Duke, who were supposed to “read military science in as complete a manner as possible.” For this purpose, the famous engineering general Karl Opperman and, to help him, colonels Gianotti and Andrei Markevich were chosen.

In 1815, military conversations between Nikolai Pavlovich and General Opperman began.

Upon returning from his second campaign, starting in December 1815, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich continued his studies with some of his former professors. Mikhail Balugyansky read “the science of finance”, Nikolai Akhverdov - Russian history (from the reign to the time of troubles). With Markevich, the Grand Duke was engaged in “military translations,” and with Gianotti, he was reading the works of Giraud and Lloyd about various campaigns of the wars of 1814 and 1815, as well as analyzing the project “on the expulsion of the Turks from Europe under certain given conditions.”

At the beginning of 1816, the University of Abo of the Grand Duchy of Finland, following the example of the universities of Sweden, most submissively petitioned: “Will Alexander I, by royal grace, grant him a chancellor in the person of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich.” According to the historian M. M. Borodkin, this idea belongs entirely to Tengström, the bishop of the Abo diocese, a supporter of Russia. Alexander I granted the request, and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was appointed chancellor of the university. His task was to respect the status of the university and the conformity of university life with the spirit and traditions. In memory of this event, the St. Petersburg Mint minted a bronze medal. Also in 1816 he was appointed chief of the horse-jaeger regiment.

In the summer of 1816, Nikolai Pavlovich was supposed to complete his education by taking a trip around Russia to get acquainted with his fatherland in administrative, commercial and industrial relations. Upon returning, it was planned to make a trip to England. On this occasion, on behalf of Empress Maria Feodorovna, a special note was drawn up, which set out the main principles of the administrative system of provincial Russia, described the areas that the Grand Duke had to pass through in historical, everyday, industrial and geographical terms, indicating what exactly could constitute the subject of conversations between the Grand Duke and representatives of the provincial government, which should be paid attention to.

Thanks to a trip to some provinces of Russia, Nikolai Pavlovich received a clear picture of the internal state and problems of his country, and in England he became acquainted with the experience of developing the socio-political system of the state. Nicholas's own political system of views was distinguished by a pronounced conservative, anti-liberal orientation.

Nicholas I's height: 205 centimeters.

Personal life of Nicholas I:

On July 1 (13), 1817, the marriage of Grand Duke Nicholas with Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, who was called Princess Charlotte of Prussia before her conversion to Orthodoxy, took place. The wedding took place on the birthday of the young princess in the court church of the Winter Palace. A week before the wedding, on June 24 (6) July 1817, Charlotte converted to Orthodoxy and was given a new name - Alexandra Feodorovna, and upon her betrothal to Grand Duke Nicholas on June 25 (7) July 1817, she became known as the Grand Duchess with the title of Her Imperial Highnesses. The spouses were each other's fourth cousins ​​(they had the same great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother). This marriage strengthened the political alliance between Russia and Prussia.

Nicholas I and Alexandra Fedorovna had 7 children:

♦ son (1818-1881). 1st wife - Maria Alexandrovna; 2nd wife - Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova;
♦ daughter Maria Nikolaevna (1819-1876). 1st husband - Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg; 2nd husband - Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov;
♦ daughter Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892). Spouse - Friedrich-Karl-Alexander, King of Württemberg;
♦ daughter Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844). Spouse - Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hesse-Kassel;
♦ son Konstantin Nikolaevich (1827-1892). Wife - Alexandra Iosifovna;
♦ son Nikolai Nikolaevich (1831-1891). Wife - Alexandra Petrovna;
♦ son Mikhail Nikolaevich (1832-1909). Wife - Olga Fedorovna.

Alexandra Fedorovna - wife of Nicholas I

The maid of honor A.F. Tyutcheva, who lived at court for a long time, wrote in her memoirs: “Emperor Nicholas had for his wife, this fragile, irresponsible and graceful creature, a passionate and despotic adoration of a strong nature for a weak being, whose only ruler and legislator he feels. For him, it was a lovely bird, which he kept locked in a golden and jeweled cage, which he fed with nectar and ambrosia, lulled with melodies and scents, but whose wings he would not regret cutting if she wanted to escape from the gilded bars of her cage . But in her magical prison the bird did not even remember its wings.”

Also had from 3 to 9 alleged illegitimate children.

Nicholas I was in a relationship with his maid of honor Varvara Nelidova for 17 years. According to rumors, the relationship began when, after 7 births of the 34-year-old Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1832), doctors forbade the emperor from having marital relations with her out of fear for her health. The emperor's relationship with Nelidova was kept in deep secrecy.

Varvara Nelidova - mistress of Nicholas I

Decembrist revolt

Nikolai Pavlovich kept his personal diary irregularly; daily entries covered a short period from 1822 to 1825. The records were kept in French in very small handwriting with frequent abbreviations of words. His last entry was made on the eve of the Decembrist uprising.

In 1820, Emperor Alexander I informed Nikolai Pavlovich and his wife that the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, intended to renounce his right to the throne, so Nikolai, as the next senior brother, would become the heir. Nikolai himself was not at all happy about this prospect. In his memoirs, he wrote: “The Emperor left, but my wife and I remained in a situation that I can only liken to that feeling that, I believe, will amaze a person walking calmly along a pleasant road strewn with flowers and from which the most pleasant views open up everywhere, when suddenly an abyss opens up under his feet, into which an irresistible force plunges him, preventing him from retreating or turning back. This is a perfect picture of our terrible situation.”

In 1823, Konstantin Pavlovich formally renounced his rights to the throne, since he had no children, was divorced and married for a second morganatic marriage to the Polish Countess Grudzinskaya. On August 16 (28), 1823, Alexander I signed a secretly compiled manifesto, approving the abdication of the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich and confirming the Heir to the Throne of the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. On all the packages with the text of the manifesto, Alexander I himself wrote: “Keep until my demand, and in the event of my death, disclose before any other action.”

On November 19 (December 1), 1825, while in Taganrog, Emperor Alexander I died suddenly. In St. Petersburg, news of the death of Alexander I was received only on the morning of November 27 during a prayer service for the health of the emperor. Nicholas, the first of those present, swore allegiance to “Emperor Constantine I” and began to swear in the troops. Constantine himself was in Warsaw at that moment, being the de facto governor of the Kingdom of Poland. On the same day, the State Council met, where the contents of the 1823 Manifesto were heard. Finding themselves in an ambiguous position, when the Manifesto indicated one heir, and the oath was taken to another, the members of the Council turned to Nicholas. He refused to recognize the manifesto of Alexander I and refused to proclaim himself emperor until the final expression of the will of his elder brother. Despite the contents of the Manifesto handed over to him, Nicholas called on the Council to take the oath to Constantine “for the peace of the State.” Following this call, the State Council, Senate and Synod took an oath of allegiance to “Constantine I”.

The next day, a decree was issued on a widespread oath to the new emperor. On November 30, the nobles of Moscow swore allegiance to Constantine. In St. Petersburg, the oath was postponed until December 14.

Nevertheless, Konstantin refused to come to St. Petersburg and confirmed his abdication in private letters to Nikolai Pavlovich, and then sent rescripts to the Chairman of the State Council (December 3 (15), 1825) and the Minister of Justice (December 8 (20), 1825). Constantine did not accept the throne, and at the same time did not want to formally renounce it as an emperor, to whom the oath had already been taken. An ambiguous and extremely tense interregnum situation was created.

Unable to convince his brother to take the throne and having received his final refusal (albeit without a formal act of abdication), Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich decided to accept the throne according to the will of Alexander I.

On the evening of December 12 (24), 1825, M. M. Speransky drew up a Manifesto on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I. Nicholas signed it on December 13 in the morning. Attached to the Manifesto were a letter from Constantine to Alexander I dated January 14 (26), 1822, about refusal of inheritance, and a manifesto from Alexander I dated August 16 (28), 1823.

The manifesto on the accession to the throne was announced by Nicholas at a meeting of the State Council at about 22:30 on December 13 (25). A separate point in the Manifesto stipulated that November 19, the day of the death of Alexander I, would be considered the time of accession to the throne, which was an attempt to legally close the gap in the continuity of autocratic power.

A second oath was appointed, or, as they said in the troops, a “re-oath” - this time to Nicholas I. The re-oath in St. Petersburg was scheduled for December 14. On this day, a group of officers - members of a secret society - scheduled an uprising in order to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath to the new tsar and preventing Nicholas I from ascending the throne. The main goal of the rebels was the liberalization of the Russian socio-political system: the establishment of a provisional government, the abolition of serfdom, equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of jury trials, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, the election of officials, abolition of the poll tax and change in the form of government to a constitutional monarchy or republic.

The rebels decided to block the Senate, send there a revolutionary delegation consisting of Ryleev and Pushchin and present to the Senate a demand not to swear allegiance to Nicholas I, declare the tsarist government deposed and publish a revolutionary manifesto to the Russian people. However, the uprising was brutally suppressed on the same day. Despite the efforts of the Decembrists to carry out a coup d'etat, troops and government institutions were sworn in to the new emperor. Later, the surviving participants in the uprising were exiled, and five leaders were executed.

“My dear Konstantin! Your will is fulfilled: I am the emperor, but at what cost, my God! At the cost of the blood of my subjects!” he wrote to his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, on December 14.

The highest manifesto, given on January 28 (February 9), 1826, with reference to the “Institution on the Imperial Family” on April 5 (16), 1797, decreed: “First, as the days of our life are in the hand of God: then in the event of OUR death, until the legal majority of the Heir, Grand Duke ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH, we determine the Ruler of the State and the inseparable Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland as OUR Most Dear Brother, Grand Duke MIKHAIL PAVLOVICH...”

Crowned on August 22 (September 3), 1826 in Moscow - instead of June of the same year, as originally planned - due to mourning for the Dowager Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who died on May 4 in Belev. The coronation of Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.

On May 12 (24), 1829, in the Senatorial Hall of the Royal Castle, the coronation of Nicholas I to the Kingdom of Poland took place - a unique event in the history of Russia and Poland.

Full title of Nicholas I as Emperor:

“By the hastening grace of God, We are NICHOLAS the First, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Chersonis-Tauride, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volyn, Podolsk and Finnish, Prince of Estland, Livland, Courland and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Bialystok, Korelsky, Tver, Yugorsky, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novagorod Nizovsky lands, Chernihiv, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavsky, Belozersky, Udorsky, Obdorsky, Kondian, Vitebsky, Mstislav and all north sides of the Ivraki, Kartalinsky, Georgia and Kabardinsky lands, and Armenian regions; Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other Hereditary Sovereign and Possessor; Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstin, Stormarn, Dietmar and Oldenburg, and so on, and so on, and so on.”

Reign of Nicholas I

The first steps of Nicholas I after the coronation were very liberal. The poet was returned from exile, and V. A. Zhukovsky, whose liberal views could not but be known to the emperor, was appointed the main teacher (“mentor”) of the heir.

The Emperor closely followed the trial of the participants in the December speech and gave instructions to compile a summary of their critical comments against the state administration. Despite the fact that attempts on the life of the tsar were punishable by quartering according to existing laws, he replaced this execution with hanging.

The Ministry of State Property was headed by the hero of 1812, Count P. D. Kiselyov, a monarchist by conviction, but an opponent of serfdom. The future Decembrists Pestel, Basargin and Burtsov served under his command. Kiselyov's name was presented to Nicholas I on the list of conspirators in connection with the uprising case. But, despite this, Kiselev, known for the impeccability of his moral rules and his talent as an organizer, made a career under Nicholas I as the governor of Moldavia and Wallachia and took an active part in preparing the abolition of serfdom.

Some contemporaries wrote about his despotism. At the same time, as historians point out, the execution of five Decembrists was the only execution during the entire 30 years of the reign of Nicholas I, while, for example, under Peter I and Catherine II executions numbered in the thousands, and under Alexander II - in the hundreds. However, it should be noted that more than 40,000 people died during the suppression of the Polish uprising. It is also noted that under Nicholas I, torture was not used against political prisoners. Even historians critical of Nicholas I do not mention any violence during the investigation into the case of the Decembrists (in which 579 people were brought in as suspects) and the Petrashevites (232 people).

Nevertheless, in October 1827, on a report about the secret passage of two Jews across the river. Rod in violation of quarantine, which noted that only the death penalty for quarantine violations can stop them, Nikolai wrote: “The perpetrators will be driven through a thousand people 12 times. Thank God, we never had the death penalty, and it’s not for me to introduce it.”

The most important direction of domestic policy was the centralization of power. To carry out the tasks of political investigation, a permanent body was created in July 1826 - the Third Department of the Personal Chancellery - a secret service with significant powers, the head of which (since 1827) was also the chief of the gendarmes. The third department was headed by A. F. Orlov, who became one of the symbols of the era, and after his death (1844).

On December 6 (18), 1826, the first of the secret committees was created, the task of which was, firstly, to consider the papers sealed in the office of Alexander I after his death, and, secondly, to consider the issue of possible transformations of the state apparatus.

Under Nicholas I, the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 was suppressed, during which Nicholas I was declared dethroned by the rebels (Decree on the dethronement of Nicholas I). After the suppression of the uprising, the Kingdom of Poland lost its independence, the Sejm and the army and was divided into provinces.

Some authors call Nicholas I a “knight of autocracy”: he firmly defended its foundations and suppressed attempts to change the existing system, despite the revolutions in Europe. After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, he launched large-scale measures in the country to eradicate the “revolutionary infection”. During the reign of Nicholas I, persecution of the Old Believers resumed, and the Uniates of Belarus and Volyn were reunited with Orthodoxy (1839).

In the Volga region, forced Russification of local peoples was carried out on a large scale. Russification was accompanied by administrative and economic coercion and spiritual oppression of the non-Russian population of the Volga region.

Emperor Nicholas I paid a lot of attention to the army. The introduction of strict discipline in the army in the first years of the reign of Nicholas I, which was maintained subsequently, was associated with the extreme licentiousness that reigned in the Russian army in the last decade of the reign of Alexander I (after the end of the war with Napoleon). Officers often wore tailcoats rather than military uniforms, even during exercises, wearing an overcoat on top. In the Semenovsky regiment, soldiers were engaged in crafts and trade, and the proceeds were handed over to the company commander. “Private” military formations appeared. Thus, Mamonov, one of the richest men in Russia, formed his own cavalry regiment, which he himself commanded, while expressing extreme anti-monarchist views and calling the Tsar (Alexander I) “a brute.” Under Nicholas I, army “democracy,” bordering on anarchy, was curtailed and strict discipline was restored.

Drill training was considered the basis of military training. During the Eastern War, it often happened that for the construction of a minor field fortification, a sapper non-commissioned officer supervised the construction work, since the infantry officer (or even a sapper who graduated from the cadet corps, and not the Mikhailovsky or Engineering School) had no idea about the basics of field fortification. In this situation, “the sapper non-commissioned officer directed the work, the infantry soldiers were the labor force, and their officers were his overseers.”

There was a similar attitude towards shooting.

At the height of the Crimean War, due to a significant loss of officers at the front, one of the emperor’s orders was to introduce drill training in civilian gymnasiums and higher military sciences (fortification and artillery) in universities. Thus, Nicholas I can be considered the founder of basic military training in Russia.

One of Nikolai Pavlovich’s greatest achievements can be considered the codification of law. Involved by the tsar in this work, M. M. Speransky performed a titanic work, thanks to which the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire appeared.

During the reign of Nicholas I, the situation of the serfs became easier. Thus, a ban was introduced on exiling peasants to hard labor, selling them individually and without land, and peasants received the right to redeem themselves from the estates being sold. A reform of state village management was carried out and a “decree on obligated peasants” was signed, which became the foundation for the abolition of serfdom. However, the complete liberation of the peasants did not take place during the life of the emperor.

For the first time, there was a sharp reduction in the number of serfs - their share in the population of Russia, according to various estimates, decreased from 57-58% in 1811-1817 to 35-45% in 1857-1858, and they ceased to constitute the majority of the population. Obviously, a significant role was played by the cessation of the practice of “distributing” state peasants to landowners along with lands, which flourished under the previous kings, and the spontaneous liberation of peasants that began.

The situation of state peasants improved, whose number reached about 50% of the population by the second half of the 1850s. This improvement occurred mainly due to the measures taken by Count P. D. Kiselyov, who was responsible for the management of state property. Thus, all state peasants were allocated their own plots of land and forest plots, and auxiliary cash desks and grain stores were established everywhere, which provided assistance to the peasants with cash loans and grain in case of crop failure. As a result of these measures, not only did the welfare of state peasants increase, but also treasury income from them increased by 15-20%, tax arrears were halved, and by the mid-1850s there were practically no landless farm laborers eking out a miserable and dependent existence. everyone received land from the state.

A number of laws were passed to improve the situation of serfs. Thus, landowners were strictly forbidden to sell peasants (without land) and send them to hard labor (which had previously been common practice); serfs received the right to own land, conduct business, and received relative freedom of movement. Earlier, under Peter I, a rule was introduced according to which any peasant who found himself more than 30 miles from his village without a vacation certificate from the landowner was considered a runaway and subject to punishment. These strict restrictions: the obligatory nature of a vacation certificate (passport) for any departure from the village, a ban on business transactions, and even, for example, a ban on marrying off a daughter to another village (you had to pay a “ransom” to the landowner) - survived until the 19th century. and were abolished during the first 10-15 years of the reign of Nicholas I.

On the other hand, for the first time, the state began to systematically ensure that the rights of peasants were not violated by landowners (this was one of the functions of the Third Department), and to punish landowners for these violations. As a result of the application of punishments against landowners, by the end of the reign of Nicholas I, about 200 landowner estates were under arrest, which greatly affected the position of the peasants and the psychology of the landowners.

Thus, serfdom under Nicholas changed its character - from an institution of slavery it actually turned into an institution of rent in kind, which to some extent guaranteed the peasants a number of basic rights.

These changes in the position of the peasants caused discontent on the part of large landowners and nobles, who saw them as a threat to the established order.

Some reforms aimed at improving the situation of the peasants did not lead to the desired result due to the stubborn opposition of the landowners. Thus, on the initiative of D. G. Bibikov, who later became the Minister of Internal Affairs, an inventory reform was launched in Right Bank Ukraine in 1848, the experience of which was supposed to be extended to other provinces. The inventory rules introduced by Bibikov, mandatory for landowners, established a certain size of the peasant’s land plot and certain duties for it. However, many landowners ignored their implementation, and the local administration, which was dependent on them, did not take any measures.

Was first started mass peasant education program. The number of peasant schools in the country increased from 60, with 1,500 students, in 1838, to 2,551, with 111,000 students, in 1856. During the same period, many technical schools and universities were opened - essentially, the country's system of professional primary and secondary education was created.

The state of affairs in industry at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I was the worst in the entire history of the Russian Empire. There was virtually no industry capable of competing with the West, where the industrial revolution was already coming to an end at that time. Russia's exports included only raw materials; almost all types of industrial products needed by the country were purchased abroad.

By the end of the reign of Nicholas I the situation had changed greatly. For the first time in the history of the Russian Empire, a technically advanced and competitive industry began to form in the country, in particular, textile and sugar, the production of metal products, clothing, wood, glass, porcelain, leather and other products began to develop, its own machines, tools and even steam locomotives began to be produced .

From 1825 to 1863, the annual output of Russian industry per worker increased 3 times, while in the previous period it not only did not grow, but even decreased. From 1819 to 1859, the volume of Russian cotton production increased almost 30 times; the volume of engineering production from 1830 to 1860 increased 33 times.

For the first time in the history of Russia, under Nicholas I, intensive construction of paved roads began: the routes Moscow - St. Petersburg, Moscow - Irkutsk, Moscow - Warsaw were built. Of the 7,700 miles of highways built in Russia by 1893, 5,300 miles (about 70%) were built in the period 1825-1860. The construction of railways was also started and about 1000 miles of railway track was built, which gave impetus to the development of our own mechanical engineering.

The rapid development of industry led to a sharp increase in urban population and urban growth. The share of the urban population during the reign of Nicholas I more than doubled - from 4.5% in 1825 to 9.2% in 1858.

Having ascended the throne, Nikolai Pavlovich abandoned the practice of favoritism that had prevailed over the previous century. He introduced a moderate system of incentives for officials (in the form of lease of estates/property and cash bonuses), which he controlled to a large extent. Unlike previous reigns, historians have not recorded large gifts in the form of palaces or thousands of serfs granted to any nobleman or royal relative. To combat corruption, under Nicholas I, regular audits were introduced for the first time at all levels. Trials of officials have become commonplace. Thus, in 1853, 2,540 officials were on trial. Nicholas I himself was critical of successes in this area, saying that the only people around him who did not steal were himself and his heir.

Nicholas I demanded that only Russian be spoken at court. The courtiers, who did not know their native language, learned a certain number of phrases and uttered them only when they received a sign that the emperor was approaching.

Nicholas I suppressed the slightest manifestations of freethinking. In 1826, a censorship statute was issued, nicknamed “cast iron” by his contemporaries. It was forbidden to print almost anything that had any political implications. In 1828, another censorship statute was issued, somewhat softening the previous one. A new increase in censorship was associated with the European revolutions of 1848. It got to the point that in 1836, the censor P.I. Gaevsky, after serving 8 days in the guardhouse, doubted whether news like “such and such a king had died” could be allowed into print. When in 1837 a note about the attempt on the life of the French king Louis-Philippe I was published in the St. Petersburg Gazette, Count Benckendorff immediately notified the Minister of Education S.S. Uvarov that he considered “it is indecent to place such news in gazettes, especially those published by the government.” "

In September 1826, Nicholas I received Alexander Pushkin, who had been released from Mikhailovsky exile, and listened to his confession that on December 14, 1825, Pushkin would have been with the conspirators, but acted mercifully with him: he freed the poet from general censorship (he decided to censor his works himself) , instructed him to prepare a note “On Public Education”, called him after the meeting “the smartest man in Russia” (however, later, after Pushkin’s death, he spoke very coldly about him and this meeting).

In 1828, Nicholas I dropped the case against Pushkin regarding the authorship of the “Gabrieliad” after the poet’s handwritten letter was handed over to him personally, bypassing the investigative commission, which, in the opinion of many researchers, contained, in the opinion of many researchers, an admission of authorship of the seditious work after much denial. However, the emperor never completely trusted the poet, seeing in him a dangerous “leader of the liberals,” Pushkin was under police surveillance, his letters were illustrated; Pushkin, having gone through the first euphoria, which was expressed in poems in honor of the tsar (“Stanzas”, “To Friends”), by the mid-1830s also began to evaluate the sovereign ambiguously. “There is a lot of ensign in him and a little of Peter the Great,” Pushkin wrote about Nicholas in his diary on May 21 (June 2), 1834; at the same time, the diary also notes “sensible” comments on “The History of Pugachev” (the sovereign edited it and lent Pushkin 20 thousand rubles), ease of use and the tsar’s good language.

In 1834, Pushkin was appointed chamberlain of the imperial court, which greatly burdened the poet and was also reflected in his diary. Pushkin could sometimes afford not to come to balls to which Nicholas I personally invited him. Pushkin preferred to communicate with writers, and Nicholas I showed his dissatisfaction with him. The role played by the emperor in the conflict between Pushkin and Dantes is assessed by historians contradictory. After the death of Pushkin, Nicholas I granted a pension to his widow and children, while limiting speeches in memory of the poet, thereby showing, in particular, dissatisfaction with the violation of the ban on dueling.

As a result of the policy of strict censorship, Alexander Polezhaev was arrested for free poetry and was exiled to the Caucasus twice. By order of the emperor, the magazines “European”, “Moscow Telegraph”, “Telescope” were closed, its publisher Nadezhdin was persecuted, and F. Schiller was banned from publication in Russia.

In 1852, he was arrested and then administratively exiled to the village for writing an obituary dedicated to memory (the obituary itself was not passed by censorship). The censor also suffered because he allowed Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” to go into print, in which, according to the Moscow Governor-General Count A. A. Zakrevsky, “a decisive direction was expressed towards the destruction of the landowners.”

In 1850, by order of Nicholas I, the play "Our People - Let's Be Numbered" was banned from production. The Committee of Higher Censorship was dissatisfied with the fact that among the characters brought out by the author there were not “one of those venerable merchants of ours in whom fear of God, uprightness and straightforwardness of mind constitute a typical and integral attribute.”

Censorship also did not allow publication of some jingoistic articles and works that contained harsh and politically undesirable statements and views, which happened, for example, during the Crimean War with two poems. From one (“Prophecy”), Nicholas I personally deleted the paragraph that spoke of the erection of the cross over Sophia of Constantinople and the “All-Slavic Tsar”; another (“Now you have no time for poetry”) was prohibited from publication by the minister, apparently due to the “somewhat harsh tone of the presentation” noted by the censor.

Having received a good engineering education in his youth, Nicholas I showed considerable knowledge in the field of construction equipment. Thus, he made successful proposals regarding the dome of the Trinity Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Later, already occupying the highest position in the state, he closely monitored the order in urban planning, and not a single significant project was approved without his signature.

He issued a decree regulating the height of private buildings in the capital. The decree limited the height of any private building to the width of the street on which the building was built. At the same time, the height of a residential private building could not exceed 11 fathoms (23.47 m, which corresponds to the height of the eaves of the Winter Palace). Thus, the famous St. Petersburg city panorama that existed until recently was created. Knowing the requirements for choosing a suitable location for the construction of a new astronomical observatory, Nikolai personally indicated the place for it on the top of Pulkovo Mountain.

The first all-Russian railways appeared in Russia, including the Nikolaev railway. It is likely that Nicholas I first became acquainted with the technologies of steam locomotive and railway construction at the age of 19 during a trip to England in 1816, where the future emperor visited the railway of engineer Stephenson.

Nicholas I, having studied in detail the technical data of the railways proposed for construction, demanded an expansion of the Russian gauge compared to the European one (1524 mm versus 1435 in Europe), thereby eliminating the possibility of delivering the armed forces of a potential enemy deep into Russia. The gauge adopted by the Emperor was proposed by the road builder, the American engineer Whistler, and corresponded to the 5-foot gauge adopted at that time in some “southern” states of the United States.

The high relief of the monument to Nicholas I in St. Petersburg depicts an episode of his inspector’s trip along the Nikolaevskaya Railway, when his train stopped at the Verebyinsky railway bridge.

The naval defense of St. Petersburg under Admiral Traverse relied on a system of wood-earth fortifications near Kronstadt, armed with outdated short-range cannons, which allowed the enemy to destroy them from long distances without hindrance. Already in December 1827, by order of the Emperor, work began to replace the wooden fortifications with stone ones. Nicholas I personally reviewed the designs of fortifications proposed by the engineers and approved them. And in some cases (for example, during the construction of the fort “Emperor Paul the First”), he made specific proposals to reduce the cost and speed up construction.

Nicholas I, aware of the need for reforms, considered their implementation a lengthy and careful task. He looked at the state subordinate to him, like an engineer looks at a complex but deterministic mechanism in its functioning, in which everything is interconnected and the reliability of one part ensures the correct operation of others. The ideal of social order was army life, which was completely regulated by regulations.

Foreign policy of Nicholas I was concentrated on three main directions of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire: the fight against the revolutionary movement in Europe; the Eastern Question, including Russia's struggle for control of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits; as well as the expansion of the empire, advancement in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

An important aspect of foreign policy was the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance. Russia's role in the fight against any manifestations of the “spirit of change” in European life has increased. It was during the reign of Nicholas I that Russia received the unflattering nickname of “the gendarme of Europe.” Thus, at the request of the Austrian Empire, Russia took part in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution, sending a 140,000-strong corps to Hungary, which was trying to free itself from oppression by Austria; as a result, the throne of Franz Joseph was saved. The latter circumstance did not prevent the Austrian emperor, who feared excessive strengthening of Russia’s position in the Balkans, from soon taking a position unfriendly to Nicholas during the Crimean War and even threatening to enter the war on the side of a coalition hostile to Russia, which Nicholas I regarded as ungrateful treachery; Russian-Austrian relations were hopelessly damaged until the end of the existence of both monarchies.

The Eastern Question occupied a special place in the foreign policy of Nicholas I.

Russia under Nicholas I abandoned plans for the division of the Ottoman Empire, which were discussed under the previous tsars (Catherine II and Paul I), and began to pursue a completely different policy in the Balkans - a policy of protecting the Orthodox population and ensuring its religious and civil rights, up to political independence . This policy was first applied in the Treaty of Akkerman with Turkey in 1826. Under this treaty, Moldova and Wallachia, while remaining part of the Ottoman Empire, received political autonomy with the right to elect their own government, which was formed under the control of Russia. After half a century of the existence of such autonomy, the state of Romania was formed on this territory - according to the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878.

Along with this, Russia sought to ensure its influence in the Balkans and the possibility of unhindered navigation in the straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles).

During the Russian-Turkish wars of 1806-1812. and 1828-1829, Russia achieved great success in implementing this policy. At the request of Russia, which declared itself the patroness of all Christian subjects of the Sultan, the Sultan was forced to recognize the freedom and independence of Greece and the broad autonomy of Serbia (1830); According to the Treaty of Unkar-Iskelesi (1833), which marked the peak of Russian influence in Constantinople, Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships into the Black Sea (which it lost as a result of the Second London Convention in 1841).

The same reasons - support for Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire and disagreements over the Eastern Question - pushed Russia to aggravate relations with Turkey in 1853, which resulted in its declaration of war on Russia. The beginning of the war with Turkey in 1853 was marked by the brilliant victory of the Russian fleet under the command of the admiral, which defeated the enemy in Sinop Bay. This was the last major battle of the sailing fleets.

Russia's military successes caused a negative reaction in the West. The leading world powers were not interested in strengthening Russia at the expense of the decrepit Ottoman Empire. This created the basis for a military alliance between England and France. Nicholas I's miscalculation in assessing the internal political situation in England, France and Austria led to the country finding itself in political isolation.

In 1854, England and France entered the war on the side of Turkey. Due to Russia's technical backwardness, it was difficult to resist these European powers. The main military operations took place in Crimea.

In October 1854, the Allies besieged Sevastopol. The Russian army suffered a number of defeats and was unable to provide assistance to the besieged fortress city. Despite the heroic defense of the city, after an 11-month siege, in August 1855, the defenders of Sevastopol were forced to surrender the city.

At the beginning of 1856, following the Crimean War, the Paris Peace Treaty was signed. According to its terms, Russia was prohibited from having naval forces, arsenals and fortresses in the Black Sea. Russia became vulnerable from the sea and lost the opportunity to conduct an active foreign policy in this region.

Generally During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia participated in wars: Caucasian War 1817-1864, Russian-Persian War 1826-1828, Russian-Turkish War 1828-1829, Crimean War 1853-1856.

Death of Nicholas I

He died, according to historical sources, “at twelve minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon” on February 18 (March 2), 1855. According to the official version - due to pneumonia (he caught a cold while taking part in the parade in a light uniform, being already sick with the flu). The funeral service was performed by Metropolitan Nikanor (Klementyevsky).

According to some medical historians, the death of the emperor could have occurred due to the consequences of a serious injury he received on August 26 (September 7), 1836, during a fact-finding trip to Russia. Then, as a result of a night traffic accident that occurred near the city of Chembar, Penza province, Emperor Nicholas I received a fractured collarbone and a shock contusion. The diagnosis was made by a random physician, who probably did not have the opportunity to diagnose the condition of the victim’s internal organs. The emperor was forced to stay for two weeks in Chembar for treatment. As soon as his health stabilized, he continued his journey. Due to these circumstances, Emperor Nicholas I, after a serious injury, was without qualified medical care for a long time.

The emperor maintained complete composure as death approached. He managed to say goodbye to each of his children and grandchildren and, having blessed them, turned to them with a reminder to remain friendly with each other. The last words of the emperor addressed to his son Alexander were the phrase “Hold tight...”.

Immediately after this, rumors spread widely in the capital that Nicholas had committed suicide. The illness began against the backdrop of disappointing news from besieged Sevastopol and worsened after receiving news of the defeat of General Khrulev near Yevpatoria, which was perceived as a harbinger of an inevitable defeat in the war, which Nicholas, due to his character, could not survive. The Tsar’s appearance at the parade in the cold without an overcoat was perceived as an intention to get a fatal cold; according to stories, the life physician Mandt told the Tsar: “Sire, this is worse than death, this is suicide!”

We can say with certainty that the illness (mild flu) began on January 27, noticeably intensified on the night of February 4, and during the day the already sick Nikolai went to withdraw troops; After that, he fell ill for a short time, quickly recovered, and on February 9, despite the objections of doctors, in 23-degree frost without an overcoat, he went to review the marching battalions. The same thing happened again on February 10 in even more severe frost. After this, the illness worsened, Nikolai spent several days in bed, but his powerful body took over, and on February 15 he was already working all day.

No bulletins were issued about the Tsar's health at this time, which shows that the illness was not considered dangerous. On the evening of February 14, a courier arrived with a message about the defeat near Yevpatoria. The news made the most overwhelming impression, especially since Nikolai himself was the initiator of the attack on Yevpatoria.

On February 17, the emperor’s condition unexpectedly and sharply worsened, and on the morning of February 18, painful agony began, lasting several hours (which does not happen with pneumonia). According to a rumor that immediately spread, the emperor, at his request, was given poison by his physician Mandt. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna directly accused Mandt of poisoning her brother. The emperor forbade the opening and embalming of his body.

Nikolaevskaya Square in Kazan and the Nikolaevskaya Hospital in Peterhof were named in honor of Nicholas I.

In honor of Emperor Nicholas I, about one and a half dozen monuments were erected in the Russian Empire, mainly various columns and obelisks, in memory of his visit to one place or another. Almost all sculptural monuments to the Emperor (with the exception of the equestrian monument in St. Petersburg) were destroyed during the years of Soviet power.

Currently, the following monuments to the Emperor exist:

Saint Petersburg. Equestrian monument on St. Isaac's Square. Opened on June 26 (July 8), 1859, sculptor P. K. Klodt. The monument has been preserved in its original form. The fence surrounding it was dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt again in 1992.

Saint Petersburg. Bronze bust of the Emperor on a high granite pedestal. Opened on July 12, 2001 in front of the facade of the building of the former psychiatric department of the Nikolaev Military Hospital, founded in 1840 by decree of the Emperor (now the St. Petersburg District Military Clinical Hospital), Suvorovsky Ave., 63. Initially, a monument to the Emperor, which is a bronze bust on granite pedestal, was opened in front of the main facade of this hospital on August 15 (27), 1890. The monument was destroyed shortly after 1917.

Saint Petersburg. Plaster bust on a high granite pedestal. Opened on May 19, 2003 on the main staircase of the Vitebsk station (52 Zagorodny pr.), sculptors V. S. and S. V. Ivanov, architect T. L. Torich.

Velikiy Novgorod. Image of Nicholas I on the “Millennium of Russia” monument. Opened in 1862, sculptor - M. O. Mikeshin.

Moscow. The monument to the “Creators of Russian Railways” at the Kazansky railway station is a bronze bust of the emperor surrounded by famous figures from the railway industry of his reign. Opened on August 1, 2013.

A bronze bust of Emperor Nicholas I was inaugurated on July 2, 2015 on the territory of the Nikolo-Berlyukovsky Monastery in the village of Avdotyino, Moscow region (sculptor A. A. Appolonov).

St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Starobelsk. In 1859, a location for the construction of the temple was determined - between Malaya Dvoryanskaya and Sobornaya, Classical and Nikolaevskaya streets. The temple was built in the Baroque style and was solemnly consecrated in 1862. The temple is considered an architectural monument of the 19th century and is protected by the state.

The following were named after Nicholas I: a battleship that took part in the Battle of Tsushima and surrendered to the Japanese after it, a battleship laid down in 1914 but unfinished due to the Civil War, and a civilian steamer on which Louis de Heeckeren and Georges Dantes arrived in Russia and sailed away to Europe Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas I, according to the decrees of Nicholas II, state awards were established, namely two commemorative medals. The medal “In memory of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I” was awarded to persons who served during the reign of Nicholas I, the medal “In memory of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I” for students of educational institutions was awarded to students of military educational institutions who studied during the reign of Nicholas I, but the rights They didn’t have the right to wear the first medal.

The image of Nicholas I in the cinema:

1910 - “The Life and Death of Pushkin”;
1911 - “Defense of Sevastopol”;
1918 - “Father Sergius” (actor Vladimir Gaidarov);
1926 - “Decembrists” (actor Evgeny Boronikhin);
1927 - “The Poet and the Tsar” (actor Konstantin Karenin);
1928 - “Secrets of an ancient family”, Poland (actor Pavel Overlo);
1930 - “White Devil” Germany (actor Fritz Alberti);
1932 - “House of the Dead” (actor Nikolai Vitovtov);
1936 - “Prometheus” (actor Vladimir Ershov);
1943 - “Lermontov” (actor A. Savostyanov);
1946 - “Glinka” (actor B. Livanov);
1951 - “Taras Shevchenko” (actor M. Nazvanov);
1951 - “Belinsky” (actor M. Nazvanov);
1952 - “Composer Glinka” (actor M. Nazvanov);
1959 - “Hadji Murat - the white devil” (actor Milivoje Zivanovic);
1964 - “Dream” (actor);
1965 - “The Third Youth” (actor V. Strzhelchik);
1967 - “The Green Carriage” (actor V. Strzhelchik);
1967 - “Wake up Mukhin!” (actor V. Zakharchenko);
1968 - “The Mistake of Honore de Balzac” (actor S. Polezhaev);
1975 - “Star of Captivating Happiness” (actor V. Livanov);
2010 - “The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar” (actor A. Zibrov);
2013 - “The Romanovs. The seventh film" (actor S. Druzhko);
2014 - “Duel. Pushkin - Lermontov” (actor V. Maksimov);
2014 - “Fort Ross: In Search of Adventure” (actor Dmitry Naumov);
2016 - “The Monk and the Demon” (actor Nikita Tarasov);
2016 - “The Case of the Decembrists” (actor Artyom Efremov)