Nicholas I. Domestic and foreign policy

Nicholas the First is one of the most famous emperors of Russia. He ruled the country for 30 years (from 1825 to 1855), in the period between the two Alexanders. Nicholas I made Russia truly enormous. Before his death, it reached its geographical zenith, stretching over almost twenty million square kilometers. Tsar Nicholas I also bore the title of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He is known for his conservatism, reluctance to carry out reforms, and his loss in the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Early years and path to power

Nicholas the First was born in Gatchina into the family of Emperor Paul I and his wife Maria Feodorovna. He was the younger brother of Alexander I and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Initially, he was not raised as a future Russian emperor. Nicholas was the youngest child in a family in which, besides him, there were two older sons, so it was not expected that he would ever ascend to the throne. But in 1825, Alexander I died of typhus, and Konstantin Pavlovich abandoned the throne. Nicholas was next in the line of succession. On December 25, he signed a manifesto on his ascension to the throne. The date of death of Alexander I was called the beginning of the reign of Nicholas. The period between it (December 1) and its ascent is called intermediate. At this time, the military tried to seize power several times. This led to the so-called December Uprising, but Nicholas the First managed to quickly and successfully suppress it.

Nicholas the First: years of reign

The new emperor, according to numerous testimonies from contemporaries, lacked the spiritual and intellectual breadth of his brother. He was not raised as a future ruler, and this affected when Nicholas the First ascended the throne. He saw himself as an autocrat who rules people as he sees fit. He was not the spiritual leader of his people, inspiring people to work and develop. They also tried to explain the dislike for the new tsar by the fact that he ascended the throne on Monday, which has long been considered a difficult and unlucky day in Russia. In addition, December 14, 1825 was very cold, the temperature dropped below -8 degrees Celsius.

The common people immediately considered this a bad omen. The bloody suppression of the December uprising for the introduction of representative democracy only strengthened this opinion. This event at the very beginning of his reign had a very bad effect on Nicholas. All subsequent years of his reign, he will begin to impose censorship and other forms of education and other spheres of public life, and His Majesty’s Office will contain a whole network of all kinds of spies and gendarmes.

Strict centralization

Nicholas I was afraid of all kinds of forms of popular independence. He abolished the autonomy of the Bessarabia region in 1828, Poland in 1830, and the Jewish Kahal in 1843. The only exception to this trend was Finland. She managed to maintain her autonomy (largely thanks to the participation of her army in suppressing the November Uprising in Poland).

Character and spiritual qualities

Biographer Nikolai Rizanovsky describes the toughness, determination and iron will of the new emperor. It talks about his sense of duty and hard work on himself. According to Rizanovsky, Nicholas I saw himself as a soldier who devoted his life to serving for the good of his people. But he was only an organizer, and not a spiritual leader at all. He was an attractive man, but extremely nervous and aggressive. Often the emperor became too fixated on details, not seeing the whole picture. The ideology of his rule is “official nationalism.” It was proclaimed in 1833. The policies of Nicholas the First were based on Orthodoxy, autocracy and Russian nationalism. Let's look at this issue in more detail.

Nicholas the First: foreign policy

The emperor was successful in his campaigns against his southern enemies. He took the last territories of the Caucasus from Persia, which included modern Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian Empire received Dagestan and Georgia. His success in ending the Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828 allowed him to gain an advantage in the Caucasus. He ended the confrontation with the Turks. He was often called behind his back the “gendarme of Europe.” Indeed, he constantly offered to help put down the uprising. But in 1853 Nicholas the First got involved in the Crimean War, which led to disastrous results. Historians emphasize that the dire consequences are not only to blame for the unsuccessful strategy, but also for the flaws of local management and the corruption of his army. Therefore, it is most often said that the reign of Nicholas the First was a mixture of unsuccessful domestic and foreign policies, which brought the common people to the brink of survival.

Military affairs and the army

Nicholas I is known for his large army. It numbered about a million people. This meant that approximately one in fifty men was in the military. Their equipment and tactics were outdated, but the Tsar, dressed as a soldier and surrounded by officers, celebrated his victory over Napoleon every year with a parade. Horses, for example, were not trained for battle, but looked great during processions. Behind all this brilliance there was real degradation. Nicholas placed his generals at the head of many ministries, despite their lack of experience and qualifications. He tried to extend his power even to the church. It was headed by an agnostic, known for his military exploits. The army became a social elevator for noble youth from Poland, the Baltics, Finland and Georgia. Criminals who could not adapt to society also sought to become soldiers.

Nevertheless, throughout the reign of Nicholas, the Russian Empire remained a force to be reckoned with. And only the Crimean War showed the world its backwardness in the technical aspect and corruption within the army.

Achievements and censorship

During the reign of the heir, Alexander the First, the first railway in the Russian Empire was opened. It stretches for 16 miles, connecting St. Petersburg with the southern residence in Tsarskoe Selo. The second line was built in 9 years (from 1842 to 1851). It connected Moscow with St. Petersburg. But progress in this area was still too slow.

In 1833, the Minister of Education Sergei Uvarov developed the program “Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationalism” as the main ideology of the new regime. People had to demonstrate loyalty to the Tsar, love for Orthodoxy, traditions and the Russian language. The result of these Slavophile principles was the suppression of class differences, extensive censorship and surveillance of such independent poet-thinkers as Pushkin and Lermontov. Figures who wrote in a language other than Russian or belonged to other faiths were severely persecuted. The great Ukrainian singer and writer Taras Shevchenko was sent into exile, where he was forbidden to draw or compose poems.

Domestic policy

Nicholas the First did not like serfdom. He often toyed with the idea of repealing it, but did not do so for reasons of state. Nicholas was too afraid of increasing free-thinking among the people, believing that this could lead to uprisings similar to the December one. In addition, he was wary of the aristocrats and was afraid that such reforms would make them turn away from him. However, the sovereign still tried to somewhat improve the situation of the serfs. Minister Pavel Kiselev helped him with this.

All the reforms of Nicholas the First were centered around the serfs. Throughout his reign, he tried to tighten his control over the landowners and other powerful groups in Russia. Created a category of state serfs with special rights. Restricted the votes of representatives of the Honorable Assembly. Now only the landowners, who controlled more than a hundred serfs, had this right. In 1841, the emperor banned the sale of serfs separately from land.

Culture

The reign of Nicholas the First is the time of the ideology of Russian nationalism. It was fashionable among the intelligentsia to argue about the place of the empire in the world and its future. Debates were constantly waged between pro-Western figures and Slavophiles. The first believed that the Russian Empire had stopped in its development, and further progress was possible only through Europeanization. Another group, the Slavophiles, argued that it was necessary to focus on the original folk customs and traditions. They saw the possibility of development in Russian culture, and not in Western rationalism and materialism. Some believed in the country's mission to liberate other peoples from brutal capitalism. But Nikolai did not like any free-thinking, so the Ministry of Education often closed philosophy departments because of their possible negative impact on the younger generation. The benefits of Slavophilism were not considered.

Training system

After the December Uprising, the sovereign decided to devote his entire reign to maintaining the status quo. He started by centralizing the education system. Nicholas I sought to neutralize attractive Western ideas and what he calls “pseudo-knowledge.” However, Education Minister Sergei Uvarov secretly welcomed the freedom and autonomy of educational institutions. He even managed to raise academic standards and improve learning conditions, as well as open universities to the middle class. But in 1848, the tsar canceled these innovations out of fear that pro-Western sentiment would lead to possible uprisings.

The universities were small, and the Ministry of Education constantly monitored their programs. The main mission was not to miss the moment of the emergence of pro-Western sentiments. The main task was to educate young people as true patriots of Russian culture. But, despite the repression, at this time there was a flourishing of culture and the arts. Russian literature has gained worldwide fame. The works of Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev secured their status as true masters of their craft.

Death and heirs

Nikolai Romanov died in March 1855 during the Crimean War. He caught a cold and died of pneumonia. An interesting fact is that the emperor refused treatment. There were even rumors that he committed suicide, unable to bear the pressure of the catastrophic consequences of his military failures. The son of Nicholas the First, Alexander the Second, took the throne. He was destined to become the most famous reformer after Peter the Great.

The children of Nicholas the First were born both in marriage and not. The sovereign's wife was Alexandra Feodorovna, and her mistress was Varvara Nelidova. But, as his biographers note, the emperor did not know what real passion was. He was too organized and disciplined for that. He was favorable towards women, but none of them could turn his head.

Heritage

Many biographers call Nicholas's foreign and domestic policies catastrophic. One of the most devoted supporters, A.V. Nikitenko, noted that the entire reign of the emperor was a mistake. However, some scientists are still trying to improve the king's reputation. Historian Barbara Djelavic notes many mistakes, including a bureaucracy that led to irregularities, corruption and inefficiency, but does not consider his entire reign a complete failure.

Under Nicholas, the Kyiv National University was founded, as well as about 5,000 other similar institutions. Censorship was omnipresent, but this did not at all hinder the development of free thought. Historians note the kind heart of Nicholas, who simply had to behave the way he behaved. Every ruler has his failures and achievements. But it seems that it was Nicholas who the people could not forgive anything. His reign largely determined the time in which he had to live and govern the country.

In politics, as in all public life, not to move forward means to be thrown back.
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich

The domestic policy of Nicholas 1, who ruled the Russian Empire from 1825 to 1855, was distinguished by the fact that the emperor raised the role of the state in public life, and also personally tried to delve into all the problems of his country. It is important to note that Nicholas was the third son of Paul 1, so no one really considered him in the role of a Russian ruler and no one prepared him for power. The fate of a military man was prepared for him. Nevertheless, power went to Nicholas the First, whose internal policy, especially at the initial stage, was very similar to an army dictatorship. The young emperor tried to surround himself with obedient, dutiful people who could be subordinated to his own will. If we describe in a few words the main directions of the foreign policy of Emperor Nicholas 1, here they are:

Strengthening autocracy.
Expansion of the state apparatus. In fact, it was during this era that gigantic bureaucracy was created.
Fight against all those who disagree. During the reign of Nicholas 1, there was an active struggle against all social and political associations that dared to express their dissatisfaction with the current government.

Strengthening the role of the state

The first years of the reign of Nicholas 1 were marked by the fact that the emperor, unlike his predecessors, sought to independently delve into all the problems of the country. He delved not only into key problems, but also studied less important aspects of the country’s life. To solve these problems, the ruler expanded, and very significantly, the powers of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. In fact, it was this government body that now began to play a fundamental role in the life of Russia. If in previous years all domestic policy was built on the basis of the work of the Cabinet of Ministers, now the Chancellery played the key role.

Moreover, the emperor sought to increase the role of this Office. So, in 1826, the second department of the Chancellery was created, headed by Speransky. He was returned from exile by the emperor. The role of the second branch was to create a unified set of state laws. It is important to note that no one managed to do this before Nicholas 1. However, already in 1832, 45 volumes of laws of the Russian Empire were published. All of them were developed with the direct participation of Speransky. In 1833, a complete set of current laws of the Russian Empire was published.

Speaking about strengthening the role of the state as the most important component of the domestic policy of Nicholas 1, it is important to note that the strengthening of the autocracy was carried out in 4 main directions:

Creation of His Imperial Majesty's Own Office. We talked about it above.
Creation of special committees. All created Committees were subordinate to the Emperor personally and were responsible for resolving various state issues.
Creation of the "Theory of Official Nationality". You can read more about this theory in the corresponding section of our website, but now I just want to note that it was the theory of creating a new ideology for the population.
Creation of complete control over the social and political life of the country. Any organization could be closed and destroyed on the mere suspicion of disagreement with the current policy.

In 1826, a secret committee was created. It was headed by Kochubey. The main task of this committee was the creation and development of key reforms of public administration in Russia. Despite the importance of this task, Kochubey failed to solve it.

A very important feature of the domestic policy of that period is the gigantic expansion of the bureaucracy. Judge for yourself. At the time of the death of Alexander 1, there were 15,000 officials in Russia. By the end of the reign of Nicholas 1, there were already 90,000 of them. Such a gigantic expansion of the bureaucracy (6 times!) led to the fact that it became impossible for the state to exercise control over the activities of each of its officials. Therefore, very often for ordinary people, the decision of a minor official was much more important than the decision of the Ministers or even the Emperor.

Reliance on the nobility

In an effort to strengthen his own power, Nicholas 1 decided to rely specifically on the nobility. This was mainly expressed in the fact that the young emperor was very worried that during the years of the reign of his predecessors, many noble families became very poor. This was especially significant during the reign of Alexander 1. The internal policy of Nicholas 1 of that time was largely based on building the foundations of public administration, relying on the nobility. Therefore, major steps were taken to improve the financial situation of the noble families, thereby making them want to protect the current monarch. The following steps were taken to implement this plan:

When inheriting noble property, which included at least 400 peasant households, it was prohibited to divide this property.
Beginning in 1828, secondary and higher education in the Russian Empire became available exclusively to children from noble families.

These steps were aimed at raising the role and authority of the nobility in the life of the state. That is why we can say that the policy of Nicholas 1 within the country was carried out largely in the interests of the wealthy classes, on which the emperor decided to rely in his work.

The solution to the peasant question

By the beginning of the reign of Nicholas 1, no one in Russia denied the fact that the life of ordinary peasants needed to be improved. The solution to the peasant question has been brewing for a long time, but no one has seriously addressed it. In 1837 - 1841, a peasant reform was carried out, which affected exclusively state peasants. This reform was led by General Kiselyov, who at the time of the reform served as a member of the State Council and Minister of State Property. As a result of these reforms, peasants were allowed to create their own self-government, and schools and hospitals began to be built in villages. An important point of this reform concerned the introduction of “public arable land”. It was introduced in order to protect peasants from lean years. But the peasants worked together on such arable land and also used the results of their work together. However, one should not think that such innovations were positively received by society. Many of the reforms of the Russian emperors were distinguished by their illogicality and lack of thought. In particular, in most cases, peasants were forcibly forced to grow potatoes on public fields. As a result, a series of potato riots swept across the country in 1842.

The main stages of solving the peasant question

I don’t want to die and not solve... the Krastyan question...
Nikolai 1 Pavlovich

Kiselev’s peasant reform should be assessed objectively, as changes that did not change the lives of peasants for the better. Moreover, it should be said that this reform introduced huge differences between state and serf peasants. But as for improving the lives of serfs, and even more so attempts to emancipate them, here Kiselev and Nicholas 1 were of the opinion that Russia was not ready for this. In particular, this was argued by the fact that the abolition of serfdom could lead to serious complications with the nobility. And we have already said that the internal policy of the Emperor of the Russian Empire, Nicholas 1, was largely based on the nobility.

However, some steps were taken to improve the lives of serfs:

Landowners were given the right to free serfs and provide them with land for their own use. To be fair, we note that no one took advantage of this right.
In 1847, a law was passed according to which a peasant had the right to buy back his freedom if the landowner put him up for sale for debts.

These changes did not bring any significant changes to the lives of the peasants. Serfdom existed and remained to exist, and those advantages that were formally realized on paper were not put into practice in practice.

Fight against revolutionaries within the country

One of the main directions of Nicholas 1's domestic policy was the fight against the revolution. At the same time, the emperor tried to destroy the revolution and revolutionaries in any of their manifestations. For these purposes, the activities of the political police were completely reorganized. To help her, in 1826, the 3rd department of the royal chancellery was created. Very interesting is the wording that describes the task of this office - control over the mood of minds. In the same year, 1826, strict censor control over all press organs was visible. Modern historians often call this censorship cast iron.

Therefore, we can safely say that the internal policy of Nicholas 1 was carried out exclusively in the interests of the nobility and in the fight against the revolution. All reforms and all transformations within the country during the reign of this emperor were carried out exclusively for these purposes. It is the strengthening of the power of the nobility and the fight against the revolution that explains all the political processes that were carried out in the Russian Empire during the reign of Nicholas 1.

In a lesson on the topic “Nicholas I. Domestic policy in 1825-1855.” the factors that influenced the formation of the personality of Nicholas I are listed. The main goal of his policy is determined - to prevent an uprising in Russia. Freethinking is completely prohibited in Russia; Nicholas I dreams of abolishing serfdom, relaxes it, but does not dare to abolish it. The reasons for this indecisiveness of the emperor are revealed. The financial reform carried out by Nicholas I is considered. Economic recovery is facilitated by the construction of railways and highways. The contradictory nature of the development of culture and education in the country is emphasized.

Preliminary remarks

It must be said that in historical science, for many years, an extremely negative image of Nicholas I himself (Fig. 2) and his thirty-year reign has been preserved, which, with the light hand of Academician A.E. Presnyakov was called “the apogee of autocracy.”

Of course, Nicholas I was not an innate reactionary and, being an intelligent person, perfectly understood the need for changes in the economic and political system of the country. But, being a military man to the core, he tried to solve all problems through the militarization of the state system, strict political centralization and regulation of all aspects of the country's public life. It is no coincidence that almost all of his ministers and governors had the ranks of general and admiral - A.Kh. Benkendorf (Fig. 1), A.N. Chernyshev, P.D. Kiselev, I.I. Dibich, P.I. Paskevich, I.V. Vasilchikov, A.S. Shishkov, N.A. Protasov and many others. In addition, among the large cohort of Nikolaev dignitaries, the Baltic Germans A.Kh. occupied a special place. Benkendorf, W.F. Adlerberg, K.V. Nesselrode, L.V. Dubelt, P.A. Kleinmichel, E.F. Kankrin and others, who, according to Nicholas I himself, unlike the Russian nobles, served not the state, but the sovereign.

Rice. 1. Benckendorff ()

According to a number of historians (A. Kornilov), in domestic policy Nicholas I was guided by two fundamental Karamzin ideas, which he set out in the note “On Ancient and New Russia”: A) autocracy is the most important element of the stable functioning of the state; b) The main concern of the monarch is selfless service to the interests of the state and society.

A distinctive feature of Nikolaev's rule was the colossal growth of the bureaucratic apparatus in the center and locally. Thus, according to a number of historians (P. Zayonchkovsky, L. Shepelev), only in the first half of the 19th century. the number of officials at all levels increased more than sixfold. However, this fact cannot be assessed as negatively as was done in Soviet historiography, because there were good reasons for this. In particular, according to academician S. Platonov, after the Decembrist uprising, Nicholas I completely lost confidence in the upper strata of the nobility. The emperor now saw the main support of the autocracy only in the bureaucracy, so he sought to rely on precisely that part of the nobility for whom the only source of income was the public service. It is no coincidence that it was under Nicholas I that a class of hereditary officials began to form, for whom public service became a profession (Fig. 3).

Rice. 2. Nicholas I ()

In parallel with the strengthening of the state and police apparatuses of power, Nicholas I began to gradually concentrate in his hands the solution of almost all more or less important issues. Quite often, when solving one or another important issue, numerous Secret Committees and Commissions were established, which reported directly to the emperor and constantly replaced many ministries and departments, including the State Council and the Senate. It was these authorities, which included very few of the highest dignitaries of the empire - A. Golitsyn, M. Speransky, P. Kiselev, A. Chernyshev, I. Vasilchikov, M. Korf and others - that were endowed with enormous, including legislative, powers and exercised operational leadership of the country.

Rice. 3. Officials of “Nikolaev Russia”)

But the regime of personal power was most clearly embodied in His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, which arose back in the time of Paul I in 1797 G. Then under Alexander I 1812 it turned into an office for considering petitions addressed to the highest name. In those years, the position of head of the chancellery was held by Count A. Arakcheev, and she (the chancellery) even then had considerable power. Almost immediately after accession to the throne, in January 1826, Nicholas I significantly expanded the functions of the personal office, giving it the significance of the highest state body of the Russian Empire. Within the Imperial Chancellery in first half of 1826 Three special departments were created:

I Department, which was headed by the Emperor’s Secretary of State A.S. Taneyev, was in charge of the selection and placement of personnel in the central executive authorities, controlled the activities of all ministries, and was also involved in the production of ranks, the preparation of all imperial Manifestos and Decrees, and control over their implementation.

II Department, headed by another secretary of state of the emperor, M.A. Balugyansky, focused entirely on the codification of the dilapidated legislative system and the creation of a new Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.

III Department, which was headed by the emperor’s personal friend, General A. Benckendorf, and after his death - General A.F. Orlov, completely focused on political investigation within the country and abroad. Initially, the basis of this Department was the Special Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then, in 1827, the Corps of Gendarmes was created, headed by General L.V. Dubelt, who formed the armed and operational support of the III Division.

Stating the fact that Nicholas I sought to preserve and strengthen the autocratic serfdom system through strengthening the bureaucratic and police apparatuses of power, we must admit that in a number of cases he tried to solve the most acute internal political problems of the country through the mechanism of reforms. It was precisely this view of the internal policy of Nicholas I that was characteristic of all major pre-revolutionary historians, in particular V. Klyuchevsky, A. Kisivetter and S. Platonov. In Soviet historical science, starting with A. Presnyakov’s work “The Apogee of Autocracy” (1927), special emphasis began to be placed on the reactionary nature of the Nicholas regime. At the same time, a number of modern historians (N. Troitsky) rightly say that in their meaning and origin, the reforms of Nicholas I were significantly different from previous and upcoming reforms. If Alexander I maneuvered between the new and the old, and Alexander II yielded to the pressure of the new, then Nicholas I strengthened the old in order to more successfully resist the new.

Rice. 4. The first railway in Russia ()

Reforms of Nicholas I

a) Secret Committee V.P. Kochubey and his reform projects (1826-1832)

December 6, 1826 Nicholas I formed the First Secret Committee, which was supposed to sort out all the papers of Alexander I and determine which projects of state reforms could be taken by the sovereign as a basis when pursuing a policy of reforms. The formal head of this Committee was the Chairman of the State Council, Count V.P. Kochubey, and M.M. became the actual leader. Speransky, who long ago shook off the dust of liberalism from his feet and became a convinced monarchist. During the existence of this Committee (December 1826 - March 1832), 173 official meetings were held, at which only two serious reform projects were born.

The first was the class reform project, according to which it was supposed to abolish Peter’s “Table of Ranks”, which gave the right to military and civilian ranks to receive nobility in order of length of service. The committee proposed to establish a procedure in which nobility would be acquired only by right of birth, or by the “highest award.”

At the same time, in order to somehow encourage government officials and the emerging bourgeois class, the Committee proposed creating new classes for domestic bureaucrats and merchants - “official” and “eminent” citizens, who, like the nobles, would be exempt from poll tax and conscription and corporal punishment.

The second project provided for a new administrative reform. According to the project, the State Council was freed from the pile of administrative and judicial matters and retained only legislative functions. The Senate was divided into two independent institutions: the Governing Senate, consisting of all ministers, became the highest body of executive power, and the Judicial Senate - the highest body of state justice.

Both projects did not at all undermine the autocratic system, and, nevertheless, under the influence of the European revolutions and Polish events of 1830-1831. Nicholas I shelved the first project and buried the second forever.

b) Codification of laws M.M. Speransky (1826-1832)

January 31, 1826 Division II was created within the Imperial Chancellery, which was entrusted with the task of reforming all legislation. Professor of St. Petersburg University M.A. was appointed the official head of the Department. Balugyansky, who taught the future emperor legal sciences, but all the real work on codifying legislation was carried out by his deputy, M. Speransky.

Summer of 1826 M. Speransky sent four memos to the emperor with his proposals for drawing up a new Code of Laws. According to this plan, codification was to take place in three stages: 1. At first, it was planned to collect and publish in chronological order all legislative acts, starting with the “Conciliar Code” of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich until the end of the reign of Alexander I. 2. At the second stage, it was planned to publish a Code of Current Laws , arranged in subject-systematic order. 3. The third stage provided for the compilation and publication of a new Code of Laws, systematized by legal branches.

At the first stage of codification reform (1828-1830) Almost 31 thousand legislative acts issued in 1649-1825 were published, which were included in the 45-volume first “Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire”. At the same time, 6 volumes of the second “Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire” were published, which included legislative acts issued under Nicholas I.

At the second stage of codification reform (1830-1832) The 15-volume “Code of Laws of the Russian Empire” was prepared and published, which was a systematized (by branches of law) set of current legislation consisting of 40 thousand articles. Volumes 1-3 set out the basic laws defining the limits of competence and the procedure for office work of all government agencies and provincial offices. Volumes 4-8 contained laws on state duties, income and property. In volume 9 all laws on estates were published, in volume 10 - civil and boundary laws. Volumes 11-14 contained police (administrative) laws, and volume 15 contained criminal legislation.

January 19, 1833 The “Code of Laws of the Russian Empire” was officially approved at a meeting of the State Council and entered into legal force.

c) Nicholas' estate reformI (1832-1845)

After completing work on the codification of laws, Nicholas I returned to the class projects of the Secret Committee of Count V. Kochubey. Initially, in 1832, an imperial decree was issued, in accordance with which the middle class of “honorary citizens” of two degrees was established - “hereditary honorary citizens”, which included the descendants of personal nobles and guild merchants, and “personal honorary citizens” for officials IV -X classes and graduates of higher educational institutions.

Then, in 1845 Another Decree was issued, directly related to the class reform project of the Secret Committee. Nicholas I never decided to cancel Peter’s “Table of Ranks”, but, in accordance with his Decree, the ranks that were required to receive the nobility based on length of service were significantly increased. Now hereditary nobility was granted to civil ranks from class V (state councilor), and not from class VIII (collegiate assessor), and to military ranks, respectively, from class VI (colonel), and not from class XIV (ensign). Personal nobility for both civil and military ranks was established from class IX (titular councilor, captain), and not from class XIV, as previously.

d) The peasant question and the reform of P.D. Kiseleva (1837-1841)

In the second quarter of the 19th century. The peasant question still remained a headache for the tsarist government. Recognizing that serfdom was a powder keg for the entire state, Nicholas I believed that its abolition could lead to even more dangerous social cataclysms than those that shook Russia during his reign. Therefore, in the peasant question, the Nikolaev administration limited itself to only palliative measures aimed at somewhat softening the severity of social relations in the village.

To discuss the peasant question in 1828-1849 Nine Secret Committees were created, within which more than 100 legislative acts were discussed and adopted to limit the power of landowners over serfs. For example, in accordance with these Decrees, landowners were prohibited from sending their peasants to factories (1827), exiling them to Siberia (1828), transferring serfs to the category of household servants and paying them for debts (1833), selling peasants to retail (1841) etc. However, the real significance of these Decrees and the specific results of their application turned out to be insignificant: the landowners simply ignored these legislative acts, many of which were advisory in nature.

The only attempt to seriously resolve the peasant issue was the reform of the state village carried out by General P.D. Kiselev in 1837-1841

To prepare the state village reform project in April 1836 in the depths of Own E.I. In the Chancellery, a special V Department was created, which was headed by Adjutant General P. Kiselev. In accordance with the personal instructions of Nicholas I and his own vision of this issue, he considered that in order to heal the ills of the state-owned village, it was enough to create a good administration that could carefully and efficiently manage it. That is why, at the first stage of the reform, in 1837, the state-owned village was removed from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and transferred to the management of the Ministry of State Property, the first head of which was General P. Kiselev himself, who remained in this post until 1856.

Then, in 1838-1839, to manage the state village locally, state chambers were created in the provinces and state district administrations in the counties. And only after that, in 1840-1841, the reform reached the volosts and villages, where several governing bodies were created at once: volost and village assemblies, boards and reprisals.

After the completion of this reform, the government once again took up the problem of landowner peasants, and soon the Decree “On Obligated Peasants” was born. (April1842), also developed on the initiative of P. Kiselev.

The essence of this Decree was as follows: each landowner, at his personal discretion, could grant manumission to his serfs, but without the right to sell them their own plots of land. All land remained the property of the landowners, and peasants received only the right to use this land on a lease basis. For the possession of their own plots of land, they were obliged, as before, to bear corvee labor and rent. However, according to the agreement that the peasant entered into with the landowner, the latter did not have the right: A) increase the size of corvée and quitrent and b) take away or reduce the land plot agreed upon by mutual agreement.

According to a number of historians (N. Troitsky, V. Fedorov), the Decree “On Obligated Peasants” was a step back compared to the Decree “On Free Plowmen”, since that legislative act broke feudal relations between landowners and serfs, and the new law preserved their.

e) Financial reform E.F. Cancrina (1839-1843)

An active foreign policy and the constant increase in government spending on the maintenance of the state apparatus and the army became the cause of an acute financial crisis in the country: the expenditure side of the state budget was almost one and a half times higher than its revenue side. The result of this policy was the constant devaluation of the assignat ruble in relation to the silver ruble, and to late 1830s its real value was only 25% of the value of the silver ruble.

Rice. 5. Credit card after the Kankrin reform ()

In order to prevent the financial collapse of the state, at the proposal of long-time Minister of Finance Yegor Frantsevich Kankrin, it was decided to carry out a monetary reform. At the first stage of the reform, in 1839, state credit notes were introduced (Fig. 5), which were equated to the silver ruble and could be freely exchanged for it. Then, after accumulating the necessary reserves of precious metals, the second stage of the reform was carried out . From June 1843 the exchange of all banknotes in circulation for state credit notes began at the rate of one credit ruble for three and a half banknote rubles. Thus, E. Kankrin’s monetary reform significantly strengthened the country’s financial system, but it was not possible to completely overcome the financial crisis, since the government continued to pursue the same budget policy.

References

Vyskochkov V.L. Emperor Nicholas I: man and sovereign. - St. Petersburg, 2001.
Druzhinin N.M. State peasants and the reform of P.D. Kiselev. - M., 1958.
Zayonchkovsky P.K. The government apparatus of autocratic Russia in the 19th century. - M., 1978.
Eroshkin N.P. Feudal autocracy and its political institutions. - M., 1981.
Kornilov A.A. Course on the history of Russia in the 19th century. - M., 1993.
Mironenko S.V. Pages of the secret history of autocracy. - M., 1990.
Presnyakov A.E. Russian autocrats. - M., 1990.
Pushkarev S.G. History of Russia in the 19th century. - M., 2003.
Troitsky N.A. Russia in the 19th century. - M., 1999.
Shepelev L.E. The apparatus of power in Russia. The era of Alexander I and Nicholas I. - St. Petersburg, 2007.

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Nicholas 1 was the third son of the emperor and Maria Feodorovna, so he should not have taken the throne. This determined the direction of his betrothal and upbringing. From a young age, Nikolai was interested in military affairs and was preparing for a career as a military man. In 1819, Emperor Alexander 1 announced the abdication of their brother Constantine from the throne. Therefore, in 1825, after the sudden death of Alexander 1, power passed to Nicholas. Years of reign: 1825 – 1855.

Domestic policy

Its main directions were “tightening the screws” for freethinkers on the one hand and cautious but progressive reforms on the other. The beginning of the reign of Nicholas 1 was marked in 1825, which was defeated. After this, the emperor intensified repressive measures. Several Decembrists were executed, hundreds were exiled to the Caucasus and Siberia.

Under Nicholas 1, the period of “enlightened absolutism” ended. There is a reduction in the economic and socio-political powers of the nobility in order to strengthen the autocracy. The participation of nobles in meetings decreased. Discipline has strengthened among civil servants.

The Third Department of the Emperor's Office was created under the leadership (later headed by Orlov), which opposed dissent, and also supervised the press, foreign citizens, analyzed the claims of serfs against landowners, etc. The correspondence was opened. After the Decembrist uprising, the emperor was panicky about any manifestation of activity in society.

During the same period, limited reforms were carried out. Legislation was streamlined, making administrative practice easier. In 1837, led by Kiselev, efforts began to be made regarding the management of the peasants. They received more land, medical posts were built in settlements and agricultural innovations were introduced. The rights of landowners began to be limited: peasants were forbidden to pay off their debts and were forbidden to be sent to work in the mountains.

From 1839 to 1843, a monetary reform was carried out under the leadership of Minister of Finance Kankrin. A clear relationship was established between banknotes and the silver ruble.

However, the main issue regarding serfdom was never resolved, as Nicholas feared social unrest.

Foreign policy

In the sphere of foreign policy, there were 2 main issues: Eastern and European. In Europe, Nicholas the First fought against the revolutionary movement. In 1830, the emperor sent troops to suppress the Polish national liberation uprising. In 1849, at the request of the Austrian ruler who later betrayed Russia, Russian troops suppressed the revolution in Hungary.

The eastern question affected the influence of powerful states on the European regions of the Ottoman Empire, since as a result of a fierce war, Russia received a certain territory on the Black Sea coast.

In the middle of the century, the Eastern Question escalated, which provoked the Crimean War. The Russian army carried out successful actions aimed at fighting Turkey in the Caucasus, and the fleet operated in the Black Sea. Later, France and England entered the war. There was a threat of the inclusion of Prussia, Sweden and Austria. Russia found itself alone with Europe.

The decisive arena of hostilities turned out to be Sevastopol, the defense of which lasted almost a year. As a result, the emperor was defeated in the war, which led to the loss of the right to have a military base on the Black Sea. Thus, the main result of the foreign policy of Nicholas 1 was a quarrel with his Europe, a quarrel that greatly damaged Russia. However, this was not the king’s fault, since he was forced to defend the interests of his country.

Thus, the foreign and domestic policy of Nicholas 1 was quite conservative. But no one doubts that the emperor strove for the well-being of Russia and worked tirelessly for this.

Years of life (1796-1855), years of reign (1825-1855).

Nicholas is the third of the five sons of Emperor Paul I, so he could not count on the throne, which determined the direction of his upbringing and education. From an early age he was interested in military affairs, especially its external side, and was preparing for a military career.

In 1817, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich married the daughter of the Prussian king, who in Orthodoxy received the name Alexandra Fedorovna. They had 7 children, the eldest of whom was the future Emperor Alexander II.

In 1819, Emperor Alexander I informed Nicholas of the intention of their brother Konstantin Pavlovich to renounce his right to succession to the throne, and accordingly, power would have to pass to Nicholas. In 1823, Alexander I issued a Manifesto proclaiming Nikolai Pavlovich heir to the throne. The manifesto was a family secret and was not published. Therefore, after the sudden death of Alexander I in 1825, confusion arose with the accession to the throne of a new monarch.

The oath to the new Emperor Nicholas I Pavlovich was scheduled for December 14, 1825. On the same day, the “Decembrists” planned an uprising with the goal of overthrowing autocracy and demanding the signing of the “Manifesto to the Russian People,” which proclaimed civil liberties. Informed, Nicholas postponed the oath to December 13, and the uprising was suppressed.

Domestic policy of Nicholas I

From the very beginning of his reign, Nicholas I declared the need for reforms and created a “committee on December 6, 1826” to prepare changes. “His Majesty’s Own Office” began to play a major role in the state, which was constantly expanded by creating many branches.

Nicholas I instructed a special commission led by M.M. Speransky to develop a new Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. By 1833, two editions had been printed: “The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire,” starting from the Council Code of 1649 and until the last decree of Alexander I, and “The Code of Current Laws of the Russian Empire.” The codification of laws carried out under Nicholas I streamlined Russian legislation, facilitated legal practice, but did not bring changes to the political and social structure of Russia.

Emperor Nicholas I was an autocrat in spirit and an ardent opponent of the introduction of a constitution and liberal reforms in the country. In his opinion, society should live and act like a good army, regulated and by laws. The militarization of the state apparatus under the auspices of the monarch is a characteristic feature of the political regime of Nicholas I.

He was extremely suspicious of public opinion; literature, art, and education came under censorship, and measures were taken to limit the periodical press. Official propaganda began to extol unanimity in Russia as a national virtue. The idea “The people and the Tsar are one” was dominant in the education system in Russia under Nicholas I.

According to the “theory of official nationality” developed by S.S. Uvarov, Russia has its own path of development, does not need the influence of the West and should be isolated from the world community. The Russian Empire under Nicholas I received the name “gendarme of Europe” for protecting peace in European countries from revolutionary uprisings.

In social policy, Nicholas I focused on strengthening the class system. In order to protect the nobility from “clogging,” the “December 6 Committee” proposed establishing a procedure according to which nobility was acquired only by right of inheritance. And for service people to create new classes - “officials”, “eminent”, “honorary” citizens. In 1845, the emperor issued a “Decree on Majorates” (indivisibility of noble estates during inheritance).

Serfdom under Nicholas I enjoyed the support of the state, and the tsar signed a manifesto in which he stated that there would be no changes in the situation of serfs. But Nicholas I was not a supporter of serfdom and secretly prepared materials on the peasant issue in order to make things easier for his followers.

Foreign policy of Nicholas I

The most important aspects of foreign policy during the reign of Nicholas I were the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance (Russia's struggle against revolutionary movements in Europe) and the Eastern Question. Russia under Nicholas I participated in the Caucasian War (1817-1864), the Russian-Persian War (1826-1828), the Russian-Turkish War (1828-1829), as a result of which Russia annexed the eastern part of Armenia , the entire Caucasus, received the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

During the reign of Nicholas I, the most memorable was the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Russia was forced to fight against Turkey, England, and France. During the siege of Sevastopol, Nicholas I was defeated in the war and lost the right to have a naval base on the Black Sea.

The unsuccessful war showed Russia's backwardness from advanced European countries and how unviable the conservative modernization of the empire turned out to be.

Nicholas I died on February 18, 1855. Summing up the reign of Nicholas I, historians call his era the most unfavorable in the history of Russia, starting with the Time of Troubles.

AD29. Culture and art of Russia in the first half of the 19th century

Beginning of the 19th century - a time of cultural and spiritual upsurge in Russia. The Patriotic War of 1812 accelerated the growth of national self-awareness of the Russian people, its consolidation, which largely determined the progress and achievements of Russian culture and science. A characteristic feature of this period is the democratization of culture, the increase in the number of its figures from unprivileged classes. The cultural upsurge was also facilitated by the policy of “enlightened absolutism” pursued by Alexander I (1801-1825). Under Alexander I, the system of primary, secondary and higher education was finally formed. The government paid great attention to the development of higher education. During the reign of Nicholas I, schools became class-segregated.

Russian science has achieved great success in these years. Naturalists I.A. Dvigubsky and I.E. Dyadkovsky argued that living beings inhabiting the Earth change over time, that all natural phenomena are subject to general laws of development and physical and chemical processes. Doctor Dyadkovsky developed ideas about the leading role of the nervous system in the human body. K. M. Baer made a number of major discoveries in embryology. The great Russian surgeon N.I. Pirogov laid the foundation for military field surgery. In the Crimean War, for the first time, he used anesthesia during surgery directly on the battlefield, and used a fixed plaster cast to treat fractures. The opening of the Pulkovo Observatory in 1839 was of great importance for the development of astronomy. At the beginning of the 19th century. The first source of electric current was invented. Chemist K. G. Kirchhoff discovered the catalytic reaction of converting starch into sugar. The Baltic physicist and chemist K. I. D. Grotgus formulated the first theory of electrolysis and the law of photochemistry. The chemist G.I. Hess discovered the basic law of thermochemistry - the conservation of energy in relation to chemical processes. The chemist N. N. Zinin synthesized aniline and laid the foundation for the chemistry of paints. The chemist A.M. Butlerov created the theory of the chemical structure of matter. P. G. Sobolevsky and V. V. Lyubarsky made discoveries that laid the foundation for powder metallurgy.

A feature of the first half of the 19th century. was the rapid introduction of scientific and technical ideas into production. A characteristic phenomenon of the cultural life of Russia of this period is the revival of interest in historical science. Russia was becoming a great maritime power, and new tasks arose for geographers. New islands were discovered in the Pacific and Arctic oceans, new information was obtained about the life of the peoples of Sakhalin and Kamchatka, and maps were compiled. A separate passage was made from the Hawaiian Islands to Alaska. In 1821, during a trip around the world, made under the command of F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev, the greatest geographical discovery of the 19th century was made. - a sixth of the world has been discovered - Antarctica.

Literature in the first half of the 19th century. becomes the leading area of cultural and social life in Russia. It reflects advanced social ideas and pressing problems of life. It forms national identity and refers to the historical past of the country. Since the 30s of the XIX century. Realism is established in Russian literature. The main principles of this ideological and aesthetic direction are a truthful reflection of objective reality; the truth of life, embodied by various artistic means; reproduction of typical characters in typical circumstances. The number of newspapers and magazines increased sharply, although their circulation was small. Since 1838, “Provincial Gazette” began to be published in each province. The official newspaper was St. Petersburg Vedomosti. In 1823-1825 As in literature, in the theater in the 20-30s, classicism and sentimentalism were pushed aside by romanticism. M. S. Shchepkin, a reformer of Russian acting art, is rightfully considered the founder of realism on the Russian stage. The formation of a unified direction and the art of performance design begins with it. His satirical roles - Famusov and Gorodnichy - had a social resonance. All the work of the great actor was connected with the Maly Theater, which contemporaries called the second Moscow University.

Russian music of this period is characterized by an appeal to folk melody and national themes. The works of composers A. A. Alyabyev and A. E. Varlamov, especially their romances, were very popular. A. N. Verstovsky created the talented opera “Askold’s Grave”. Pushkin’s plot formed the basis of A. S. Dargomyzhsky’s opera “Rusalka”. But truly national music was created by the great M.I. Glinka, who wrote many romances, songs, and the symphonic play “Kamarinskaya”. His operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” became true masterpieces. Glinka's works are realistic and deeply folk. The composer himself argued that “the music is created by the people themselves, and we only arrange it.”

In painting, artists' interest in the human personality, in the life of ordinary people, and not just gods and kings, is growing. There is a gradual shift away from academicism, the center of which was the Academy of Arts. An outstanding representative of the academic school of this period was K. P. Bryullov. In his painting “The Last Day of Pompeii,” the artist showed the heroism, dignity and greatness of ordinary people in the face of a natural disaster. Bryullov was also a brilliant master of ceremonial and psychological portraits.

The 30-50s are the period of decline of Russian classicism in architecture, the period of eclecticism (mixing of styles) begins. An example is the buildings of the New Hermitage, Nikolaevsky and Mariinsky palaces in St. Petersburg; Modern Greek, Baroque, and Renaissance styles are used here. In Moscow, the creator of the eclectic Russian-Byzantine style, K. A. Ton, built the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armory Chamber. For more than 40 years, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built on the banks of the Moscow River in honor of the deliverance of Russia from the Napoleonic invasion. In 1931, the temple was destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and its restoration began only in 1994.