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1. TSESAREVICH ALEXANDER

When Alexander was declared emperor, he was twenty-four years old. Russia, with its population of millions, was now as if in his complete power, unrestricted by anything. But from the very first days of his reign, he became convinced that in fact this power was imaginary, that even he was not at all free in his personal life, that any Russian citizen belonged to himself and had more control over himself than he, the autocrat. He was not free, because from all sides he was persistently offered conflicting projects and plans, and he constantly felt that he was in a net. His beliefs pleased some, confused others, but he did not have time to apply his thoughts to action. He was not free also because now it suddenly became clear to himself that he was not at all ready for the role of a monarch.

How was his adolescence? How did he live his teenage years? Didn’t he feel like a prisoner of either Catherine’s noble life or the Gatchina guardhouse?

Alexander, saving himself, came up with techniques to inspire the trust of both his grandmother and father. He flattered, lavished tender confessions, submissively agreed with everyone, disarmed with meekness, hiding his real face under the mask of a “real seducer,” as M.M. later put it. Speransky.

His first teacher and educator was Catherine herself. She composed textbooks for him according to all the rules of pedagogy of that time, instilling in him, as it seemed to her, sound concepts about man and the world. Alexander's tutor was Count Nikolai Saltykov, a sophisticated courtier who loved to grimace and was prone to whims. Another teacher was General Protasov. His duties consisted mainly of monitoring the boy's daily behavior, and the general grumbled conscientiously at his pupil. Russian history and literature was taught to Alexandru M.N. Muravyov, one of our very significant writers of the 18th century. Mathematics was taught to the future king by Masson, geography and natural science by the famous Pallas, and physics by Kraft. It was also necessary to teach the heir the law of God, and Catherine, fearing that the boy would be instilled with some superstitions, found the safest archpriest for him in this regard. It was a certain Somborski. The main teacher and educator of the future Russian emperor was the Swiss Laharpe. He, apparently, had scant information about the true life of the masses of Europe, but not to mention the fact that La Harpe had no idea about the Russian people. He, however, managed to bind his pet to himself, who probably sensed the incorruptibility of his teacher.

Since 1791, Catherine stopped hiding from people close to her her plan to remove Paul from the throne, and Alexander, initiated into this plan, was horrified by the proximity of the hour when he would finally have to declare himself, shedding his disguise. When Catherine revealed to him her intentions to eliminate Paul and elevate him, Alexander, to the throne, the ill-fated candidate for the Russian throne wrote a letter to his grandmother in which he seemed to agree to everything, and at the same time it was impossible to use this document as evidence, that Alexander intends to challenge his father’s rights to supreme power. At the same time, he wrote a letter to Paul, calling his father “his majesty” and thus, as it were, predetermining the issue of succession to the throne. State concerns seemed overwhelming and scary to Alexander. I had to know so much, learn everything and remember everything, and oblivion was so pleasant. And it’s so tempting to give up on everything.

Catherine wanted Alexander to get into the position of an adult as soon as possible: she wanted everyone to get used to looking at her favorite as the future emperor. It was necessary to marry the young man as soon as possible. Catherine made inquiries with her ambassadors, and her choice settled on the Baden princesses. In October 1792, two princesses, Louise and Frederica, arrived in St. Petersburg. Frederica was just a child, and the eldest, Louise, was fourteen years old. She became Alexander's bride. The appearance and behavior of Louise, now called Elizabeth, inspired the sympathy of many. The slender, gentle, blue-eyed beauty captivated everyone with her grace and intelligence. She was educated. Elizabeth knew history and literature very well, despite her fourteen years. Alexander, although he was a year older than her, seemed like a teenager in her company. On September 23, 1793, the marriage of Alexander and Elizabeth took place.

At the beginning of 1795, Laharpe was fired, and Alexander completely stopped studying and working. Contemporaries claim that he abandoned books and indulged in laziness and pleasure. Only the Gatchina exercises on the military parade ground seemed to continue to occupy the future emperor. It is possible that all this is true, but it is unlikely that Alexander spent his time completely fruitlessly. He carefully observed what was happening around him. And if he did not have time to recognize the true, people's Russia, distant from him, he did manage to hate his grandmother's autocracy and the baseness of court life. The future autocrat, he was then ashamed of the madness of unlimited power and dreamed of somehow getting rid of it.

Gradually, Alexander matured spiritually and matured. He has formed his views and beliefs. And if they contain a lot of sentimental dreaminess, then they already contain that bitter truth that tormented this emperor all his life. From time to time, the obsessive idea of ​​abdicating the throne arose in his soul, and he was exhausted in this struggle with himself. All his life Alexander cherished this dream. If in his youth he romantically pictured the future for himself as a modest life “with his wife on the banks of the Rhine,” believing his “happiness in the company of friends and in the study of nature,” then at the end of his life he no longer imagined this escape from power as a happy idyll.

Alexander gradually developed the conviction that it was necessary to first establish some kind of order, give Russia law and citizenship, and then, when freedom became the property of the country, leave, leaving others to continue the work he had begun. When these thoughts took shape in his soul, like something harmonious and for him most convincing, fate brought him together with one person who played an important role in his life. It was a young Polish aristocrat, Prince Adam Czartoryski, who ended up in St. Petersburg as a hostage. In 1794 he fought against Russia under the banner of Kosciuszko, who was now languishing at the behest of Catherine in St. Petersburg captivity.

Who else surrounded Alexander at that time? It is necessary to name chamber cadet A.N. Golitsyn, who later also played a significant role in the biography of the monarch. In 1796, a young couple came to St. Petersburg - Count P.A. Stroganov and his wife Sofya Vladimirovna. At one time Alexander was not free from her charms, and until the end of his days he retained complete respect and sympathy for her. Among Alexander’s friends at that time, V.P. was notable. Kochubey and P.I. Novosiltsev, relative of Count Stroganov. He was much older than Alexander and made a great impression on him with his intelligence, education, abilities and ability to elegantly and accurately express his thoughts.

At the beginning of November 1796, Catherine died suddenly. Paul ascended the throne. Everything changed immediately. Almost on the same day, Alexander had to, dressed in an old-fashioned Prussian uniform, install striped booths around the palace, like in Gatchina. Gradually, Paul dispersed Alexander's liberal friends. By the end of Pavlov’s reign in St. Petersburg, of the then freethinkers under Alexander, only P.A. remained. Stroganov. But the Tsarevich now had a completely different type of faithful friend and devoted servant - Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev. However, it is difficult to imagine that Alexander, an intelligent man and not devoid of a moral sense, could not see the low and dark features of Arakcheev’s nature.

2. AT THE DAWN OF THE REIGN: THE FIRST STAGE OF REFORM

Gradually, the forces opposing Paul find contact with each other. Around English Ambassador a conspiracy is being formed against the emperor (the reason is Paul’s decision to send to India Don Cossacks). Part of the guards officers, as well as the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count Palen, and other nobles, also rallied against the emperor. Alexander’s critical attitude towards his father’s policies contributed to his involvement in the conspiracy against Paul, but on the conditions that the conspirators would spare his father’s life and would only seek abdication. Alexander did not allow the thought of the possibility of a bloody outcome. Therefore, when Palen informed him, having come from Paul’s chambers, about what had happened, Alexander fainted and then revealed extreme despair. Palen was not able to convince Alexander to “start reigning” and, they say, only with a shout brought him to his senses. Alexander's position was very difficult: he felt that, knowing and allowing intentions to influence his father's power, he risked being blamed for what happened. He looked at himself as an unwitting participant in the murder and was afraid that others would look at him that way.

Alexander I ascended the Russian throne, intending to carry out a radical reform of the political system of Russia by creating a constitution that guaranteed personal freedom and civil rights to all subjects. He was aware that such a “revolution from above” would actually lead to the elimination of the autocracy and was ready, if successful, to retire from power. However, he also understood that he needed a certain social support, like-minded people. He needed to get rid of pressure both from the conspirators who overthrew Paul and from Catherine’s old men who supported them. Alexander got rid of Paul’s murderers quite easily. Even the all-powerful Count Palen, without any resistance on his part, was removed from the court in the summer of 1801. They were hastily liberal decrees were published - the Peter and Paul Fortress was empty: many prisoners in it were released. Those who were in exile began to move to the capital, which had recently been inaccessible to them. A.N. Radishchev also returned to St. Petersburg from the village. , equaled twelve thousand people.

On March 15, a manifesto was published with an amnesty for emigrants. A special decree was issued to the chief police chief, which asked the police “not to cause any offense to anyone.” The import of books from abroad was allowed, which was prohibited by the late emperor. Private printing houses, banned under Paul, began to operate again. The charter granted to the nobility was restored, as well as the city position. In April, the gallows that stood in the squares with the names of the guilty nailed to them were destroyed. Changed military uniform, and although the new uniforms with excessively high and hard collars were also very uncomfortable, everyone admired them only because the hated Prussian-style uniforms had been destroyed.

More serious reforms had to be thought through and discussed thoroughly. The main thing was to become familiar with the state of affairs in the country. The young emperor had very vague ideas about some things of paramount importance. The peasant question, for example, seemed easily solvable to him until he became a crown bearer. Now everything that seemed simple suddenly became difficult and complex. In addition, there were some things the emperor did not know at all.

In May, an order was made on his behalf - not to publish in official gazettes announcements about the sale of peasants without land by landowners. Whether the emperor forgot this order, or whether it somehow went unnoticed by him, it only later became clear that Alexander did not even know that the nobles had such a right to sell people like cattle, separating wives, husbands and children. While abroad, the tsar indignantly denied that such a right existed in Russia. However, having become convinced from one random complaint that Russian slavery was in fact slavery, and not a rural idyll, the Tsar raised this issue in the State Council, astonishing the respectable members of the highest government institution with his simple-minded ignorance of our then customs. On April 5, 1801, the Permanent Council was created - a legislative advisory body under the sovereign, which received the right to protest the actions and decrees of the tsar. In May of the same year, Alexander submitted to the council a draft decree banning the sale of peasants without land, but members of the Council made it clear to the emperor that the adoption of such a decree would cause unrest among the nobles and lead to a new coup d'etat.

By September 1801, the Permanent Council had prepared a draft of the “Most Gracious Letter Granted to the Russian People,” which contained guarantees of the basic civil rights of subjects (freedom of speech, press, conscience, personal safety, guarantee of private property, etc.), a draft manifesto on the peasant issue (prohibition of the sale of peasants without land, establishment of a procedure for the redemption of peasants from the landowner) and a project for the reorganization of the Senate. During the discussion of the projects, sharp contradictions between the members of the Permanent Council were revealed, and as a result, none of the three documents were made public. It was only announced that the distribution of state peasants to private hands would cease. Further consideration of the peasant question led to the appearance on February 20, 1803 of a decree on “free cultivators”, which allowed landowners to set the peasants free and assign them ownership of the land, which for the first time created the category of personally free peasants.

In May 1801, at the suggestion of P.A. Stroganov, a Secret Committee was formed with the aim of discussing plans for state transformation. It existed until the autumn of 1805. The Committee consisted of Count V.P. Kochubeya, P.A. Stroganova, N.N. Novosiltsev and Prince A. Czartoryski. Alexander was the youngest in age. Freethinkers and Republicans, as soon as they had to engage in real politics, suddenly became very cautious and slow. It was decided to study Russia first, and then begin reforms.

What was the activity of the Secret Committee? None of its members proposed any serious constitutional project. Everyone thought we had to wait. A constitution at that time was possible only by class and qualification, with a clear predominance of aristocrats. In such a constitution, Alexander and his friends saw a direct threat to their philanthropic program. The nobility and rich nobles who surrounded the throne with a “greedy crowd” did not want indigenous social reforms, confident after their victory over Pugachev that the time had not come to share anything with the people. But, on the other hand, the peasant question, to which the Secret Committee repeatedly returned, required the participation in its solution of some politically literate people, but they were not there at all, and those who were treated this issue disinterestedly, as clearly in it interested Alexander turned first to one, then to another statesman, proposing to compose a project for peasant reform, but each time he encountered insurmountable obstacles.

However, Alexander subsequently constantly returned to the issue of abolishing serfdom. He even instructed Arakcheev to present him with a corresponding project, and Arakcheev came up with a plan for the gradual redemption of peasants from landowners with an allotment of two dessiatines, but Alexander was unable to complete the matter even within the pitiful limits of Arakcheev’s crude reform. The emperor had no support in this matter. On September 15, 1801, he had to be crowned in Moscow. Alexander was exhausted from the obligatory splendor of rituals and etiquette. On the occasion of the coronation, various rewards were announced, but many dignitaries were dissatisfied, not having received the peasants, which they had hoped for.

Alexander was indifferent to religion in those years. He had no idea about the people's church, and the ascetics who had gone into deep forests and distant deserts were unknown to him. But he became acquainted with the bishops who sat in the Synod, and this official and external church could hardly inspire respect in him. It is not surprising that Alexander, in a vague search for an integral worldview, two years after his accession to the throne, became interested in Freemasonry, without even trying to delve into the experience and teaching of the Orthodox Church.

In 1803, the famous freemason Beber visited the young emperor. He outlined to Alexander the essence of Masonic teaching and asked for the lifting of the ban imposed on the lodges. It seems that Alexander, seduced by his skillful interlocutor, not only gave his consent to the opening of lodges, but also wished to be initiated into the Freemasons. Whether or not Alexander was a free mason, there is no doubt that the Masons saw him as their man in the first years of his reign, as evidenced by numerous Masonic cants composed in honor of the Russian emperor. One of the Lithuanian lodges in its correspondence mentions Alexander as its fellow member. Apparently, Alexander's closest friends were also Freemasons. A. Czartoryski hints in his memoirs that the entire Secret Committee consisted of Freemasons.

In 1803, Alexander became interested in M.M. Speransky. He struck Alexander's imagination with the novelty of his views and the very way of his thinking. In his note on state reform, Speransky proposed, while temporarily preserving the absolute prerogatives of the monarch, to create a system of institutions that would prepare minds for a possible future reform. Alexander instructed Speransky to develop a plan government reform in Russia and new principles of governing the country, and soon the first projects for the state reorganization of Russia were laid on the emperor’s table, which envisaged a major reorganization of the judicial, legislative and executive powers, the creation of the State Council, the Cabinet and the Governing Senate. Alexander approved Speransky's proposals, and the State Council was soon created. They usually point to the orders of 1809, edited by Speransky, on court ranks and on examinations for civil ranks, as the reason for the dislike of the nobility and bureaucrats towards Speransky. The decree on court ranks recognized them as distinctions that did not bring any rank. The decree on examinations for ranks made production for the ranks of the VIII and senior classes dependent on educational qualifications. Perhaps the displeasure of those who suffered from the new official order played a role in the fall of Speransky; but, in any case, his fall followed long after the decrees of 1809 and happened quite suddenly. In March 1812, the Emperor sent Speransky to Nizhny Novgorod, and from there to Perm.

The removal of Speransky was undoubtedly connected with a change in Alexander’s foreign policy. The transition from hostility to rapprochement with France, the break with old allies, the severity of the continental system and continuous wars, French influence on internal affairs, the guide of which was Speransky, - all this greatly influenced the public mood and caused grumbling. When good relations Alexander and Napoleon began to deteriorate, the hostility of Russian society towards Napoleon and France reached great tension, and Speransky public opinion He began to be considered a downright traitor.

Thus, in 1812, a new change took place in Alexander. Just as Alexander’s friends on the intimate committee had previously become convinced of the fragility of his friendship, just as Speransky now had to be convinced of this. Saying goodbye to him with tears, Alexander had the appearance of a man yielding to the need to sacrifice Speransky without verifying the accusations brought against him by denunciations. Behind his back, Alexander gave vent to his indignation at Speransky and even talked about the death penalty. And Napoleon himself had many occasions to become convinced of the duality of his ally. Kind and reserved, charming and secretive, Alexander never gave himself entirely to his friendship with Napoleon and, on occasion, rebuffed him or avoided frankness, maintaining his bright smile and charming gaze.

Successful wars with Turkey (1806-1812) and Sweden (1808-1809) strengthened Russia's international position. Eastern Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812) and Azerbaijan (1813), and the Duchy of Warsaw (1815) were annexed.

3. THE FIGHT AGAINST NAPOLEONIC FRANCE.

ALEXANDER'S EUROPEAN POLITICS

throne council sovereign reform

Surrounded by court intrigues, selfish dignitaries and a dense wall of administrative and bureaucratic order, Alexander felt that Russia, with its serfdom, with its many millions of mysterious peasant population, would inevitably very soon come face to face with Europe, which Napoleon would move to the East in the proud hope to overthrow and crush the last rival, the last enemy of the world empire he dreamed of.

What could he, Emperor Alexander, oppose to the Napoleonic idea? Everyone in Russia then called the brave Corsican a tyrant and an enemy of freedom. But Alexander understood that it was somehow strange and awkward to talk about freedom in the Russia of that time. It's like talking about rope in a hanged man's house. There was slavery in Russia. People were sold wholesale and retail. During his reign, Alexander was unable to untangle this knot, and a dead loop strangled the country. And yet, despite this terrible ulcer, Russia seemed to Alexander the only bulwark against the dangerous claims of Bonaparte.

Admirers of Napoleon insisted that he was the embodiment of the revolution, that he, having pacified its rebellious forces, directed them along the main democratic channel, that he allegedly saved the cause of the revolution from “Jacobin madness.” But Alexander doubted this. True, now there are no Bourbons, but there is the unheard-of despotism of Bonaparte himself; there are no old privileged ones, but the administration of the empire enjoys prerogatives that are more burdensome than noble privileges; There is no royal censorship, but there is imperial censorship, unceremonious and soldierly rude.

In 1805-1807, Alexander I took part in coalitions against Napoleon, was defeated at Austerlitz (1805) and was forced to conclude the extremely unpopular Peace of Tilsit in Russia (1807). The phantom of Napoleon obscured from Alexander the entire complexity of the historical situation. Alexander knew, of course, that the so-called continental system, which closed all ports to English ships, was ruinous for Russia, that the economic process, which was developing uncontrollably within our country, encountered an artificial obstacle in this continental system and the business of our exports was slowed down, and along with This delayed the natural development of all the material and cultural forces of Russia. Alliance with Napoleon and imposed on Russia economic policy were disadvantageous not only to large landowners and the emerging bourgeoisie, but also to the middle class, and indirectly to the entire huge mass of the peasantry, for the fall of serfdom depended to a large extent on the general development of the productive forces of the population. France fought with England for political and economic hegemony, and Russia, after the signing of the Peace of Tilsit, fell into the position of a vassal of France. All this was sufficient reason for a collision European West with the European East. But, realizing this, Alexander still, like all his contemporaries, could not rid himself of the thought that the entire history of mankind of that era was concentrated in the personality of Napoleon.

At the end of 1811, it was already clear to Alexander that a clash with Napoleon was inevitable, but at the same time, he himself and everyone around him felt that the government and army were not ready for this test. True, the November victory over the Turks won by Kutuzov and the alliance with Sweden provided some freedom of action, but this was not enough to fight the enemy. Napoleon led about six hundred thousand soldiers to Russia, but the Russian army numbered only two hundred thousand.

Alexander dreamed of becoming the head of the armies, but he was also afraid of this, aware of his responsibility to the country. In April 1812, in Vilna, he was surrounded by a huge crowd of foreigners. Stein, Fuhl, Bennigsen, Diebitsch, Toll, Wilson, Paulucci, Michaud, Saint-Prix and others vied with each other to offer their projects and plans to Alexander. And at the same time, balls and evenings took up as much time as meetings with strategists. The last celebration was a ball in Zakret. During this ball, he was informed that Napoleon had crossed the Neman without declaring war. Alexander spent the rest of the night doing urgent business. The next day a rescript was drawn up, where among other things he said: “I will not lay down my arms until not a single enemy warrior remains in my kingdom.”

Everyone knows the further events: the armies - the northern Barclay de Tolly and the southern Bagration - retreated with the danger of being cut off from one another by Bonaparte's hordes. Alexander had to leave the main apartment. Everyone understood that his presence was harmful to business. Shishkov had to persuade Arakcheev to influence Alexander. The Tsar left for Moscow. Donations, huge for that time, flowed in non-stop. By autumn, up to one hundred million rubles had been collected. Solemn meetings and speeches, cheers from the street crowd, prayers and bells - all this filled the soul with confusion, tired the heart, and it was difficult to unravel the true meaning of events. Alexander understood, however, that the fate of Russia now depended primarily on the men. There were weapons in their hands. Alexander understood that it was necessary to wage the “Scythian” war, retreating into the interior of the country, but no one knew to what extent it was necessary to retreat.

When the armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration finally united near Smolensk, many hoped that the enemy’s path would be blocked here. However, despite the fact that the Russian soldiers fought with amazing tenacity, they had to leave Smolensk. And no wonder - for every Russian there were three Frenchmen. One must imagine what Alexander thought and felt when adjutants from the army came to him with news of a steady retreat.

Alexander became more and more convinced of his spiritual weakness and poverty. What does it mean in the face of the greatest events? Does he dare to take the place of the leader of the Russian army? We must humbly submit to the voice of the people. Everyone insists that we need a commander-in-chief with a Russian name, loved by the soldiers. This is Kutuzov, Suvorov's younger comrade. Alexander recalled a clumsy, overweight man with a cunning eye, and he was unpleasant that he would have to appoint him, this witness to the Austerlitz disgrace. But there is nothing to do. And Alexander appointed Kutuzov commander-in-chief. Everyone believed that the end of this retreat would come. But - a strange thing - this favorite of our soldiers, like the honest German Barclay de Tolly, led the army further and further, surprising all of Russia.

Finally came the Battle of Borodino. Forty thousand Russian people fell on the battlefield, and the same number of French and allies died. With trembling hands, Alexander took the paper with Kutuzov’s report. It was a strange report. It was too laconic, vague and dry. It was as if the author of the report was too lazy to write it, as if Kutuzov was busy with something else, more important than this random battle one hundred and thirty miles from Moscow. Alexander accepted Kutuzov’s unclear and evasive report as news of the failure of the Russian army, but it was too late to change command. Meanwhile, Kutuzov himself had no doubt at all that the Battle of Borodino was the path to real victory. It is obvious that Kutuzov was not very interested in Alexander’s state of mind and did not consider it necessary to keep him cheerful.

When Alexander received a brief report from Count Rostopchin through Yaroslavl that Kutuzov had decided to leave Moscow, he retired to his office, and the valet heard his steps all night. In the morning he left his office, and everyone noticed that the emperor had many gray strands in his hair. The Empress Mother and brother Constantine hysterically reproached the emperor for not rushing to make peace with Bonaparte. Patriots were indignant in a different way. Everywhere Alexander was met by perplexed, angry people and confused looks. In vain, “devoted without flattery,” Arakcheev begged his master to accept Napoleon’s proposals for peace; Alexander usually absent-mindedly listened to his favorite if he decided to talk about high politics. Bonaparte's five weeks in Moscow were the most terrible test for Alexander since March 11, 1801. He tried to see as little people as possible, locked himself in his office and, forgetting to sign urgent papers, read the French Bible, trying to unravel its secret meaning. He now seemed stooped more than always, and his characteristic charming smile appeared less often on his face. Terrible news came from Moscow. The capital was burning, and entire neighborhoods were already in smoking ruins. The French plundered shamelessly. And the remaining residents were subjected to violence and insults. But this unbridledness of the soldiers concealed the death of the army.

Having received news of Napoleon's speech from Moscow, Alexander realized that the danger had passed. Kutuzov invited the emperor to lead military operations, but memories of Austerlitz and Friedland embarrassed Alexander, and he told Colonel Michaud, sent to him from the army, that he did not want to reap laurels that he did not deserve.

A week later, news arrived about the battle of Maloyaroslavets. Napoleon's army was still an impressive force, but it was doomed to destruction, despite the courage of the veterans and the courage of the marshals. And finally, Alexander receives a report about the famous battle on the Berezina. Here was the last defeat Napoleonic army, but why, however, did Bonaparte himself leave with the remnants, albeit pitiful, of his army to the West? How could the Russian generals allow this escape? Having abandoned thousands of wounded and sick in Vilna, the French hurry on, and the Russian vanguard enters the city unhindered. Alexander goes to the army. Here, in Vilna, he has to hug Kutuzov solemnly in front of everyone. He has to give the old man “George” of the first degree, but they still do not understand each other. Kutuzov stubbornly insists to the sovereign that it is time to “put down the weapon.” We don't care about Europe. Everything will work out on its own there. Alexander had a different opinion on this matter, and it was difficult to convince the old man and many of his sympathizers that he needed new trip to the West for the liberation of Europe.

Kutuzov and Alexander were representatives of two opposing psychologies. Kutuzov was what is called a zemstvo man. He was organically connected with the land, with the population, with the traditions of Russia. It had all the advantages and disadvantages of this type. The soldiers loved him because there was something peasant, simple and slightly crafty about him. He did not want and could not go against the enemy with some distant goals. He agreed to directly defend Russia when Bonaparte went to Moscow, but shedding peasant blood, in some incomprehensible pan-European interests, seemed to him extravagant. Alexander was not like that. He was alien the masses. He didn't know any men at all. Didn't understand them. This alienation from the earth was his drama, and it led him to a sad end.

However, there are no meaningless events in history. And the fact that Russia became the head of the campaign of 1813-1814 had its own objective meaning. “For twelve years I have been known in Europe as a mediocre person, let’s see what they say now,” Alexander said in Paris in 1814. Alexander's pride could indeed now be satisfied. The so-called European society hailed him as the leader of the victorious campaign that led to the overthrow of Napoleon. And then January 1814 came. Allied troops march on Paris. Emperor Alexander seemed primarily interested in charming and seducing the enemy. Army orders keep repeating that soldiers must be generous to France. Not only civilians, but also captured soldiers are the subject of extreme concern for this sovereign. However, Alexander is not only concerned with his broad philanthropy. He follows the campaign plan and actions very closely and persistently. He tries to harmonize the opinions of generals and kings. He is silently recognized as the main leader of the campaign.

On March 19, 1814, the Allies entered Paris. Alexander very reluctantly agreed to the Bourbon monarchy, and then only after the falsified opinion of the nation, which supposedly wished for restoration. He lived on the rue Saint-Florentin, in the house of Talleyrand, entangled a whole network intrigue. He had to devote a lot of mental strength and mental attention to negotiations with Napoleon, who was awaiting his fate in Fontainebleau. Alexander was very concerned that, when retiring to the island of Elba, Napoleon would not suffer any insults or even inconveniences along the way. He also ensured that the French officers were provided for in the best possible way in all respects. The same cannot be said about Russian soldiers. Intoxicated by his European popularity and Parisian successes, Emperor Alexander forgot in strange confusion about the fate of the Russian men, whom he led across Europe in order to defeat his terrible rival with their help. Now the deed was done, and the victors were locked in the barracks. They were poorly fed, burdened with outfits, and in case of accidental clashes with the French, the Russians always turned out to be at fault. The officers were also dissatisfied with the preference that Alexander gave to foreigners.

In the fall of 1814, a great spectacle of European diplomacy opened - the Congress of Vienna. Alexander played an important role on these stages. International robbers were quite successful in distributing territory and population. This was helped by the millions in bribes that ministers and diplomats took from less clever dukes and kings. The most difficult thing was to settle the matter with Poland. Alexander insisted on annexing the Duchy of Warsaw to Russia with an independent constitution. He failed, however, to unite all Polish lands under his crown. Austria and Prussia left behind them: the first - Galicia, the second - Poznan.

There was another difficulty. All sovereigns rebelled against endowing the Kingdom of Poland with a special constitution. This would be a bad example for the enslaved nations. But Alexander was unshakable on this point. As a result, Russia, which suffered more than other powers from the war, received the least reward. Austria received a territory with ten million people, Prussia - with a population of five million, and Russia acquired three million new citizens, moreover, very doubtful regarding their state usefulness.

In the midst of redrawing the map of Europe, stunning news was received in Vienna. Napoleon left Elba and landed with a handful of brave men on the southern coast of France. Fear of the frantic Corsican again united everyone, and the rivals again became allies. And now Napoleon is defeated again. Europe is free. Alexander, crowned with laurels, returns to Russia.

In March 1815, Russia, England, Austria and Prussia signed an agreement to form the Quadruple Alliance. He was aimed at implementing the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, especially as it related to France. Her territory was occupied by the troops of the victorious powers, and she had to pay a huge indemnity. In September 1815, Alexander I, the Austrian Emperor Franz and the Prussian King Frederick William III signed the Act of Formation of the Holy Alliance. Its author was Alexander I himself. The text was of a religious and mystical nature and contained obligations of Christian monarchs to provide each other with all possible assistance. Mystical goals were hidden under the religious shell: support for the old monarchical dynasties based on the principle of legitimacy, the fight against revolutionary movements in Europe and the containment of many peoples within artificial state borders created by the decisions of the Congress of Vienna. At the congresses of the Holy Alliance in Aachen (1818) and Troppau (1820), the principle of legitimism was supplemented by a new political principle, which gave the right of armed intervention of members of the alliance in the internal affairs of other states to suppress revolutionary uprisings in them. France also became one of the participants in the Holy Alliance in 1818, after the decision was made at the congress in Aachen in 1818, at the insistence of Alexander, to withdraw the occupying troops from its territory.

Quadruple and Holy Alliances were created due to the fact that all European governments understood the need to achieve concerted action to resolve controversial issues. However, the alliances only muted, but did not remove the severity of the contradictions between the great powers.

4. Second stage of reforms. Strengthening the reaction

Returning from Europe, Alexander found a monstrous collapse of administration and economic affairs in the country. The absence of the sovereign, the obscurity in which many ministers found themselves, the powers given to local authorities, and the impossible tasks assigned to them in collecting taxes for military affairs - all this led to the complete collapse of local government. Failure to comply with Senate decrees, accumulation of arrears, arbitrary arrests of citizens, cruel punishments in places of imprisonment, bribes, sale of government property, sneaking, giving of farm-offs without bidding, groping, smuggling, even counterfeiting banknotes - these were the plagues of Russian life. From this, Alexander drew the conclusion that in Russia there are still no people suitable for inculcating citizenship, and only Western peoples are ripe for law and order.

In May 1815, Alexander announced the granting of a constitution to the Kingdom of Poland, which provided for the creation of a bicameral Sejm, a system of local self-government and freedom of the press. Opening the Warsaw Sejm in the spring of 1818, in his speech from the throne, Alexander unambiguously announced that he intended to limit autocracy throughout all of Russia, and not just its outskirts.

In 1812, Alexander came across a French book by General Servan, who proposed a project for special military settlements on the borders of the empire. Alexander decided that he needed to use the idea of ​​the French general.

Alexander entrusted the organization of “military settlements” to his favorite Count Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev. In 1816, in the Novgorod province, where Arakcheev’s estate was located, an entire volost was turned into a military settlement. The men were declared military villagers. Battalions of regular troops were also stationed here. The soldiers found themselves in the position of farm laborers. The men were also shaved, put on uniforms and forced to learn military service. Now Alexander's eyes could rejoice. Gray huts and the fences disappeared. In their place stood brand new houses in orderly rows, all of the same type, painted the same color. They gave the peasants loans, benefits, horses, cattle, and tried in every possible way to seduce them with the new order. The boys were all enrolled as cantonists and from the age of ten were already subject to Arakcheev’s discipline.

By the end of the reign, military settlements were established not only in the Novgorod province. In Ukraine, thirty-six infantry battalions and two hundred and forty-nine cavalry squadrons were enrolled in military settlements. There were ninety infantry battalions in the north. This means that almost a third of the entire army is in a peaceful situation. Alexander admired the success of the business he had planned. And at first glance, it seemed as if the success of the reform was indeed obvious. Financial reporting was exemplary. Arakcheev managed to accumulate reserve capital of fifty million rubles. Agriculture and crafts flourished in the settlements. During inspections, the authorities brought out fatty cabbage soup, piglets and chicken dishes from the settlers' meals for testing. But these piglets and chickens, as well as all the other decorations of military settlements, were like “Potemkin villages.”

One of the controversial aspects of Alexander’s activities was his concern for the education of Russia. He intended to cover Russia with a whole network of educational institutions that would consistently lead the student “from the ABCs to the university”: this network was to be composed of: parish schools (one for at least two parishes), district, provincial (gymnasiums) and universities. Before Alexander, there were two universities in Russia (in Moscow and Dorpat); re-opened under him in Kharkov, Kazan and St. Petersburg; A number of special higher institutions - lyceums - were transformed or reopened.

The dark days for universities only began in 1812, when the government valued every penny. At first, all educational institutions were distinguished by their secular character and universal class. But when the sovereign was seized by a mystical mood, this also affected the fate of the educational work; he decided to closely combine faith and knowledge, “so that Christian piety would always be the basis of true enlightenment.” A visible sign of the new direction was the formation of a united ministry of spiritual affairs and public education.

In 1817, instead of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education was created, headed by the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod and the head of the Bible Society A.N. Golitsyn. There was another meaning hidden in this institution: affairs of all religions were equally handled in different departments; Alexander emphasized his complete religious tolerance. Under the leadership of A.N. Golitsyn was actually defeated Russian universities, cruel censorship reigned.

In 1822, Alexander I banned the activities of Masonic lodges and other secret societies in Russia and approved a Senate proposal that allowed landowners to exile their peasants to Siberia for “bad deeds.” At the same time, the emperor was aware of the activities of the first Decembrist organizations, but did not take any measures against their members, believing that they shared the delusions of his youth.

In 1817-1818, a number of people close to the emperor, incl. A.A. Arakcheev, on his orders, were engaged in the development of projects for the phased elimination of serfdom in Russia. In 1818, Alexander I gave the task to N.N. Novosiltsev to prepare a draft constitution for Russia. Project “State Charter” Russian Empire”, which provided for a federal structure of the country, was ready by the end of 1820 and approved by the emperor, but its introduction was postponed indefinitely.

The tsar complained to his immediate circle that he had no assistants and could not find suitable people for gubernatorial positions. Former ideals increasingly seemed to Alexander I to be just barren romantic dreams and illusions, divorced from real political practice. The legend that Arakcheev was the inspirer of Alexander in the era of reaction has already been debunked by historians.

The most important papers signed by Arakcheev were written according to the emperor’s own drafts. Arakcheev was Alexander’s executor and instrument, and not his mentor.

The news of the uprising of the Semenovsky regiment (1820) was perceived by Alexander as a threat of a revolutionary explosion in Russia, to prevent which it was necessary to take tough measures. However, dreams of reform did not leave the emperor until 1822-1823.

The question of succession to the throne was confusing. Back in January 1822, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich renounced the throne and gave written assurance to this effect. Brother Nikolai Pavlovich had to be recognized as the heir. In the summer of 1823, with the knowledge of Golitsyn and Arakcheev, the Moscow Archbishop Filaret was secretly given an act of succession to the throne by Nicholas, signed by the emperor. On the sealed envelope was the tsar’s own handwritten inscription: “Keep in the Assumption Cathedral with state acts until my demand, and in the event of my death, open... before any other action.”

Nikolai Pavlovich was not officially notified of this act, but back in the summer of 1819 the emperor told him and his wife that perhaps he, Nikolai, would have to take the throne after his death or after his abdication. In her notes, Nikolai Pavlovich’s wife conveys this conversation, as if it embarrassed and upset them. And Elizaveta Alekseevna, in one of her letters to her mother, wrote frankly that Nikolai Pavlovich was sleeping and seeing that happy day for himself when he would be the unlimited ruler of Russia.

The Greek question was an important subject of concern for the emperor. The uprising of the Greeks against the Turks, caused in 1821 by Alexander Ypsilanti, who was in Russian service, and the indignation in Morea and on the islands of the Archipelago caused a protest from Emperor Alexander. But the Sultan did not believe the sincerity of such a protest, and the Turks in Constantinople killed many Christians. Then the Russian ambassador Stroganov left Constantinople. War was inevitable, but, delayed by European diplomats, it broke out only after the death of the sovereign.

The Verona Congress, which began in the fall of 1822, was the last political event, in which Emperor Alexander took an active part. In essence, his life as a sovereign was over. He still continued to reign, was present at reviews and maneuvers, removed ministers and appointed new ones, made speeches at the Warsaw Sejm, signed rescripts, but this was no longer former Alexander, who dreamed of the revival of the fatherland, the liberation of Europe from Napoleon and, in general, the welfare of the people... Those around him no longer saw his benevolent smile and did not hear his kind words. Now he didn't care about the impression he made on people. He became gloomy, distrustful and concentrated, as if captivated by a single thought, heavy and persistent.

Taking the crown, Alexander thought that government works it will lull your conscience. Paul is killed, but Russia will rise again. Alexander will free her. Then he will renounce power and retire somewhere like honest man. But he failed to either liberate Russia or free himself from the heavy burden of autocratic power.

Inside the state, indeed, everything was bleak. Alexander knew that even under Paul there was no such extortion and embezzlement as there is now; he knew that the serfs were gloomily and impatiently awaiting the freedom promised in 1812; he knew that the cause of education, led by A.N. Golitsyn, hopelessly confused. The glory that surrounded his name as the pacifier of Europe now did not console Alexander.

Recent years The emperor spent most of his life in constant travel to the most remote corners of Russia or in almost complete solitude in Tsarskoe Selo. It seems that there was not a person in Russia who did not complain about this: they joked that the sovereign ruled Russia from a postal carriage; they complained that the sovereign cared about everything, but not about what was happening in Russia. These complaints reached Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna and the generals devoted to A. (Zakrevsky, for example) and confused them a lot.

A lot of matters remained unresolved and were postponed until the arrival of the sovereign; secret societies were born.

Back in 1816, it was discovered (on the occasion of the transition of one volost to military settlements) that, contrary to the belief of the sovereign and the government, there were no food reserves. While they were discussing how to organize the food supply business, whether to collect supplies in kind or in money, in 1820 a famine broke out, first in Chernigov province; in 1821, 15 provinces were already starving; most landowners refused to feed their peasants; people mixed all sorts of surrogates into bread, could barely stand on their feet, became plump, fell ill and died. All this created fertile ground for unrest and for the awakening of serious discontent.

A personal life Alexandra? In December 1818, a friend of her youth, sister Ekaterina Pavlovna, died, who knew how to be so tender, and in decisive moments so irreconcilable and persistent. And now sweet eighteen-year-old Sophie, the daughter of the emperor and M.A., has also died. Naryshkina. The doctors reported to the sovereign about another misfortune. Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna is seriously ill. Her situation has become so dangerous that she must go immediately to the south of France or Italy. But Elizaveta Alekseevna refused to go to Europe. They discussed something for a long time with the emperor. And then it was announced that they would go to Taganrog together.

On September 13, 1825, Alexander arrived in Taganrog. Ten days later the empress arrived there. They settled in a small one-story house that did not look like a palace at all. And the furnishings in this house were modest. Alexander and his wife, apparently, wanted to forget, if possible, about court pomp, so difficult and boring.

November 19 was a cloudy and gloomy day. At 10 o'clock in the morning, Emperor Alexander died. Soon after this officially certified death of the king, rumors began among the people that the emperor had not died at all, that he, burdened by the power, went with his staff somewhere into an unknown distance, and someone else was buried instead of the king. A legend arose. Subsequently, they even assured that the Siberian elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who died in 1864, was none other than Emperor Alexander himself. The legend is supported by others even today.

But whether Alexander Pavlovich Romanov died or did not die on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog - this is ultimately important for his personal fate. As an emperor, he died a long time ago. At the Congress of Verona he was already nothing more than a phantom of the former majestic monarch. He was the ghost of autocracy. He was defeated and killed by the revolution, the meaning of which he tried in vain to unravel.

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