Everything about Russia Under Nicholas I totally explained
==War and peace in Russia, 1796-1825==
Catherine II died in
1796, and her son
Emperor Paul I (r.
1796-
1801) succeeded her. Painfully aware that Catherine had considered bypassing him to name his son,
Alexander, as
tsar, Paul instituted
primogeniture in the male line as the basis for succession. It was one of the lasting reforms of Paul's brief reign. He also chartered a
Russian-American Company, which eventually led to Russia's acquisition of
Alaska. Paul was generous but mercurial, and his generosity to the
serfs (along with his rashness), caused him to accumulate enemies.
As a major
European power, Russia couldn't escape the wars involving revolutionary and
Napoleonic France. Paul became an adamant opponent of
France, and Russia joined
Britain and
Austria in a war against France. In
1798-
1799 Russian troops under one of the country's most famous generals,
Aleksandr Suvorov, performed brilliantly in
Italy and
Switzerland. Paul's support for the ideals of the
Knights Hospitaller (and his
acceptance of the position of Grand Master) alienated many members of his court. Along with his liberal policies towards the lower classes, and his discovery of corruption in the treasury, his zeal for reform sealed his fate. In March 1801, Paul was assassinated.
The new Tsar,
Alexander I of Russia (r.
1801-
1825), came to the throne as the result of his father's murder, in which he was rumored to be implicated. Groomed for the throne by Catherine II and raised in the spirit of enlightenment, Alexander also had an inclination toward romanticism and religious mysticism, particularly in the latter period of his reign. Alexander tinkered with
changes in the central government, and he replaced the colleges that
Peter the Great had set up with ministries, but without a coordinating prime minister. The brilliant statesman
Mikhail Speranskiy, who was the tsar's chief adviser early in his reign, proposed an extensive constitutional reform of the government, but Alexander dismissed him in
1812 and lost interest in reform.
Alexander's primary focus wasn't on domestic policy but on foreign affairs, and particularly on Napoleon. Fearing Napoleon's expansionist ambitions and the growth of French power, Alexander joined Britain and Austria against Napoleon. Napoleon defeated the Russians and Austrians at
Austerlitz in
1805 and trounced the Russians at
Friedland in
1807. Alexander was forced to
sue for peace, and by the
Treaty of Tilsit, signed in
1807, he became Napoleon's ally. Russia lost little territory under the treaty, and Alexander made use of his alliance with Napoleon for further expansion. By the
Finnish War he wrested the Grand Duchy of
Finland from
Sweden in
1809, and acquired
Bessarabia from
Turkey as a result of the
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812.
The Russo-French alliance gradually became strained. Napoleon was concerned about Russia's intentions in the strategically vital
Bosporus and
Dardanelles straits. At the same time, Alexander viewed the
Duchy of Warsaw, the French-controlled reconstituted Polish state, with suspicion. The requirement of joining France's
Continental Blockade against Britain was a serious disruption of Russian commerce, and in
1810 Alexander repudiated the obligation. In June
1812,
Napoleon invaded Russia with 600,000 troops -- a force twice as large as the Russian regular army. Napoleon hoped to inflict a major defeat on the Russians and force Alexander to sue for peace. As Napoleon pushed the Russian forces back, however, he became seriously overextended. Obstinate Russian resistance, members of which declared the
Patriotic War, brought Napoleon a disastrous defeat: Less than 30,000 of his troops returned to their homeland.
As the French retreated, the Russians pursued them into Central and Western Europe and to the gates of
Paris. After the allies defeated Napoleon, Alexander became known as the savior of Europe, and he played a prominent role in the redrawing of the map of Europe at the
Congress of Vienna in
1815. In the same year, under the influence of religious mysticism, Alexander initiated the creation of the
Holy Alliance, a loose agreement pledging the rulers of the nations involved -- including most of Europe -- to act according to
Christian principles. More pragmatically, in
1814 Russia, Britain, Austria, and
Prussia had formed the
Quadruple Alliance. The allies created an international system to maintain the territorial status quo and prevent the resurgence of an expansionist France. The Quadruple Alliance, confirmed by a number of international conferences, ensured Russia's influence in Europe.
At the same time, Russia continued its expansion. The Congress of Vienna created the
Congress Kingdom of Poland, to which Alexander granted
a constitution. Thus, Alexander I became the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic tsar of Russia. He was also the limited monarch of Finland, which had been annexed in
1809 and awarded autonomous status. In
1813 Russia
gained territory in the
Baky area of the
Caucasus at the expense of
Persia. By the early nineteenth century, the empire also was firmly ensconced in Alaska.
Historians have generally agreed that a revolutionary movement was born during the reign of Alexander I. Young officers who had pursued Napoleon into Western Europe came back to Russia with revolutionary ideas, including
human rights,
representative government, and mass
democracy. The intellectual
Westernization that had been fostered in the
eighteenth century by a paternalistic, autocratic Russian state now included opposition to
autocracy, demands for
representative government, calls for the abolition of
serfdom, and, in some instances, advocacy of a revolutionary overthrow of the government. Officers were particularly incensed that Alexander had granted Poland a constitution while Russia remained without one. Several clandestine organizations were preparing for an uprising when Alexander died unexpectedly in
1825. Following his death, there was confusion about who would succeed him because the next in line, his brother
Constantine Pavlovich, had relinquished his right to the throne. A group of officers commanding about 3,000 men refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Alexander's brother
Nicholas, proclaiming instead their loyalty to the idea of a Russian constitution. Because these events occurred in December
1825, the rebels were called
Decembrists. Nicholas easily overcame the revolt, and the Decembrists who remained alive were arrested. Many were exiled to
Siberia.
To some extent, the Decembrists were in the tradition of a long line of palace revolutionaries who wanted to place their candidate on the throne. But because the Decembrists also wanted to implement a liberal political program, their revolt has been considered the beginning of a revolutionary movement. The
Decembrist Revolt was the first open breach between the government and liberal elements, a breach that would subsequently widen.
Russia under Nicholas I
Tsar Nicholas I (Николай I Павлович,
July 6 (
June 25,
Old Style),
1796 -
March 2 (
February 18,
Old Style),
1855) was the
Tsar of
Russia from
1825 until his death in
1855.
Nicholas completely lacked his brother's spiritual and intellectual breadth; he saw his role simply as one paternal autocrat ruling his people by whatever means were necessary. Having experienced the trauma of the
Decembrist Revolt, Nicholas I was determined to restrain Russian society. A secret police, the so-called
Third Section, ran a huge network of spies and informers. The government exercised censorship and other controls over education, publishing, and all manifestations of public life. In
1833 the minister of education,
Sergey Uvarov, devised a program of "
Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and National Character" as the guiding principle of the regime. The people were to show loyalty to the unlimited authority of the
tsar, to the traditions of the
Russian Orthodox Church, and, in a vague way, to the Russian nation. These principles didn't gain the support of the population but instead led to repression in general and to suppression of non-Russian nationalities and religions in particular. For example the government forced the
Georgian Orthodox Church to accept the synodical rule of the Russian one.
The official emphasis on Russian nationalism contributed to a debate on Russia's place in the world, the meaning of Russian history, and the future of Russia. One group, the Westernizers, believed that Russia remained backward and primitive and could progress only through more Europeanization. Another group, the
Slavophiles, enthusiastically favored the
Slavs and their culture and customs, and had a distaste for
Westernizers and their culture and customs. The Slavophiles viewed
Slavic philosophy as a source of wholeness in Russia and looked askance at Western rationalism and materialism. Some of them believed that the Russian
peasant commune, or mir, offered an attractive alternative to Western capitalism and could make Russia a potential social and moral savior. The Slavophiles could therefore be said to represent a form of Russian
messianism.
Despite the repressions of this period, Russia experienced a flowering of literature and the arts. Through the works of
Aleksandr Pushkin,
Nikolai Gogol,
Ivan Turgenev, and numerous others, Russian literature gained international stature and recognition. Ballet took root in Russia after its importation from
France, and classical music became firmly established with the compositions of
Mikhail Glinka (
1804-
1857).
In foreign policy, Nicholas I acted as the protector of ruling legitimism and guardian against revolution. His offers to suppress revolution on the European continent, accepted in some instances, earned him the label of gendarme of Europe. In
1830, after a popular uprising had occurred in France, the Poles in Russian
Poland revolted. Nicholas
crushed the rebellion, abrogated the Polish constitution, and reduced
Congress Poland to the status of a Russian province (semi-officially known as the
Vistulan Country). In
1848, when a
series of revolutions convulsed Europe, Nicholas was in the forefront of reaction. In
1849 he intervened on behalf of the
Habsburgs and helped suppress an uprising in
Hungary, and he also urged
Prussia not to accept a liberal constitution. Having helped conservative forces repel the specter of revolution, Nicholas I seemed to dominate Europe.
Russian dominance proved illusory, however. While Nicholas was attempting to maintain the status quo in Europe, he adopted an aggressive policy toward the
Ottoman Empire. Nicholas I was following the traditional Russian policy of resolving the so-called
Eastern Question by seeking to partition the Ottoman Empire and establish a protectorate over the Orthodox population of the
Balkans, still largely under Ottoman control in the
1820s. Russia fought
a successful war with the Ottomans in
1828 and
1829. In
1833 Russia negotiated the
Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi with the Ottoman Empire. The major European parties mistakenly believed that the treaty contained a secret clause granting Russia the right to send warships through the
Bosporus and
Dardanelles straits. By the
London Straits Convention of
1841, they affirmed Ottoman control over the straits and forbade any power, including Russia, to send warships through the straits. Based on his role in suppressing the revolutions of 1848 and his mistaken belief that he'd British diplomatic support, Nicholas moved against the Ottomans, who declared war on Russia in
1853. Fearing the results of an Ottoman defeat by Russia, in
1854 Britain and
France joined what became known as the
Crimean War on the Ottoman side.
Austria offered the Ottomans diplomatic support, and
Prussia remained neutral, leaving Russia without allies on the continent. The European allies landed in
Crimea and laid siege to the well-fortified Russian base at
Sevastopol. After a year's siege the base fell, exposing Russia's inability to defend a major fortification on its own soil. Nicholas I died before the fall of Sevastopol', but he already had recognized the failure of his regime. Russia now faced the choice of initiating major reforms or losing its status as a major European power.
Nicholas refused to abolish serfdom during his reign, since it enabled the landlords to govern the peasants-something the relatively small Russian bureacracy seemed unable to do directly. However, he did make some efforts to improve the lot of the
state peasants (serfs owned by the government) with the help of the minister
Pavel Kiselev.
From time to time efforts are made to revive Nicholas' reputation.
» "Nicholas believed in his own oath and in respecting other people's rights as well as his own; witness Poland before 1831 and Hungary in 1849. He hated serfdom at heart and would have liked to destroy it, as well as detesting the tyranny of the Baltic squires over their 'emancipated' peasantry. . . . He must not be judged by the panic period of 1848-1855. . . we must not forget that his Minister of Public Education was Uvarov. . . who did an immense amount to spread education through the Empire at all levels." (Igor Vinogradoff)
The
Marquis de Custine was open to the possibility that, inside, Nicholas was a good person, and only behaved as he did because he believed he'd to. "If the Emperor, has no more of mercy in his heart than he reveals in his policies, then I pity Russia; if, on the other hand, his true sentiments are really superior to his acts, then I pity the Emperor."
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