Dynasties of Europe. "Sphinx, unsolved to the grave" Who is the Sphinx, unsolved to the grave, said about?

Alexander I was the son of Paul I and grandson of Catherine II. The Empress did not like Paul and, not seeing in him a strong ruler and a worthy successor, she gave all her unspent maternal feelings to Alexander.

Since childhood, the future Emperor Alexander I often spent time with his grandmother in the Winter Palace, but nevertheless managed to visit Gatchina, where his father lived. According to Doctor of Historical Sciences Alexander Mironenko, it was precisely this duality, stemming from the desire to please his grandmother and father, who were so different in temperament and views, that formed the contradictory character of the future emperor.

“Alexander I loved to play the violin in his youth. During this time, he corresponded with his mother Maria Fedorovna, who told him that he was too keen on playing a musical instrument and that he should prepare more for the role of an autocrat. Alexander I replied that he would rather play the violin than, like his peers, play cards. He didn’t want to reign, but at the same time he dreamed of healing all the ulcers, correcting any problems in the structure of Russia, doing everything as it should be in his dreams, and then renouncing,” Mironenko said in an interview with RT.

According to experts, Catherine II wanted to pass the throne to her beloved grandson, bypassing the legal heir. And only the sudden death of the empress in November 1796 disrupted these plans. Paul I ascended the throne. The short reign of the new emperor, who received the nickname Russian Hamlet, began, lasting only four years.

The eccentric Paul I, obsessed with drills and parades, was despised by all of Catherine’s Petersburg. Soon, a conspiracy arose among those dissatisfied with the new emperor, the result of which was a palace coup.

“It is unclear whether Alexander understood that the removal of his own father from the throne was impossible without murder. Nevertheless, Alexander agreed to this, and on the night of March 11, 1801, the conspirators entered the bedroom of Paul I and killed him. Most likely, Alexander I was ready for such an outcome. Subsequently, it became known from memoirs that Alexander Poltoratsky, one of the conspirators, quickly informed the future emperor that his father had been killed, which meant he had to accept the crown. To the surprise of Poltoratsky himself, he found Alexander awake in the middle of the night, in full uniform,” Mironenko noted.

Tsar-reformer

Having ascended the throne, Alexander I began developing progressive reforms. Discussions took place in the Secret Committee, which included close friends of the young autocrat.

“According to the first management reform, adopted in 1802, collegiums were replaced by ministries. The main difference was that in collegiums decisions are made collectively, but in ministries all responsibility rests with one minister, who now had to be chosen very carefully,” Mironenko explained.

In 1810, Alexander I created the State Council - the highest legislative body under the emperor.

“The famous painting by Repin, which depicts a ceremonial meeting of the State Council on its centenary, was painted in 1902, on the day of approval of the Secret Committee, and not in 1910,” Mironenko noted.

The State Council, as part of the transformation of the state, was developed not by Alexander I, but by Mikhail Speransky. It was he who laid the principle of separation of powers at the basis of Russian public administration.

“We should not forget that in an autocratic state this principle was difficult to implement. Formally, the first step—the creation of the State Council as a legislative advisory body—has been taken. Since 1810, any imperial decree was issued with the wording: “Having heeded the opinion of the State Council.” At the same time, Alexander I could issue laws without listening to the opinion of the State Council,” the expert explained.

Tsar Liberator

After the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns, Alexander I, inspired by the victory over Napoleon, returned to the long-forgotten idea of ​​reform: changing the image of government, limiting autocracy by the constitution and solving the peasant question.

• Alexander I in 1814 near Paris
• F. Kruger

The first step in solving the peasant question was the decree on free cultivators in 1803. For the first time in many centuries of serfdom, it was allowed to free the peasants, allocating them with land, albeit for a ransom. Of course, the landowners were in no hurry to free the peasants, especially with the land. As a result, very few were free. However, for the first time in the history of Russia, the authorities gave the opportunity to peasants to leave serfdom.

The second significant act of state of Alexander I was the draft constitution for Russia, which he instructed to develop a member of the Secret Committee Nikolai Novosiltsev. A longtime friend of Alexander I fulfilled this assignment. However, this was preceded by the events of March 1818, when in Warsaw, at the opening of a meeting of the Polish Council, Alexander, by decision of the Congress of Vienna, granted Poland a constitution.

“The Emperor uttered words that shocked all of Russia at that time: “Someday the beneficial constitutional principles will be extended to all the lands subject to my scepter.” This is the same as saying in the 1960s that Soviet power would no longer exist. This frightened many representatives of influential circles. As a result, Alexander never decided to adopt the constitution,” the expert noted.

Alexander I's plan to free the peasants was also not fully implemented.

“The Emperor understood that it was impossible to liberate the peasants without the participation of the state. A certain part of the peasants must be bought out by the state. One can imagine this option: the landowner went bankrupt, his estate was put up for auction and the peasants were personally liberated. However, this was not implemented. Although Alexander was an autocratic and domineering monarch, he was still within the system. The unrealized constitution was supposed to modify the system itself, but at that moment there were no forces that would support the emperor,” the historian said.

According to experts, one of the mistakes of Alexander I was his conviction that communities in which ideas for reorganizing the state were discussed should be secret.

“Away from the people, the young emperor discussed reform projects in the Secret Committee, not realizing that the already emerging Decembrist societies partly shared his ideas. As a result, neither one nor the other attempts were successful. It took another quarter of a century to understand that these reforms were not so radical,” Mironenko concluded.

The mystery of death

Alexander I died during a trip to Russia: he caught a cold in the Crimea, lay “in a fever” for several days and died in Taganrog on November 19, 1825.

The body of the late emperor was to be transported to St. Petersburg. For this purpose, the remains of Alexander I were embalmed, but the procedure was unsuccessful: the complexion and appearance of the sovereign changed. In St. Petersburg, during the people's farewell, Nicholas I ordered the coffin to be closed. It was this incident that gave rise to ongoing debate about the death of the king and aroused suspicions that “the body had been replaced.”

• Wikimedia Commons

The most popular version is associated with the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich. The elder appeared in 1836 in the Perm province, and then ended up in Siberia. In recent years he lived in Tomsk, in the house of the merchant Khromov, where he died in 1864. Fyodor Kuzmich himself never told anything about himself. However, Khromov assured that the elder was Alexander I, who had secretly left the world. Thus, a legend arose that Alexander I, tormented by remorse over the murder of his father, faked his own death and went to wander around Russia.

Subsequently, historians tried to debunk this legend. Having studied the surviving notes of Fyodor Kuzmich, researchers came to the conclusion that there is nothing in common in the handwriting of Alexander I and the elder. Moreover, Fyodor Kuzmich wrote with errors. However, lovers of historical secrets believe that the end has not been set in this matter. They are convinced that until a genetic examination of the elder’s remains has been carried out, it is impossible to make an unambiguous conclusion about who Fyodor Kuzmich really was.

Portrait of Alexander I

Birth certificate of the newborn Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, signed by physicians Karl Friedrich Kruse and Ivan Filippovich Beck

Ceremonial costume of seven-year-old Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich

Portrait of a Count
N.I. Saltykova

Triumphal wreath "Liberator of Europe", presented to Emperor Alexander I

The ceremonial entry of the All-Russian Sovereign Emperor Alexander I into Paris

Medal in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812, which belonged to Emperor Alexander I

Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna in mourning

Death mask of Alexander I

The exhibition in the Neva Enfilade of the ceremonial chambers of the Winter Palace includes over a thousand exhibits closely related to the life and work of Emperor Alexander I, from the collection of the State Hermitage, museums and archives of St. Petersburg and Moscow: archival documents, portraits, memorial items; many monuments are presented for the first time.

“...The Sphinx, unsolved to the grave, They still argue about it again...” wrote P.A. almost half a century after the death of Alexander I. Vyazemsky. These words are still relevant today - 180 years after the death of the emperor.

The exhibition, which has collected a lot of material and documentary evidence, tells about the era of Alexander and allows us to trace the fate of the emperor from birth to death and burial in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Attention is also paid to the peculiar mythology surrounding the untimely death of Alexander Pavlovich in Taganrog - the famous legend about the Siberian hermit elder Fyodor Kuzmich, under whose name the Emperor Alexander I allegedly hid.

The exhibition features portraits of Alexander I, made by Russian and European painters, sculptors and miniaturists. Among them are works by J. Doe, K.A Shevelkin and a recently acquired portrait by the largest miniaturist of the first quarter of the 19th century, A. Benner.

It is worth noting other acquisitions of the Hermitage displayed at the exhibition: “Portrait of Napoleon”, executed by the famous French miniaturist, a student of the famous J.L. David, Napoleon's court master J.-B. Izabe and "Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna", painted from life by E. G. Bosse in 1812.

Along with unique documents and autographs of Alexander I and those in his immediate circle, personal belongings of the emperor are presented: the ceremonial suit of the seven-year-old Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, the suit of a holder of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the coronation uniform (it is believed that the vest was sewn for it by the emperor himself), a cypress cross, medallion with locks of hair from Alexander I and Elizaveta Alekseevna, unpublished letters from educators of the future emperor F.Ts. Laharpe and N.I. Saltykov, educational notebooks.

Valuable exhibits were provided by collector V.V. Tsarenkov: among them is a gold-embroidered briefcase that Alexander I used during the days of the Congress of Vienna and three rare watercolors by Gavriil Sergeev “Alexandrova’s Dacha”.

The exhibition was prepared by the State Hermitage together with the State Archive of the Russian Federation (Moscow), the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire of the Historical and Documentary Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Moscow), the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps (St. Petersburg), the Military Medical Museum Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (St. Petersburg), All-Russian Museum A.S. Pushkin (St. Petersburg), State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Moscow Kremlin" (Moscow), State Historical Museum (Moscow), State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg), State Museum-Reserve "Pavlovsk", State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof", State Museum-Reserve "Tsarskoe Selo", State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments (Moscow), Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House) (St. Petersburg), Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts (St. Petersburg), Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (Moscow), Russian State Military Historical Archive (Moscow), Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg), Central Naval Museum (St. Petersburg), the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO, as well as collectors M.S. Glinka (St. Petersburg), A.S. Surpin (New York), V.V. Tsarenkov (London).

For the exhibition, a team of State Hermitage employees prepared an illustrated scientific catalog with a total volume of 350 pages (Slavia Publishing House). The introductory articles to the publication were written by the director of the State Hermitage M.B. Piotrovsky and Director of the State Archives of the Russian Federation S.V. Mironenko.

This is what Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky, one of the most insightful memoirists of the last century, called Emperor Alexander I. Indeed, the king’s inner world was tightly closed to outsiders. This was largely explained by the difficult situation in which he had been since childhood: on the one hand, his grandmother was exceptionally disposed towards him (for her he was “the joy of our heart”), on the other, a jealous father who saw him as a rival. A.E. Presnyakov aptly noted that Alexander “grew up in the atmosphere not only of Catherine’s court, free-thinking and rationalistic, but also of the Gatchina Palace, with its sympathies for Freemasonry, its German ferment, not alien to pietism”*.

Catherine herself taught her grandson to read and write, introducing him to Russian history. The empress entrusted general supervision of the education of Alexander and Constantine to General N. I. Saltykov, and among the teachers were the naturalist and traveler P. S. Pallas, the writer M. N. Muravyov (the father of the future Decembrists). The Swiss F. S. de La Harpe not only taught French, but also compiled an extensive program of humanistic education. Alexander remembered the lessons of liberalism for a long time.

The young Grand Duke showed an extraordinary intelligence, but his teachers discovered that he had a dislike for serious work and a tendency toward idleness. However, Alexander’s education ended quite early: at the age of 16, without even consulting Paul, Catherine married her grandson to the 14-year-old Princess Louise of Baden, who became Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alekseevna after converting to Orthodoxy. Laharpe left Russia. About the newlyweds, Catherine reported to her regular correspondent Grimm: “This couple is as beautiful as a clear day, they have an abyss of charm and intelligence... This is Psyche herself, united with love”**.

Alexander was a handsome young man, although shortsighted and deaf. From his marriage to Elizabeth, he had two daughters who died at an early age. Quite early, Alexander distanced himself from his wife, entering into a long-term relationship with M.A. Naryshkina, with whom he had children. The death of the emperor's beloved daughter Sophia Naryshkina in 1824 was a heavy blow for him.

* Presnyakov A. E. Decree. op. P. 236.

** Vallotton A. Alexander I. M., 1991. P. 25.

While Catherine II is alive, Alexander is forced to maneuver between the Winter Palace and Gatchina, distrusting both courts, lavishing smiles on everyone, and trusting no one. “Alexander had to live with two minds, keep two ceremonial guises, except for the third - everyday, domestic, a double device of manners, feelings and thoughts. How different this school was from La Harpe’s audience! Forced to say what others liked, he was used to hiding, what I thought myself. Secrecy has turned from a necessity into a need."

Having ascended the throne, Paul appointed Alexander's heir as the military governor of St. Petersburg, senator, inspector of cavalry and infantry, chief of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, chairman of the military department of the Senate, but increased supervision over him and even subjected him to arrest. At the beginning of 1801, the position of Maria Feodorovna's eldest sons and herself was most uncertain. The coup of March 11 brought Alexander to the throne.

Memoirists and historians often gave a negative assessment of Alexander I, noting his duplicity, timidity, and passivity**. “The ruler is weak and crafty,” A.S. Pushkin called him. Modern researchers are more lenient towards Alexander Pavlovich. “Real life shows us something completely different - a purposeful, powerful, extremely lively nature, capable of feelings and experiences, a clear mind, perspicacious and cautious, a flexible person, capable of self-restraint, mimicry, taking into account what kind of people are in the highest echelons of Russian power have to deal with" ***.

* Klyuchevsky V. O. Course of Russian history. Part 5 // Collection. cit.: In 9 volumes. M., 1989. T. 5. P. 191.

** Alexander I was called in various ways: “Northern Talma” (as Napoleon called him), “Crown Hamlet”, “Brilliant Meteor of the North”, etc. An interesting description of Alexander was given by the historian N. I. Ulyanov (see: Ulyanov N. Alexander I - emperor, actor, person // Rodina. 1992. No. 6-7.

Alexander I was a real politician. Having ascended the throne, he conceived a series of transformations in the internal life of the state. Alexander's constitutional projects and reforms were aimed at weakening the dependence of autocratic power on the nobility, which gained enormous political power in the 18th century. Alexander immediately stopped the distribution of state peasants into private ownership, and according to the law of 1803 on free cultivators, landowners were given the right to free their serfs by mutual agreement. In the second period, the personal liberation of peasants in the Baltic states took place and peasant reform projects were developed for the whole of Russia. Alexander tried to encourage the nobles to come up with projects for the liberation of the peasants. In 1819, addressing the Livonian nobility, he declared:

“I am glad that the Livonian nobility lived up to my expectations. Your example is worthy of imitation. You acted in the spirit of the times and realized that liberal principles alone can serve as the basis for the happiness of peoples” ****. However, the nobility was not ready to accept the idea of ​​​​the need to liberate the peasants for more than half a century.

Discussion of liberal reform projects began in the “intimate” circle of Alexander’s young friends when he was heir. “The Emperor's Young Confidants,” as they were called by conservative dignitaries, formed the Secret Committee for several years

*** Sakharov A. N. Alexander I (On the history of life and death) // Russian autocrats. 1801-1917. M" 1993. P. 69.

****Cit. by: Mironenko S.V. Autocracy and reforms. Political struggle in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. M, 1989. P. 117.

(N.N. Novosiltsev, Counts V.P. Kochubey and P.A. Stroganov, Prince Adam Czartoryski). However, the results of their activities were insignificant: instead of outdated collegiums, ministries were created (1802), and the above-mentioned law on free cultivators was issued. Soon wars began with France, Turkey, and Persia, and reform plans were curtailed.

From 1807, one of the largest statesmen of Russia in the 19th century, M. M. Speransky (before the disgrace that followed in 1812), who developed a reform of the social system and public administration, became the tsar’s closest collaborator. But this project was not implemented; only the State Council was created (1810) and the ministries were transformed (1811).

In the last decade of his reign, Alexander became increasingly possessed by mysticism; he increasingly entrusted the current administrative activities to Count A. A. Arakcheev. Military settlements were created, the maintenance of which was entrusted to the very districts in which the troops settled.

A lot was done in the field of education in the first period of the reign: Dorpat, Vilna, Kazan, Kharkov universities, privileged secondary educational institutions (Demidov and Tsarskoye Selo lyceums), the Institute of Railways, and the Moscow Commercial School were opened.

After the Patriotic War of 1812, politics changed dramatically; reactionary policies were pursued by the Minister of Public Education and Spiritual Affairs, Prince A. N. Golitsyn; trustee of the Kazan educational district, who organized the defeat of Kazan University, M. L. Magnitsky; trustee of the St. Petersburg educational district D. P. Runich, who organized the destruction of the St. Petersburg University created in 1819. Archimandrite Photius began to exert great influence on the king.

Alexander I understood that he did not have the talent of a commander; he regretted that his grandmother did not send him to Rumyantsev and Suvorov for training. After Austerlitz (1805), Napoleon said to the Tsar: “Military affairs is not your craft.” * Alexander arrived in the army only when a turning point occurred in the war of 1812 against Napoleon and the Russian autocrat became the arbiter of the destinies of Europe. In 1814, the Senate presented him with the title of Blessed, Magnanimous Restorer of Powers**.

Alexander I's diplomatic talent manifested itself very early. He conducted complex negotiations in Tilsit and Erfurt with Napoleon, achieved great successes at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), and played an active role at the congresses of the Holy Alliance, created on his initiative.

The victorious wars waged by Russia led to a significant expansion of the Russian Empire. At the beginning of Alexander’s reign, the annexation of Georgia was finally formalized (September 1801) ***, in 1806 the Baku, Kuba, Derbent and other khanates were annexed, then Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812), the Kingdom of Poland (1815) . Such commanders as M. I. Kutuzov (although Alexander could not forgive him for the defeat at Austerlitz), M. B. Barclay de Tolly, P. I. Bagration became famous in the wars. Russian generals A.P. Ermolov, M.A. Miloradovich, N.N. Raevsky, D.S. Dokhturov and others were not inferior to the famous Napoleonic marshals and generals.

*Quoted by: Fedorov V. A. Alexander I // Questions of history. 1990. No. 1. P. 63.

**See ibid. P. 64.

*** Even during the reign of Catherine II, the Kartalian-Kakheti king Irakli II, according to the Treaty of Georgievsk in 1783, recognized the patronage of Russia. At the end of 1800, his son Tsar George XII died. In January 1801, Paul I issued a manifesto on the annexation of Georgia to Russia, but the fate of the Georgian dynasty was not determined. According to the September manifesto of 1801, the Georgian dynasty was deprived of all rights to the Georgian throne. At the beginning of the 19th century. Mingrelia and Imereti recognized vassal dependence, Guria and Abkhazia were annexed. Thus, both Eastern (Kartli and Kakheti) and Western Georgia were included in the Russian Empire.

Alexander's final turn to reaction was fully determined in 1819-1820, when the revolutionary movement was reviving in Western Europe. Since 1821, lists of the most active participants in the secret society fell into the hands of the tsar, but he did not take action (“it is not for me to punish”). Alexander becomes more and more secluded, becomes gloomy, and cannot be in one place. Over the last ten years of his reign, he traveled more than 200 thousand miles, traveling around the north and south of Russia, the Urals, the Middle and Lower Volga, Finland, visiting Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London.

The king increasingly has to think about who will inherit the throne. Tsarevich Konstantin, rightfully considered the heir, was very reminiscent of his father in his rudeness and wild antics in his youth. He was with Suvorov during the Italian and Swiss campaigns, subsequently commanded the guard and participated in military operations. While Catherine was still alive, Konstantin married the Saxe-Coburg princess Juliana Henrietta (Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna), but the marriage was unhappy, and in 1801 Anna Feodorovna left Russia forever*.

* In connection with the actress Josephine Friedrich, Konstantin Pavlovich had a son, Pavel Alexandrov (1808-1857), who later became adjutant general, and from a connection with the singer Clara Anna Laurent (Lawrence), the illegitimate daughter of Prince Ivan Golitsyn, a son was born, Konstantin Ivanovich Konstantinov ( 1818-1871), lieutenant general, and daughter Constance, who was raised by the Golitsyn princes and married Lieutenant General Andrei Fedorovich Lishin.

After Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich’s son Alexander was born in 1818, the tsar decided to transfer the throne, bypassing Constantine, to his next brother. Summer of 1819 Alexander I warned Nicholas and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna that they would “be called to the rank of emperor in the future.” That same year, in Warsaw, where Constantine commanded the Polish army, Alexander gave him permission to divorce his wife and to have a morganatic marriage with the Polish Countess Joanna Grudzinskaya, subject to the transfer of his rights to the throne to Nicholas. On March 20, 1820, a manifesto “On the dissolution of the marriage of Grand Duke Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich with Grand Duchess Anna Fedorovna and on an additional resolution on the imperial family” was published. According to this decree, a member of the imperial family, when marrying a person not belonging to the ruling house, could not transfer to his children the right to inherit the throne.

On August 16, 1823, the manifesto on the transfer of the right to the throne to Nicholas was drawn up and deposited in the Assumption Cathedral, and three copies certified by Alexander I were placed in the Synod, Senate and State Council. After the death of the emperor, the package with copies had to be opened first of all. Only Alexander I, Maria Feodorovna, Prince A.N. Golitsyn, Count A.A. Arakcheev and Moscow Archbishop Filaret, who compiled the text of the manifesto, knew the secret of the will.

In the last years of his life, Alexander was more lonely than ever and deeply disappointed. In 1824, he admitted to a random interlocutor: “When I think how little has yet been done within the state, this thought falls on my heart like a ten-pound weight; I get tired of it” **.

** Quoted by: Presnyakov A. E. Decree. op. P. 249.

The unexpected death of Alexander I on November 19, 1825 in distant Taganrog, in a state of moral depression, gave rise to a beautiful legend about the elder Fyodor Kuzmich - supposedly the emperor disappeared and lived under an assumed name until his death*. The news of Alexander's death opened the most acute dynastic crisis of 1825.

PARADOXICALLY, BUT THERE WAS A MONARCH IN RUSSIA WHO DECLARED: “WHATEVER THEY SAY ABOUT ME, I WILL LIVE AND DIE A REPUBLICAN.”

At the beginning of his reign, Alexander I carried out moderate liberal reforms developed by a secret committee and M.M. Speransky - permission to purchase land by all free persons, free passage abroad, free printing houses, a law on free cultivators, according to which, as a result of transactions with landowners, About 84,000 peasants were liberated. New gymnasiums, universities, parish schools, theological academies, the Imperial Public Library, etc. were opened. The Tsar showed intentions to establish a constitutional monarchy in Russia.

In foreign policy he maneuvered between France and England. By 1812, pushed by the nobility, he was preparing for war with France, but Napoleon, being ahead of the curve, started the war first, thereby confusing the cards and forcing the army to retreat. A liberal in relations with foreign countries, who established autonomy and personally opened the parliaments of Finland and Poland, Alexander pursued an extremely tough policy in Russia. He died childless in a legal marriage. A misunderstanding over the succession to the throne led to the Decembrist uprising. His grave, opened in 1926, turned out to be empty, which gave rise to the assumption that he did not die, but initiated death in order to go to the Holy Land. There is still a legend that another person was buried under the guise of Alexander I, and he himself lived in Siberia until 1864 under the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich. However, there is no reliable confirmation of this legend.
...No other Russian sovereign has had as many contradictory opinions expressed as about Alexander I. Prince P.A. Vyazemsky called him “a sphinx not solved to the grave,” and the Swedish ambassador Lagebjörk called him “sharp, like the tip of a sword, sharpened, like a razor, and deceitful like the foam of the sea.”
From childhood, Alexander experienced either the ardent affection of Catherine II or the cruel suspicion of Paul I, was torn between his brilliant and life-loving grandmother and his extravagant father, between the corporal tyranny of his parent and the democratic, humane upbringing of his teacher, the Swiss Laharpe. Not feeling safe in Gatchina, the residence of his father, Paul I, he learned to hide and remain silent under a smile. Later, in 1803, already being emperor, Alexander I, distrustful, resourceful, secretive even with his advisers and ministers, exclaimed: “What is this? Am I not free to do what I want?
“He is very tall and quite well built, especially in the hips; his feet, although a little large, are very well chiselled; light brown hair, blue eyes, not very large, but not small either; very beautiful teeth, charming complexion, straight nose, quite beautiful...” - here is a brief description of Alexander’s appearance made by his bride Elizabeth in 1792.
Later, already suffering from myopia and increasing deafness, he did not give up his panache, the desire to please and win hearts. He could not resist the temptation to show off a beautiful phrase, and the more the meaning of these phrases was unclear, the more easily he adapted them to his intentions, which, however, were just as vague and indefinite. Being ambitious, touchy, vindictive and selfish, he abandoned his childhood friends one after another, with the exception of the teacher La Harpe. Alexander I was fickle to such an extent that even his signature changed. Duality was one of the main character traits of the king. However, despite his fickle mind and changeable moods, he at times showed exceptional generosity of soul and absolute devotion.
Endowed with a subtle and flexible mind, Alexander was drawn to culture and loved meeting foreigners (in Russia he was even reproached for giving them the best places). Being more European than other kings, he was not loved by the people, since he differed in character from his compatriots. Only in some exceptional cases (the Patriotic War of 1812) did the hearts of Russians turn to him.
Before his father's accession to the throne, Alexander was very attached to his parents. After his accession to the throne, Paul I began to fear his son and not trust him. He subjected Alexander to arrests, was going to imprison him in a fortress, and deprive him of his rights to the throne. In this difficult situation, threatening unforeseen troubles, Alexander was forced to remain on guard, avoid any clashes, and lie. He is used to “breaking a comedy.” This, to a large extent, explains his character flaws.
Alexander I behaved very respectfully and nobly with his mother, Maria Feodorovna (she gave birth to ten children; two of her sons became kings, two daughters became queens), although after the tragic death of her husband, Paul I, she laid claim to the throne, wishing become the new Catherine II and thereby take away the rights of her eldest son. He will not be angry with her for this, but he will establish secret surveillance of the correspondence that the restless and wayward widow maintained with untrustworthy individuals. Alexander gave her complete freedom of action, despite the fact that the salon of the former empress often became the center of opposition.
The Emperor invariably showed friendliness towards his brother, Grand Duke Constantine, awkward by nature, unbalanced, funny, suffering from dangerous diseases - a living portrait of his late father, Paul I.
To his sister Catherine, Duchess of Oldenburg, and in his second marriage, Queen of Württemberg, the young Tsar showed ardent affection, which was highly valued by this charming, intelligent and ambitious woman, who knew how to foresee far and make firm decisions. Here are some excerpts from Alexander's letters to Catherine. “If you are crazy, then at least the most seductive of all crazy people... I am crazy about you, do you hear? ). “I love you to the point of madness, to the point of madness, like a maniac!.. Having run around like crazy, I hope to enjoy the rest in your arms... Alas, I can no longer use my former rights (we are talking about your legs, do you understand? ) and cover you with the most tender kisses in your bedroom in Tver..." (April 25, 1811). What do you think about these “brotherly” letters?
In general, Alexander I loved to pursue women, but his weakness prevented him from being persistent in his courtship. He was, with rare exceptions, fickle in his relationships with his mistresses, just as with his friends, he loved to show off. Perhaps he was somewhat influenced by the love affairs of his grandmother, Catherine II, about which he was aware. Alexander I had many fleeting connections. For example, with the French women Mademoiselle Georges, actress Phyllis, Madame Chevalier. But he experienced real passion only for Maria Naryshkina, born a Polish princess. She was the wife of the richest dignitary Dmitry Naryshkin, who held a high position at court and was recognized as the “king of the scenes” and the “prince of puns.” Not very smart, not distinguished by fidelity, this mistress was constantly nearby, holding the king with her beauty, grace and force of habit. The Tsar did not hide this connection; he spent many evenings in a magnificent palace on the Fontanka or at a luxurious dacha on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg (this is where Maria Antonovna Naryshkina lived). At one time there was even a rumor that the tsar was going to annul his marriage and Naryshkina’s marriage in order to marry her. From this almost official relationship, a daughter was born, named Sophia. Let us note an even more unsightly fact: Alexander I encouraged the love affair of his wife, Elizabeth, with his best friend, Adam Czartoryski, a Polish nobleman. The love affair of the beautiful Polish woman Naryshkina with Prince Gagarin put an end to her affair with the emperor, because the sovereign, encouraging his wife’s infidelity, could not stand the infidelity of his mistresses.
However, let us return to the question of the role of the emperor in the “big politics” of the Russian state. The reign of Catherine II is usually called the “era of enlightened absolutism,” but there is reason to assert that it did not end with the death of the “great empress,” but continued throughout the reign of Alexander I. The young monarch cared about improving the legal structure of the Russian Empire and developing firm signs for administrative and educational institutions of the feudal state. The legislative activity of the tsar and his talented assistants (primarily M. Speransky) is striking in the breadth and depth of the problems they developed, indicating the intention of Alexander I to limit the arbitrariness of the bureaucracy and the absolute power of the monarch, to introduce Western liberal norms and principles into Russian practice. The liberal tendencies in the internal policy of Alexander I are evidenced by his first decrees upon his accession to the throne. By decree of March 15, 1801, the tsar declared a complete amnesty for political exiles, prisoners in prisons and emigrants. On April 2, Alexander I issued a decree on the destruction of the “Secret Expedition” (secret police), the very name of which brought people into cold awe. On May 28, a decree was issued banning the printing of advertisements for the sale of serfs without land. All these historical acts gave A.S. Pushkin the basis to say: “Alexander’s days are a wonderful beginning.”
Simultaneously with the abolition of repressive administrative measures of the previous reign, Alexander I immediately began to transform government institutions. By the Manifesto of September 8, 1802, a ministerial system was established to replace the collegiate or collegial system of government. The ministerial system introduced by the reformers turned out to be the best form of governing a huge centralized state. Transformative plans accompanied the entire period of the reign of Alexander I. Having improved the activities of the Cabinet of Ministers, he intended (in 1820) to change the entire previous structure of governance of the vast empire.
Under Alexander I, the necessary conditions were created for a faster (than before) development of domestic entrepreneurship, and they began with the tsar’s manifesto of January 1, 1807 “On granting new benefits to the merchants,” stimulating the development of national trade. The merchants received a number of significant social privileges, and, in particular, were exempted from conscription duties for monetary contributions, and were allowed to create joint-stock companies. At the same time, foreign traders were deprived of their former advantages over Russian ones. According to this manifesto, domestic merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds were largely equal in rights to the nobility; they were allowed to have separate meetings, their own elected bodies, trade courts, etc.
When characterizing the significance of the personality of Alexander I in matters of Russian foreign policy, one can talk about anything but the weak will of the emperor. Many facts of his reign indicate that he was by no means a weak-willed subject, but a fairly strong-willed ruler. This is evidenced, first of all, by his political course, which he pursued, despite the obvious and sometimes hidden opposition of the Russian conservative nobility. After all, going against the majority of the ruling class, especially in a country like Russia, where everyone remembered the fate of Peter III and Paul I (regicide), was a very risky endeavor. But even at the beginning of his reign, the tsar was not afraid of fighting the conservative elements of the Russian aristocracy. A particularly striking example of the emperor’s firmness in pursuing a new policy is the Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon (1807), the news of which literally caused a storm of indignation among the Russian nobles, who saw in the alliance of Russia with Napoleon an unambiguous threat to their privileges, and, in particular, to the strength of serfdom. , whose open enemy was then known as the French emperor. The nobility was sincerely afraid that friendship with the revolutionary leader of the French bourgeoisie would negatively affect the monarchist beliefs of the young Russian autocrat. Despite the fact that the emperor’s mother Maria Feodorovna joined the numerous and influential opponents of the Tilsit agreement with Napoleon, and his “young friends” - Czartoryski, Stroganov, Novosiltsev - were among the critics, Alexander I did not give up. He persistently pursued his then absolutely realistic foreign policy. History has shown that Alexander I was superior to Napoleon in the art of diplomacy.
Alexander I showed exceptional firmness and perseverance even when Russian troops, after the victorious Patriotic War of 1812, reached the borders and Napoleon’s defeated army was expelled from Russia. Russian military leaders, led by Field Marshal Kutuzov, advised the Tsar to give the exhausted troops a well-deserved rest and not to pursue the retreating French. Despite the weight of the arguments of the supporters of a respite in military operations, the tsar nevertheless ordered the troops to go on the offensive and open the so-called foreign liberation campaign of 1813. The decision made by Alexander was strategically completely justified. Napoleon failed to reorganize his demoralized regiments and provide effective resistance to the Russians. In addition, Napoleon's former allies betrayed him and sided with victorious Russia.
The firm and clear position of Alexander I in the war with Napoleon ultimately justified itself, and the Tsar entered Paris victoriously in March 1814. Entering Paris as the conqueror of Napoleon, Alexander I once proudly said to General Ermolov:
- Well, Alexey Petrovich, what will they say in St. Petersburg now? After all, really, there was a time when we, while glorifying Napoleon, considered me a simpleton.
What did Napoleon himself say about Alexander? In 1810 the Emperor of the French said to Metternich, the Austrian Foreign Minister:
- The king is one of those people who attract and seem created to charm those who encounter them. If I were a person susceptible to purely personal impressions, I could become attached to him with all my heart. But along with his outstanding mental abilities and ability to conquer others, there are traits in him that I cannot understand. I cannot explain this something better than by saying that in everything he always lacks something. The most amazing thing is that you can never predict what he will lack in this or that case, or in given circumstances, because this lack is endlessly varied.
Two years later, during the War of 1812, Napoleon unceremoniously called Alexander a “Byzantine” and a “Greek of the decline of the empire.” After his campaign in Russia, Alexander earned the following epithets from him: insincere, deceitful, insidious, hypocritical. Only on the island of St. Helena, shortly before his death, did he speak more kindly about Alexander.
In this regard, it should be noted that shameless compromise of their military-political rivals is a long-standing weapon of monarchs and diplomats. An example of the stunning deceit and duplicity of Western diplomacy is the following episode that occurred in Vienna in January 1815. Representatives of Austria (Metternich), England (Castlereagh) and France (Talleyrand) signed a secret treaty directed against Russia; which even provided for the possibility of starting military action against her if she did not renounce her territorial claims to Polish lands. This secret act meant the end of the anti-Napoleonic coalition. And only Napoleon’s return (“one hundred days”) from the island of Elba to France prevented the implementation of the treaty. A copy of this anti-Russian agreement was sent by Talleyrand to Louis XVIII in Paris, who, having learned about Napoleon's landing, hastily fled Paris (March 19, 1815), leaving this top-secret agreement in his office. Napoleon discovered him there and urgently sent him to Alexander I in Vienna in order to show the treachery of his recent allies and thereby persuade the Russian emperor to break with England and Austria and resume Franco-Russian friendship. And it is extremely remarkable how Alexander I acted in this situation. Having received revealing news from Napoleon, the tsar did not flare up against his unfaithful allies and did not take revenge on them. He invited their representatives to his office and, showing them evidence of their betrayal, said conciliatoryly:
- Let's forget about this episode. Now we must be together to end Napoleon.
After the wars of 1812-1815. The authority of Alexander I both in Russia and throughout the world was extremely high. Decembrist S.P. Trubetskoy wrote: “At the end of the Patriotic War of 1812, the name of Emperor Alexander thundered throughout the enlightened world. Russia was proud of him and expected a new destiny from him. The era of independence has arrived. All that remained was to taste the fruits of this situation. The Emperor expressed his manifesto of gratitude to his army and all classes of the Russian people, who raised him to the highest level of glory, and promised, having established the calm of the general peace in Europe, to take up the organization of the internal well-being of his vast state entrusted by Providence.”
However, in all likelihood, the tsar’s constitutional fervor was cooled by such alarming events as the unrest in the Semyonovsky regiment (1820) and the anti-monarchist conspiracy being prepared by the Decembrists. At the end of May 1821, Adjutant General I.V. Vasilchikov reported to the Tsar the information he had received about the political conspiracy being prepared in the country and showed a list of participants in the secret society. After listening to the report, the king said thoughtfully:
- Dear Vasilchikov, you, who have been in my service since the beginning of my reign, you know that I shared and encouraged these illusions and delusions. And it’s not for me to punish them (the conspirators).
As a result of this attitude of the emperor towards his political opponents, none of them were put on trial or subjected to any strict administrative persecution. The Tsar, as it were, amnestied the members of the “Union of Welfare”, but soon (in 1822) banned all Masonic and other secret societies that existed on the territory of Russia, which, however, did not prevent the emergence of the “Northern” and “Southern” societies, whose members later became Decembrists.
...Alexander I did not live to be 50 years old. By the end of his reign, the king went through a harsh school of events and difficult trials. His liberal thoughts and young sympathies were painfully affected by harsh reality.

Alexander Zhukovsky.

Paradoxically, this Sovereign, who defeated Napoleon himself and liberated Europe from his rule, always remained in the shadows of history, constantly subjected to slander and humiliation, having “glued” to his personality the youthful lines of Pushkin: “The ruler is weak and crafty.” As the doctor of history of the Paris Institute of Oriental Languages ​​A.V. writes. Rachinsky:

As in the case of Tsar Nicholas II, Alexander I is a slandered figure in Russian history: he was slandered during his lifetime, and continued to be slandered after his death, especially in Soviet times. Dozens of volumes, entire libraries have been written about Alexander I, and mostly these are lies and slander against him.

The situation in Russia began to change only recently, after President V.V. Putin in November 2014 unveiled a monument to Emperor Alexander I near the Kremlin walls, declaring:

Alexander I will forever go down in history as the conqueror of Napoleon, as a far-sighted strategist and diplomat, as a statesman aware of his responsibility for safe European and world development. It was the Russian Emperor who stood at the origins of the then system of European international security.

Note from Alexander I to Napoleon

The personality of Alexander the Blessed remains one of the most complex and mysterious in Russian history. Prince P.A. Vyazemsky called it “The Sphinx, unsolved to the grave.” But according to the apt expression of A. Rachinsky, the fate of Alexander I beyond the grave is just as mysterious. There is more and more evidence that the Tsar ended his earthly journey with the righteous elder Theodore Kozmich, canonized as a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. World history knows few figures comparable in scale to Emperor Alexander I. His era was the “golden age” of the Russian Empire, then St. Petersburg was the capital of Europe, the fate of which was decided in the Winter Palace. Contemporaries called Alexander I the “King of Kings”, the conqueror of the Antichrist, the liberator of Europe. The population of Paris enthusiastically greeted him with flowers; the main square of Berlin is named after him - Alexander Platz.

As for the participation of the future Emperor in the events of March 11, 1801, it is still shrouded in secrecy. Although it itself, in any form, does not adorn the biography of Alexander I, there is no convincing evidence that he knew about the impending murder of his father. According to the memoirs of a contemporary of the events, guards officer N.A. Sablukov, most people close to Alexander testified that he, “having received the news of his father’s death, was terribly shocked” and even fainted at his coffin. Fonvizin described Alexander I’s reaction to the news of his father’s murder:

When it was all over and he learned the terrible truth, his grief was inexpressible and reached the point of despair. The memory of this terrible night haunted him all his life and poisoned him with secret sadness.

It should be noted that the head of the conspiracy, Count P.A. von der Palen, with truly satanic cunning, intimidated Paul I about a conspiracy against him by his eldest sons Alexander and Constantine, and their father’s intentions to send them under arrest to the Peter and Paul Fortress, or even to the scaffold. The suspicious Paul I, who knew well the fate of his father Peter III, could well believe in the veracity of Palen’s messages. In any case, Palen showed Alexander the Emperor’s order, almost certainly fake, about the arrest of Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Tsarevich himself. According to some reports, however, which do not have exact confirmation, Palen asked the Heir to give the go-ahead for the Emperor’s abdication from the throne. After some hesitation, Alexander allegedly agreed, categorically stating that his father should not suffer in the process. Palen gave him his word of honor in this, which he cynically violated on the night of March 11, 1801. On the other hand, a few hours before the murder, Emperor Paul I summoned the sons of Tsarevich Alexander and Grand Duke Constantine and ordered them to be sworn in (although they had already done this is during his ascension to the throne). After they fulfilled the will of the Emperor, he came into a good mood and allowed his sons to dine with him. It is strange that after this Alexander would give his go-ahead for a coup d'état.

The Alexander Column was erected in 1834 by the architect Auguste Montferrand in memory of the victory of Alexander I over Napoleon. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Despite the fact that Alexander Pavlovich’s participation in the conspiracy against his father does not have sufficient evidence, he himself always considered himself guilty of it. The Emperor perceived Napoleon's invasion not only as a mortal threat to Russia, but also as punishment for his sin. That is why he perceived the victory over the invasion as the greatest Grace of God. “Great is the Lord our God in His mercy and in His wrath! - said the Tsar after the victory. The Lord walked ahead of us. “He defeated the enemies, not us!” On a commemorative medal in honor of 1812, Alexander I ordered the words to be minted: “Not for us, not for us, but for Your name!” The Emperor refused all the honors that they wanted to give him, including the title “Blessed”. However, against his will, this nickname stuck among the Russian people.

After the victory over Napoleon, Alexander I was the main figure in world politics. France was his trophy, he could do whatever he wanted with it. The allies proposed dividing it into small kingdoms. But Alexander believed that whoever allows evil creates evil himself. Foreign policy is a continuation of domestic policy, and just as there is no double morality - for oneself and for others, there is no domestic and foreign policy.

The Orthodox Tsar in foreign policy, in relations with non-Orthodox peoples, could not be guided by other moral principles. A. Rachinsky writes:

Alexander I, in a Christian manner, forgave the French all their guilt against Russia: the ashes of Moscow and Smolensk, robberies, the blown up Kremlin, the execution of Russian prisoners. The Russian Tsar did not allow his allies to plunder and divide defeated France into pieces. Alexander refuses reparations from a bloodless and hungry country. The Allies (Prussia, Austria and England) were forced to submit to the will of the Russian Tsar, and in turn refused reparations. Paris was neither robbed nor destroyed: the Louvre with its treasures and all the palaces remained intact.

Emperor Alexander I became the main founder and ideologist of the Holy Alliance, created after the defeat of Napoleon. Of course, the example of Alexander the Blessed was always in the memory of Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, and there is no doubt that the Hague Conference of 1899, convened on the initiative of Nicholas II, was inspired by the Holy Alliance. This, by the way, was noted in 1905 by Count L.A. Komarovsky: “Having defeated Napoleon,” he wrote, “Emperor Alexander thought of granting lasting peace to the peoples of Europe, tormented by long wars and revolutions. According to his thoughts, the great powers should have united in an alliance that, based on the principles of Christian morality, justice and moderation, would be called upon to assist them in reducing their military forces and increasing trade and general well-being.” After the fall of Napoleon, the question of a new moral and political order in Europe arises. For the first time in world history, Alexander, the “king of kings,” is trying to place moral principles at the basis of international relations. Holiness will be the fundamental beginning of a new Europe. A. Rachinsky writes:

The name of the Holy Alliance was chosen by the King himself. In French and German the biblical connotation is obvious. The concept of the truth of Christ enters international politics. Christian morality becomes a category of international law, selflessness and forgiveness of the enemy are proclaimed and put into practice by the victorious Napoleon.

Alexander I was one of the first statesmen of modern history who believed that in addition to earthly, geopolitical tasks, Russian foreign policy had a spiritual task. “We are busy here with the most important concerns, but also the most difficult ones,” the Emperor wrote to Princess S.S. Meshcherskaya. “The matter is about finding means against the dominion of evil, which is spreading with speed with the help of all the secret forces possessed by the satanic spirit that controls them. This remedy that we are looking for is, alas, beyond our weak human strength. The Savior alone can provide this remedy by His Divine word. Let us cry out to Him with all our fullness, from all the depths of our hearts, that He may grant Him permission to send His Holy Spirit upon us and guide us along the path pleasing to Him, which alone can lead us to salvation.”

The believing Russian people have no doubt that this path led Emperor Alexander the Blessed, the Tsar-Tsars, the ruler of Europe, the ruler of half the world, to a small hut in the distant Tomsk province, where he, Elder Theodore Kozmich, in long prayers atone for his sins and those of all Russia. from Almighty God. The last Russian Tsar, the holy martyr Nicholas Alexandrovich, also believed in this, who, while still the Heir, secretly visited the grave of the elder Theodore Kozmich and called him the Blessed.