When was Nicholas the first born? Nicholas the First. Years of government, domestic and foreign policy, reforms

Rise to power

After the childless Emperor Alexander the First, the Russian throne, by virtue of the laws on succession to the throne, was supposed to pass to his brother, Konstantin Pavlovich, who bore the title of Tsarevich. But back in 1819, Emperor Alexander, in a confidential conversation, informed his younger brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, that he would soon ascend the throne, since he decided to abdicate the throne and retire from the world, and his brother Constantine was also renouncing his rights to the throne. After this conversation Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich began to diligently fill in the gaps in his education by reading. But, not having an official document about the renunciation of his brother, Grand Duke Constantine, from the rights to succession to the throne, Nikolai Pavlovich, having learned about the death of Alexander, was the first to take the oath to Emperor Constantine. But then, during an emergency meeting of the State Council, a sealed package was opened, placed there by Emperor Alexander the First back in 1823, with a handwritten inscription: “Keep until my demand, and in the event of my death, open before any other action, in an emergency meeting ". Similar sealed packages were also kept, just in case, in the synod, senate and Moscow Assumption Cathedral; their contents were unknown to anyone. The opened packages contained:

1) a letter from Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich to the late sovereign dated January 14, 1822 about the voluntary abdication of the Russian throne, with a request to approve such an intention with his imperial word and the consent of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna;

2) the response of Alexander I dated February 2 of the same year about consent to the request of Konstantin Pavlovich both on his part and on the part of the Empress-Mother;

3) manifesto of August 16, 1823, confirming the right to the throne, on the occasion of the voluntary abdication of the Tsarevich, to Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. But after opening and reading, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich himself still refused to proclaim himself emperor until the final expression of the will of his elder brother. Constantine's confirmation of his previous abdication was received in St. Petersburg on December 12, and on the same day a manifesto followed on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I.

Governing body

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov, the future Emperor Nicholas I, was born on July 6 (June 25, O.S.) 1796 in Tsarskoe Selo. He became the third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Nicholas was not the eldest son and therefore did not claim the throne. It was assumed that he would devote himself to a military career. At the age of six months, the boy received the rank of colonel, and at three years old he was already sporting the uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.

Responsibility for raising Nikolai and his younger brother Mikhail was entrusted to General Lamzdorf. Home education consisted of studying economics, history, geography, law, engineering and fortification. Particular emphasis was placed on studying foreign languages: French, German and Latin. The humanities did not give Nikolai much pleasure, but everything related to engineering and military affairs attracted his attention. As a child, Nikolai mastered playing the flute and took drawing lessons, and this acquaintance with art allowed him to be considered a connoisseur of opera and ballet in the future.

In July 1817, Nikolai Pavlovich’s wedding took place with Princess Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia, who after baptism took the name Alexandra Feodorovna. And from that time on, the Grand Duke began to actively take part in the arrangement of the Russian army. He was in charge of engineering units, and under his leadership, educational institutions were created in companies and battalions. In 1819, with his assistance, the Main Engineering School and schools for guards ensigns were opened. Nevertheless, the army did not like him for being excessively pedantic and picky about little things.

In 1820, a turning point occurred in the biography of the future Emperor Nicholas I: his elder brother Alexander I announced that due to the refusal of the heir to the throne Constantine, the right to reign passed to Nicholas. For Nikolai Pavlovich, the news came as a shock; he was not ready for it. Despite the protests of his younger brother, Alexander I secured this right with a special manifesto.

However, on December 1 (November 19, O.S.), Emperor Alexander I suddenly died. Nicholas again tried to renounce his reign and shift the burden of power to Constantine. Only after the publication of the tsar's manifesto, naming Nikolai Pavlovich as heir, did he have to agree with the will of Alexander I.

The date of the oath to the troops on Senate Square was scheduled for December 26 (December 14, O.S.). It was this date that became decisive in the performances of the participants of various secret societies, which went down in history as the Decembrist uprising.

The revolutionaries' plan was not implemented, the army did not support the rebels, and the uprising was suppressed. After the trial, five leaders of the uprising were executed, and a large number of participants and sympathizers went into exile. The reign of Nicholas I began very dramatically, but there were no other executions during his reign.

The crowning took place on August 22, 1826 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and in May 1829 the new emperor assumed the rights of autocrat of the Polish kingdom.

The first steps of Nicholas I in politics were quite liberal: A. S. Pushkin returned from exile, V. A. Zhukovsky became the heir’s mentor; Nicholas’s liberal views are also indicated by the fact that the Ministry of State Property was headed by P. D. Kiselev, who was not a supporter of serfdom.

However, history has shown that the new emperor was an ardent supporter of the monarchy. His main slogan, defining public policy, was expressed in three postulates: autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality. The main thing that Nicholas I sought and achieved with his policy was not to create something new and better, but to preserve and improve the existing order.

The emperor's desire for conservatism and blind adherence to the letter of the law led to the development of an even greater bureaucracy in the country. In fact, an entire bureaucratic state was created, the ideas of which continue to live to this day. The most severe censorship was introduced, a division of the Secret Chancellery was created, headed by Benckendorff, which conducted political investigation. Very close monitoring of the printing industry was established.

During the reign of Nicholas I, some changes affected the existing serfdom. Uncultivated lands in Siberia and the Urals began to be developed, and peasants were sent to raise them regardless of their desire. Infrastructure was created on new lands, and peasants were supplied with new agricultural equipment.

The first one was built under Nicholas I Railway. Track Russian roads was wider than European ones, which contributed to the development of domestic technology.

A financial reform began, which was supposed to introduce a unified system for calculating silver coins and banknotes.

A special place in the tsar's policy was occupied by concern about the penetration of liberal ideas into Russia. Nicholas I sought to destroy all dissent not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. The suppression of all kinds of uprisings and revolutionary riots could not be done without the Russian Tsar. As a result, he received the well-deserved nickname “gendarme of Europe.”

All the years of the reign of Nicholas I were filled with military operations abroad. 1826-1828 - Russian-Persian War, 1828-1829 - Russo-Turkish War, 1830 - suppression of the Polish uprising by Russian troops. In 1833, the Treaty of Unkar-Iskelesi was signed, which became the highest point of Russian influence on Constantinople. Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships into the Black Sea. However, this right was soon lost as a result of the Second London Convention in 1841. 1849 - Russia is an active participant in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary.

The culmination of the reign of Nicholas I was the Crimean War. It was she who was the collapse of the emperor’s political career. He did not expect that Great Britain and France would come to Turkey's aid. The policy of Austria also caused concern, whose unfriendliness forced the Russian Empire to keep an entire army on its western borders.

As a result, Russia lost influence in the Black Sea and lost the opportunity to build and use military fortresses on the coast.

In 1855, Nicholas I fell ill with the flu, but, despite being unwell, in February he went to a military parade without outerwear... The emperor died on March 2, 1855.

Third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna, brother Emperor Alexander I, father of Emperor Alexander II, last grandson Great Catherine II, born during her lifetime - Nicholas I - cold-blooded, solemn, fair and sometimes sentimental.

One of the first emperors of Russia who proclaimed service to the Russian people as “first after God.” One of the first emperors who rejected luxury and royal indulgence, celebrations, balls and all kinds of entertainment. He believed that the throne and serving Russia were work, not pleasure and entertainment.

His life was boring, monotonous and simple, like everything that was connected with him. So, facts about Nicholas I - the Great Emperor of Russia.

Monument

This monument on St. Isaac's Square is so good that it has survived all disasters of a bygone era. The Emperor, in the uniform of a guard officer, sits on a horse, which can be said to be dancing, rising on its hind legs and having no other support. It is unclear what makes her float in the air. Note that this unshakable instability does not bother the rider at all - he is cool and solemn.

This made the Bolsheviks’ project to replace the crown bearer with the “hero of the revolution” Budyonny ridiculous. In general, the monument caused them a lot of trouble. On the one hand, hatred of Nicholas the First forced the issue of overthrowing his equestrian statue in the center of Petrograd-Leningrad to be raised every now and then. On the other hand, the brilliant creation of Peter Klodt could not be touched without being branded as vandals.

I am inclined to be very critical of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, which can hardly be called happy. It began with the Decembrist rebellion and ended with the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War. Entire libraries have been written about the dominance of the bureaucracy, spitzrutens, embezzlement during this reign. Much of this is true. The half-German-half-Russian system created by Peter the Great had already become quite worn out under Nicholas, but Nicholas was brought up by it. Without recognizing her in his soul, the king was forced to fight with himself all his life and, it seemed, was defeated.

Is it so?

It was under his reign that great Russian literature was born, which was hardly a matter of chance. Not without the influence of the sovereign, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin became a great poet.

Once the Emperor, after meeting with Pushkin in the Chudov Monastery, said to one of his entourage:

Do you know what I talked to today? the smartest person Russia?

With whom? - he asked.

With Pushkin, - answered the Emperor

The educated society of Russia, previously barely fluent in their native language, finally acquired a clearly defined national character and turned its face to God. “I put Nicholas the First above Peter the Great,” said Metropolitan of Kiev Platon (Gorodetsky). - For him, they were immeasurably more expensive Orthodox faith and the sacred covenants of our history than for Peter... Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich was wholeheartedly devoted to everything purebred Russian and especially to that which stands at the head and foundation of the Russian people and kingdom - the Orthodox faith.”

“Where the Russian flag once rose, it can no longer fall”

In Nicholas we see the beginning of that restrained greatness that would characterize the three subsequent reigns. Chancellor Nesselrode once reported to the Tsar about Captain 1st Rank Nevelsky. He arbitrarily founded an outpost on Far East, raising the Russian flag over him. The location was controversial, which angered England. The dignitary offered to apologize to the British and demote the captain to sailor. “Where the Russian flag once rose, it can no longer fall,” the emperor replied... and promoted Nevelsky to admiral.

Under Nikolai Pavlovich, Russia suddenly grew into a power, against which all former opponents and allies rallied. A chain of mistakes made by the sovereign deprived us of victory in this battle. This was God’s will, but not crushing, but teaching. To everyone's amazement, Russia did not cower in fear, but became even stronger. Just as at the end of 1941, after terrible defeats, it crossed the line when it could be defeated from the outside.

“Thank God that you are Russian”

In 1826, a Russian contemporary described the appearance of the sovereign: “Tall, lean, had a wide chest... a quick look, a clear voice, suitable for a tenor, but he spoke somewhat patter... Some kind of genuine severity was visible in his movements.”

“Genuine severity”... When he commanded troops, he never shouted. There was no need for this - the king’s voice could be heard a mile away; the tall grenadiers looked like children next to him. Nicholas led an ascetic lifestyle, but if we talk about the luxury of the court, the magnificent receptions - they stunned everyone, especially foreigners. This was done in order to emphasize the status of Russia, which the sovereign cared about incessantly. General Pyotr Daragan recalled how, in the presence of Nikolai Pavlovich, he spoke French, grazing. Nikolai, suddenly putting on an exaggeratedly serious expression, began repeating every word after him, which brought his wife into a fit of laughter. Daragan, crimson with shame, jumped out into the reception room, where Nikolai caught up with him and, kissing him, explained: “Why are you burr? No one will mistake you for a Frenchman; Thank God that you are Russian, and being an ape is no good.”

The Russian kingdom is higher than any other - and the sovereign recognized this not out of an egoistic need to rise himself.

The Tsar generally thought very little about himself, contrary to the opinion of his hater, the Marquis de Custine, who believed that Nicholas was hypocritical. The only thing was that I was embarrassed by my early baldness. To hide this flaw, the sovereign wore a wig, which he parted with one day amid general laughter. This happened after the birth of her first granddaughter, in 1842. Having received the good news, Nikolai Pavlovich, in front of the formation of cadets, tore off the ill-fated wig from his head and, kicking it, shouted defiantly:

– Now I’m a grandfather, fuck him!

“Don’t hang royal portraits in taverns”

Let us retell a story that shows how little the sovereign valued himself personally. One of the Seventh's old-timers infantry division, standing in Poland, Agathon Suleikin celebrated his name day in the Tsar’s Tavern, where a portrait of Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich hung. They drank and started getting rowdy. The hero of the occasion, having heard that it was not proper to act outrageously under the portrait of the monarch, barked: “What do I care about the portrait! I am the portrait myself!” – and spat at the image of the emperor.

The news of this somehow reached the king. On the received report, Nikolai Pavlovich scribbled: “Inform private Agathon Suleikin before the front that I myself don’t give a damn about him. And since this unfortunate man, drunk, did not know what he was doing, the matter should be stopped, and portraits of the Tsar should not be hung in taverns.” To implement the resolution, a regiment was built where the soldier served. After drum roll read the sovereign's message to Agathon Suleikin. Everyone believed that he would then be flogged to death, meanwhile he was ordered to get back into line... The next Sunday, Suleikin lit an impressively sized candle to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and vowed never to drink alcohol again. He kept this promise.

The Tsar's nickname is Nikolai Palkin

“Why then was the Tsar nicknamed Nikolai Palkin?!” - the reader will exclaim. This offensive nickname was the invention of Leo Tolstoy. Suffice it to say that Tolstoy counted among the accomplices of the executioners good doctor Gaaza. It is clear that the sovereign had no opportunity to earn the respect of the classic.

Meanwhile, the time in which Emperor Nicholas lived was quite rough. The tsar himself was flogged mercilessly in childhood and adolescence, like most officers, and already they, having received such an upbringing, did not stand on ceremony with the rank and file. Therefore, it is stupid to evaluate the morals of that era from the standpoint of the present time. The only criterion worthy of attention is to look at whether the situation of the soldiers has worsened or not. For example, under Emperor Paul, officers began to be punished more often than soldiers. Under Alexander Pavlovich, a ban on corporal punishment was introduced for a soldier who received an award. Nicholas I reduced the number of strikes with spitzrutens three times. It was strictly forbidden to carry out executions without a doctor, who had the right to stop the flogging.

The following story shows how he treated the Russian soldier.

As you know, the sovereign walked the streets of St. Petersburg without security. Walking alone one day, he saw the funeral of a retired soldier. Following the coffin was only a poorly dressed woman, probably the wife of the deceased. The king joined her, and they walked together for some time. However, seeing the sovereign, other people began to approach - and soon hundreds of people silently walked next to their emperor, seeing off the private on his last journey.

Attention to " little man" was characteristic feature Emperor. One winter he noticed an official walking in only a frock coat. Having learned that the poor fellow had one, and a poor one, overcoat that was being repaired, the sovereign ordered a new one to be sent to him. Subsequently, making sure that this man was impeccably honest, Nikolai ordered his salary to be increased. The story is even more fantastic than Gogol's.

Cholera

Among the remarkable deeds of the sovereign were two episodes during the fight against cholera. In Moscow, the height of the epidemic occurred in 1830. Sometimes merciless measures were used to defeat the disease, but nothing helped. Everyone who had the opportunity fled the city. The Tsar went to Moscow to support the exhausted residents, despite the fact that doctors, including Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz, were against it.

“Crowds came running to the squares, shouting “Hurray!”, wrote L. Kopelev, “some knelt down, women cried... “Our angel... God save you!” Among others, this shocked Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, who noted that the willingness to risk his life to be with his people was “a trait that hardly any of the crowned people showed.”

In July of the following year, cholera reached extreme levels already in St. Petersburg, where up to five hundred people died a day. Rumors began to spread that the doctors were to blame for everything, contaminating the bread and water. Riots occurred and several doctors were killed. One day a huge crowd gathered at Sennaya Square. Having learned about this, the sovereign, accompanied by several people, rushed there. Entering the middle of the crowd, he, thanks to his height, visible from everywhere, called people to conscience and ended his speech with a thunderous roar:

- On knees! Ask the Almighty for forgiveness!

Thousands of citizens, as one, fell to their knees. Almost a quarter of an hour ago these people were choking with rage, but suddenly everything became quiet and the words of prayer began to sound. On the way back, the king took off his outer clothing and burned it in the field so as not to infect his family and retinue.

Abuse

In the mornings, the king prayed for a long time, kneeling, and never missed Sunday services. He slept on a narrow camp bed, on which a thin mattress was placed, and covered with an old officer's overcoat. The level of his personal consumption was slightly higher than that of Gogol’s Akaki Akakievich.

Immediately after the coronation, food expenses royal family were cut from 1500 rubles per day to 25. Cutlets with mashed potatoes, cabbage soup, porridge, usually buckwheat - this is his traditional diet. More than three dishes were not allowed to be served. One day the head waiter could not resist and placed the most delicate trout dish in front of the king. “What is this, the fourth course? Eat it yourself,” the sovereign frowned. He rarely had dinner - he limited himself to tea.

But embezzlement under Nicholas I did not decrease at all; many even thought it had increased. This is all the more amazing since the sovereign waged a thirty-year cruel war against this disaster. It should be noted the energy of provincial prosecutors: trials of embezzlers and bribe-takers have become commonplace. Thus, in 1853, 2,540 officials were on trial. It couldn't be any other way. The fight against the coming revolution forced stricter rules inner life empires. However, the more zealously they fought against corruption, the more it spread.

Later, the famous monarchist Ivan Solonevich tried to explain this phenomenon in relation to the Stalin era: “The more theft there was, the stronger the control apparatus should be. But the larger the control apparatus, the more theft: controllers also love herring.”

The Marquis de Custine wrote well about these “herring lovers.” He was an enemy of Russia and understood little about it, but he still made one diagnosis correctly: “Russia is ruled by a class of officials... and often ruled against the will of the monarch... From the depths of their offices, these invisible despots, these pygmy tyrants oppress the country with impunity. And, paradoxically, the All-Russian autocrat often notes that his power has limits. This limit is set for him by bureaucracy - a terrible force, because its abuse is called love of order.”

Only the inspiration of the people can save the Fatherland in difficult moments, but the inspiration is sober and responsible. Otherwise, it degenerates into unrest and rebellion, putting the country on the brink of destruction. The Decembrist uprising poisoned the reign of Nikolai Pavlovich, a man by nature alien to any harshness. He is considered some kind of maniacal adherent of order. But order was a means, not an end, for the king. At the same time, his lack of managerial talent had dire consequences. The maid of honor Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva testified that the emperor “spent 18 hours a day at work, worked until late at night, got up at dawn... did not sacrifice anything for the sake of pleasure and everything for the sake of duty and took on more labor and worries than the last day laborer from his subjects. He sincerely believed that he was able to see everything with his own eyes, regulate everything according to his own understanding, and transform everything with his own will.”

As a result, “he only piled up a pile of colossal abuses around his uncontrolled power, all the more harmful because from the outside they were covered up by official legality, and neither public opinion, nor private initiative had either the right to point out them or the opportunity to fight them.”

The officials became remarkably adept at imitating their activities and deceived the sovereign at every step. As an intelligent person, he understood that something was wrong, but he could not change anything, he only laughed bitterly at the futility of many of his efforts.

One day, while on the road, the emperor's carriage overturned. Nikolai Pavlovich, having broken his collarbone and left hand, walked seventeen miles to Chembar, one of the towns of the Penza province. Having barely recovered, he went to look at the local officials. They dressed in new uniform and they lined up in a line according to the seniority of ranks, with swords, and held triangular hats in their hands extended at the seams. Nicholas examined them, not without surprise, and said to the governor:

– I not only saw them all, but even know them very well!

He was amazed:

- Excuse me, Your Majesty, but where could you see them?

- In a very funny comedy called “The Inspector General.”

To be fair, let’s say that in the United States of that era, embezzlement and bribery were no less widespread. But if in Russia this evil was more or less eradicated in late XIX century, then in America it flourished for several more decades. The difference was that American officials did not have such influence over the life of the country.

"The first after God"

From this bleak picture one can imagine that complete stagnation reigned in the economic life of the country under Nikolai Pavlovich. But no - it was during his reign that the industrial revolution took place, the number of enterprises and workers doubled, and the efficiency of their labor tripled.

Serf labor in industry was prohibited. The volume of engineering production increased 33 times from 1830 to 1860. The first thousand miles of railway were laid, and for the first time in the history of Russia, construction of a paved highway began.

During his reign, Count Sergei Uvarov carried out a revolution in the fight against illiteracy.

The number of peasant schools increased from 60 to more than 40 times, 111 thousand children began to study. All state peasants were allocated their own plots of land and forest plots, auxiliary cash desks and grain stores were established, which provided assistance with cash loans and grain in case of crop failure. By the mid-1850s, there were practically no landless farm laborers left - everyone received land from the state.

The position of the serfs, who were considered landowners, improved significantly. Trade by peasants was stopped, they received freedom of movement, the right to own land, and conduct business. The “third department” received strict orders to ensure that landowners did not violate the rights of peasants. As a result, hundreds of landowners' estates were seized.

“A dog’s death is a dog’s death.”

Here is a case that fully characterizes the changes. One day a serf boy, the son of a huntsman, playing with the landowner's dog, injured its paw. The master rashly shot the child. His father came running to the shot, grabbed the killer, tied his hands, and sat him in a chair. In front of the assembled servants, he listed all the master’s atrocities and asked the question: what to do with the monster? Then he carried out the sentence of peace, after which he surrendered to the authorities... Having learned about what had happened, the sovereign freed the unfortunate man, writing in his own hand: “For a dog, a dog’s death.”

Where else was this possible? It was during the reign of Emperor Nicholas that the triad was born, which can be called the only possible Russian idea: “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality.” She was born to a wonderful scientist, Minister of Public Education Sergei Uvarov.

All sorts of “petty demons” still laugh at his beliefs, meanwhile Russia became the first country in the world to place nationality among the most important foundations of existence. For the false elite, the people are nothing more than cattle, for the bourgeoisie they are buyers, for politicians they are the electorate. Only for the Russian tsars did the people, regardless of rank and status, stand next to the Lord God in importance.

The throne is work, not pleasure

Nicholas I led an ascetic and healthy image life. He was devout and never missed Sunday services. He did not smoke and did not like smokers, did not drink strong drinks, walked a lot, and did drill exercises with weapons. I got up at 7 am and worked 16 hours a day. Discipline in the army was also established under him. He did not like luxurious royal outfits, preferred to dress in a simple officer’s overcoat, and slept on a hard bed.

Didn't shy away from connections on the side

In this regard, he was unable to show severity to himself, and was, like most rulers, a real womanizer. In 1817, he married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Frederick William III, who after converting to Orthodoxy received the name Alexandra Feodorovna. They had 7 children, among them the future Emperor Alexander II. At the same time, he had many hobbies, and according to some sources, 7 illegitimate children. For 17 years he was in a relationship with Varvara Nelidova.

Laid the first roads and helped descendants in the Second World War

It was under him that for the first time in the history of Russia, intensive construction of paved roads began: the Moscow-St. Petersburg, Moscow-Irkutsk, Moscow-Warsaw routes were built. He began building railroads. At the same time, he showed amazing foresight. Fearing that the enemy would be able to come to Russia on a steam locomotive, he demanded to expand the Russian gauge (1524 mm versus 1435 in Europe), which helped us a hundred years later. In 1941, during the Great Patriotic War, this significantly hampered the supply and maneuverability of the German occupation forces due to the lack of broad gauge locomotives.

"God punishes the proud"

After forty years, the emperor’s health began to fail more and more. His legs hurt and became swollen, and in the spring of 1847 he began to experience severe dizziness. At the same time, it seemed that the sovereign’s illnesses were somehow inexplicably transmitted to the entire country. Two disasters darkened the last years of Nikolai Pavlovich's reign. The first of them - defeat in the Crimean War - did not take long to arrive.

What was the source of the disaster? The fact is that the sovereign, following his older brother Alexander Pavlovich, perceived Russia as part of the European community of states, and the strongest militarily and the most mature ideologically. The idea was that only an unbreakable union of monarchies could resist revolution in Europe. The emperor was ready to intervene in European affairs at any moment.

Of course, this caused general irritation, and they began to look at Russia as a cure more dangerous than the disease itself.

It cannot be said that Nikolai Pavlovich exaggerated the danger of revolutionary sentiments in Europe. It was like a boiler, where the steam pressure was constantly increasing. But instead of learning to regulate it, Russia energetically plugged all the holes. This couldn't go on forever.

On February 21, 1848, on Maslenitsa, a dispatch was received in St. Petersburg that a revolution had begun in France. After reading it, the shocked sovereign appeared at a ball in the Anichkov Palace. At the height of the fun, he entered the hall with a quick step, with papers in his hands, “uttering exclamations incomprehensible to the listeners about the coup in France and the flight of the king.” Most of all, the tsar feared that the example of the French would be followed in Germany.

The idea was born to send a 300,000-strong army to the Rhine to eradicate the revolutionary infection. It was not without difficulty that the king was dissuaded from this. On March 14, a Manifesto followed, which expressed concern about “rebellion and anarchy spreading everywhere with impudence” and “insolence threatening Russia in its madness.” They expressed readiness to defend the honor of the Russian name and the inviolability of Russia's borders.

It was the most important document of that era. Russia challenged the world revolution, theomachism and nihilism. The best people countries greeted the Manifesto with enthusiasm, and people started talking about the upcoming fight against the Antichrist.

Here is how F. I. Tyutchev responded to this event:

“For a long time now, in Europe there have been only two real forces, two true powers: the Revolution and Russia. They have now come face to face, and tomorrow, perhaps, they will fight. There can be no contracts or transactions between one and the other. What is life for one is death for another. The entire political and religious future of mankind depends for many centuries on the outcome of the struggle that ensued between them, the greatest struggle the world has ever seen.”

The Russians came to the rescue

The greater the tragedy that darkened the position of the Russian Empire were the false steps that followed the Manifesto. We are talking about Hungarian events. For decades, the Hungarians dreamed of getting rid of Austrian rule, having suffered a lot from it. In 1848 they rebelled - 190 thousand people took up arms. By the spring of 1849, the Hungarians had learned to beat the Austrians, and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire became inevitable. But at that moment Russian troops came to the aid of Austria.

The invasion of the Russian army was not only a military blow for the Hungarians, but also a moral one. After all, they dreamed that it would be the Russians who would free them, and they had every reason to hope for this. The Hungarians knew better than anyone how Austria treated its great eastern neighbor. Their military leader György Klapka once exclaimed in a conversation with a Russian parliamentarian: “Emperor Nicholas destroyed us, but why? Do you really believe in Austria's gratitude? You saved her from complete destruction, and they will pay you for it; Believe me, we know them and are unable to believe a single word they say..."

These were the bitter words of a man who understood perfectly well what he was saying.

The Russian army saved Austria many times, but the country, which called itself the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, had colossal ambitions, fueled by papal Rome.

The help of the Orthodox insulted her all the more because Austria could not do without it. And, of course, at the first opportunity, Austria went over to the side of our enemies. This happened in 1854, after the attack of England and France on Russia. Instead of helping the savior, the Austrians began to threaten her with war. As a result, many Russian units had to be left to block the Danube. These were the troops that were so lacking in Crimea...

The suppression of the Hungarian uprising became one of the saddest pages of our history. In Europe, the view of Russia as a police country has finally become firmly established. Russian Field Marshal Osten-Sacken said bitter words in despair: “The Emperor has become very proud. “What I did to Hungary awaits all of Europe,” he told me. I am sure that this campaign will destroy him... You will see that it will not be in vain. God punishes the proud."

But it seems that it was not a matter of pride at all. Metropolitan Platon of Kiev, mourning Russian intervention in Hungarian events (“after all, without this there would not have been Crimean War"), added that only the sovereign’s honesty was to blame. He did not know how to break his promises, even to such an addressee as Austria, whose ingratitude was well known.

In any case, we defeated ourselves in Hungary.

Death of the Emperor

The misfortune for Emperor Nicholas was that he found the time of the collapse of his hopes. This was the cause of his death, which can hardly be called natural. Rather, it was death. He fell along with his sailors and soldiers, Kornilov and Nakhimov, because the tsar’s heart in the last year of his life was in Sevastopol, and not in St. Petersburg.

There were many formal reasons for war. England feared that Russia might enter the Mediterranean; France hoped, with the help of war, to return to the ranks of the great powers. As a result, the British, French and Turkish armies landed in the Crimea as “advanced detachments of civilization.”

Among the reasons that led us to defeat was terrible corruption: even regiment commanders sometimes did not hesitate to rob soldiers - what can we say about the rest... The appointment of Prince Menshikov as commander was extremely unsuccessful. When Saint Innocent of Kherson with the image of Kasperovskaya Mother of God arrived at the location of our army retreating to Sevastopol, he said, turning to Menshikov: “Behold, the Queen of Heaven is coming to liberate and protect Sevastopol.” “You bothered the Queen of Heaven in vain, we can manage without Her,” answered the unlucky commander.

How could he achieve victory without having the slightest spiritual connection with the army? Meanwhile, this was a man invested with the sovereign’s trust. To complete the picture, let's say that St. Innocent was under special suspicion. Officials called him a democrat because, like the sovereign, he defended the need to liberate the peasants. Once they asked: “They say, Eminence, you preach communism?” The Bishop calmly answered this: “I never preached ‘take,’ but I always preached ‘give.’”

The English fleet appeared near Kronstadt. The emperor looked at him for a long time through the chimney from the window of his palace in Alexandria. Changes in his appearance began to appear in the fall of 1854. He lost sleep and lost weight. At night I walked through the halls, waiting for news from Crimea. The news was bad: on some days several thousand of our soldiers died...

Having learned about another defeat, the sovereign locked himself in his office and cried like a child. During morning prayer sometimes he fell asleep on his knees in front of the images.

At some point, the emperor caught the flu. The disease was not too dangerous, but it was as if he did not want to get better. In thirty-degree frost, despite the cough, I went to regiment reviews in a light raincoat. “In the evenings,” writes one of Nikolai Pavlovich’s biographers, “many saw his two-meter figure wandering alone along Nevsky Prospekt. It became clear to everyone around: the king, unable to bear the shame, decided to destroy himself in a similar way...

The result was not long in coming: about a month after the onset of the illness, Nikolai was already in full swing managing his funeral, writing a will, listening to the death bill, holding his son’s hand until the last minute.”

“Sashka, I’m giving you the command in bad order!” - Nikolai Pavlovich said to his son on his deathbed and, addressing all his sons, said: “Serve Russia. I wanted to take on all the difficult things, leaving a peaceful, well-ordered, happy kingdom. Providence judged otherwise. Now I’m going to pray for Russia and for you..."

He died, according to A.F. Tyutcheva, in a small office on the ground floor of the Winter Palace, “lying across the room on a very simple iron bed... His head rested on a green leather pillow, and instead of a blanket, there was a soldier’s overcoat on him. It seemed that death overtook him among the deprivations of a military camp, and not in the luxury of a palace.” As ensign Efim Sukhonin of the Izmailovsky regiment wrote, the sad news caught the guardsmen on the march: “The memorial service was solemn. Officers and soldiers prayed on their knees and cried loudly.”

Epilogue

The horseman on St. Isaac's Square rests on a powerful pedestal with four female figures personifying Strength, Wisdom, Justice and Faith. The liberation of the peasants, the amazing judicial reform, all the good deeds of Alexander the Liberator were the embodiment of his father's plans. Tied hand and foot by past and present, by the absence of comrades, Nikolai Pavlovich did what he had to do, in the hope that something would happen.

He was the flesh of a country where, in addition to fools and bad roads, there are an innumerable number of other misfortunes. Therefore, it is wrong to evaluate it by comparing it with some mental ideal. The one walking ahead, especially if he is a warrior and not a confessor, is almost always the most exhausted person of all, his own and others’ blood dries on his uniform. The question is, is he driven by love for the Fatherland or ambition, is he leading the people in the name of God - or in his own name? One day - this was in 1845 - the tsar suddenly said, turning to a friend: “It’s soon been twenty years since I’ve been sitting in this wonderful place. Often there are such days that I, looking at the sky, say: why am I not there? I'm so tired…"

No, Nikolai Pavlovich, it seems, did not lift a finger in his name - his service has been inspiring us with respect for a century and a half. Even the inscription on the monument under the state emblem was never knocked down: “Nicholas I – Emperor of All Russia.” A very simple inscription - like everything connected with it.

Other fun facts about Nicholas I

One of the officers of the Riga garrison named Zass, when marrying off his daughter, wanted her and her husband to have a double surname, in which Zass would come first. It seems that there was nothing strange in this desire... However, Mr. Colonel was a German and did not know Russian well... After all, the groom’s last name was Rantsev. Tsar Nicholas the First learned of this incident and decided that his officers should not be the object of ridicule. By his highest decree, the Tsar ordered the newlyweds to bear the surname Rantsev-Zass.

Nicholas I gave his officers a choice between a guardhouse and listening to Glinka's operas as punishment.

Having met a drunken officer, Nikolai scolded him for appearing in public in an unworthy manner, and ended his reprimand with the question: “Well, what would you do if you met a subordinate in such a state?” The answer to this was: “I wouldn’t even talk to that pig!” Nikolai burst out laughing and summed it up: “Get a cab, go home and sleep it off!”

In Paris they decided to stage a play from the life of Catherine II, where the Russian empress was presented in a somewhat frivolous light. Having learned about this, Nicholas I, through our ambassador, expressed his displeasure to the French government. To which the answer followed in the spirit that, they say, in France there is freedom of speech and no one is going to cancel the performance. To this, Nicholas I asked to convey that in this case he would send 300 thousand spectators in gray overcoats to the premiere. As soon as the royal response reached the capital of France, the scandalous performance was canceled there without unnecessary delay.

Of course, the most beautiful monument is the arch of the General Staff building, topped with a sculpture of Glory on the chariot of Victory. This chariot is a symbol of Russia's victory in Patriotic War 1812. Initially, the Arch was conceived by Alexander I in a strict, consistent style, without a chariot crowning it. However, Nicholas I, who replaced him, decided to give glory to the courage and valor of the Russian army. Upon completion of the construction of the Arch, Nicholas I doubted its reliability. To confirm the quality of his work, the architect Rossi, after dismantling the scaffolding, together with all the workers, climbed the arch. As it turned out, the structure withstood their weight. This legend was recorded by biographer Rossi Panin from the words of the architect’s granddaughter.

Few of the Russian autocrats had to take the throne with a fight, and in the literal sense of the word. The thunder of cannons, the whistle of grapeshot, the groans of the wounded... All this happened late in the evening of December 14, 1825 in St. Petersburg, when Nicholas I (06/25/1796-02/18/1855) decided to suppress the Decembrist rebellion. He decided for himself the day before: “Tomorrow I’m either the emperor or out of breath,” and to his brother Mikhail, when it was all over, he would later say: “The most amazing thing is that you and I weren’t shot then.”

Biography of Nicholas I

Nikolai was the third son of Maria Feodorovna and Pavel Petrovich. His chances of taking the Russian throne even in the long term were slim. This must be why he was trained primarily for military service, and the boy himself was not particularly opposed to this. He was raised quite harshly, including being subjected to corporal punishment. In the army, Nicholas was both loved and feared. People's memory assigned him an expressive nickname - “Palkin”. Under Nicholas, soldiers began to be driven through the ranks, which was not so much a punishment as an execution. Nikolai was happily married. He had seven children, one of whom succeeded to the throne in 1855 as Alexander II. Brought up in an ascetic spirit, the emperor retained the habits of his youth into his mature years: he worked a lot, slept little, refused amenities, was always collected, disciplined, moderate in food, indifferent to alcohol. Despite all his suspiciousness and suspiciousness, he more than once showed personal courage, pacifying popular unrest by the very fact of his arrival. This happened during the cholera riot in 1831, as well as in the Novgorod military settlements. Being a man of honor, Nicholas could not bear the shame of Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War and, according to an unofficial version, ordered the court physician to give him poison.

Domestic policy of Nicholas I

Frightened by the scale of dissatisfaction with the autocracy, soon after the investigation and trial of the Decembrists, Nicholas established the Third Gendarmerie Department, headed by A.H. Benckendorf, which began to be in charge of investigations and internal control over dissent. New censorship regulations were adopted twice. In 1837, the first railway line in Russia opened from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg. The appearance of the northern Russian capital has undergone significant changes: the Anichkov Bridge was reconstructed, the buildings of the Senate and Synod, and the Assembly of the Nobility were erected. The memory of Alexander I was honored by the installation of the Alexander Column on Palace Square in front of the Winter Palace complex.

Foreign policy of Nicholas I

The pacification of the Caucasian peoples and, in particular, Chechnya continued. The war in the Caucasus continued for more than half a century. For access to the Black Sea coast, Russia had to fight with Persia and Turkey. Last years During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia was drawn into the Crimean War, which ended in complete defeat. In fact, then all the largest European countries. It was during the reign of Nicholas I that Russia received the unflattering status of “gendarme of Europe.” Nicholas made a vow to himself that as long as he lived and breathed, the revolution would no longer penetrate the country. He was no less zealous in ensuring that revolutionary uprisings in neighboring countries were nipped in the bud whenever possible. of Eastern Europe. This is how the uprisings in Poland and Hungary were suppressed.

• Nicholas I wrote the final remark in Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”: “the people are silent.”
• The Emperor was Pushkin’s personal censor, publicly calling him “the smartest man in Russia,” and also paid off all the poet’s posthumous debts.
• In 1833, Nicholas I approved the text and melody of the first official Russian anthem - “God Save the Tsar.”

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

Early years and path to power

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

Nicholas the First: years of reign

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

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

Strict centralization

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

Character and spiritual qualities

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

Nicholas the First: foreign policy

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

Military affairs and the army

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

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

Achievements and censorship

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

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

Domestic policy

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

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

Culture

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

Education system

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

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

Death and heirs

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

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

Heritage

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

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