Nikolai 1

Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov, the future Emperor Nicholas I, was born on July 6 (June 25, old style) 1796 in Tsarskoe Selo. He was the third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Nikolai was not the eldest son and therefore had no claim to 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 showing off in the uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment. Responsibility for the upbringing of Nikolai and his younger brother Mikhail was entrusted to General Lamsdorf. Home education consisted of studying economics, history, geography, law, engineering and fortification. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of foreign languages: French, German and Latin. The humanities did not bring 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 married Princess Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna after baptism. And from that time on, the Grand Duke began to actively participate 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 guard ensigns were opened. Nevertheless, he was disliked in the army for his excessive pedantry and pickiness over trifles. 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, Konstantin, the right to reign was transferred to Nicholas. For Nikolai Pavlovich, the news was a shock; he was not ready for this. Despite the protests of his younger brother, Alexander I secured this right with a special manifesto. However,

However, on December 1 (November 19, old style), 1825, Emperor Alexander I suddenly died. Nicholas again attempted to renounce the reign and shift the burden of power to Constantine. Only after the publication of the Tsar's manifesto, naming Nikolai Pavlovich as the heir, was he forced to agree with the will of Alexander I. The date of the oath before the troops on Senate Square was set for December 26 (December 14, old style). It was this date that became decisive in the performance of the participants of various secret societies, which went down in history as the Decembrist Uprising. The plan of the revolutionaries was not realized, the army did not support the rebels, and the uprising was suppressed. After the trial, five leaders of the uprising, participants and sympathizers, went into exile. The reign of Nicholas I began very dramatically, but there were no other executions during his reign. The coronation took place on August 22, 1826, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and in May 1829 the new emperor assumed the rights of the autocrat of the Kingdom of Poland. The first steps of Nicholas I in politics were quite liberal: A.S. Pushkin returned from exile, V.A. Zhukovsky became the mentor of the heir; the liberal views of Nicholas are also evidenced by the fact that the Ministry of State Property was headed by P.D. Kiselev, not a supporter of serfdom. Nevertheless, history has shown that the new emperor was an ardent supporter of the monarchy. His main slogan, defining state policy, was expressed in three postulates: autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality. The main thing that Nicholas I strove for and achieved with his policy was not to create something new and better, but to preserve and improve the existing order. O.A. Kiprensky. Portrait of the poet A.S. Pushkin, 1827. From the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery The emperor's desire for conservatism and blind adherence to the letter of the law led to the development of even greater bureaucracy in the country. In essence, an entire bureaucratic state was created, the ideas of which continue to live to this day. The most severe

The Secret Chancellery, headed by Benckendorff, which conducted political investigation. Very close surveillance of the printing business 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 cultivate them regardless of their desire. Infrastructure was created on the new lands, and peasants were supplied with new agricultural technology. Under Nicholas I, the first railway was built. The gauge of Russian roads was wider than in Europe, 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 concerns about the penetration of liberal ideas into Russia. Nicholas I sought to destroy any dissent not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. The suppression of all kinds of uprisings and revolutionary riots could not have happened without the Russian tsar. As a result, he received the well-deserved nickname "the gendarme of Europe." All the years of Nicholas I's reign were filled with military actions abroad. 1826-1828 - Russo-Persian War, 1828-1829 - Russo-Turkish War, 1830 - suppression of the Polish Uprising by Russian troops. In 1833, the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi was signed, which became the highest point of Russian influence on Constantinople. Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships to the Black Sea. However, this right was soon lost as a result of the Second London Convention in 1841. 1849 – Russia actively participates in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary. The culmination of the reign of Nicholas I was the Crimean War. It was this war that brought down the emperor's political career. He did not expect that Great Britain and France would come to the aid of Turkey. The policy of Austria, whose unfriendliness forced the Russian Empire to keep an entire army on its western borders, also caused concern. As a result, Russia lost influence in the Black Sea,

NikolayIn general, he was very slender and agile. There was no arrogant importance or frivolous haste in his movements, but some genuine severity was visible. The freshness of his face and everything about him showed iron health and served as proof that his youth was not pampered and his life was accompanied by sobriety and moderation.He loved to play tennis, and generally did not want to be a tsar, but nevertheless decided to do it