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96-788: The Union had a strong presence in the State Council , with one third of all members being a member, and prevented the passing of liberal reforms from the Duma. It had powerful supporters in the Tsar 's court, the State Council and the Civil Service, and led a campaign against the liberal reform proposals of the Duma. After 1905 it became the 'firmest pillar of autocracy '. During the Russian Peasants' uprising of 1905–1906

192-592: A 'dangerous liberal'. One third of the members of the State Council, a consultative assembly of nobles, belonged to the United Nobility, and helped to bar any passing of liberal reforms from the Duma. It had powerful supporters in the Tsar's court, the State Council and the Civil Service , and it led a campaign against the liberal reform proposals of the Duma on 'the grounds that granting additional land to

288-455: A convention, signed on 4 January 1810, but not ratified, abolishing the Polish name and orders of chivalry. But if Alexander suspected Napoleon's intentions, Napoleon was no less suspicious of Alexander. Partly to test his sincerity, Napoleon sent an almost peremptory request for the hand of the grand-duchess Anna Pavlovna , the tsar's youngest sister. After some little delay Alexander returned

384-731: A decisive victory in the Siege of Lankaran , Persia was forced to sue for peace. In October 1813, the Treaty of Gulistan , negotiated with British mediation and signed at Gulistan , made the Persian Shah Fath Ali Shah cede all Persian territories in the North Caucasus and most of its territories in the South Caucasus to Russia. This included what is now Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan. It also began

480-525: A divine mission. In his instructions to Niklolay Novosiltsev , his special envoy in London, the emperor elaborated the motives of his policy in language that appealed little to the prime minister, William Pitt the Younger . Yet the document is of great interest, as it formulates for the first time in an official dispatch the ideals of international policy that were to play a conspicuous part in world affairs at

576-514: A large demographic shift in the Caucasus, as many Muslim families emigrated to Persia In the summer of 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia. It was the occupation of Moscow and the desecration of the Kremlin , considered to be the sacred centre of Holy Russia, that changed Alexander's sentiment for Napoleon into passionate hatred. The campaign of 1812 was the turning point for Alexander's life; after

672-421: A large wave of peasant violence directed at the provincial squires and landlords erupted. This resulted in a change in the political leanings of the provincial squires, who had been avid supporters of liberal reform in 1904–1905, who now became (mainly) passive or inactive reactionaries . Many were also scared off their estates, and between 1906 and 1914 one-fifth of all gentry land were sold to peasants, with

768-679: A major shift in European politics. France's ally Prussia, soon followed by Austria, broke their imposed alliance with Napoleon and switched sides, triggering the War of the Sixth Coalition . With the Russian army following up victory over Napoleon in 1812, the Sixth Coalition was formed with Russia, Prussia, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, and other nations. Although the French were victorious in

864-532: A man of the world and a mystic, Alexander appeared to his contemporaries as a riddle which each read according to his own temperament. Napoleon Bonaparte thought him a "shifty Byzantine ", and called him the Talma of the North, as ready to play any conspicuous part. To Metternich he was a madman to be humoured. Castlereagh , writing of him to Lord Liverpool , gave him credit for "grand qualities", but added that he

960-652: A new visit to Paris, presented to Alexander his Reflections on the True Nature of the Consul for Life , which, as Alexander said, tore the veil from his eyes and revealed Bonaparte "as not a true patriot ", but only as "the most famous tyrant the world has produced". Later on, La Harpe and his friend Henri Monod lobbied Alexander, who persuaded the other Allied powers opposing Napoleon to recognise Vaudois and Argovian independence, in spite of Bern 's attempts to reclaim them as subject lands . Alexander's disillusionment

1056-611: A policy that was Napoleon's chief motive for the alliance. Alexander kept Russia as neutral as possible in the ongoing French war with Britain, Russia's own war with Britain barely any more than nominal. He allowed trade to continue secretly with Britain and did not enforce the blockade required by the Continental System. In 1810, he withdrew Russia from the Continental System and trade between Britain and Russia grew. Relations between France and Russia worsened progressively after 1810. By 1811, it became clear that Napoleon

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1152-477: A polite refusal, pleading the princess's tender age and the objection of the dowager empress to the marriage. Napoleon's answer was to refuse to ratify the 4 January convention, and to announce his engagement to the Archduchess Marie Louise in such a way as to lead Alexander to suppose that the two marriage treaties had been negotiated simultaneously. From this time on, the relationship between

1248-408: A strong sense of remorse and shame. Alexander I succeeded to the throne that day and was crowned in the Kremlin on 15 September of that year. The Orthodox Church initially exercised little influence on Alexander's life. The young emperor was determined to reform the inefficient, highly centralised systems of government that Russia relied upon. While retaining for a time the old ministers, one of

1344-539: Is "suspicious and undecided"; and to Jefferson he was a man of estimable character, disposed to do good, and expected to diffuse through the mass of the Russian people "a sense of their natural rights". In 1803, Beethoven dedicated his Opus 30 Violin Sonata to Alexander who in response gave the famous composer a diamond at the Congress of Vienna where they met in 1814. Upon his accession, Alexander reversed many of

1440-538: The Imperial Council on 20 May 1762 ("Императорский Совет"), or, formally "The Council at the Highest Court" ("Совет при высочайшем дворе"). It was dismissed shortly after the succession of Catherine II of Russia . The State Council was established by Alexander I of Russia in 1810 as part of Speransky 's reforms . Although envisaged by Speransky as the upper chamber of the Russian parliament , it

1536-520: The State Council of the Soviet Union was created amid its imminent breakup . The latter council would be short lived and dissolved by year end. Alexander I of Russia Alexander I ( Russian : Александр I Павлович , romanized :  Aleksandr I Pavlovich , IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ] ; 23 December [ O.S. 12 December] 1777 – 1 December [ O.S. 19 November] 1825), nicknamed "

1632-554: The Treaty of Bucharest (1812) , which ended the war against the Ottomans formally. His diplomats managed to extract promises from Prussia and Austria that should Napoleon invade Russia, the former would help Napoleon as little as possible and that the latter would give no aid at all. The minister of war , Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly , had managed the reform and improvement of the Imperial Russian Army before

1728-488: The War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon , but after suffering massive defeats at the battles of Austerlitz and Friedland , he switched sides and formed an alliance with Napoleon in the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon's Continental System . He fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812 as well as a short war against Sweden (1808–09) after Sweden's refusal to join

1824-462: The burning of Moscow , he declared that his own soul had found illumination, and that he had realized once and for all the divine revelation to him of his mission as the peacemaker of Europe. While the Russian army retreated deep into Russia for almost three months, the nobility pressured Alexander to relieve the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly. Alexander complied and appointed Prince Mikhail Kutuzov to take over command of

1920-482: The 19th century. In the country as a whole, Paul was widely unpopular. He accused his wife of conspiring to become another Catherine and seize power from him as his mother did from his father. He also suspected Alexander of conspiring against him. Defunct Alexander became Emperor of Russia when his father was assassinated on 23 March 1801. Alexander, then 23 years old, was in the Saint Michael's Castle at

2016-635: The Blessed ", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars . The eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg , Alexander succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. As prince and during the early years of his reign, he often used liberal rhetoric, but continued Russia's absolutist policies in practice. In

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2112-649: The Caucasus. Between 1802 and 1804 he proceeded to impose Russian rule on Western Georgia and some of the Persian controlled khanates around Georgia. Some of these khanates submitted without a fight, but the Ganja Khanate resisted, prompting an attack. Ganja was ruthlessly sacked during the Siege of Ganja , with some 3,000  – 7,000 inhabitants of Ganja executed, and thousands more expelled to Persia. These attacks by Tsitsianov formed another casus belli. On 23 May 1804, Persia demanded withdrawal from

2208-638: The Coalition forces in the theatre and the paramount monarch among the three main Coalition monarchs, ordered all Coalition forces in Germany to cross the Rhine and invade France. The Coalition forces, divided into three groups, entered northeastern France in January 1814. Facing them in the theatre were the French forces numbering only about 70,000 men. In spite of being heavily outnumbered, Napoleon defeated

2304-543: The Coalition positions. Early in the morning the Coalition attack began when the Russians attacked and drove back the French skirmishers near Belleville before being driven back themselves by French cavalry from the city's eastern suburbs. By 7:00 a.m. the Russians attacked the Young Guard near Romainville in the centre of the French lines and after some time and hard fighting, pushed them back. A few hours later

2400-773: The Continental System. Alexander and Napoleon hardly agreed, especially regarding Poland, and the alliance collapsed by 1810. Alexander's greatest triumph came in 1812 when Napoleon's invasion of Russia descended into a catastrophe for the French. As part of the winning coalition against Napoleon, he gained territory in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress the revolutionary movements in Europe, which he saw as immoral threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He also helped Austria 's Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements. During

2496-622: The Emperors of the East and West , when the time should be ripe, would drive the Turks from Europe and march across Asia to the conquest of India . Nevertheless, a thought awoke in Alexander's impressionable mind an ambition to which he had hitherto been a stranger. The interests of Europe as a whole were utterly forgotten. The brilliance of these new visions did not, however, blind Alexander to

2592-424: The French forces surrendered. Alexander sent an envoy to meet with the French to hasten the surrender. He offered generous terms to the French and although having intended to avenge Moscow, he declared himself to be bringing peace to France rather than its destruction. On 31 March Talleyrand gave the key of the city to the tsar. Later that day the Coalition armies triumphantly entered the city with Alexander at

2688-551: The Great . He was named after Alexander Nevsky , the patron saint of Saint Petersburg. As competing aspects of his upbringing, he imbibed the principles of Rousseau 's gospel of humanity from the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe , whereas he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov . Andrey Afanasyevich Samborsky, whom his grandmother chose to be his religious instructor,

2784-477: The Prussians, under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher , attacked north of the city and carried the French position around Aubervilliers , but did not press their attack. The Württemberg troops seized the positions at Saint-Maur to the southeast, with Austrian troops in support. The Russian forces then assailed the heights of Montmartre in the city's northeast. Control of the heights was severely contested, until

2880-648: The Tsar to his face for a "conscience" which led him to imperil the concert of the powers by keeping his hold on Poland in violation of his treaty obligation. Once a supporter of limited liberalism, as seen in his approval of the representative institutions in the Ionian Islands , Grand Duchy of Finland and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, from the end of the year 1818 Alexander's views began to change. A revolutionary conspiracy among

2976-533: The Tsar. A party too in Russia itself, headed by the Tsar's brother Constantine Pavlovich, was clamorous for peace; but Alexander, after a vain attempt to form a new coalition, summoned the Russian nation to a holy war against Napoleon as the enemy of the Orthodox faith. The outcome was the rout of Friedland (13/14 June 1807). Napoleon saw his chance and seized it. Instead of demanding harsh peace terms, he offered to

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3072-406: The advancing Russians. The campaign ended on 14 December 1812, with the last French troops finally leaving Russian soil. The campaign was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars . Napoleon's reputation was severely shaken, and French hegemony in Europe was weakened. The Grande Armée , made up of French and allied forces, was reduced to a fraction of its initial strength. These events triggered

3168-593: The affairs of individucal nations to support "the absurd pretensions of "absolute power". He still declared his belief in free institutions with limitations. "Liberty", he maintained, "should be confined within just limits. And the limits of liberty are the principles of order". Alexander's conversion was completed by the 1820 revolutions in Naples and Piedmont , combined with increasingly disquieting symptoms of discontent in France , Germany, and among his own people. In

3264-459: The aid lent to the sciences and arts by the Emperor and the wealthy nobility. Alexander later expelled foreign scholars. After 1815 the military settlements (farms worked by soldiers and their families under military control) were introduced, with the idea of making the army, or part of it, self-supporting economically and for providing it with recruits. Called both an autocrat and Jacobin ,

3360-545: The army. On 7 September, the Grande Armée faced the Russian army at a small village called Borodino , 110 kilometres (70 mi) west of Moscow. The battle that followed was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 soldiers and resulting in 70,000 casualties. The outcome of the battle was inconclusive. The Russian army, undefeated in spite of heavy losses,

3456-419: The autumn of 1813, that his soul found peace. From this time a mystic pietism became the avowed force of his political, as of his private actions. Madame de Krüdener, and her colleague, the evangelist Henri-Louis Empaytaz , became the confidants of the emperor's most secret thoughts; and during the campaign that ended in the occupation of Paris the imperial prayer-meetings were the oracle on whose revelations hung

3552-482: The better of reason, that as a matter of fact he had never intended his proposed "grand enterprise" seriously, and had only used it to preoccupy the mind of the Tsar while he consolidated his own power in Central Europe . From this moment the French alliance was for Alexander also not a fraternal agreement to rule the world, but an affair of pure policy. He used it initially to remove "the geographical enemy" from

3648-537: The capital, but his marshals refused to fight for him and repeatedly urged him to surrender. He abdicated in favour of his son on 4 April, but the Allies rejected this out of hand, forcing Napoleon to abdicate unconditionally on 6 April. The terms of his abdication, which included his exile to the Isle of Elba , were settled in the Treaty of Fontainebleau on 11 April. A reluctant Napoleon ratified it two days later, marking

3744-538: The chastened autocrat his alliance, and a partnership in his glory. The two Emperors met at Tilsit on 25 June 1807. Napoleon knew well how to appeal to the exuberant imagination of his new-found friend. He would divide with Alexander the Empire of the world; as a first step he would leave him in possession of the Danubian Principalities and give him a free hand to deal with Finland; and, afterwards,

3840-535: The city for a month, Napoleon moved his army out southwest toward Kaluga , where Kutuzov was encamped with the Russian army. The French advance toward Kaluga was checked by the Russian army, and Napoleon was forced to retreat to the areas already devastated by the invasion. In the weeks that followed the Grande Armée starved and suffered from the onset of the Russian Winter . Lack of food and fodder for

3936-399: The close of the revolutionary epoch. Alexander argued that the outcome of the war was not only to be the liberation of France, but the universal triumph of "the sacred rights of humanity ". To attain this it would be necessary "after having attached the nations to their government by making these incapable of acting save in the greatest interests of their subjects, to fix the relations of

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4032-420: The cost, imposing his will upon Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg , and the wavering monarchs. On 28 March, Coalition forces advanced towards Paris and prepared to launch an assault. Camping outside the city on 29 March, the Coalition armies were to assault the city from its northern and eastern sides the next morning on 30 March. The battle started that same morning with intense artillery bombardment from

4128-500: The creation of military settlements . Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia. He left no legitimate children, as his two daughters died in childhood. Neither of his brothers wanted to become emperor. After a period of great confusion (that presaged the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers in the weeks after his death), he was succeeded by his younger brother, Nicholas I . Alexander

4224-449: The divided Coalition forces in the battles at Brienne and La Rothière , but could not stop the Coalition's advance and triumphant victory over Napoleon. Austrian Emperor Francis I and King Frederick William III of Prussia felt demoralized upon hearing about Napoleon's victories since the start of the campaign. They even considered ordering a general retreat. But Alexander was far more determined than ever to victoriously enter Paris whatever

4320-549: The end of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Alexander tried to calm the unrest of his conscience by correspondence with the leaders of the evangelical revival on the continent and sought for omens and supernatural guidance in texts and passages of scripture. It was not, however, according to his own account, until he met the Baroness de Krüdener —a religious adventuress who made the conversion of princes her special mission—at Basel , in

4416-451: The fate of the world. Such was Alexander's mood when the downfall of Napoleon left him one of the most powerful sovereigns in Europe. With the memory of the Treaty of Tilsit still fresh in men's minds, it was not unnatural that to cynical men of the world like Klemens Wenzel von Metternich he merely seemed to be disguising "under the language of evangelical abnegation" vast and perilous schemes of ambition. The puzzled powers were, in fact,

4512-537: The first acts of his reign was to appoint the Private Committee , comprising young and enthusiastic friends of his own— Viktor Kochubey , Nikolay Novosiltsev , Pavel Stroganov and Adam Jerzy Czartoryski —to draw up a plan of domestic reform, which was supposed to result in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in accordance with the teachings of the Age of Enlightenment . A few years into his reign

4608-465: The first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and (in 1803–04) major liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky , the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The over-centralized Collegium ministries were abolished and replaced by the Committee of Ministers , State Council , and Supreme Court to improve

4704-695: The gates of Saint Petersburg by wresting Finland from Sweden (1809), and he hoped further to make the Danube the southern frontier of Russia. Events were rapidly heading towards the rupture of the Franco-Russian alliance. While Alexander assisted Napoleon in the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, he declared plainly that he would not allow the Austrian Empire to be crushed out of existence. Napoleon subsequently complained bitterly of

4800-643: The groups accusing Stolypin of attempting of 'undermine "provincial society" (which meant themselves) through bureaucratic centralisation'. The Petrograd and Moscow branches of the United Nobility were some of those who urged the Tsar to let the Duma elect a government in November 1916, as by this time even they – 'since 1905 the firmest pillar of autocracy' – had recognised the need of fundamental changes of government. State Council (Russian Empire) The State Council (Russian: Госуда́рственный сове́т , IPA: [ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet] )

4896-702: The head of the army followed by the King of Prussia and Prince Schwarzenberg. Until this battle it had been nearly 400 years since a foreign army had entered Paris , during the Hundred Years' War . On 2 April, the Sénat conservateur passed the Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur , which declared Napoleon deposed. Napoleon was in Fontainebleau when he heard that Paris had surrendered. Outraged, he wanted to march on

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4992-581: The horses and persistent attacks upon isolated troops from Russian peasants and Cossacks led to great losses. When the remnants of the French army eventually crossed the Berezina river in November, only 27,000 soldiers remained; the Grande Armée had lost some 380,000 men dead and 100,000 captured. Following the crossing of the Berezina, Napoleon left the army and returned to Paris to protect his position as Emperor and to raise more forces to resist

5088-503: The improvement of the peasantry's condition, they now became preoccupied with the most narrow concerns of the gentry. The largest estates and landowners joined the United Nobility, led by Count Aleksei Bobrinsky , and now established to defend the property rights of the gentry, and their domination in local politics. His brother-in-law Prince Georgy Lvov was voted off the Tula zemstvo in the winter of 1905–1906, with Bobrinsky condemning him as

5184-468: The inactivity of the Russian troops during the campaign. The tsar in turn protested against Napoleon's encouragement of the Poles. In the matter of the French alliance he knew himself to be practically isolated in Russia, and he declared that he could not sacrifice the interest of his people and empire to his affection for Napoleon. "I don't want anything for myself", he said to the French ambassador, "therefore

5280-597: The initial battles during the campaign in Germany , the entry of Austria into the war led to France's decisive defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in the autumn of 1813, which proved to be a massive victory for the Coalition. Following the battle, the Pro-French Confederation of the Rhine collapsed, thereby ending Napoleon's hold on territory east of the Rhine forever. Alexander, being the supreme commander of

5376-493: The legal system. Plans were made but never consummated, to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In contrast to his westernizing predecessors such as Peter the Great , Alexander was a Russian nationalist and Slavophile who wanted Russia to develop on the basis of Russian culture rather than European. In foreign policy, he changed Russia's position towards France four times between 1804 and 1812, shifting among neutrality, opposition, and alliance. In 1805 he joined Britain in

5472-569: The liberal Mikhail Speransky became one of the Emperor's closest advisors, and he drew up elaborate plans for reforms. In the Government reform , the old Collegia were abolished and new Ministries were created in their place, led by ministers responsible to the Crown. A Committee of Ministers under the chairmanship of the Sovereign dealt with all interdepartmental matters. The State Council

5568-433: The moment of the assassination and his accession to the throne was announced by General Nicholas Zubov , one of the assassins. Historians still debate Alexander's role in his father's murder. The most common theory is that he was let into the conspirators' secret and was willing to take the throne but insisted that his father should not be killed. Becoming emperor through a crime that cost his father's life would give Alexander

5664-403: The monarch, who could support the majority, a minority, or disregard the council's recommendations altogether, as he saw fit. According to Dominic Lieven it "played no part in the formulation of foreign policy and its members' access to the emperor was very limited. During 1906–1917, the status of the State Council was defined by the Russian Constitution of 1906 . Its chairman was appointed by

5760-521: The more inclined to be suspicious in view of other, and seemingly inconsistent, tendencies of the emperor, which yet seemed all to point to a like disquieting conclusion. For Madame de Krüdener was not the only influence behind the throne; and, though Alexander had declared war against the Revolution, La Harpe (his erstwhile tutor) was once more at his elbow, and the catchwords of the gospel of humanity were still on his lips. The very proclamations which denounced Napoleon as "the genius of evil", denounced him in

5856-452: The name of "liberty," and of "enlightenment". Conservatives suspected Alexander of a monstrous intrigue by which the eastern autocrat would ally with the Jacobinism of all Europe, aiming at an all-powerful Russia in place of an all-powerful France. At the Congress of Vienna Alexander's attitude accentuated this distrust. Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, whose single-minded aim was the restoration of "a just equilibrium" in Europe, reproached

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5952-567: The obligation to exhaust all resources of mediation to retain peace, and would form "a new code of the law of nations". Meanwhile, Napoleon, a little deterred by the Russian autocrat's youthful ideology, never gave up hope of detaching him from the coalition. He had no sooner entered Vienna in triumph than he opened negotiations with Alexander; he resumed them after the Battle of Austerlitz (2 December). Russia and France, he urged, were "geographical allies"; there was, and could be, between them no true conflict of interests; together they might rule

6048-408: The obligations of friendship, and he refused to retain the Danubian principalities as the price for suffering a further dismemberment of Prussia. "We have made loyal war", he said, "we must make a loyal peace". It was not long before the first enthusiasm of Tilsit began to wane. The French remained in Prussia, the Russians on the Danube, and each accused the other of breach of faith. Meanwhile, however,

6144-423: The officers of the Russian Imperial Guard , and a plot to kidnap him on his way to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle , are said to have shaken his liberal beliefs. At Aix he came for the first time into intimate contact with Metternich. From this time dates the ascendancy of Metternich over the mind of the Russian Emperor and in the councils of Europe. It was, however, no case of sudden conversion. Though alarmed by

6240-455: The palace also put pressure on him to perform as a husband, though he felt only a brother's love for the Grand Duchess. He began to sympathize more with his father, as he saw visiting his father's fiefdom at Gatchina Palace as a relief from the ostentatious court of the empress. There, they wore simple Prussian military uniforms, instead of the gaudy clothing popular at the French court they had to wear when visiting Catherine. Even so, visiting

6336-422: The peasants would not help solve their problems, since these were caused by the inefficiency of the communal system and not by the shortage of land.' The United Nobility were the 'most vociferous' of the groups against Stolypin's reforms, as his local government reforms threatened their domination in local politics by giving peasants as landowners equal representation in the zemstvos. They subsequently were one of

6432-413: The personal relations of Alexander and Napoleon were of the most cordial character, and it was hoped that a fresh meeting might adjust all differences between them. The meeting took place at Erfurt in October 1808 and resulted in a treaty that defined the common policy of the two Emperors. But Alexander's relations with Napoleon nonetheless suffered a change. He realised that in Napoleon sentiment never got

6528-460: The portion nearing one-third in the most rebellious areas of 1905–1906. Those who remained, the majority, there was a 'hardening resolution to defend their property rights', and these landowners started loud calls for a restoration of law and order in the provinces and countryside. This coincided with a change in the nature of the zemstvos , who previously had been liberal organisations, and now became 'pillars of conservatism', and from being focused on

6624-467: The regions Russia had occupied, comprising what is now Georgia , Dagestan , and parts of Azerbaijan . Russia refused, stormed Ganja, and declared war. Following an almost ten-year stalemate centred around what is now Dagestan, east Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern Armenia , with neither party being able to gain the clear upper hand, Russia eventually managed to turn the tide. After a series of successful offensives led by General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky , including

6720-707: The reign of his nephew Alexander II ). His advisors quietly discussed the options at length. Cautiously, he extended the right to own land to most classes of subjects, including state-owned peasants , in 1801 and created a new social category of " free agriculturalist ," for peasants voluntarily emancipated by their masters, in 1803. The great majority of serfs were not affected. When Alexander's reign began, there were three universities in Russia, at Moscow , Vilna (Vilnius), and Dorpat (Tartu). These were strengthened, and three others were founded at St. Petersburg , Kharkiv , and Kazan . Literary and scientific bodies were established or encouraged, and his reign became noted for

6816-408: The revolutionary agitation in Germany, which culminated in the murder of his agent, the dramatist August von Kotzebue (23 March 1819), Alexander joined Castlereagh's protest against Metternich's collective security policy of "the governments contracting an alliance against the peoples", as formulated in the Carlsbad Decrees of July 1819. Alexander deprecated any intervention of a European league in

6912-479: The seclusion of the little town of Troppau , where in October 1820 the powers met in conference , Metternich cemented his influence over Alexander, which had been wanting amid the turmoil and intrigues of Vienna and Aix. During a friendly conversation over afternoon tea, the disillusioned autocrat confessed his mistake. "You have nothing to regret," he said sadly to the exultant chancellor, "but I have!". The issue

7008-417: The second half of his reign, Alexander became increasingly arbitrary, reactionary, and fearful of plots against him; as a result he ended many of the reforms he had made earlier on his reign. He purged schools of foreign teachers, as education became more religiously driven as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the strict artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev , who oversaw

7104-495: The start of the 1812 campaign. Primarily on the advice of his sister and Count Aleksey Arakcheyev , Alexander did not take operational control as he had done during the 1805 campaign, instead delegating control to his generals, Barclay de Tolly, Prince Pyotr Bagration and Mikhail Kutuzov . Despite brief hostilities in the Persian Expedition of 1796 , eight years of peace passed before a new conflict erupted between

7200-571: The states amongst each other on more precise rules, and such as it is to their interest to respect". A general treaty was to become the main basis of the relations of the states forming "the European Confederation". While he believed the effort would not attain universal peace, it would be worthwhile if it established clear principles for the prescriptions of the rights of nations. The body would assure "the positive rights of nations" and "the privilege of neutrality," while asserting

7296-402: The throne before she could appoint Alexander as her successor. Alexander disliked his father as emperor even more than he did his grandmother. He wrote that Russia had become a "plaything for the insane" and that "absolute power disrupts everything". It is likely that seeing two previous rulers abuse their autocratic powers in such a way pushed him to be one of the more progressive Romanov tsars of

7392-544: The tsar. Half of its members were appointed by the tsar from persons distinguished at civil and military service, and half by elections from various categories of society, separately: The State Council was the upper house of the parliament , while the State Duma of the Russian Empire was the lower house . Compared to the contemporary British House of Lords and Prussian Herrenhaus , the Russian upper chamber

7488-566: The tsarevich did not come without a bit of travail. Paul liked to have his guests perform military drills, which he also pushed upon his sons Alexander and Constantine. He was also prone to fits of temper, and he often went into fits of rage when events did not go his way. Some sources allege that the empress Catherine planned to remove her son Paul from the succession altogether (in consideration of his unstable temperament and bizarre personality traits) and make Alexander her successor instead. Catherine's death in November 1796 brought her son Paul to

7584-410: The two emperors gradually became more and more strained. Another personal grievance for Alexander towards Napoleon was the annexation of Oldenburg by France in December 1810, as Wilhelm, Duke of Oldenburg (3 January 1754 – 2 July 1823) was the uncle of the tsar. Furthermore, the disastrous impact of the Continental System on Russian trade made it impossible for the emperor to maintain

7680-595: The two empires. After the Russian annexation of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1801, a subject of Persia for centuries, and the incorporation of the Derbent Khanate as well quickly thereafter, Alexander was determined to increase and maintain Russian influence in the strategically valuable Caucasus region. In 1801, Alexander appointed Pavel Tsitsianov , a die-hard Russian imperialist of Georgian origin, as Russian commander in chief of

7776-574: The unpopular policies of his father, Paul, denounced the League of Armed Neutrality , and made peace with Britain (April 1801). At the same time he opened negotiations with Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor . Soon afterwards, at Memel , he entered into a close alliance with Prussia, not as he boasted from motives of policy, but in the spirit of true chivalry , out of friendship for the young King Frederick William III and his beautiful wife Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz . The development of this alliance

7872-547: The whole council presided over by the Chairman of the State Council. The council as a whole examined projects of law proposed by the ministers who were ex-officio members. The majority of their sessions concerned the budget and state expenditures but they would examine anything submitted to them. They had no authority to propose changes to the law, to examine anything that was not submitted to them for examination or decision-making authority. The council only made recommendations to

7968-450: The world is not large enough to come to an understanding on the affairs of Poland, if it is a question of its restoration". Alexander complained that the Treaty of Schönbrunn , which added largely to the Duchy of Warsaw , had "ill requited him for his loyalty", and he was only mollified for the time being by Napoleon's public declaration that he had no intention of restoring Poland, and by

8064-403: The world. But Alexander was still determined "to persist in the system of disinterestedness in respect of all the states of Europe which he had thus far followed", and he again allied himself with the Kingdom of Prussia. The campaign of Jena and the Battle of Eylau followed; and Napoleon, though still intent on the Russian alliance, stirred up Poles, Turks and Persians to break the obstinacy of

8160-583: The young princess. Until his grandmother's death, he was constantly walking the line of allegiance between his grandmother and his father. His steward Nikolai Saltykov helped him navigate the political landscape, engendering dislike for his grandmother and dread in dealing with his father. Catherine had the Alexander Palace built for the couple. This did nothing to help his relationship with her, as Catherine would go out of her way to amuse them with dancing and parties, which annoyed his wife. Living at

8256-479: Was able to withdraw the following day, leaving the French without the decisive victory Napoleon sought. A week later, Napoleon entered Moscow , but there was no delegation to meet the Emperor. The Russians had evacuated the city, and the city's governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin , ordered several strategic points in Moscow to be set ablaze. The loss of Moscow did not compel Alexander to sue for peace. After staying in

8352-636: Was actually an advisory legislative body composed of people whom the tsar could trust. The number of members varied at different periods. Upon its establishment in 1810 there were 35 members; in 1890 there were 60. The main duty of the council was the preliminary investigation, promulgation and abrogation of laws. There were four departments of the council: Legislative; Civil and Ecclesiastical Administration; State Economy; and Industry, Science and Commerce. Each department had its own presiding officer (State Secretary) and met separately to discuss matters assigned to their departments. There were also plenary sessions of

8448-493: Was an atypical, unbearded Orthodox priest . Samborsky had long lived in England and taught Alexander and his brother Constantine excellent English, a very uncommon accouterment for potential Russian autocrats of the time. On 9 October 1793, when Alexander was still 15 years old, he married 14-year-old Princess Louise of Baden , who took the name Elizabeth Alexeievna. His grandmother was the one who presided over his marriage to

8544-624: Was born at 10:45, on 23 December 1777 in Saint Petersburg , and he and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, Catherine . He was baptized on 31 December in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace by mitred archpriest Ioann Ioannovich Panfilov (confessor of Empress Catherine II). His godmother was Catherine the Great, and his godfathers were Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor , and Frederick

8640-502: Was completed by the execution of the duc d'Enghien on trumped up charges. The Russian court went into mourning for the last member of the House of Condé , and diplomatic relations with France were broken off. Alexander was especially alarmed and decided he had to somehow curb Napoleon's power. In opposing Napoleon I, "the oppressor of Europe and the disturber of the world's peace," Alexander in fact already believed himself to be fulfilling

8736-560: Was created to improve the technique of legislation. It was intended to become the Second Chamber of a representative legislature. The Governing Senate was reorganized as the Supreme Court of the Empire. The codification of the laws initiated in 1801 was never carried out during his reign. Alexander wanted to resolve another crucial issue in Russia, the status of the serfs , although this was not achieved until 1861 (during

8832-408: Was interrupted by the short-lived peace of October 1801, and for a while it seemed as though France and Russia might come to an understanding. Carried away by the enthusiasm of Frédéric-César de La Harpe, who had returned to Russia from Paris, Alexander began openly to proclaim his admiration for French institutions and for the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. Soon, however, came a change. La Harpe, after

8928-639: Was momentous. In January Alexander had still upheld the ideal of a free confederation of the European states, the Holy Alliance, against the policy of a dictatorship of the great powers, the Quadruple Treaty. He gave in on 19 November by signing the Troppau Protocol, which consecrated the claims of collective Europe to interfere in the internal concerns of the sovereign states. At the Congress of Laibach , which had been adjourned in

9024-587: Was more democratically constituted, as half of its members were democratically elected from different sections of society, while the Herrenhaus consisted of hereditary peers, and the House of Lords consisted of hereditary peers and clergy from privileged dioceses. The State Council ceased to exist after the February Revolution of 1917. The Soviet Union did not replace this council until 1991 when

9120-559: Was not adhering to his side of the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit. He had promised assistance to Russia in its war against the Ottoman Empire , but as the campaign went on, France offered no support at all. With war imminent between France and Russia, Alexander started to prepare the ground diplomatically. In April 1812, Russia and Sweden signed a treaty for mutual defence . A month later, Alexander secured his southern flank through

9216-714: Was the supreme state advisory body to the tsar in the Russian Empire . From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under the Russian Constitution of 1906 . Early tsars' councils were small and dealt primarily with external politics . Peter I of Russia introduced the Secret Council . Catherine I of Russia introduced the Supreme Secret Council . Its role varied during different reigns. Peter III of Russia created

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