LECTURE III

The reign of Paul I. – His place in history. – Biographical information. – The general nature of Paul’s government activities. – The peasant question under Paul. - Paul's attitude towards other classes. – Society’s attitude towards Pavel. – The state of finances during the reign of Paul and his foreign policy. - Results of the reign.

Significance of Paul's reign

Portrait of Emperor Paul. Artist S. Shchukin

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries lies the four-year reign of Paul.

This short period, which until recently was in many respects under censorship ban, has long incited the curiosity of the public, like everything mysterious and forbidden. On the other hand, historians, psychologists, biographers, playwrights and novelists were naturally attracted to the original personality of the married psychopath and the exceptional setting in which his drama took place, which ended so tragically.

From the point of view from which we consider historical events, this reign is, however, of secondary importance. Although it lies at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. and separates the “age of Catherine” from the “age of Alexander”, it in no case can be considered as transitional. On the contrary, in the historical process of development of the Russian people that interests us, it is some kind of sudden invasion, some unexpected squall that came from outside, confused everything, turned everything temporarily upside down, but could not interrupt for a long time or deeply change the natural progress of the ongoing process. In view of the significance of the reign of Paul and Alexander, as soon as he ascended the throne, there was nothing left to do but to cross out almost everything that his father had done and, having quickly healed the shallow but painful wounds inflicted by him on the state body, take the matter from the place where Catherine’s hand, weakened and wavering with age, stopped.

This view of this reign does not at all prevent us, of course, from being fully aware of the profound influence that its horrors had on Emperor Alexander personally and on the final formation of his character. But more on that later. We also do not deny the significance of some individual government acts of Paul and do not deny the unfortunate influence on Alexander, and then on Nicholas, of that court-military parade-ground system that has since been established at the Russian court. But these circumstances, of course, do not convey to Paul’s reign the significance of a transitional, connecting era between two adjacent reigns...

In any case, the reign of Paul itself is interesting for us not for its tragicomic phenomena, but for the changes that at that time nevertheless occurred in the situation of the population, and for the movement in the minds that the terror of government power caused in society. Even more important for us are international relations, which were determined, on the one hand, by the characteristics of Paul’s character, and on the other, by the great events that took place in the West.

Personality of Emperor Paul

We will therefore not engage here in a detailed presentation of Paul’s biography and refer everyone interested in it to the well-known work of Schilder, who dealt specifically with the personal biography of Paul, and to another, shorter biography, compiled largely according to Schilder by Mr. Shumigorsky. Actually, for our purposes, the following brief biographical information will suffice. Pavel was born in 1754, eight years before Catherine's accession to the throne. His childhood passed in completely abnormal conditions: Empress Elizabeth took him away from his parents as soon as he was born and began raising him herself. As a child, he was surrounded by different mothers and nannies, and his entire upbringing was of a greenhouse nature. Soon, however, he was assigned a man who was an outstanding personality in his own right, namely Count. Nikita Ivanovich Panin. Panin was a statesman with a very broad mind, but he was not a thoughtful teacher and was not attentive enough to his work.

Catherine was distrustful of Panin, and it was clear to her that he was a bad teacher, but she was afraid to eliminate him, since, having taken the throne wrongly, she was afraid of the rumors that were circulating in certain circles that she wanted to eliminate Paul completely . Fearing to give rise to these rumors and knowing that public opinion was such that Pavel was safe while he was in Panin’s care, Catherine did not dare to eliminate Panin, and he remained Pavel’s tutor with her. Pavel grew up, but Catherine did not feel any closeness to him; she had a low opinion of his mental and spiritual qualities. She did not allow him to participate in government affairs; she even removed him from matters of military administration, to which he had a great inclination. Paul's first marriage was short-lived and unsuccessful, and his wife, who died from childbirth, managed to further ruin the already bad relationship between Paul and Catherine. When Paul married for the second time the Württemberg princess, who received the name Maria Feodorovna upon conversion to Orthodoxy, Catherine gave Gatchina to the young couple and left them to lead the life of private people in it; but when they had children, she acted towards Paul and his wife in the same way as Elizabeth herself had previously acted towards her, that is, she selected the children from the very moment they were born and raised them herself. The removal of Paul from state affairs and the disrespectful treatment of him by the empress's favorites, especially Potemkin, constantly added fuel to the fire and aroused in Paul hatred of the entire Catherine's court. He had been waiting impatiently for thirty years when he would finally have to reign and rule in his own way.

Portrait of Maria Feodorovna, wife of Emperor Paul. Artist Jean-Louis Voile, 1790s

It should be added that at the end of Catherine’s reign, Paul even began to fear that Catherine would remove him from the throne; It is now known that such a plan was indeed outlined and did not come true, apparently only because Alexander did not want or did not dare to ascend the throne besides his father, and this circumstance made it difficult to implement Catherine’s already mature intentions.

When Paul ascended the throne, then the hatred that had accumulated in his soul for everything that his mother did began to be realized. Without a clear idea of ​​the real needs of the state, Pavel began to indiscriminately undo everything that his mother had done, and with feverish speed to carry out his semi-fantastic plans, developed by him in the solitude of Gatchina. In appearance, in some respects, he was returning to his old ways. Thus, he restored almost all the old economic boards, but did not give them correctly delimited competence, and meanwhile their old competence was completely destroyed by the establishment of state chambers and other local institutions. He had long ago come up with a special plan for the reorganization of the entire central administration; but this plan boiled down, in essence, to the abolition of all state institutions and to the concentration of the entire administration directly in the hands of the sovereign himself and could hardly be implemented in practice.

Reign of Emperor Paul

At the beginning of Paul's reign, however, two serious government measures were taken, the significance of which remained in the future. The first of these measures was the law on succession to the throne, which Paul developed while he was still heir and which was published by him on April 5, 1797. This law was intended to eliminate the arbitrariness in the appointment of the heir to the throne, which had dominated in Russia since the time of Peter and thanks to which happened in the 18th century. so many palace coups. The law issued by Paul, which was in force with minor additions until recently, introduced a truly strict order in the succession to the imperial throne in Russia, mainly through the male line. In connection with this, a detailed regulation was issued about the imperial family, and in order to provide material support for its members, a special economic institution was formed called “ustalov”, under whose jurisdiction were those palace peasants who had previously been exploited for the needs of the imperial court and to whom were listed Individual estates belonging to members of the royal family were now also included. All these peasants received the name “appanage”, and special institutions and special rules were created to manage them, thanks to which their position subsequently turned out to be more satisfactory than the position of ordinary serfs and even state-owned peasants, who were managed by the zemstvo police, who unscrupulously exploited them.

Paul especially persistently sought to destroy all those rights and privileges that were granted by Catherine to individual classes. Thus, he abolished letters of grant to cities and the nobility and not only destroyed the right of noble societies to submit petitions about their needs, but even abolished the exemption of nobles from corporal punishment in court.

There is an opinion that Paul, having a completely negative attitude towards the privileges of the upper classes, was sympathetic to the people and even allegedly sought to free the people from the tyranny of the landowners and oppressors.

Emperor Paul's measures regarding peasants

Perhaps he had some good intentions, but one can hardly attribute to him any seriously thought-out system in this regard. Usually, as proof of the correctness of this view of Paul, they point to the manifesto of April 5, 1797, which established Sunday rest and a three-day corvee, but this manifesto is not entirely accurately conveyed. They were categorically forbidden only to work on holidays for the landowner, and then, in the form of a maxim, it was said that three days of corvee was enough to maintain the landowner's economy. The very form of expression of this wish, in the absence of any sanction, indicates that it was not, in essence, a definite law establishing a three-day corvee, although it was subsequently interpreted as such. On the other hand, it must be said that, for example, in Little Russia, a three-day corvee would not be beneficial for the peasants, since a two-day corvee was practiced there according to custom. Another law, issued by Paul on the initiative of Chancellor Bezborodko in favor of the peasants, prohibiting the sale of serfs without land, applied only to Little Russia.

The position that Paul took in relation to peasant unrest and complaints from serfs about the oppression of landowners is extremely characteristic. At the beginning of Paul's reign, peasant unrest broke out in 32 provinces. Paul sent entire large detachments with Field Marshal Prince General to pacify them. Repnin at the head. Repnin very quickly pacified the peasants, taking extremely drastic measures. During the pacification of 12 thousand peasants in the Oryol province, the landowners Apraksin and Prince. Golitsyn, a whole battle took place, with 20 peasants killed and up to 70 wounded. Repnin ordered the murdered peasants to be buried behind the fence of the cemetery, and on a stake placed over their common grave he wrote: “Here lie criminals before God, the sovereign and the landowner, justly punished according to God’s law.” The houses of these peasants were destroyed and razed to the ground. Paul not only approved all these actions, but also issued a special manifesto on January 29, 1797, which, under the threat of such measures, ordered the submissive obedience of serfs to the landowners.

In another case, the courtyard people of some landowners living in St. Petersburg tried to complain to Pavel about the cruelty and oppression they suffered from them. Pavel, without investigating the case, ordered the complainants to be sent to the square and punished with a whip “as much as their landowners themselves want.”

In general, Pavel is hardly guilty of striving to seriously improve the situation of the landowner peasants. He looked at the landowners as free police chiefs - he believed that as long as there were 100 thousand of these police chiefs in Russia, the peace of the state was guaranteed, and he was not averse to even increasing this number as much as possible, handing out state-owned peasants to private individuals with a wide hand: in four years he managed thus distribute 530 thousand souls of both sexes of state-owned peasants to various landowners and officials, seriously asserting that he was doing these peasants a favor, since the position of the peasants under state government, in his opinion, was worse than under the landowners, with which, of course, it was impossible to agree. The significance of the given figure of state-owned peasants distributed into private hands can be judged from the data given above on the number of peasants of different categories; but this figure is even more striking if we remember that Catherine, who willingly rewarded her favorites and other persons with peasants, nevertheless, during the entire 34 years of her reign, managed to distribute no more than 800 thousand souls of both sexes, and Paul distributed 530 in four years. thousand.

To this it should be added that at the very beginning of Paul’s reign, another act was issued against the freedom of the peasants: by decree of December 12, 1796, the transfer of peasants who settled on private lands among the Cossack lands in the Don region and in the provinces of Ekaterinoslav, Voznesenskaya, Caucasian and Tauride.

Russian enlightenment and clergy during the reign of Paul

Of the other classes, the clergy, whom Paul favored or at least wanted to favor, had the most reason to be pleased with Paul. Being a religious man and considering himself also the head of the Orthodox Church, Paul cared about the position of the clergy, but even here the results were sometimes strange. These concerns of his were sometimes of an ambiguous nature, so that one of his former mentors, his teacher of the law - and at that time already the Moscow Metropolitan - Plato, whom Paul treated with great respect in his youth, and even later, after his accession to the throne, found himself among those protesting against some of the measures that Paul took. The protest that Plato had to make concerned, among other things, a strange innovation - the awarding of orders to clergy. Plato thoroughly believed that, from a canonical point of view, it is completely unacceptable for civil authorities to reward church ministers, not to mention the fact that in general the wearing of orders does not at all correspond to the meaning of the priestly, and especially the monastic rank. The Metropolitan, on his knees, asked that Paul not award him the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, but in the end he had to accept it. In itself, this circumstance does not seem to be particularly important, but it is characteristic precisely of Paul’s attitude towards the class that he most revered.

Much more important in a positive sense is Paul’s attitude towards religious educational institutions. He did quite a lot for them - he allocated a significant amount of money for them from the income from estates that formerly belonged to bishops' houses and monasteries and were confiscated by Catherine.

Under him, two theological academies were reopened - in St. Petersburg and Kazan - and eight seminaries, and both the newly opened and the previous educational institutions were provided with regular amounts: the academies began to receive from 10 to 12 thousand rubles. per year, and seminaries on average from 3 to 4 thousand, i.e. almost twice as much as what was allocated to them under Catherine.

Here we should also note Paul’s favorable attitude towards the heterodox clergy, even non-Christian ones, and especially his favorable attitude towards the Catholic clergy. This can be explained, perhaps, by his sincere religiosity in general and his high concept of pastoral duties; As for the Catholic clergy itself, their relationship to the Maltese Spiritual Order of Knighthood was also of great importance. Paul not only took upon himself the supreme patronage of this order, but even allowed the formation of its special priory in St. Petersburg. This circumstance, explained by Paul’s strange fantasies, later led, as we will see, to very important consequences in the field of international relations.

Portrait of Paul I wearing the crown, robe and insignia of the Order of Malta. Artist V. L. Borovikovsky, around 1800

Another important fact in the sphere of church life under Paul was his rather peaceful attitude towards schismatics. In this one respect, Paul continued the policy of Catherine, the traces of whose reign he tried with such energy to destroy with all his other measures. At the request of Metropolitan Platon, he agreed to take a rather important measure - namely, he allowed the Old Believers to publicly worship in the so-called churches of the same faith, thanks to which, for the first time, a serious opportunity opened up for the reconciliation of the most peaceful groups of the Old Believers with the Orthodox Church.

As for Paul's attitude to secular education, his activity in this direction was clearly reactionary and, one might say, downright destructive. Even at the end of Catherine’s reign, private printing houses were closed, and then the publication of books was extremely reduced. Under Paul, the number of books published was reduced, especially in the last two years of his reign, to an absolutely insignificant number, and the very nature of the books also changed greatly - almost exclusively textbooks and books of practical content began to be published. The import of books published abroad was completely prohibited at the end of the reign; from 1800, everything printed abroad, regardless of content, even musical notes, did not have access to Russia. Even earlier, at the very beginning of the reign, the free entry of foreigners into Russia was prohibited.

Another measure was even more important - namely, the summoning to Russia of all young people who studied abroad, of whom there were 65 in Jena, 36 in Leipzig, and the prohibition of young people from traveling to foreign lands for educational purposes, in return for which it was proposed to open a university in Dorpat.

Government oppression during the reign of Paul

Out of hatred for revolutionary ideas and liberalism in general, Pavel, with the persistence of a maniac, pursued all external manifestations of liberalism. Hence the war against round hats and boots with cuffs, which were worn in France, against tailcoats and tricolor ribbons. Completely peaceful persons were subjected to the most serious penalties, officials were expelled from service, private individuals were arrested, many were expelled from the capitals and even sometimes to more or less remote places. The same penalties were imposed for violating that strange etiquette, the observance of which was mandatory when meeting with the emperor. Thanks to this etiquette, a meeting with the sovereign was considered a misfortune, which they tried in every possible way to avoid: when they saw the sovereign, their subjects hurried to hide behind gates, fences, etc.

Under such circumstances, those exiled, imprisoned in prisons and fortresses, and generally those who suffered under Paul for trifles committed were counted in the thousands, so that when Alexander, upon ascending the throne, rehabilitated such persons, according to some sources there were 15 thousand of them, according to others - more than 12 thousand people.

The oppression of Pavlovsk's reign had a particularly heavy impact on the army, starting with the soldiers and ending with the officers and generals. Endless drills, severe punishments for the slightest errors in the fruit, senseless teaching methods, the most uncomfortable clothing, extremely embarrassing for the common man, especially during marching, which should then have been brought almost to the art of ballet; finally, the mandatory wearing of curls and braids, greased with lard and sprinkled with flour or brick powder - all this complicated the difficulty of the already difficult soldier's service, which then lasted 25 years.

Officers and generals had to tremble hourly for their fate, since the slightest malfunction of one of their subordinates could entail the most severe consequences for them if the emperor was out of sorts.

Assessment of Paul's reign by Karamzin

These were the manifestations of government oppression, which developed under Paul to its highest limits. An interesting review of Pavel was made 10 years after his death by the strict conservative and staunch supporter of autocracy N.M. Karamzin in his “Note on Ancient and New Russia,” presented to Alexander I in 1811 as an objection to the liberal reforms that Alexander then conceived. Being an antagonist of the liberal emperor, Karamzin, however, characterized the reign of his predecessor as follows: “Paul ascended the throne at a time favorable for autocracy, when the horrors of the French Revolution cured Europe of dreams of civil liberty and equality; but what the Jacobins did in relation to the republics, Paul did in relation to the autocracy; made me hate its abuses. Through a pitiful delusion of mind and as a result of many personal displeasures he suffered, he wanted to be John IV; but the Russians already had Catherine II, they knew that the sovereign, no less than his subjects, must fulfill his sacred duties, the violation of which destroys the ancient covenants of power with obedience and overthrows the people from the level of citizenship into the chaos of private natural law. Catherine's son could be strict and earn the gratitude of the fatherland; to the inexplicable surprise of the Russians, he began to reign in universal horror, not following any regulations except his own whim; considered us not subjects, but slaves; executed without guilt, rewarded without merit, took away the shame of execution, the beauty of reward, humiliated ranks and ribbons with wastefulness in them; frivolously destroyed the long-term fruits of state wisdom, hating his mother’s work in them; killed in our regiments the noble military spirit raised by Catherine, and replaced it with the spirit of corporalism. He taught heroes, accustomed to victories, to march, and turned nobles away from military service; despising the soul, he respected hats and collars; having, as a person, a natural inclination to do good, he fed on the bile of evil: every day he invented ways to frighten people and he himself was more afraid of everyone; thought to build himself an impregnable palace - and built a tomb... Let us note, - adds Karamzin, - a feature that is curious for the observer: during this reign of horror, according to foreigners, the Russians were even afraid to think; No! they spoke and boldly, falling silent only from boredom and frequent repetition, believed each other and were not deceived. A certain spirit of sincere brotherhood prevailed in the capitals; a common disaster brought hearts closer together and a magnanimous frenzy against the abuse of power drowned out the voice of personal caution.” Similar reviews are available in the notes of Vigel and Grech, also people of the conservative camp...

It should, however, be said that the “magnanimous frenzy” did not at all translate into action. Society did not even try to express its attitude towards Paul through any public protest. It hated in silence, but, of course, it was precisely this mood that gave the few leaders of the coup of March 11, 1801 the courage to suddenly eliminate Paul.

Economic and financial situation of Russia during the reign of Paul

The economic situation of the country could not change too much under Paul, due to the shortness of his reign; the financial situation of Russia under him was strongly dependent on his foreign policy and the bizarre changes that took place in it. Paul began by making peace with Persia and canceling the recruitment appointed under Catherine; refused to send 40 thousand army against the French Republic, which Catherine agreed to in 1795 thanks to the insistence of the English ambassador Whitworth, and demanded back the Russian ships sent to help the English fleet. Then the repayment of the assigned debt began. The government decided to withdraw part of the banknotes issued to the market; A ceremonial burning of banknotes worth 6 million rubles took place in the presence of Paul himself. Thus, the total number of issued banknotes decreased from 157 million rubles. to 151 million rubles, i.e. by less than 4%, but in this area, of course, any, even small, decrease is significant, because it indicates the government’s intention to pay off debts, and not increase them. At the same time, measures were taken to establish a stable exchange rate for the silver coin; a constant weight of the silver ruble was established, which was recognized as equal to the weight of four silver francs. Then the restoration of the relatively free customs tariff of 1782 was important. At the same time, Paul was not guided by sympathy for free trade, but did so out of a desire to destroy the tariff of 1793 issued by Catherine.

The introduction of a new tariff was supposed to promote the development of trade relations. The discovery of coal in the Donetsk basin was of great importance for large-scale industry. This discovery, made in the south of Russia, in a country poor in forests, immediately affected the state of industry in the Novorossiysk region. The digging of new canals under Paul, partly begun under Catherine, was important for the development of internal trade relations and for the delivery of certain products to the ports. In 1797, the Oginsky Canal was started and completed under Paul, connecting the Dniester basin with the Neman; Sievers dug a canal to bypass the island. Ilmen; One of the Ladoga Canal, the Syassky Canal, was started and work continued on the construction of the Mariinsky Canal. Under him, a porto franco was established in Crimea, beneficial for the revitalization of the southern region.

Foreign policy of Emperor Paul

But the improvement in the country's economic situation did not last long, and public finances soon had to experience further fluctuations. In 1798, the peaceful course of affairs suddenly stopped. Just at this time, Napoleon Bonaparte set off on his campaign to Egypt and casually captured the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. Malta, which belonged to the Order of Malta, had an impregnable fortress, but the grand master of the order, for unknown reasons (treason was suspected), surrendered the fortress without a fight, took the archive, orders and jewelry and retired to Venice. The St. Petersburg Priory, which was under the patronage of Paul, declared the grand master deposed, and through for some time, to everyone's surprise, Paul, who considered himself the head of the Orthodox Church, personally took upon himself the grandmastership of this Catholic order, subordinate to the pope. There was a tradition that this strange step in Paul's mind was connected with a fantastic enterprise - with the widespread destruction of the revolution at its roots by uniting all the nobles of all countries of the world in the Order of Malta. Whether this was so is difficult to decide; but, of course, this idea was not realized. Having declared war on France and not wanting to act alone, Paul helped the English minister Pete create a fairly strong coalition against France. He entered into an alliance with Austria and England, which were then in hostile or strained relations with France, then the Kingdom of Sardinia and even Turkey, which suffered from Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and Syria, were brought into the coalition. The alliance with Turkey was concluded on very favorable terms for Russia and, with a consistent policy, could be of great importance. Due to the fact that various Turkish lands were occupied by French troops (among other things, the Ionian Islands), it was decided to expel the French from there with united forces, and for this, the Porte agreed to allow and in the future to allow not only Russian merchant ships, but also warships, while at the same time undertaking the obligation not to allow foreign warships into the Black Sea. This treaty was to last for eight years, after which it could be renewed by mutual agreement of the contracting parties. The Russian fleet immediately took advantage of this right and, having carried a significant landing force through the straits on military ships, occupied the Ionian Islands, which were then under Russian rule until the Peace of Tilsit (i.e. until 1807).

On the continent of Europe it was necessary to act against the French armies in alliance with the Austrians and the British. Paul, following the advice of the Austrian emperor, appointed Suvorov to command the united armies of Russia and Austria. Suvorov was in disgrace at that time and lived on his estate under police supervision: he had a negative attitude towards Pavel’s military innovations and knew how to make him feel it under the guise of jokes and tomfoolery, for which he paid with disgrace and exile.

Now Pavel turned to Suvorov on his own behalf and on behalf of the Austrian emperor. Suvorov happily accepted command of the army. This campaign was marked by brilliant victories in Northern Italy over French troops and the famous crossing of the Alps.

But when northern Italy was cleared of the French, Austria decided that enough was enough and refused to support Suvorov in his further plans. Thus, Suvorov could not carry out his intention to invade France and march on Paris. This “Austrian treason” led to the defeat of the Russian detachment of General Rimsky-Korsakov by the French. Paul became extremely indignant, recalled the army, and thus the war between Russia and France actually ended here. The Russian corps sent against the French in Holland was not sufficiently reinforced by the British, who did not pay timely and monetary subsidies, to which they were obliged by the treaty, which also caused the indignation of Paul, who recalled his troops from this point.

Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte returned from Egypt to carry out his first coup d'état: on the 18th Brumaire he overthrew the legitimate government of the Directory and became first consul, i.e., essentially the de facto sovereign in France. Paul, seeing that things were thus moving towards the restoration of monarchical power, albeit on the part of the “usurper,” changed his attitude towards France, expecting Napoleon to deal with the remnants of the revolution. Napoleon, for his part, cleverly pleased him by sending all Russian prisoners to their homeland without exchange at the French expense and providing them with gifts. This touched the knightly heart of Paul, and, hoping that Napoleon would be like-minded in all other matters, Paul entered into negotiations with him about peace and an alliance against England, to which Paul attributed the failure of his troops in Holland. It was all the easier for Napoleon to restore it against England because at that time the British took Malta from the French, but did not return it to the order.

Immediately, ignoring all sorts of international treatises, Paul imposed an embargo (arrest) on all English merchant ships, introduced drastic changes in the customs tariff and, in the end, completely prohibited the export and import of goods into Russia not only from England, but also from Prussia, since Prussia was in relations with England. With these measures directed against the British, Paul shocked all Russian trade. He did not limit himself to customs restrictions, but even ordered the arrest of all English goods in shops, which had never been done in such circumstances. Encouraged by Napoleon and not content with this series of hostile actions against England, Paul finally decided to sting her where it hurt most: he decided to conquer India, believing that he would do it easily by sending only Cossacks there. And so, on his orders, 40 regiments of Don Cossacks suddenly set off to conquer India, taking with them a double set of horses, but without fodder, in winter, without the right maps, through impassable steppes. Of course, this army was doomed to destruction. The senselessness of this act was so obvious to Paul’s contemporaries that Princess Lieven, the wife of Paul’s close adjutant general, even claims in her memoirs that this idea was undertaken by Paul with the aim of deliberately destroying the Cossack army, in which he suspected a freedom-loving spirit. This assumption, of course, is incorrect, but it shows what thoughts could be attributed to Paul by his associates. Fortunately, this campaign began two months before the removal of Paul, and Alexander, having barely ascended the throne, already on the very night of the coup, hastened to send a courier to return the ill-fated Cossacks; It turned out that the Cossacks had not yet reached the Russian border, but had already lost a significant part of their horses...

This fact especially clearly depicts the madness of Paul and the terrible consequences that the measures he took could have had. All these campaigns and wars of the last two years of Paul’s reign, of course, had a most detrimental effect on the state of finances. At the beginning of his reign, Paul burned, as we have seen, 6 million banknotes, but the war required emergency expenses. Paul had to again resort to issuing banknotes, since there were no other means for waging war. Thus, by the end of his reign, the total amount of issued banknotes rose from 151 million to 212 million rubles, which finally dropped the exchange rate of the paper ruble.

Results of Paul's reign

Summing up now the results of Paul's reign, we see that the boundaries of the state territory remained under him in the same form. True, the Georgian king, pressed by Persia, in January 1801 declared his desire to become a Russian citizen, but the final annexation of Georgia took place under Alexander.

As for the situation of the population, no matter how harmful many of the measures taken by Paul were, they could not produce deep changes in four years. The saddest change in the situation of the peasants was, of course, the transfer from state-owned peasants to serfs of those 530 thousand souls that Paul managed to distribute to private individuals,

As for trade and industry, despite a number of favorable conditions at the beginning of the reign, by the end of its reign foreign trade was completely destroyed, while domestic trade was in the most chaotic state. Even greater chaos resulted in the state of higher and provincial government.

This was the state of the state when Paul ceased to exist.

See Paul's note about this, found in 1826 in the papers of the Emperor. Alexandra. It is printed in volume 90. “Collection. Rus. ist. general”, pp. 1–4. Currently, Paul's government activities have been subjected to new study and revision in the book prof. V. M. Klochkova, treated her very favorably. Despite the significant material collected by Mr. Klochkov in support of his apologetic attitude towards this activity, I cannot consider his conclusions convincing and, in general, remain with my previous view of the reign of Paul. I expressed my opinion about Mr. Klochkov’s work in a special review published in Russian Thought for 1917, No. 2.

Here, however, it should be mentioned that among the cancellations of the measures taken by Catherine there were also good deeds. These include: the release of Novikov from Shlisselburg, the return of Radishchev from exile to Ilimsk and the ceremonial release from captivity with special honors of Kosciuszka and other captured Poles held in St. Petersburg.

Pavel really tried to regulate and improve the situation of the state-owned peasants, as can be seen from the study of Mr. Klochkov, but all the assumptions related to this remained, in essence, only on paper until the formation under the imp. Nicholas of the Ministry of State Property with gr. Kiselev at the head.

The first volume of op. Storch's "Gemälde des Russischen Reichs" was published in 1797 in Riga, the remaining volumes were published abroad; but Storch was persona grata at Paul's court: he was the emperor's personal reader. Maria Feodorovna and dedicated his book (volume 1) to Pavel.

“Russian Archive” for 1870, pp. 2267–2268. There is a separate publication edited by. Mr. Sipovsky. St. Petersburg, 1913.

Johann Hermann Lestocq, court physician. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / portrait by G.K. Groot

In the series "Ekaterina" the future Empress Catherine II almost dies due to poisoning organized by Johann Hermann (Ivan Ivanovich) Lestocq, who hoped to “promote” the heir to the throne as his wife Peter Fedorovich another candidate. Ekaterina Alekseevna miraculously escapes death Lestock exposed and executed.

In fact, Pyotr Fedorovich’s fiancee almost died due to severe pneumonia, and not from an attempted poisoning.

Lestok, the Empress's confidant Elizaveta Petrovna, in 1745 he really fell into disgrace, but not for attempted poisoning, but for his connection with the French envoy to Russia Chétardie. Lestok lost his former influence, in 1748 he was tortured in the Secret Chancellery, was sentenced to death, but was never executed - his death penalty was replaced by exile.

After accession to the throne Peter III Lestok was liberated, his ranks and property were returned to him, and he lived happily for another five years, dying in 1767.

Pavel is his father’s son, and Catherine did not declare infidelity to her husband

There really was no marital relationship between Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna in the first years of their marriage, as shown in the TV series “Ekaterina”. The reason for this was not only the cold and hostile relationship that developed between husband and wife, but also their young age - Peter was 17, and Catherine was 16 years old.

Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to her son Pavel only after 9 years of marriage. The birth of her son was preceded by two unsuccessful pregnancies. The question of paternity really disturbed high Russian society, with speculation that Pavel’s real father was not Pyotr Fedorovich, but Catherine’s lover Sergey Saltykov, existed throughout the life of Pavel Petrovich, and even after his death.

However, most historians agree that Pavel’s father was actually Pyotr Fedorovich. This is confirmed both by the external similarity between the two emperors and by the similarity of temperaments.

Ekaterina Alekseevna never told her husband that her son was not his, as shown in the TV series “Ekaterina” - such a confession guaranteed her at least imprisonment in a monastery, and in the worst case, the death penalty.

Razumovsky: perhaps a husband, but definitely not an heir

The question of whether Empress Elizaveta Petrovna really married her long-time favorite Alexey Razumovsky, remains open. There is no documentary evidence of this fact, although the empress and Razumovsky did have a close relationship for many years.

According to some reports, the question of the wedding of Elizaveta Petrovna and Razumovsky arose after Catherine II, who ascended the throne, thought about legitimizing her relationship with Grigory Orlov. They turned to Razumovsky to find out whether he was really married to Elizabeth, but he burned all the papers that may have confirmed this.

At the same time, Elizaveta Petrovna did not write any will allegedly declaring Alexei Razumovsky heir to the throne after her death. She also did not try to adopt the son of Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna Pavel.

The overthrow of Peter III was carefully prepared, and no one arrested Catherine

The coup of June 28, 1762, as a result of which Catherine II overthrew her husband and ascended the Russian throne, was not spontaneous and was carefully prepared over several months. A large circle of prominent political figures and military leaders were involved in it. The reason for the coup was indeed the dissatisfaction of the guard and the upper strata of Russian society with the policies of Peter III, primarily the conclusion of an extremely unfavorable peace with the practically already defeated Prussia. The emperor's accusations that he was preparing to introduce Lutheranism in Russia instead of Orthodoxy were used during the campaigning in favor of the coup, but did not correspond to reality.

In reality, there was no attempt to arrest Ekaterina Alekseevna, nor to release her during an armed clash between guards and agents of the Secret Chancellery.

In the early morning of June 28, 1762, while Peter III was in Oranienbaum, Catherine, accompanied by Alexei and Grigory Orlov, arrived from Peterhof to St. Petersburg, where the guards units swore allegiance to her, followed by other military and civilian officials. Peter III, seeing the hopelessness of resistance, abdicated the throne the next day and was taken into custody. He died a week later in the palace in Ropsha, where he was guarded by guards. According to the most common version, the deposed emperor was killed by the brother of Catherine’s favorite Alexei Orlov, but there is no exact evidence of this. According to the official version, Peter III died from an attack of hemorrhoidal colic, worsened by prolonged alcohol consumption and accompanied by diarrhea.

The “secret prisoner” died two years later

John Antonovich, aka Emperor John VI. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Ioann Antonovich, he's the emperor John VI, mentioned in official documents during his lifetime as John III, was indeed kept in custody for many years as a “secret prisoner.”

Formally, he became the Russian emperor at the age of two months, after the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna. Ivan Antonovich was the son of Anna Ioannovna’s niece Anna Leopoldovna.

After being on the throne for just over a year, the infant emperor was overthrown in a palace coup by Peter the Great's daughter Elizaveta Petrovna.

The deposed emperor and his parents were in strict isolation. After some time, he was separated from his family and kept under strict supervision in the bishop's house in Kholmogory.

In 1756, at the age of 16, he was transferred to the Shlisselburg fortress, where he spent the last years of his life.

After the coup of 1762, Empress Catherine II, who met with the “secret prisoner,” noted signs of inappropriate behavior in him. However, documents indicate that the prisoner knew about his royal origin, was taught to read and write and dreamed of life in a monastery.

In the series “Catherine” it is shown that the “secret prisoner” dies during or immediately after the accession to the throne of Catherine II. In fact, Ivan Antonovich continued to be kept in the Shlisselburg fortress just as it was under Elizaveta Petrovna.

The “secret prisoner” died in 1764 during a new coup attempt. Second Lieutenant Vasily Mirovich, who was on guard duty in the fortress, won over part of the garrison to his side in order to free Ivan and elevate him to the throne.

Mirovich did not know that the guards who were immediately next to Ivan Antonovich had been given a secret order to immediately kill him when attempting to free him. This order was carried out immediately after the start of the rebellion. Mirovich himself was executed as a state criminal.

Born September 20, 1754. From an early age he was taught to read and write and various sciences. The future Emperor studied history, mathematics, foreign languages ​​and geography.

According to the recollections of his teachers, Pavel was a man of lively mind, beautifully gifted by nature. His childhood was difficult; he lost his father early. Moreover, he lost it, as he himself believed, through the fault of his mother. Pavel loved Pyotr Fedorovich very much, and could not forgive his mother for his death.

At the age of 17, Catherine II married her son to Princess Wilhelmina, who was named Natalya Alekseevna at baptism. Natalya died during childbirth.

In 1776, Paul I married for the second time. The wife of the heir to the Russian throne was Sophia-Dorothe, who at baptism took the name Maria Feodorovna. Maria Feodorovna was related to the Prussian king. Apparently under the influence of his wife, he began to like many German customs.

Meanwhile, relations between Pavel Petrovich and Catherine II became increasingly cool. After the wedding, Catherine II gave the couple Gatchina. In fact, this was a real exile, an attempt to remove the heir from the court.

Here in Gatchina, Paul I has his own army; they send him half a company of sailors, an infantry battalion, and a cuirassier regiment. Pavel Petrovich devotes a lot of time to his soldiers. Organizes various exercises and shows.

In 1777, his son was born, named Alexander. The boy was immediately taken from his parents, and his upbringing was carried out by people appointed by the empress herself.

Pavel and Maria could visit their son only on special days. Pavel tried to participate in the political life of the country, but his mother suppressed any of his undertakings and initiatives.

After the death of Catherine II, Paul I was crowned king. Pavel Petrovich ascended the throne without having great skills in public administration. When he became monarch, he was already 42 years old. He was already an accomplished, bright and extraordinary person.

His very first act on the Russian throne was the coronation of Peter III. The father's ashes were removed from the grave, the coronation ceremony was held, and the subsequent reburial of Peter III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, next to Catherine II.

Domestic policy of Paul I

On April 5, 1797, Paul I was anointed king. On the same day, a decree on succession to the throne was issued. Now the direct descendants of the monarch through the male line became the heirs to the Russian throne. Women could take the Russian throne only in the absence of male representatives from the ruling dynasty

Paul I restored the State Council, which had been created under the rule, but had not functioned for a long time. Increased the number of council members from 7 to 17 people. In 1796, the Senate was also reformed, which could not cope with its duties due to the increased number of cases.

The size of the Senate has increased, and new rules of office work have appeared aimed at speeding up the work of the Senate. The internal policy of Paul I caused discontent among the nobles, because... The emperor tried to alleviate the situation of the peasantry. Such actions caused certain discontent among the nobility.

He also, by his decrees, abolished Catherine’s “charter of the nobility.” Now nobles were forbidden to ask for resignation if they had served as an officer for less than a year. The noble assemblies were abolished. The army reform carried out by Paul I caused great dissatisfaction. Prussian order was established in the Russian army, and an inconvenient uniform was introduced. The army lived by drill training, under conditions of the strictest discipline.

Foreign policy of Paul I

In his foreign policy, Paul I first decided to defend only the interests of Russia. But the disposition of forces in Europe obliged him to actively participate in the affairs of European states. In alliance with Turkey, the Russian army and navy took Corfu, under the leadership of. And he crushed the French on the continent by making incredible crossings through the Alps.

Meanwhile, dissatisfaction with the emperor grew more and more among the courtiers. So, on the night of March 11-12, 1801, a group of conspirators broke into his chambers and demanded that he abdicate the throne. Paul I refused and, in the ensuing fight, was killed by the conspirators. His son, Alexander I Pavlovich, was proclaimed the new Russian emperor. The “Era of palace coups” ended with the personality of Paul I.

Results

Pavel Petrovich is of great interest to historians and is the subject of many disputes. Some sincerely consider him a tyrant, others - a wonderful reformer. It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of who Emperor Paul I was. Many characterize the period of his reign as knightly autocracy. In fact, he was a man of honor.

Unfortunately, the emperor’s psyche really wasn’t all right. But there is an explanation for this. As a child, he lost his father, whom he loved very much, early on. Throughout his life, he was afraid that he would share the fate of Pyotr Fedorovich. During his reign, the distrust and caution of the entire court reached its climax.

The Russian Empire was filled with various spies and informers who praised themselves to the emperor and denounced others. Paul I was a man of changeable character, and often made contradictory decisions. People quickly fell out of favor with him, and just as quickly became his favorites. Paul I ruled Russia for only 5 years.

• There are three versions of the origin of Emperor Paul I. He is the son of Peter III and Catherine II.
• Son of Catherine II and Count Sergei Saltykov.
• Son of unknown Chukhon parents.
  

S.S. Shchukin "Portrait of Emperor Paul I"

Pavel I Petrovich, Emperor of All Russia, son of Peter III and Catherine II, was born on September 20, 1754 in the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg.

Childhood

Immediately after birth, he came under the full care of his grandmother, Elizaveta Petrovna, who took upon herself all the worries about his upbringing, effectively removing his mother. But Elizabeth was distinguished by her fickle character and soon lost interest in the heir, transferring him to the care of nannies who were only concerned that the child would not catch a cold, get hurt or play naughty. In early childhood, a boy with a passionate imagination was intimidated by nannies: subsequently he was always afraid of the dark, flinched when there was a knock or an incomprehensible rustle, and believed in omens, fortune telling and dreams.

In the fifth year of his life, the boy began to be taught grammar and arithmetic, his first teacher F.D. Bekhteev used an original method for this: he wrote letters and numbers on wooden and tin soldiers and, lining them up in ranks, taught the heir to read and count.

Education

From 1760, Count N.I. became Pavel’s main educator. Panin, who was his teacher before the heir’s marriage. Despite the fact that Pavel preferred military sciences, he received a fairly good education: he could easily speak French and German, knew Slavic and Latin, read Horace in the original, and made extracts from books while reading. He had a rich library, a physics office with a collection of minerals, and a lathe for physical labor. He knew how to dance well, fencing, and was fond of horse riding.

O.A. Leonov "Paul I"

N.I. Panin, himself a passionate admirer of Frederick the Great, raised the heir in the spirit of admiration for everything Prussian at the expense of the national Russian. But, according to the testimony of contemporaries, in his youth Paul was capable, striving for knowledge, romantically inclined, with an open character, sincerely believing in the ideals of goodness and justice. After their mother's accession to the throne in 1762, their relationship was quite close. However, over time they worsened. Catherine was afraid of her son, who had more legal rights to the throne than herself. Rumors about his accession to the throne spread throughout the country; E. I. Pugachev appealed to him as a “son”. The Empress tried to prevent the Grand Duke from participating in discussions of state affairs, and he began to evaluate his mother’s policies more and more critically. Catherine simply “did not notice” her son’s coming of age, without marking it in any way.

Maturity

In 1773, Pavel married the Hesse-Darmstadt princess Wilhelmina (baptized Natalya Alekseevna). In this regard, his education was completed, and he was to be involved in government affairs. But Catherine did not consider this necessary.

In October 1766, Natalya Alekseevna, whom Pavel loved very much, died in childbirth with a baby, and Catherine insisted that Pavel marry a second time, which he did, going to Germany. Paul's second wife is the Württemberg princess Sophia-Dorothea-Augusta-Louise (baptized Maria Feodorovna). The encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron says this about the further position of Paul: “And after that, during the entire life of Catherine, the place occupied by Paul in government spheres was that of an observer, aware of his right to supreme management of affairs and deprived of the opportunity to use this right for changes in even the smallest detail in the course of business. This situation was especially conducive to the development of a critical mood in Paul, which acquired a particularly sharp and bilious hue thanks to the personal element that entered him in a wide stream...”

Russian coat of arms during the reign of Paul I

In 1782, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna went on a trip abroad and were warmly received in European capitals. Pavel even received a reputation there as the “Russian Hamlet.” During the trip, Pavel openly criticized his mother’s policies, which she soon became aware of. Upon the return of the grand ducal couple to Russia, the Empress gave them Gatchina, where the “small court” moved and where Paul, who had inherited from his father a passion for everything military in the Prussian style, created his own small army, conducting endless maneuvers and parades. He languished in inactivity, made plans for his future reign and made repeated and unsuccessful attempts to engage in state activities: in 1774 he submitted a note to the Empress, drawn up under the influence of Panin and entitled “Discussion on the state regarding the defense of all borders.” Catherine assessed her as naive and disapproving of her policies. In 1787, Pavel asks his mother for permission to go as a volunteer to the Russian-Turkish war, but she refuses him under the pretext of Maria Feodorovna’s approaching birth. Finally, in 1788, he took part in the Russian-Swedish war, but even here Catherine accused him of the fact that the Swedish Prince Charles was looking for rapprochement with him - and she recalled her son from the army. It is not surprising that gradually his character becomes suspicious, nervous, bilious and tyrannical. He retires to Gatchina, where he spends almost continuously for 13 years. The only thing that remains for him is to do what he loves: organizing and training “amusing” regiments, consisting of several hundred soldiers, according to the Prussian model.

Catherine hatched plans to remove him from the throne, citing his bad character and inability. She saw her grandson Alexander, son of Paul, on the throne. This intention was not destined to come true due to the sudden illness and death of Empress Catherine II in November 1796.

On the throne

The new emperor immediately tried to erase, as it were, everything that had been done during the 34 years of Catherine II’s reign, to destroy the order of Catherine’s reign that he hated - this became one of the most important motives of his policy. He also tried to suppress the influence of revolutionary France on the minds of Russians. His policy was developed in this direction.

First of all, he ordered the remains of Peter III, his father, who were buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress along with the coffin of Catherine II, to be removed from the crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On April 4, 1797, Paul was solemnly crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On the same day, several decrees were promulgated, the most important of which were: the “Law on Succession to the Throne,” which assumed the transfer of the throne according to the principle of pre-Petrine times, and the “Institution on the Imperial Family,” which determined the order of maintenance of persons of the reigning house.

The reign of Paul I lasted 4 years and 4 months. It was somewhat chaotic and contradictory. He's been kept on a leash for too long. And so the leash was removed... He tried to correct the shortcomings of the former regime that he hated, but he did it inconsistently: he restored the Peter's colleges liquidated by Catherine II, limited local self-government, issued a number of laws leading to the destruction of noble privileges... They could not forgive him for this.

In the decrees of 1797, landowners were recommended to perform a 3-day corvee, it was forbidden to use peasant labor on Sundays, it was not allowed to sell peasants under the hammer, and Little Russians were not allowed to sell them without land. The nobles who were fictitiously enrolled in them were ordered to report to the regiments. From 1798, noble societies became under the control of governors, and nobles again began to be subjected to corporal punishment for criminal offenses. But at the same time, the situation of the peasants was not alleviated.

Transformations in the army began with the replacement of “peasant” uniforms with new ones, copied from Prussian ones. Wanting to improve discipline among the troops, Paul I was present every day at exercises and training sessions and severely punished the slightest mistakes.

Paul I was very afraid of the penetration of the ideas of the Great French Revolution into Russia and introduced some restrictive measures: already in 1797, private printing houses were closed, strict censorship was introduced for books, a ban was imposed on French fashion, and the travel of young people to study abroad was prohibited.

V. Borovikovsky "Paul I in the uniform of Colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment"

Upon ascending the throne, Paul, in order to emphasize the contrast with his mother, declared peace and non-interference in European affairs. However, when in 1798 there was a threat of Napoleon re-establishing an independent Polish state, Russia took an active part in organizing the anti-French coalition. In the same year, Paul assumed the duties of Master of the Order of Malta, thus challenging the French emperor who had captured Malta. In this regard, the Maltese octagonal cross was included in the state coat of arms. In 1798-1800, Russian troops successfully fought in Italy, and the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, which caused concern on the part of Austria and England. Relations with these countries completely deteriorated in the spring of 1800. At the same time, rapprochement with France began, and a plan for a joint campaign against India was even discussed. Without waiting for the corresponding agreement to be signed, Pavel ordered the Don Cossacks, who were already stopped by Alexander I, to set out on a campaign.

V.L. Borovikovsky "Portrait of Paul I in the crown, dalmatic and insignia of the Order of Malta"

Despite the solemn promise to maintain peaceful relations with other states, given upon accession to the throne, he took an active part in the coalition with England, Austria, the Kingdom of Naples and Turkey against France. The Russian squadron under the leadership of F. Ushakov was sent to the Mediterranean Sea, where, together with the Turkish squadron, it liberated the Ionian Islands from the French. In Northern Italy and Switzerland, Russian troops under the command of A.V. Suvorov won a number of brilliant victories.

The last palace coup of the passing era

Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg, where Paul I was killed

The main reasons for the coup and death of Paul I were the infringement of the interests of the nobility and the unpredictability of the emperor’s actions. Sometimes he exiled or sent people to prison for the slightest offense.

He planned to declare Maria Feodorovna’s 13-year-old nephew heir to the throne, adopting him, and imprison his eldest sons, Alexander and Konstantin, in the fortress. In March 1801, a ban on trade with the British was issued, which threatened to damage the landowners.

On the night of March 11-12, 1801, Pavel I Petrovich was killed by conspiratorial officers in the newly built Mikhailovsky Castle: the conspirators, mostly guards officers, burst into the bedroom of Paul I demanding that he abdicate the throne. When the emperor tried to object and even hit one of them, one of the rebels began to strangle him with his scarf, and the other hit him in the temple with a massive snuff box. It was announced to the people that Paul I had died of apoplexy.

Paul I and Maria Feodorovna had 10 children:

Although, because of his father’s jokes on the topic “it’s unknown where his wife got her children from,” many consider the father of Paul I to be Ekaterina Alekseevna’s favorite, Sergei Saltykov. Moreover, the first-born was born only after 10 years of marriage. However, the external similarity between Paul and Peter should be considered as a response to such rumors. The childhood of the future autocrat cannot be called happy. Because of the political struggle, the current Empress Elizabeth I Petrovna was afraid for Paul the First, protected him from communication with his parents and surrounded him with a real army of nannies and teachers who curry favor with high-ranking officials rather than worry about the boy.

Pavel the First in childhood | Runiverse

The biography of Paul I claims that he received the best education that was possible at that time. The extensive library of Academician Korf was placed at his personal disposal. Teachers taught the heir to the throne not only the traditional Law of God, foreign languages, dancing and fencing, but also painting, as well as history, geography, arithmetic and even astronomy. It is interesting that none of the lessons included anything related to military affairs, but the inquisitive teenager himself became interested in this science and mastered it at a fairly high level.

When Catherine II ascended the throne, she allegedly signed an obligation to transfer the reign to her son Paul I when he reached adulthood. This document has not reached us: perhaps the empress destroyed the paper, or maybe it is just a legend. But it was precisely such a statement that all the rebels dissatisfied with the rule of the “Iron German,” including Emelyan Pugachev, always referred to. In addition, there was talk that already on her deathbed, Elizaveta Petrovna was going to transfer the crown to her grandson Paul I, and not to her nephew Peter III, but the corresponding order was not made public and this decision did not affect the biography of Paul I.

Emperor

Paul the First sat on the throne of the Russian Empire only at the age of 42. Right during the coronation, he announced changes in the succession to the throne: now only men could rule Russia, and the crown was passed on only from father to son. By this, Paul unsuccessfully hoped to prevent the palace coups that had become more frequent recently. By the way, for the first time in history, the coronation procedure took place simultaneously for both the emperor and the empress on the same day.

The disgusting relationship with his mother led to the fact that Paul I chose the method of leading the country to actually contrast his decisions with its previous ones. As if “to spite” the memory of Ekaterina Alekseevna, Pavel the First returned freedom to convicted radicals, reformed the army and began to fight serfdom.

But in reality, all these ideas did not lead to anything good. The liberation of the radicals would come back many years later in the form of a Decembrist uprising, the reduction of the corvee remained only on paper, and the fight against corruption in the army grew into a series of repressions. Moreover, both the highest ranks, who one after another were deprived of their positions, and ordinary military personnel remained dissatisfied with the emperor. They grumbled about the new uniform, modeled on the Prussian army, which turned out to be incredibly uncomfortable. In foreign policy, Paul the First became famous for his fight against the ideas of the French Revolution. He introduced the strictest censorship in book publishing; French books and French fashion, including round hats, were banned.

During the reign of Paul the First, thanks to commander Alexander Suvorov and Vice Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, the Russian army and navy achieved many significant victories, collaborating with Prussian and Austrian troops. But later Paul I showed his fickle character, broke off relations with his allies and formed an alliance with Napoleon. It was in Bonaparte that the Russian emperor saw the force that could stop the anti-monarchist revolution. But he was mistaken strategically: Napoleon did not become a winner even after the death of Paul the First, but because of his decision and the economic blockade of Great Britain, Russia lost its largest sales market, which had a very significant impact on the standard of living in the Russian Empire.

Personal life

Officially, Pavel the First was married twice. His first wife, Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, was by birth the German Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt. She died two years after the wedding during childbirth. The first son of Paul I was born dead. That same year, the future emperor married again. The wife of Paul the First, Maria Feodorovna, was called Sophia Maria Dorothea of ​​Württemberg before marriage, and she was destined to become the mother of two rulers at once, Alexander I and Nicholas I.

It is interesting that this marriage was not just beneficial for the state, Pavel really fell in love with this girl. As he wrote to his family, “this blonde with a pleasant face captivated the widower.” In total, in union with Maria Fedorovna, the emperor had 10 children. In addition to the two above-mentioned autocrats, it is worth noting Mikhail Pavlovich, who founded the first Russian Artillery School in St. Petersburg. By the way, he is the only child born during the reign of Paul the First.

But falling in love with his wife did not stop Paul the First from following the generally accepted rules and having favorites. Two of them, ladies-in-waiting Sofya Ushakova and Mavra Yuryeva, even gave birth to illegitimate children from the emperor. It is also worth noting Ekaterina Nelidova, who had enormous influence on the emperor and it is believed that she tried to lead the country with the hands of her lover. The personal life of Paul I and Ekaterina Nelidova was more intellectual than carnal in nature. In it, the emperor realized his ideas of romantic chivalry.

When those close to the court realized how much the power of this woman had increased, they arranged a “replacement” for the favorite of Paul I. Anna Lopukhina became his new lady of the heart, and Nelidova was forced to retire to Lode Castle, in the territory of present-day Estonia. It is curious that Lopukhina was not happy with this state of affairs, she was burdened by the status of the mistress of the ruler Paul the First, his “knightly” manifestations of attention, and was annoyed that these relationships were being put on display.

Death

During the several years of Paul the First's reign, despite the change in succession, at least three conspiracies were organized against him, the last of which was successful. Almost a dozen officers, commanders of the most famous regiments, as well as government officials on the night of March 24, 1801 entered the emperor’s bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle and committed the murder of Paul I. The official cause of his death was apoplexy. It is worth noting that nobles and ordinary people greeted the news of death with poorly controlled glee.

The perception of Paul the First by subsequent generations is ambiguous. Some historians, especially during the reign of his successor Alexander I, and then in Soviet times, created the image of a tyrant and tyrant. Even the poet in his ode “Liberty” called him “a crowned villain.” Others try to emphasize Paul the First’s heightened sense of justice, calling him “the only romantic on the throne” and “the Russian Hamlet.” The Orthodox Church even at one time considered the possibility of canonizing this man. Today it is generally accepted that Paul the First does not fit into the system of any known ideology.