Paul's assassination brought his oldest son, Alexander, to the throne. By all accounts, he was a remarkably likable young man: personable, attractive, and intelligent, he had been raised by Catherine II to rule Russia, and he did so for 24 years, from 1801-1825.

Portrait of Alexander I

Catherine's plan for Alexander had included a relatively liberal education, provided by a Swiss tutor named Frederick LaHarpe. Unfortunately, many of the ideas that LaHarpe taught the young tsarevich were not easily reconciled with the rule of a country the size of Russia, particularly in the form of an absolute monarchy. This early confusion may explain why Alexander has always been seen as an enigma in Russian history; Riasanovsky goes so far as to call him a "sphinx".

Russia rejoiced when Alexander came to the throne. It would be fair to say that any tsar would be welcomed after Paul, but Alexander was well liked even before he came to power. Liberals rejoiced, as it was believed that he would return to the policies of his grandmother (or more correctly, his pre-French Revolution grandmother), and indeed, the first half of his reign, to 1812, was marked by far more liberal policies than those of Paul. Surrounded by a group of advisors that he referred to as the Unofficial Committee, he set to work to abolish some of the most backwards aspects of Russian society, including the practice of serfdom. The notes from the early Unofficial Committee meetings indicated that he was interested in altering the entire social structure, abolishing the aristocracy as well as serfdom. However, as Alexander's time in power increased, he became more conservative, believing (as his grandmother had) that the abolition of serfdom would destroy the Russian economy. Instead, he set about to reform the government, replacing the colleges of Peter I with ministries. He also increased spending for education, allowed owners to emancipate their serfs with land (although few did), and generally streamlined the governmental structure. The most important attempt at reform occurred in the later period of reform, in 1809, under the administration of Michael Speransky, Alexander's most well known advisor. Speransky is a fascinating figure: a self made man, he introduced a series of liberal reforms to Russia, some of which actually found a home. When the discussion of a constitution began, Speransky was at the heart of it. Unfortunately, it was never fully implemented; in fact, only Speransky's plan for a Council of State was ever fully acted upon. In 1812, in part because of the impending war with France, Speransky was removed from power; he would be called back into service later, but with limited powers and without the influence that he had in the first years of Alexander's reign.

Russia and Napoleon

Alexander is perhaps best known for his role during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Russia was a hesitant participant. Alexander's foreign policy was initially neutral: Catherine had been opposed to France, and Paul had both supported and fought the French, but Alexander was more interested in dealing with domestic issues than he was contending with foreign policy. Unfortunately, Alexander was also quick to recognize that Napoleon could never truly be an ally of the Russians, and eventually the tsar found himself in a coalition with the traditional Russian allies of Britain and Austria. The War of the Third Coalition, as this group was known, pitted Austria, Russia, Great Britain, and Sweden against the French and Spanish, with the French knocking the Austrians out of the war. The Russians formed a new coalition, with the Prussians, who were promptly defeated at two different battles (Jena and Auerstadt) and forced to sign a treaty with the French. The Russians, who were not conquered but were cornered, also signed the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. Russia and France emerged as the only powers on the European continent, with Russia agreeing to Napoleon's Continental System, which forbade French allies from trading with the British.

Alexander turned his attention elsewhere, annexing Georgia, battling both the Persian and Turkish armies (and defeating both), and expanding into Finland. In addition, the Russians began to look at the American continent, constructing forts in Alaska and Northern California (Fort Ross was built in 1812). However, it was clear that the Russians were going to have face off against the French at some point. In 1810, Alexander disregarded the Continental System and began to trade with the British again. Napoleon, frustrated with the Russian refusal to obey, gathered up his allies and, in June 1812, invaded Russia with approximately half a million troops. The Russian army had about 120,000 troops. Napoleon advanced quickly into the central part of Russia, with the Russians seemingly powerless to stop them. Alexander placed Prince Kutuzov in command of the Russian forces, and in September 1812, he fought a major battle against the French at Borodino, about 75 miles outside of Moscow. The Russians lost nearly a third of their troops, the French over half. Kutuzov withdrew and allowed the French to enter Moscow, which they found in flames; the governor general (or Alexander himself, depending on the legend) had ordered the city burned to prevent the French from taking advantage. Virtually all of Moscow outside of the Kremlin was wood, and Napoleon, rather than being able to take shelter from the oncoming winter, was forced to retreat. As the Grande Armee made its way back towards France, snipers attacked. By the end of the year, there were no foreign troops left on Russian soil, and Napoleon's army had been reduced to 40,000 men. Alexander was not content to allow the French emperor to escape; with British, Austrian, and Swedish forces, they defeated the French at the Battle of Leipzig, in early 1814. The allies entered Paris and forced Napoleon into exile, which he broke the following year. After the battle of Waterloo, in 1815, Napoleon was sent into permanent exile, and Alexander should have emerged as one of the most important leaders at the Congress of Vienna.

However, Alexander had begun turning increasingly to religion, particularly messianic and mystical elements of Christianity, and he proposed, at the Congress of Vienna, the creation of a Holy Alliance. This alliance "simply appealed to Christian rulers to live as brothers and preserve peace in Europe." However, most of the rest of the European leaders laughed at the alliance and largely disregarded it. Instead, the most important doctrine became the Quadruple Alliance, which was signed by the four allies (Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria) and agreed to preserve the peace in Europe by controlling France. The alliance was to last 20 years, at which point it could be renewed. Unfortunately, while the alliance was a good idea, it simply failed to work, as each of the partners was more interested in his own benefit than that of his neighbors.

The Last Years of Alexander's Reign

The years following the Holy Alliance saw Alexander becoming increasingly interested in religion. He turned much of the running of the country over to his advisors, particularly the military minded and repressive Aleksei Arakcheev, who ruled like a military dictator. Alexander's marriage, which was a happy one, had not produced any male children, and his heir apparent appeared to be his younger brother Constantine. Alexander spent much of the last ten years of his rule focused on his pursuit of religion. Even his death, in late 1825, has religion overtones, as many historians have posited that Alexander did not die, but instead chose to fake his own death so that he could wander the country as a monk. While this has never been conclusively proven, the period immediately after Alexander's "death" was one which was filled with confusion and fear.

Unknown to virtually all of his advisors, Alexander had disinherited his brother Constantine in 1822, by mutual agreement. Constantine had married a Polish noblewoman who had no royal blood, and this marriage made him ineligible for the throne. Both Constantine and Alexander had signed a manifesto testifying to such, but the information had not been made public. Instead, Nicholas, their younger brother, was to be the new emperor on Alexander's death. Upon Alexander's death, however, there was great confusion, with Nicholas swearing loyalty to his older brother. In this confusion, a group of radicals who became known as the Decembrists, chose to act.

The Decembrists

The Decembrists grew out of the liberal tradition from the first part of Alexander's reign. Primarily army officers, they had seen the impact of the French Revolution on France and believed that Russia needed to liberalize. In the confusion that followed Alexander's death, they acted, staging rebellions in both Moscow and St. Petersburg to demand a constitutional monarchy. Unfortunately, the men they had counted on to support them failed to materialize, in part because it was December and far too cold. Neither rebellion was successful; the leaders were captured and hanged, with many of the others sent into Siberian exile. Among the most famous supporters of the Decembrists was Alexander Pushkin, perhaps Russia's greatest poet, who had been exiled to his family's estate only a few months before the uprising because of his subversive writings; had he still been in St. Petersburg, it is likely that he would have taken part in the rebellion and been executed. With the chaos of the rebellion, coupled with the uncertainty of who was supposed to be the monarch, Nicholas's regime had gotten off to a rocky start, and he was determined to insure that it did not happen again.

This links you to some of Pushkin's poetry; he is the most famous of the Russian poets (for good reason!)

Nicholas I

Nicholas was the last of Paul and Maria's children, and had not been raised by his grandmother. He was, more than any of his brothers, extremely conservative, but also a good family man, determined, and far more decisive than his older brother Alexander. He was a religious man but not interested in the mysticism that had marked Alexander's interest in religion. Ultimately, the aims of his reign can be found in the creation of Official Nationality, a doctrine which was proclaimed in the first years of his reign. Celebrating "Orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationality", the doctrine aimed to focus on the strength of the Russian church, monarchy, and identity, while subjugating the others within the realm. This included eliminating much of the religion toleration which had marked previous rulers' reigns, promoting the Orthodox church, and taking on a military identity that led Russia to be known as the "gendarme of Europe". Nicholas also created the Third Department, essential a secret police, which was used to determine those who were acting in manners deemed subversive. This included artists, philosophers, and regular citizens. Nicholas himself undertook the determination of some subversive works, and even critiqued Pushkin's writings for subversive elements. There was very little advancement in terms of reforms, although a new law code, created by Mikhail Speransky, did come into effect in 1835, replacing the ancient Ulozhenie that had been promulgated during the reign of Aleksei Mikhailovich.

The most significant event of Nicholas's reign came at its end, with the Russian involvement in the Crimean War. The war had been an attempt to improve Russia's holdings around the Black Sea and increase its power over the Ottoman Empire. The British and French actively opposed this plan, and they went to war in 1853 over the territory. Both sides eventually agreed to a peace agreement, but not after the deaths of thousands of men, mostly to disease, and the exposure of the lack of sophistication of the Russian army. The war inspired literature like Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade", and the activities of Florence Nightingale helped bring nursing to women, but all in all the war was a dismal failure for the Russians, and signing a peace treaty to get out of it was one of the first actions of the new emperor, Alexander II.

The reign of Nicholas I, while somewhat uninspiring in terms of reform, helped shape Russia's identity, especially in terms of the monarchy. He clearly indicated that direction that Russian foreign and domestic policy was headed, and his successors, with the exception of his son, followed his blueprint.

Statue of Nicholas I [link lost]