And initially he was not considered as the heir to the Russian throne, and this left an imprint on his upbringing and education. His mentors were the best scientists of that time, but the teaching was so dry that Nikolai was forever imbued with an aversion to abstract sciences. He was only really interested in military art, engineering and construction. In 1816, Nicholas made a fact-finding trip to some provinces of Russia and visited England, which helped him get acquainted with the state of affairs within his country and the experience of developing one of the most advanced socio-political systems of that time. In 1817, Nicholas married the Prussian princess Charlotte (in Orthodoxy - Alexandra Fedorovna), and in the spring next year their first child, Alexander, was born. In 1819, he informed his brother about Konstantin Pavlovich’s intention to abdicate the throne, and in 1823 he signed a secret manifesto on succession to the throne. Nicholas felt unprepared to wear the crown of Russian emperors, and therefore until the last moment he hoped that Constantine would change his decision.
Named in honor of Nicholas I
Nikolaevskaya Square in Kazan
Nicholas Hospital in Peterhof
Monuments to Nicholas I:
Saint Petersburg. Equestrian monument on St. Isaac's Square. Opened on June 26 (July 8), 1859, sculptor P. K. Klodt. The monument has been preserved in its original form. The fence surrounding it was dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt again in 1992.
Saint Petersburg. Bronze bust of the Emperor on a high granite pedestal. Opened on July 12, 2001 in front of the facade of the building of the former psychiatric department of the Nikolaev Military Hospital, founded in 1840 by decree of the Emperor (now the St. Petersburg District Military Clinical Hospital), Suvorovsky Ave., 63. Initially, a monument to the Emperor, representing bronze bust on a granite pedestal, was opened in front of the main facade of this hospital on August 15 (27), 1890. The monument was destroyed shortly after 1917.
Saint Petersburg. Plaster bust on a high granite pedestal. Opened on May 19, 2003 at main staircase Vitebsky railway station (Zagorodny pr., 52), sculptors V. S. and S. V. Ivanov, architect T. L. Torich.
Velikiy Novgorod. Image of Nicholas I on the “Millennium of Russia” monument. Opened in 1862, sculptor - M. O. Mikeshin.
Moscow. Monument to the "Creators of Russian railways» near the Kazansky railway station - a bronze bust of the emperor surrounded famous figures railway industry his reign. Opened on August 1, 2013.
A bronze bust of Emperor Nicholas I was inaugurated on July 2, 2015 on the territory of the Nikolo-Berlyukovsky Monastery in the village of Avdotyino, Moscow region (sculptor A. A. Appolonov)
St. Nicholas Cathedral city of Starobelsk. In 1859, a location for the construction of the temple was determined - between Malaya Dvoryanskaya and Sobornaya, Classical and Nikolaevskaya streets. The temple was built in the Baroque style and was solemnly consecrated in 1862. The temple is considered an architectural monument of the 19th century and is protected by the state.
Memorial plaques
Moscow. Bas-relief in the building of the Leningradsky railway station.
Saint Petersburg. Memorial plaque on the Moskovsky railway station building (to the left of the southern entrance to the light hall).
Film incarnation
The first films in which the image of Tsar Nicholas I appeared were silent
1910 - “The Life and Death of Pushkin”
1911 - “Defense of Sevastopol”
1918 - “Father Sergius” (Vladimir Gaidarov)
1926 - “Decembrists” (Evgeny Boronikhin)
1927 - “The Poet and the Tsar” (Konstantin Karenin)
1928 - “Secrets ancient family", Poland (Pavel Overlo)
1930 - “White Devil” Germany (Fritz Alberti)
1932 - “House of the Dead” (Nikolai Vitovtov)
1936 - “Prometheus” (Vladimir Ershov)
1943 - “Lermontov” (A. Savostyanov)
1946 - “Glinka” (B. Livanov)
M. Nazvanov in the films “Taras Shevchenko” (1951), “Belinsky” (1951), “Composer Glinka” (1952)
Milivoje Zivanovic “Hadji Murat - the white devil” (Italy-Yugoslavia, 1959)
V. Strzhelchik “Dream” (1964), “The Third Youth” (1965), “The Green Carriage” (1967), “Father Sergius” (1978)
S. Polezhaev “The Mistake of Honore de Balzac” (1968)
V. Zakharchenko “Wake up Mukhin!” (1967)
Vasily Livanov - “Star of Captivating Happiness” (1975)
Yuri Bogatyrev - “The Nose” (1977), “And I’m With You Again” (1981)
S. Baykov - “Chokan Valikhanov” (1985)
Maris Liepa - “Lermontov” (1986)
Yuri Yakovlev - “Lefty” (1986)
Valery Doronin - “The Last Road” (1986)
E. Romanov - “Bay of Happiness” (1987)
Mikhail Boyarsky - “Crazy” (1991)
Boris Plotnikov - “Griboyedov Waltz” (1995)
Y. Makarov “Russian Ark” (2002), “Pushkin. The Last Duel"(2006)
M. Basharov “Satisfaction” (2005)
V. Verzhbitsky “Poor Nastya” (2003-2004), “One Night of Love” (2008)
N. Tokarev - “Northern Sphinx” (2003)
Andrey Zibrov - “The Death of Wazir-Mukhtar” (2010)
Sergey Druzhko - “The Romanovs. The seventh film (2013)
V. Maksimov - “Duel. Pushkin - Lermontov" (2014)
Dmitry Naumov - “Fort Ross: In Search of Adventure” (2014)
Nikita Tarasov - “The Monk and the Demon” (2016)
Ivan Kolesnikov - “Union of Salvation” (2019)
Nicholas I is not one of the favorites of Russian history. They said about this emperor: “There is a lot of the ensign in him and a little of Peter the Great.” Under Nicholas I, the country passed industrial Revolution, and Russia in the West began to be called the “prison of nations.”
"Executioner of the Decembrists"
On the day of Nicholas's coronation - December 14, 1825 - the Decembrist uprising broke out in St. Petersburg. After the announcement of the manifesto on the monarch’s ascension to the throne, Alexander’s will and Constantine’s letter confirming the abdication, Nicholas declared: “After this, you answer me with your head for the peace of the capital, and as for me, if I am emperor for even one hour, I will show that I was he deserves it."
By evening, the new emperor had to accept, perhaps, one of the most difficult decisions in your life: after negotiations and unsuccessful attempts To settle the matter peacefully, Nikolai decided on an extreme measure - buckshot. He tried to prevent the tragedy and motivated his refusal to use force with the question: “What do you want me to stain with the blood of my subjects on the first day of my reign?” They answered him: “Yes, if it is necessary to save the Empire.”
Even those who disliked the new emperor could not help but admit that “on December 14, he showed himself to be a ruler, influencing the crowd with personal courage and an aura of power.”
Industry reformer
If before 1831 the emperor still intended to carry out a number of transformations to strengthen the positions of the autocracy, then the subsequent course of rule, which ended “ gloomy seventh anniversary", was marked by a spirit of extreme conservatism. After the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, Nicholas vowed that the revolution, which was on the threshold of Russia, would not penetrate the country “as long as the breath of life remained in me.” And he did everything to suppress the slightest manifestations of free thought, including tightening censorship and strengthening state control above educational system(School Charter 1828 and University Charter 1835).
The Nicholas era also marked positive developments. New Emperor inherited an industry whose condition was the worst in the entire imperial history. It’s amazing but true: he managed to turn it into a competitive industry through automation of production and large-scale use of civilian labor, paying attention to these issues Special attention. From 1825 to 1860, 70% of paved roads were built, and in 1843, construction of the Nikolaev Railway began.
Censor
A new censorship charter, which prohibited the publication of any materials that undermined the authority of the existing monarchical system, was promulgated in 1826. It was popularly called “cast iron”, probably because it was impossible to find “loopholes” in it. Not only was it subject to severe censorship fiction, but also textbooks.
An absurd case is widely known when an arithmetic textbook was banned for publication, in one of the problems of which a “suspicious” ellipsis between numbers was identified. Not only contemporary authors fell under the knife of the censors. The presiding censor Baturlin, for example, proposed excluding the following lines from the akathist of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary: “Rejoice, invisible taming of the cruel and bestial rulers.” Two years later, a slightly more loyal version of the “cast iron” charter was released, which limited the subjectivity of censors, but, in essence, did not differ from its predecessor.
Auditor
Another thing in Nikolai Pavlovich’s life was the fight against the eternal Russian problem - corruption. For the first time, audits began to be carried out at all levels under him. As Klyuchevsky wrote, the emperor himself often acted as an auditor: “It used to be that he would swoop into some government chamber, scare the officials and leave, letting everyone feel that he knew not only their affairs, but also their tricks.”
The fight against theft of state property and abuse was carried out both by the Ministry of Finance, headed by Yegor Kankrin, and by the Ministry of Justice, which, at the legislative level, monitored how zealously the governors were establishing order on the ground. Once, on behalf of the emperor, a list of governors who did not take bribes was compiled for him. In densely populated Russia, there were only two such people: the Kovno governor Radishchev and the Kiev Fundukley, to which the emperor remarked: “It’s understandable that Fundukley doesn’t take bribes, because he’s very rich, but if Radishchev doesn’t take them, it means he’s too honest.” " According to contemporaries, Nikolai Pavlovich “often turned a blind eye” to petty bribery, which had been established for a long time and was widespread. But the emperor punished seriously for serious “tricks”: in 1853, more than two and a half thousand officials appeared before the court.
Peasant question
The so-called “ peasant question" - the emperor understood what the people expected from him " better life" Delay could lead to the “powder keg under the state” exploding. The emperor did a lot to make life easier for the peasants, strengthening the stability of the empire. A ban was established on the sale of peasants without land and with “fragmentation of the family,” and the right of landowners to exile peasants to Siberia was also limited. Decree on obligated peasants was subsequently used as the basis for the reform to abolish serfdom. Historians Rozhkov, Blum and Klyuchevsky pointed out that for the first time the number of serfs was reduced, the share of which was reduced, according to various estimates, to 35-45%. The life of the so-called state peasants also improved, who received their own land plots, as well as assistance in case of crop failure from auxiliary cash desks and bread stores open everywhere. The growth in the well-being of peasants made it possible to increase treasury revenues by 20%. The program was first implemented mass education peasantry: by 1856, almost 2,000 new schools had been opened, and the number of students from one and a half thousand people in 1838 had grown to 111 thousand. According to the historian Zayonchkovsky, the subjects of Emperor Nicholas I could get the impression that “an era of reform has arrived in Russia.”
Legislator
Even Alexander I drew attention to the fact that the law is the same for everyone: “Since I allow myself to break the laws, who then will consider it the duty to observe them?” However, to early XIX centuries, complete confusion reigned in the legislation, which often led to riots and judicial abuses. Following his own directive not to change the existing order, Nikolai instructs Speransky to carry out codification Russian laws: systematize and consolidate legislative framework, without making changes to its content. Attempts to unify legislation were made before Nicholas, but still the only collection that covered all Russian law remained Cathedral Code 1649. As a result painstaking work a Complete Collection of Laws was compiled, then the “Code of Laws of the Russian” Empire was published, which included all the existing legislative acts. However, the codification itself, which Speransky planned to carry out at the third stage of work, namely to create a Code in which old norms would be supplemented with new ones, did not find support from the emperor.
Nicholas I was perhaps the first ruler of Russia to have a monstrous reputation in Europe. It was during his reign that the Russian Empire “earned” such epithets as “prison of nations”, “gendarme of Europe”, which stuck with our country for many decades. The reason for this was Nikolai’s active participation in European politics. The years 1830-1840 became a time of revolutions in Europe; the monarch considered it his duty to resist “rebellious chaos.”
In 1830, Nicholas decided to send Polish troops as part of the Russian corps to suppress the revolution in France, which caused an uprising in Poland itself, part of which was part of Russian Empire. The rebels outlawed the Romanov dynasty and formed a provisional government and self-defense forces. The uprising was supported by many European countries: leading British and French newspapers began persecuting Nicholas and Russia itself. However, the emperor harshly suppressed the uprising. In 1848, he sent troops to Hungary to help Austria suppress the Hungarian national liberation movement.
The emperor was forced to continue the protracted war in the Caucasus and enter into a new one - the Crimean one, which would significantly “tatter” the treasury (the deficit will be replenished only 14 years after the end of the war). Under the terms of the peace treaty in Crimean War Russia lost Black Sea Fleet However, Sevastopol, Balaklava and a number of other Crimean cities were returned in exchange for the Kars fortress. The war gave impetus to economic and military reforms carried out after Nicholas I.
The Emperor, who had previously enjoyed excellent health, suddenly caught a cold at the beginning of 1855. He subordinated his life and the way of life of the “mechanism” entrusted to him to a simple regulation: “Order, strict, unconditional legality, no know-it-all and no contradiction, everything follows from one another; no one commands before he himself learns to obey; no one stands in front of another without legal justification; everyone obeys one specific purpose“everything has its purpose.” He died with the words: “I’m handing over my team, unfortunately, not in the order I wanted, leaving a lot of trouble and worries.”
Emperor Nicholas 1 was born on June 25 (July 6), 1796. He was the third son of Paul 1 and Maria Feodorovna. Received a good education, but did not recognize humanities. He was knowledgeable in the art of war and fortification. Well owned engineering. However, despite this, the king was not loved in the army. Brutal Physical punishment and coldness led to the fact that among the soldiers the nickname of Nicholas 1 “Nikolai Palkin” took hold.
In 1817, Nicholas married the Prussian princess Frederica Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina.
Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas 1, possessing amazing beauty, became the mother of the future Emperor Alexander 2.
Nicholas 1 ascended the throne after the death of his elder brother Alexander 1. Constantine, the second contender for the throne, renounced his rights during the life of his elder brother. Nicholas 1 did not know about this and first swore allegiance to Constantine. This short period would later be called the Interregnum. Although the manifesto on the accession to the throne of Nicholas 1 was published on December 13 (25), 1825, legally the reign of Nicholas 1 began on November 19 (December 1). And the very first day was darkened by the Decembrist uprising in Senate Square, which was suppressed and its leaders executed in 1826. But Tsar Nicholas 1 saw the need for reform social order. He decided to give the country clear laws, while relying on the bureaucracy, since trust in noble class was blown up.
The domestic policy of Nicholas 1 was distinguished by extreme conservatism. The slightest manifestations of free thought were suppressed. He defended the autocracy with all his might. Secret Chancery under the leadership of Benckendorf she was engaged in political investigation. After the censorship regulations were issued in 1826, everyone was banned printed publications with the slightest political overtones. Russia under Nicholas 1 was quite reminiscent of the country of the Arakcheev era.
The reforms of Nicholas 1 were limited. The legislation was streamlined. Under the leadership of Speransky, production began Full meeting laws of the Russian Empire. Kiselev carried out a reform of the management of state peasants. Peasants were allocated lands when they moved to uninhabited areas, first aid stations were built in villages, and agricultural technology innovations were introduced. But the introduction of innovations took place by force and caused severe dissatisfaction. In 1839 - 1843 was carried out and financial reform, which established the relationship between the silver ruble and the banknote. But the question of serfdom remained unresolved.
The foreign policy of Nicholas 1 pursued the same goals as his domestic policy. During the reign of Nicholas 1, Russia fought the revolution not only within the country, but also outside its borders. In 1826 - 1828 As a result of the Russian-Iranian war, Armenia was annexed to the territory of the country. Nicholas 1 condemned the revolutionary processes in Europe. In 1849 he sent Paskevich's army to suppress the Hungarian revolution. In 1853, Russia entered the Crimean War. But, according to the results Parisian world, concluded in 1856, the country lost the right to have a fleet and fortresses on the Black Sea, and lost Southern Moldavia. The failure undermined the king's health. Nicholas 1 died on March 2 (February 18), 1855 in St. Petersburg, and his son, Alexander 2, ascended the throne.
On July 6, 1796, Emperor Nicholas I was born, distinguished by his love of law, justice and order. One of his first steps after the coronation was the return of Alexander Pushkin from exile.
Today we will plunge into the reign of Nicholas I and tell you a little about what remains of him on the pages of history.
Despite the fact that attempts on the life of the tsar, according to the laws that existed at that time, were punishable by quartering, Nicholas I replaced this execution with hanging. Some contemporaries wrote about his despotism. At the same time, historians note that the execution of five Decembrists was the only one in the entire 30 years of the reign of Nicholas I. For comparison, for example, under Peter I and Catherine II, executions numbered in the thousands, and under Alexander II - in the hundreds. It is also noted that under Nicholas I, torture was not used against political prisoners.
After the coronation, Nicholas I ordered the return of Pushkin from exile
The most important direction domestic policy became the centralization of power. To carry out tasks political investigation in July 1826, a permanent body was created - the Third Department of the Personal Chancellery - secret Service, who had significant powers. The first of the secret committees, whose task was, firstly, to consider the papers sealed in the office of Alexander I after his death, and, secondly, to consider the issue of possible transformations of the state apparatus.
Some authors call Nicholas I a “knight of autocracy”: he firmly defended its foundations and suppressed attempts to change the existing system, despite the revolutions in Europe. After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, he launched large-scale measures in the country to eradicate the “revolutionary infection”.
Nicholas I focused on discipline within the army, since at that time there was licentiousness in it. Yes, he emphasized it so much that the minister during the reign of Alexander II wrote in his notes: “Even in military matters, which the emperor was engaged in with such passionate enthusiasm, the same concern for order and discipline prevailed; they were not chasing the essential improvement of the army, not the adaptation of it to a military purpose, but behind only external harmony, behind a brilliant appearance at parades, pedantic observance of countless petty formalities that dull human reason and kill the true military spirit.”
During the reign of Nicholas I, meetings of commissions were held to alleviate the situation of serfs. Thus, a ban was introduced on exiling peasants to hard labor, selling them individually and without land, and peasants received the right to redeem themselves from the estates being sold. A reform of state village management was carried out and a “decree on obligated peasants” was signed, which became the foundation for the abolition of serfdom.
Under Nicholas I, the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire appeared
One of the most great merit Nikolai Pavlovich can be considered a codification of law. Mikhail Speransky, attracted by the tsar to this work, performed a titanic work, thanks to which the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire appeared.
The state of affairs in industry at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I was the worst in the entire history of the Russian Empire. By the end of the reign of Nicholas I the situation had changed greatly. For the first time in the history of the Russian Empire, a technically advanced and competitive industry began to form in the country. Her rapid development led to a sharp increase in the urban population.
Nicholas I introduced a reward system for officials and controlled it himself
For the first time in the history of Russia, under Nicholas I, intensive construction of paved roads began.
He introduced a moderate system of incentives for officials, which he controlled to a large extent. Unlike previous reigns, historians have not recorded large gifts in the form of palaces or thousands of serfs granted to any nobleman or royal relative.
An important aspect of foreign policy was the return to principles Holy Alliance. Russia’s role has increased in the fight against any manifestations of the “spirit of change” in European life. It was during the reign of Nicholas I that Russia received the unflattering nickname of “the gendarme of Europe.”
Russian-Austrian relations were hopelessly damaged until the end of the existence of both monarchies.
During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia was called the gendarme of Europe
Russia under Nicholas I abandoned plans for partition Ottoman Empire, which were discussed under the previous emperors (Catherine II and Paul I), and began to pursue a completely different policy in the Balkans - a policy of protecting the Orthodox population and ensuring its religious and civil rights, up to political independence.
Russia under Nicholas I abandoned plans to divide the Ottoman Empire
During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia participated in the following wars: Caucasian War 1817-1864, Russian-Persian War 1826-1828, Russian-Turkish War 1828-1829, Crimean War 1853-1856.
As a result of the defeat of the Russian army in Crimea in 1855, at the beginning of 1856 the Paris Peace Treaty was signed, under the terms of which Russia was prohibited from having naval forces, arsenals and fortresses. Russia became vulnerable from the sea and lost the opportunity to be active foreign policy in this region. Also in 1857, a liberal customs tariff was introduced in Russia. The result was an industrial crisis: by 1862, iron smelting in the country fell by a quarter, and cotton processing by 3.5 times. The increase in imports led to the outflow of money from the country, a deterioration in the trade balance and a chronic shortage of money in the treasury.