History of Russia [Textbook] Team of authors
6.7. Domestic policy of Nicholas I
Unlike Alexander I, Nicholas I came to the throne in unfavorable social conditions. The interregnum was a kind of crisis of power, and this forced Nicholas I to quickly orient himself in the situation and with a firm hand to restore order in the country.
This was facilitated by the personal qualities of the emperor. Sufficiently educated, strong-willed, pragmatic, he immediately took an active position in public affairs. The new autocrat correctly assessed the internal political situation in Russia, which, undoubtedly, was the reason for the Decembrists' speech.
The state activity of Nicholas I, so to speak, was completely based on the principles of noble conservatism. The historian V. O. Klyuchevsky described the emperor’s policy as follows: “do not change anything, but only maintain the existing order, fill in the gaps, repair the dilapidated signs that have been discovered with the help of practical legislation, and do all this without any participation of society.”
Nikolay closed on himself the solution of all major and minor state issues, considering his entourage only as executors. He sought to give military harmony and rigor to the entire control system.
Centralization of management
The main condition for the life of the state, Nicholas I considered the strengthening of autocratic power. To this end, he pursued a policy of police-bureaucratic centralization of government. In parallel with the already established structure of the highest governing bodies, His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery began to develop and transform, consisting of six departments.
The Chancellery was created during the war of 1812. It did not have an official status as a governing body. Rather, it was a tribute to Alexander's public policy; its formation was also caused by the need to process a huge number of petitions, complaints and other materials received in the name of the king. A. A. Arakcheev was at the head of the Chancellery.
At the beginning of his reign, Nicholas I, as a concession to public opinion, removed Arakcheev, as well as some other most odious figures, from state affairs, and in 1826 the former Chancellery became the 1st department as part of the newly formed Own Chancellery of His Imperial Majesty. In 1826, the II department was established, which was engaged in the codification of laws, and the III department, which became the body of political supervision and investigation in Russia. General A. Kh. Benkendorf, chief of the gendarme corps, created in 1827, became the head of the III department.
The duties of the III branch were extremely broad: collecting information about state criminals, the moods of various segments of the population, monitoring unreliable persons and foreign nationals in Russia, monitoring the periodical press and perusal of private correspondence, collecting statistical information and supervising the actions of the local administration.
Law codification
Nicholas I was fundamentally against any constitution, but actively sought to streamline the legislative framework of the state, believing that the autocrat was the main guarantor of legality.
The work on the codification of Russian laws was headed by M. M. Speransky. He saw his task, firstly, in the publication of all existing laws, starting from the "Council Code" of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649 to 1825; secondly, in drawing up the Code of effective laws, systematized by areas of law and interpreted accordingly, but without making corrections and additions. The final stage of the work was to be the publication of a new "Code" - with additions and corrections in relation to existing legal practice and in accordance with the needs of the state.
Total during 1828–1830. 45 volumes of the first Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire were published. At the same time, the second Complete Collection was published, which included laws adopted during the reign of Nicholas I.
In the future, volumes of the second collection began to appear annually; its publication continued until 1881 (55 volumes). The Third Complete Collection of Laws, which consisted of 33 volumes and covered the legislative period from 1881 to 1913, was published already at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.
In parallel with the Complete Collection of Laws, the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire was being prepared, which incorporated existing legislative acts and court decisions that became precedents in their application. Moreover, all corrections and additions were made only with the sanction of the emperor. On January 19, 1833, the Code of Laws was discussed in the State Council. Nicholas I, in his speech at the meeting, emphasized the outstanding role of M. M. Speransky in the codification of Russian legislation and laid on him the ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, removed from himself, as a reward.
Peasant question
Codification, having streamlined Russian legislation, did not change the political and class essence of the state in any way.
In his domestic policy, Nicholas I was quite clearly aware of the need to resolve the most important social issue - the peasant one. The urgency of the problem and its principled discussion led to the organization of secret committees and closed hearings.
The committees outlined only political approaches to solving the peasant question, which were reflected in a number of legislative acts (in total, more than 100 of them were issued). Thus, the law of 1827 forbade landlords to sell peasants without land, or only land without peasants. In 1833 a decree was issued banning the public sale of serfs; it was forbidden to pay with them on account of debts, to transfer peasants to courtyards, depriving them of allotments.
In the secret committee of 1839, a supporter of moderate reforms, Minister of State Property P. D. Kiselev, played a leading role. He considered it necessary to regulate relations between peasants and landowners, and thereby take a step towards the emancipation of the peasants. The result of the work of the committee was the publication in 1842 of the decree "On obligated peasants." According to the decree, the landowner could grant the peasant personal freedom and land allotment, but not for ownership, but only for use. The peasant was obliged to bear duties, in fact, the same corvée and dues, strictly fixed size. The law did not establish any norms in this regard - everything depended on the will of the landowner. The decree on indebted peasants did not bring real results - the peasants did not agree to the dubious conditions of "freedom", which did not give them either land or freedom.
The government acted more decisively in the western provinces - in Lithuania, Belarus, and Western Ukraine. A policy aimed at weakening the landowners' bondage in relation to the serfs was openly pursued here. In the second half of the 40s. in the western provinces, the so-called inventory reform was carried out: descriptions (“inventories”) of landlord estates were compiled, the sizes of peasant allotments were fixed, and duties (mainly corvee days) were regulated.
Reform of Count P. D. Kiselyov
By the beginning of the 30s. the revenues received by the treasury from the farms of state peasants fell markedly. The government of Nicholas I saw the key to solving the problem of serfdom in improving their economic situation. According to V. O. Klyuchevsky, the government preferred "to give state peasants such a device that, having raised their well-being, at the same time would serve as a model for the future device of serfs."
In 1835, specifically for the development of a reform of the management of state peasants, the V department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was formed. Count P. D. Kiselev was appointed head of the department. After a survey of the state of affairs in the state village, he presented Nicholas I with a draft of the main directions of the transformations, which were approved.
State peasants were transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance to the newly established in 1837 Ministry of State Property, headed by P. D. Kiselev. This ministry was supposed to pursue a policy of guardianship in relation to state peasants. Land-poor peasants were endowed with land from the state reserve, hayfields and forest land were cut to them. More than 200 thousand peasants were resettled in an organized manner in the provinces with fertile lands.
Credit offices were created in large villages, and loans were issued to the needy on preferential terms. In case of crop failures, "bread shops" were opened. Schools, rural hospitals, veterinary stations, "exemplary" farms were organized, popular literature was published promoting advanced farming methods. The Ministry of State Property had the right to buy noble estates at the expense of the treasury along with peasants, who were transferred to the category of state.
In 1838, the Decree "On the management of state property in the provinces" was issued. A multi-stage management system was created: rural assembly - volost - district - province. The volost gathering was composed of delegates from householders and elected the volost board for three years (“volost head” and two assessors). Several volosts made up the district.
The reform of the management of state peasants and property retained communal land ownership with periodic redistribution of land. The quitrent was also still laid out "heart to heart", but its size was determined by the profitability of peasant allotments.
Thus, the nature of the reform was controversial. On the one hand, it contributed to the development of rural productive forces, on the other hand, it increased tax oppression and bureaucratic guardianship over the peasants, which caused peasant unrest.
As for the legislation of Nicholas I on the peasant question, its general direction was to gradually introduce into the public consciousness the view of the serf not only as the property of a private person, but primarily as a subject of the state, a payer of state taxes and duties, inextricably linked with the state wealth - land.
Education policy
In May 1826, the “Committee for the Arrangement of Educational Institutions” was established, whose responsibilities included the development of new approaches to the organization of the public education system and the preparation of curricula.
In the reign of Nicholas I, the principle of class education was officially consolidated, in the form of an order to the Minister of Education A.S. Shishkov to prohibit the admission of serfs to gymnasiums and universities.
On December 8, 1828, a new charter for gymnasiums, county and parish schools was approved. Education was based on the division into estates: children from taxable estates could study for one year in a parish school or two years in a city school; children of merchants and townspeople - in a three-year county school. Gymnasiums with a seven-year term of study were intended only for the children of nobles and officials. Gymnasium graduates could enter universities.
The Minister of Public Education, Count S. S. Uvarov (headed the ministry from 1833 to 1849), upon taking office, uttered the famous phrase that became the national idea of Nicholas's reign: “Our common duty is to ensure that public education is carried out in the united spirit of Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. At the same time, the concept of "autocracy" was invested primarily in unquestioning obedience to state power, headed by the autocrat. "Orthodoxy" carried to the people the concept of universal moral values, so the official ideology relied on it. In addition, Orthodoxy, emphasizing national Russian features, was a counterbalance to European liberal views on the state. From this point of view, Orthodoxy was inseparable from autocracy. The education among the people of boundless faith in the king meant providing political support for the autocratic power, minimizing the civic activity of all social strata.
The principles of Orthodoxy and autocracy were quite traditional for Russia. The third component of the formula - "nationality" - was directed against the spread of European liberation ideas in Russia and, in a broad sense, against Western influence in general. The positive significance of this idealistic principle consisted in the appeal to Russian national values, the study of Russian culture, and the development of the ideas of patriotism.
In 1833, the national anthem of Russia was approved with the text of V. A. Zhukovsky, beginning with the words "God save the Tsar."
The political program of strengthening the autocratic power affected the change in university policy towards extreme conservatism. On July 26, 1835, a new Statute of the Universities was issued, significantly limiting their autonomy. Universities were no longer regarded as centers of scientific life; they were given the task of training civil service officials, gymnasium teachers, physicians, and lawyers. As educational institutions, they fell into complete dependence on the trustee of the educational district and were under administrative and police control. Access to universities was limited to people from the lower classes, terms were extended and tuition fees were increased.
At the same time, the development of the economy required the expansion of the training of qualified specialists for industry, agriculture, transport, and trade. Therefore, during the reign of Nicholas I, the network of institutions of higher specialized education was expanding: technological, construction, pedagogical institutes and schools of law were opened in St. Petersburg, the Land Survey Institute in Moscow, and the Naval Academy was founded.
Tightening censorship
On June 10, 1826, the Charter on Censorship was issued, which contemporaries called "cast iron." Within the structure of the Ministry of Public Education, the Main Censorship Committee was established to coordinate the actions of all other censorship bodies.
The censors of all levels were tasked with preventing publication of works that even indirectly criticized the authorities and the government; all sorts of satirical writings that could weaken "respect for the authorities" and even more so works containing any assumptions about the need for political reforms. Thus, it was supposed to form the "literary taste" of the reading public in accordance with the main ideological task. All literature coming from abroad fell under censorship. Authors whose writings were not censored were placed under police surveillance.
The charter on censorship so discredited the government that two years later Nicholas I agreed to sign a new charter that softened censorship requirements and, most importantly, forbade censors to arbitrarily interpret the writers' statements "in a bad way." At the same time, the censors were constantly under the threat of punishment for their "mistakes." In many cases, in addition to general censorship, publication of a work required approval from the Senate, various ministries, and the police. Thus, a bureaucratic system of obstacles to progressive social thought was created.
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From the book My XX Century: the happiness of being yourself author Petelin Viktor Vasilievich6. Internal review for the Military Publishing House (Yuri Karasev. Always in battle. Literary portrait of Nikolai Gribachev) “Complex, as they say, I experienced feelings when reading this manuscript. On the one hand, I also know Nikolai Gribachev well, I edited his book
Nikolai was born in 1796. He was younger than the brothers Alexander and Konstantin, so he received a different upbringing. Nikolai did not differ in extensive knowledge, especially in the humanitarian sphere. He was not involved in solving state affairs, he was being prepared for a military career. Vindictiveness and stubbornness were the hallmarks of the character of the future monarch. However, he was a decent and caring family man.
J. Doe. Portrait of Emperor Nicholas I. 1820s.
The accession of Nicholas to the throne was marked by an uprising of the Decembrists, which was brutally suppressed. In a letter to his brother on December 14, 1825, Nikolai wrote: “My dear Konstantin! Your will is done: I am the $-$ emperor, but at what cost, my God! At the cost of the blood of my subjects! At the beginning of his reign, the king tried to understand the existing order.
He himself personally audited the nearest metropolitan institutions: it happened that he would fly into some state chamber, scare the officials and leave, making everyone feel that he knew not only their affairs, but also their tricks. In the province, he sent out trusted dignitaries to carry out a strict audit. Terrifying details were revealed; it turned out, for example, that in St. Petersburg, in the center, not a single cash desk had ever been checked; all financial statements were deliberately false; several officials with hundreds of thousands were missing. In court places, the emperor [found] two million cases, in which 127 thousand people were in prison. Senate decrees were left without consequences by subordinate institutions. The governors were given a one-year term to clean up outstanding cases; the emperor reduced it to three months by giving the defective governors a positive and direct promise to bring them to justice.
Having set himself the task of maintaining the existing order, Nicholas concentrated his efforts on the centralization of government. Unlike his liberal brother, he did not aim for Russia to borrow European political institutions and principles. Nicholas was convinced that the country should develop based on traditional values and institutions. From his reign in the 19th century Russia began a new turn towards soil farming.
From the document (V. O. Klyuchevsky. Course of Russian history. Lectures):
Emperor Nicholas I did not prepare and did not want to reign. Forced to reign, he went to an unexpected and unwanted throne through the ranks of the rebellious troops ... The Troubles on December 14 were considered as a serious violation of military discipline, which occurred from a false direction of minds. Therefore, the strengthening of discipline and the reliable education of minds were to become the immediate and most important internal tasks of the reign ... The time of this emperor was $-$ the era of extreme self-assertion of Russian autocratic power ...
transformations of Nicholas I
Codification of legislation
Nicholas became convinced of the need to strengthen the regime of personal power. To this end, the functions of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery were expanded.
In April 1826 appeared II department personal office of Nicholas I, who was tasked with putting in order the legislation in force since 1649. The emperor was aware of the importance of improving legislation and streamlining the system of state administration on this basis. The implementation of the codification of tens of thousands of various decrees that have appeared since the time of the Council Code, the emperor instructed Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky, member of the Council of State. After the exile and trial of the Decembrists, Speransky's views changed; he recognized the prematureness of his early liberal projects. Within three years, all laws issued over 180 years were collected, arranged in chronological order and printed in 45 volumes under the title "Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire". Then Speransky started creating the second collection $-$ Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, in which he selected all the current legislation and outlined it in a systematic manner. The 15-volume "Code of Laws" was published in 1833. Speransky expected that it would become preparatory work for the creation of a new legal code. But Nicholas I limited himself to putting the old legislation in order and rejected this proposal.
Creation of a system of political investigation
The events of December 14, 1825 convinced the tsar of the need to strengthen the political security system. Therefore, his next step was the formation of a police apparatus with punitive and controlling functions. June 3, 1826 was established III branch of his office and led by the chief of gendarmes Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf. It was engaged in detective work and investigation of political cases, followed schismatics, sectarians, foreigners, carried out censorship. A. Kh. Benkendorf, a participant in the Patriotic War and a foreign campaign of the Russian army, who took an active part in the investigation of the Decembrist case, created a wide secret agent network, established secret supervision over the activities of individuals and officials.
From the document (A. Kh. Benkendorf. Notes):
Never thinking of preparing for this kind of service, I had only the most superficial idea about it, but the desire to be useful to our new sovereign did not allow me to evade accepting the position he had formed, to which his high confidence called me. It was decided to establish a corps of gendarmes under my command. (...) The Third Department of His Imperial Majesty's own Chancellery, established at that time, represented under my command the focus of this new administration (...)”.
The III branch turned into an independent administrative body, acting on behalf of the emperor on state and public life, regardless of existing laws. In 1827, a special "Regulations on the Corps of Gendarmes" began to operate. The territory of Russia (with the exception of Poland, the Caucasus and the lands of the Don Cossacks) was divided into gendarmerie districts headed by gendarmerie generals in order to establish supervision over the local administration, collect operational information about the mood in society, search for fugitive peasants, enforce laws and court sentences. In 1837, a rural police was created: the counties were divided into smaller administrative units $-$ stans $-$, headed by a district bailiff appointed by the governor, who relied in his activities on the patrimonial police and elected by the peasant assemblies of sots and tenths.
J. Doe. Portrait of A. H. Benckendorff
estate reform
December 1826. was created Secret Committee headed by Count Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey, a member of the Private Committee, and Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky to consider papers sealed in the office of Alexander I after his death and to study the issue of possible transformations of the state apparatus. Nikolay put the question before the committee: “What is good now, what cannot be left and what can be replaced?”
The committee prepared two important projects of class and administrative reforms. The first project provided for the abandonment of the Table of Ranks, the abolition of "personal length of service." Access to the nobility was limited, the nobility was acquired only by birthright or by virtue of the highest award. The project introduced new classes of "bureaucratic", "eminent" and "honorary" citizens, exempted from the capitation salary, recruitment and corporal punishment. Those who were promoted were included in the new class of "official citizens", lower officials, big capitalists, people who graduated from universities, $ - $ in the class of "eminent citizens". Smaller merchants and industrialists made up the layer of "honorary citizens". This innovation would protect the nobility from "clogging" with foreign elements.
Disagreeing with the opinion of the committee as a whole, the emperor extracted from his draft those parts that did not cause any doubts among the authorities. In 1831, the Manifesto “On the Order of Noble Assemblies, Elections and Service According to Them” was published, in which “full-fledged” (proper) nobles were separated from “incomplete” (who did not have a certain number of souls of peasants or acres of land).
The second project proposed some separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers. The only function of the State Council was to discuss bills. The Senate was divided into the supreme body of state administration $-$ the Senate of the government, consisting of ministers, and the highest body of justice $-$ the Senate of the judiciary. A similar principle was put at the basis of the system of local authorities in provinces, districts and volosts.
The committee's projects of December 6, 1826 were only partially implemented. In 1832 the law established the secondary class of "honorary citizens" two degrees of $-$ "hereditary honorary citizens" (children of personal nobles, as well as large capitalists, scientists, artists) and "personal honorary citizens" (children of clergymen who have not received education and graduates of higher educational institutions). Decree 1845. raised the ranks that were required to receive the nobility in order of seniority. From now on, hereditary nobility was granted to civil ranks from class V, military $-$ from VI, and personal nobility $-$ from class IX for civil and military ranks. In 1845. was published majorates decree, forbidding the division of estates, numbering more than 1000 souls of serfs, between the sons of a nobleman, and demanding the transfer of estates to the eldest son.
Bureaucratization and militarization of management
An important characteristic of the state administration system under Nicholas I was bureaucratization all aspects of the life of society, which gave grounds to V. O. Klyuchevsky to assert that "the building of the Russian bureaucracy was erected under Nicholas I."
From the document (V. O. Klyuchevsky. Course of Russian history):
Whether this bureaucratic mechanism has achieved the state goal better than before, a simple answer to this is one figure. At the beginning of his reign, the emperor was horrified when he learned that he had carried out 2,800,000 cases in all offices of justice alone. In 1842, the Minister of Justice submitted a report to the sovereign, which indicated that 33 million more cases had not been cleared in all official places of the empire, which were set out on at least 33 million written sheets. These are the results of the bureaucratic edifice completed in this reign.
The system of rigid bureaucracy created under Nicholas I alienated power from society. It led to the domination of the office, gave rise to obedient performers, formalist officials, brilliantly described by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
From the document (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The story of a zealous boss):
In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a zealous chief. At that time, between the authorities, two main rules in the leadership were adopted. The first rule: the more harm the boss does, the more benefit he will bring to the patronymic. Science will abolish $-$ benefits, the population will frighten $-$ even more benefits. It was assumed that the fatherland is always in a state of disarray from the old bosses to the new one. And the second rule: to have as many bastards as possible at your disposal ...
Kukryniksy. From illustrations to the satirical novel by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin "The History of a City"
Other features of the management system were the strengthening of the police character and militarization control apparatus. Military men were appointed to the posts of heads of many ministries and departments, provinces under Nicholas I.
Under the vigilant control of the governors and city police bodies were the city self-government $-$ six-voice dumas. City council meetings were abolished. Adopted in 1837, the “General Order to Civil Governors” was aimed at centralizing and militarizing local government. The governor was declared the authorized owner of the province. He was supposed to ensure the exact execution of the decrees of the emperor and the Senate, the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior.
An important role in streamlining city government was played by the “Regulations on Public Administration of St. Petersburg” dated February 13, 1846, which was based on the class principle. It created a hierarchical pyramid of city dwellers: the hereditary nobility was on the first step, followed by $-$ personal nobles and honorary citizens, then $-$ merchants, the fourth and fifth steps respectively were philistines and artisans. Each estate sat separately in the city duma and elected representatives to the administrative duma, the executive body. The law of 1846 made city bodies dependent on the bureaucracy. A government official was introduced into the administrative Duma, and the governor got the opportunity to interfere in the affairs of city government.
Protective measures in the field of censorship and education
Among the protective measures of Nicholas I stands out "cast iron" Charter on censorship of June 10, 1826 The supreme censorship committee, composed of three ministers $-$ of public education, internal affairs and foreign affairs, became the main body of censorship. In the statute, the duties of the censor from an educational and pedagogical point of view were defined to the smallest detail. In 1848, to prevent the penetration of revolutionary and liberal ideas into Russia, the so-called. "Buturlinsky committee"(named after the first chairman) - the highest censorship body that supervised printed works. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. S. Turgenev, Yu. F. Samarin suffered from censorship terror, and letters from Catherine II to Voltaire were banned.
Educational institutions were subjected to strict supervision. In 1827, the tsar forbade the admission of serfs to secondary and higher educational institutions. In 1828, a new school charter destroyed the continuity between parish and district schools and gymnasiums. Corporal punishment was introduced in all lower and secondary schools, and teachers found to be “free-thinking” were expelled from service. Adopted in 1835 University charter along with the granting of certain rights of self-government and freedom of teaching to universities, it provided for the opening of departments of the laws of improvement and deanery at the law faculties of universities. At these departments, they studied the laws on population, national food, public charity, improvement in cities and villages, and law. University autonomy was in practice replaced by the oversight of the universities, which was entrusted to the trustees of the educational districts. Control over universities tightened after the European revolutions of 1848. The teaching of philosophy was abolished, the sending of young scientists abroad to prepare for a professorship was stopped, and restrictive quotas were introduced for the admission of students to higher educational institutions. Minister of Education S. S. Uvarov, who tried to defend the universities, prematurely left his post in 1849.
financial reform
The most significant government measures of Nicholas I were the Ministry of Finance carried out in the late 1830s. monetary reform and the reform of state peasants carried out by the Ministry of State Property.
Monetary reform 1839–1843 was the result of the activities of the writer, scientist, general Egor Frantsevich Kankrin(1823–1844), who replaced Guriev as Minister of Finance. He managed to drastically reduce government spending, collect a significant stock of gold and silver in the state treasury, and strengthen the exchange rate of the Russian ruble. The reform established a system of silver monometallism. Depreciated paper banknotes were replaced by state credit notes, exchanged for gold and silver. The practice of internal and external loans was introduced, "deposit notes" and "series" began to be issued, which had the same value as a silver coin.
E. F. Kankrin
Peasant question
In relation to the peasant question, the emperor shared the point of view of A. Kh. He commissioned the development of this issue Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselev, a member of the State Council, a supporter of the abolition of serfdom. P. D. Kiselev, a participant in the Patriotic War and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814, the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, during the uprising on December 14, 1825, headed the headquarters of the second army, after the defeat of the movement was forced to justify himself from accusations of connection with the Decembrists. In 1829–1834 Kiselev ruled over the Danube Principalities, which were under the protectorate of Russia, where, under his leadership, the first constitutions of Moldavia and Wallachia $-$ organic regulations were adopted. The regulations gave personal freedom to the peasants and the right to transfer from one landowner to another, the landowners were forbidden to evict the peasants if the latter fulfilled their duties, landless laborers were to be provided with land.
Andreev. Portrait of Count P. D. Kiselev
In March 1835, under the leadership of P. D. Kiselev, a Secret Committee was created, which developed a plan for the gradual abolition of serfdom with the complete dispossession of the peasantry, which was not implemented. In 1836 he was instructed to lead the V Department of the personal office of Nicholas I, after which Kiselev became "chief of staff for peasant affairs." He insisted on the gradual introduction of freedom, "so that slavery would be destroyed by itself and without upheavals of the state." The tasks of expanding peasant land use, easing the burden of feudal duties, introducing agronomic innovations and cultural improvements dictated the need for good administration. To this end, in 1837. was created Ministry of State Property which, under his leadership, began reform of the management of state peasants 1837-1841. The task of the new ministry was to take care of the economic well-being of state-owned peasants, collect taxes from them, take care of medical care and spread literacy.
During the implementation of the reform, the state peasants received broad local self-government, which developed under the control of the chambers of state property created in all provinces. They united in special rural societies, from several such societies volosts were created, controlled by elected volost gatherings. In the villages, village elders were elected at village meetings. Having streamlined the administration, Kiselev created parish schools, which began to be called "Kiselev" schools. The administration demanded that the peasants sow the best lands with potatoes, introduce public plowing. The reform improved the position of state peasants, determined the procedure for allocating them land and resettlement, and facilitated the collection of taxes. Beginning in 1837, more than 2 million acres of land were allocated to small-land peasants, 2,500 parish schools were organized in the villages, and 27 hospitals were built.
The negative side of the reform was the emergence of a large and costly apparatus of officials. She was resisted by the landowners, who feared the intensification of the struggle of the serfs for the transition to the state department. The peasants were displeased with the calls of the administration to sow the land with potatoes, to introduce public plowing. Their response to the "beginning of the state corvée" was the "potato riots" in the North, in the Urals and the Volga region.
A. M. Tagaev-Surban. "Potato Riot"
Certain measures to improve the situation of serfs were taken in the 1840s. AT 1842. came out Regulations on obligated peasants, in which the question of how the peasants got out of dependence was at the mercy of the landowners. As a result, the landlords voluntarily transferred only 27,708 of their serfs to the position of "obliged" for the entire reign of Nicholas I. In 1827-1846. the right of landlords to exile serfs to Siberia was limited, the right to 4.5 acres of land was assigned to the revision soul of the male sex, it was forbidden to sell serfs separately from the family. In 1847–1848 inventory rules were drawn up, which determined the size of allotments and duties of peasants in the three provinces of the Western Territory. This regulation limited the right of landlords to land ownership, which was in the use of serfs. However, the measures taken were not sufficient to solve the peasant question, they testified rather to the desire to "transform" the system of serfdom than to eliminate it.
The results of the domestic policy of Nicholas I
The internal policy of Nicholas I showed that the stability and sustainability of society were most important to him. The tsar was worried about the well-being of citizens, but at the same time he fought against dissent, for example, with the movement of noble revolutionaries. Not trusting society, Nicholas I relied on bureaucratic bureaucracy. The cruelty and rationality $-$ characteristic features of the personality of the king $-$ influenced the formal attitude of his government to state affairs. The emperor tried to delve into the existing order, took on many innovations, but did not always understand their essence. Therefore, officials from the time of Nicholas I also turned out to be formal executors of his will. They did not try to carefully consider a single case, did not seek to find the most appropriate solution for each problem. Their main concern was to follow the rules and regulations, whether they were reasonable or might lead to results contrary to what was intended. Impunity and mutual responsibility completed the decomposition of bureaucracy.
Nicholas I failed to become the second Peter the Great, whose policy the tsar was equal to. The main efforts of Nicholas I were aimed at strengthening centralization, combating ideas of a revolutionary nature, and increasing the role of the emperor's office. Financial reform had some success. Peasant reform concerned only the state countryside, was of a half-hearted nature. The social reform could not solve the problem of placing all classes at the service of the monarch. Bureaucratization and formalism characterized the work of the mechanism of state administration.
Historians about the reign of Nicholas I:
The official noble historiography spoke positively about the reign of Nicholas I. In the works of M. A. Korf, N. K. Schilder, I. Ilyin, K. Leontiev, I. Solonevich, both the personality of Nicholas and his domestic politics were idealized. N. K. Schilder (1842-1902), who highly appreciated the state activities of Nicholas I, is considered an apologist for his reign. He contrasted the cosmopolitan nature of the policy of Alexander I with the national policy of Nicholas I.
Liberal historiography (V. O. Klyuchevsky, A. A. Kizevetter, A. A. Kornilov, S. F. Platonov) spoke of the “gap of power with society” under Nicholas I. At the same time, A. A. Kornilov believed that that "the government system of Nicholas I was one of the most consistent attempts to implement the ideas of enlightened absolutism."
A. E. Presnyakov became one of the first historians to call this period "the apogee of autocracy." The historian wrote: “The time of Nicholas I is the era of extreme self-assertion of the Russian autocratic power at the very time when in all the states of Western Europe, monarchical absolutism, defeated by a series of revolutionary upheavals, was going through its last crises.”
Soviet historiography (B. G. Litvak, N. M. Druzhinin, N. P. Eroshkin) was critical of the reign of Nicholas, emphasizing the increased importance of the Third Branch and the bureaucracy during the years of his reign. All his activities were presented as a preparatory stage for the Crimean catastrophe, and all attempts by the Nikolaev government to resolve the peasant issue were called "empty chores." So, B. G. Litvak compares the long-term discussion of the issue of the liberation of serfs in the "secret" committees of Nicholas I with "a cat's dance around a cauldron of hot porridge." Soviet historians saw the main reason for this in the government's fear of discontent on the part of the nobility and in the hope of Nicholas I that the Russian landowners themselves would "ripen" and propose a reform.
In modern historiography, there has been a certain rethinking of the era of the reign of Nicholas I: historical science has moved away from an unambiguously negative assessment of his reign, the era of Nicholas I is regarded as a stage in the general progressive movement of Russia, a stage all the more important because it preceded the reforms of the 1860s. In 1997, the editors of Rodina magazine held a special round table on the era of Nikolai's reign. It was attended by leading experts on the history of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. S. V. Mironenko, V. A. Fedorov, A. V. Levandovsky, D. I. Oleinikov, S. S. Sekirinsky, Yu. A. Borisenok. Modern historians assess the results of the activities of Nicholas I in different ways. There are many researchers who adhere to traditional views on Nicholas I and the era of his reign. T. A. Kapustina writes: “There is hardly a more odious figure in Russian history than Nicholas I. Historians unanimously consider his reign to be the period of the darkest reaction.” V. Ya. Grosul still calls the reign of Nicholas I "the apogee of autocracy": the emperor, in his words, "squeezed out almost everything he could out of feudalism."
In modern literature, there is another point of view on the reign of Nicholas I. It denies much of what Soviet historiography wrote about Nicholas I. A. B. Kamensky points out that it would be wrong to "represent Nikolai as a stupid martinet, insensitive and cruel persecutor and reactionary." The historian draws parallels in the fates of Nicholas I and his older brother, Emperor Alexander I: both tried to carry out the reforms necessary for society, but ran into insurmountable difficulties associated with conservative public opinion, the absence in society of those political forces that could support reform efforts emperors. Therefore, according to Kamensky, the main issue during the reign of Nicholas I was the question of "preserving the political regime and state security."
Centralization of management
| the date | Decision |
| 1826 | Formation of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery (the first $-$ office, the second $-$ codification, the third $-$ high police, the fourth $-$ charity, the fifth $-$ state peasants, the sixth $-$ administration of the Caucasus). |
| 1827 | Formation of the Gendarme Corps. The country is divided into 5 (from 1843 $-$ 8) gendarmerie districts. |
| 1828–1832 | Compilation of the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire and the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire under the direction of M. M. Speransky. |
| 1832 | Organic statute of the Kingdom of Poland: liquidation of the Sejm, the Polish army. Russification of the Kingdom of Poland: the introduction of the Russian language, the Russian system of weights and measures, the Russian currency. |
Education and press policy
| the date | Decision |
| 1826 | The new statute on censorship (the "cast-iron statute"). |
| 1828 | Charter of gymnasiums and schools of county and parish; approval of the estate principle in admission to educational institutions (only children of the nobility are admitted to the gymnasium). |
| 1833 | On measures against the multiplication of private educational institutions. |
| 1835 | University charter: the actual management was given to the trustees of educational districts (in some cases $-$ to the governor-general), the right to choose rectors and professors was actually eliminated, the university court was abolished. However, the teaching of philosophy has been restored, the term of study has been extended to four years, encouragement of graduates, and the introduction of preparatory courses. |
| 1837 | "Parallel" censorship $-$ viewing works that have already been censored. |
| 1848–1855 | Strengthening censorship oppression in connection with numerous peasant uprisings and the "spring of peoples" in Europe. The activities of the "Buturlin" censorship committee. Liquidation of the remnants of university autonomy. Limiting the number of students. |
Higher specialized educational institutions: 1828 $-$ Technological Institute, 1830 $-$ Architectural School, 1832 $-$ School of Civil Engineers, 1835 $-$ Land Survey Institute and School of Law.
Measures to strengthen the position of the nobility
the ruin of the nobility (54% of the estates were mortgaged by 1844);
an increase in the share of the bureaucratic nobility (52%);
low proportion of nobles in universities (35%).
Nobility Privileges:
granting loans;
allocation of land from the state fund;
free education in educational institutions;
assistance in production.
| the date | Decision |
| 1831 | Noble provincial assemblies received the right to submit ideas about the needs and on issues of local self-government. |
| 1831 | Raising the qualification for participation in noble assemblies. Small local nobles participate in elections through representatives. |
| 1832 | Manifesto on Honorary Citizenship: the protection of the influx of representatives of the lower classes into the nobility. |
| 1845 | Changing the order of obtaining nobility through service (personal nobility is now given only from the 9th rank (instead of the 12th), and hereditary $-$ from the 5th (instead of the 8th)). |
| 1845 | The law on majorates: if desired, the landowner could declare the estate reserved and transfer everything to the eldest son (for estates over 1000 acres). |
Peasant question
frequent peasant riots.
In response, the government made a number of declarative concessions that did not have a significant impact on the situation. Creation during the reign of Nicholas I 10 secret committees on the peasant question.
| the date | Decision |
| 1827 | Prohibition to sell only peasants without land or land without peasants; a ban on selling serfs to factories. |
| 1828 | Restriction of the right of exile of peasants. |
| 1833 | A ban on selling peasants at a public auction with the separation of families, a ban on paying off debts by peasants, a ban on transferring serfs to courtyards with deprivation of their land. |
| 1837–1841 | Reform of the state village P. D. Kiseleva. Creation of a new rural management system with elements of self-government, organization of primary education, medical and veterinary care, provision of land to landless peasants, their resettlement in Siberia. Strengthening bureaucratic and tax oppression. |
| 1841 | Prohibition for landless nobles to buy landless serfs. |
| 1842 | Decree on indebted peasants: the peasant receives freedom and land, but only for use, for which he is obliged to serve fixed duties. |
| 1844 | The right of landowners to release householders with their consent. |
| 1844–1855 | Inventory reform in the western provinces, right-bank Ukraine and Belarusian provinces. Fixing the duties of the peasants, transferring them to the status of state. |
| 1847 | The right of peasants to redeem within 30 days from the date of the announcement of the sale of the estate at public auction for a penalty. The payment is made at a time. In fact, the decree was quickly annulled. |
| 1847 | The right of the Ministry of State Property to buy landed estates with the transfer of serfs to state status. |
| 1848 | The right of peasants to buy land in their own name only with the consent of the landowner. Purchased land is not protected by law (the landlord can confiscate). |
Policy in the field of industry, trade and finance
low rates of urbanization (8% by the end of the reign) with a gradual industrial revolution and a threefold increase in workers in industry during the reign of Nicholas I;
the interest of the state in the development of industry;
poor development of communications in a vast empire;
growing budget deficit.
Limited reforms failed to bring about an industrial revolution, as did a reduction in the budget deficit, which by 1855 had doubled the surplus.
Throughout the great history of our great Motherland, a lot of kings and emperors have reigned. One of these was, who was born on July 6, 1796, and ruled his state for 30 years, from 1825 to 1855. Nicholas was remembered by many as a very cautious emperor, who did not pursue an active domestic policy in his state, which will be discussed later.
In contact with
The main directions of the domestic policy of Nicholas I, briefly
The vector of development of the country, which the emperor chose, was greatly influenced by the Decembrist uprising that took place in the year when the ruler ascended the throne. This event determined that all reforms, changes and, in general, the entire course of the ruler's domestic policy will be aimed at any destruction or prevention of the opposition.
The fight against any dissatisfied - this is what the head of state, who ascended the throne, adhered to throughout his reign. The ruler understood that Russia needed reforms, but his primary goal was the need for the stability of the country and the sustainability of all bills.
Internal policy of Nicholas I
Reforms of Nicholas I
The emperor, realizing the importance and necessity of reforms, tried to put them into practice.
financial reform
This was the first change that the ruler made. The financial reform is also called the reform of Kankrin, the Minister of Finance. The main goal and essence of the change was to restore confidence in paper money.
Nikolai is the first person who attempted not only to improve and create stability in the financial situation of his state, but also to issue a powerful currency that was highly valued in the international arena. With this reform, banknotes were to be replaced by credit signs. The whole process of change was divided into two stages:
- The state accumulated a metal fund, which later, according to the plan, was supposed to become a security for paper money. To do this, the bank began to accept gold and silver coins with their subsequent exchange for deposit tickets. In parallel with this, the Minister of Finance, Kankrin, fixed the value of the banknote ruble at the same level, and ordered that all state payments be calculated in silver rubles.
- The second stage was the process of exchanging deposit notes for new credit notes. They could easily be exchanged for metal rubles.
Important! Thus, Kankrin managed to create such a financial situation in the country, in which ordinary paper money was backed by metal and was valued in exactly the same way as metal money.
The main features of Nicholas's domestic policy were actions aimed at improving the life of the peasants. During his entire reign, 9 committees were created to discuss the possibility of improving the life of serfs. It should be noted right away that the emperor failed to solve the peasant question to the end, since he did everything very conservatively.
The great sovereign understood the importance, but the first changes of the ruler were aimed at improving the life of the state peasants, and not all:
- The number of educational institutions and hospitals has increased in state villages, villages and other settlements.
- Special plots of land were allocated, where members of the peasant community could use them in order to prevent a bad harvest and subsequently famine. Potatoes are what these lands were mainly planted with.
- Attempts were made to solve the problem of lack of land. In those settlements where the peasants did not have enough land, state peasants were transferred to the east, where there were a lot of free plots.
These first steps, which Nicholas I took to improve the life of the peasants, greatly alerted the landowners, and even caused them discontent. The reason for this was that the life of the state peasants began to really get better, and consequently, ordinary serfs also began to show discontent.
Later, the government of the state, headed by the emperor, began to develop a plan to create bills that, one way or another, improved the life of ordinary serfs:
- A law was issued that forbade landowners to retail serfs, that is, the sale of any peasant separately from the family was henceforth prohibited.
- The bill, called "On obligated peasants", was that now the landowners had the right to release serfs without land, and also to release them with land. However, for such a gift of freedom, the liberated serfs were obliged to pay certain debts to their former masters.
- From a certain point, serfs were given the right to buy their own land and, therefore, to become free people. In addition, serfs were also entitled to buy property.
ATTENTION! Despite all the reforms of Nicholas I described above, which came into force under this emperor, neither the landowners nor the peasants used them: the former did not want to let the serfs go, while the latter simply did not have the opportunity to redeem themselves. However, all these changes were an important step towards the complete disappearance of serfdom.
Education policy
The ruler of the state decided to single out three types of schools: parish, county and gymnasiums. The first and most important subjects taught in schools were Latin and Greek, and all other disciplines were considered optional. As soon as Nicholas first ascended the throne, there were about 49 gymnasiums in Russia, and by the end of the emperor's reign, their number was 77 throughout the country.
Universities have also changed. Rectors, as well as professors of educational institutions, were now elected by the Ministry of Public Education. The opportunity to study at universities was given only for money. In addition to Moscow University, higher educational institutions were located in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Kharkov and Kyiv. In addition, some lyceums could give higher education to people.
The first place in all education was occupied by the “official nationality”, which consisted in the fact that the entire Russian people is the guardian of patriarchal traditions. That is why in all universities, regardless of the faculty, such subjects as ecclesiastical law and theology were taught.
Economic development
The industrial situation that settled down in the state by the time Nicholas came to the throne was the most terrible in the history of Russia. There was no question of any competition in this area with Western and European powers.
All those types of industrial products and materials that were simply necessary for the country were bought and delivered from abroad, and Russia itself supplied only raw materials abroad. However, by the end of the reign of the emperor, the situation changed very noticeably for the better. Nikolay was able to begin the formation of a technically advanced industry, already capable of competition.
The production of clothing, metals, sugar and textiles has received a very strong development. A huge number of products from completely different materials began to be produced in the Russian Empire. Work machines also began to be made at home, and not bought abroad.
According to statistics, for more than 30 years, the turnover of industry in the country has more than tripled in one year. In particular, machine-building products increased their turnover by as much as 33 times, and cotton products - by 31 times.
For the first time in the history of Russia, the construction of paved highways began. Three major routes were built, one of which is Moscow-Warsaw. Under Nicholas I, the construction of railways was also initiated. The rapid growth of industry served to increase the urban population by more than 2 times.
Scheme and characteristics of the domestic policy of Nicholas I
As already mentioned, the main reasons for the tightening of domestic policy under Nicholas I were the Decembrist uprising and new possible protests. Despite the fact that the emperor tried and made the life of the serfs better, he adhered to the foundations of autocracy, suppressed the opposition and developed bureaucracy. This was the internal policy of Nicholas 1. The diagram below describes its main directions.
The results of Nicholas's domestic policy, as well as the general assessment of modern historians, politicians and scientists, are ambiguous. On the one hand, the emperor managed to create financial stability in the state, to "revive" industry, increasing its volume tenfold.
Attempts were even made to improve life, and partially free ordinary peasants, but these attempts were unsuccessful. On the other hand, Nicholas the First did not allow dissent, made it so that religion in people's lives took almost the first place, which, by definition, is not very good for the normal development of the state. The protective function was in principle observed.
Domestic policy of Nicholas I
Domestic policy of Nicholas I. Continued
Conclusion
The result of everything can be formulated as follows: for Nicholas I, the most important aspect during his reign was precisely the stability within his country. He was not indifferent to the life of ordinary citizens, but he could not greatly improve it, primarily because of the autocratic regime, which the emperor fully supported and tried to strengthen in every possible way.
He ascended the throne on December 14, 1825. He saw the purpose of his policy in strengthening the external. and ext. Russia's position in preventing revolution.
Law codification. All Russian laws issued after 1649 were collected and arranged in chronological order. Compiled 47 volumes of the complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire. In 1832, a 15-volume legal code of the Russian Empire was published, which included all the laws in force. Investigation and Censorship. Repressive organs have been strengthened. A corps of gendarmes was created (head - Benkendorf, then - Orlov). The country is divided into gendarme districts. A special place was occupied by the III Department of the S.E.I.V. Chancellery. Censorship statutes are aimed at suppressing free thought. Education system. Strengthening school regulations.
It is forbidden to admit the children of serfs to schools. They had to study in parochial schools. For the townspeople - three-year schools, for the nobility - gymnasiums. The state opposed private schools and home education, because. couldn't control them. The theory of official nationality. In an effort to resist the revolution and liberal views, the authorities developed their own ideology, the theory of official nationality. The author is Count Uvarov. Orthodoxy - autocracy - nationality. The Russian people are religious and devoted to the throne, the Orthodox faith and autocracy are the conditions for the existence of Russia. Nationality - the need to adhere to their own traditions and reject the West. TON was the basis of teaching in schools.
September 1854 - Battle of the Alma. Defeat of Russian troops, retreat to Sevastopol.
1854-1855 - Defense of Sevastopol, bombing, the city was destroyed and surrendered.
1856 - Parisian world. Russia returned the captured Kars and Ardagan to Turkey in exchange for Sevastopol. Lost part of the Danube and Southern Bessarabia. The prohibition to keep the fleet on the Black Sea and build military bases on its shores.
Decembrists.
Agriculture and industry. The beginning of the industrial revolution.
XIX century, its historical place.
Lecture 13: Economy and social structure of Russia in the first half of the 19th century.
Plan:
3. The era of liberal reforms. The main issues of the domestic policy of Alexander I:
a) the government and the education system;
b) public administration reforms: ideas and implementation;
c) the peasant question.
Literature:
Klyuchevsky V. O. Course of Russian history. Op. in 9 vols. v. 5 - M., 1989.
Kornilov A. A. The course of the history of Russia in the XIX century. - M., 1993.
Bokhanov A.N. Russian autocrats. 1801 - 1917. M., 1993.
Crimean War 1853 - 1856: unknown pages//Motherland. 1995, No. 3
Reforms and reformers in Russia. - M., 1995.
Fedorov V. A. Speransky and Arakcheev. - M., 1997.
Chibiryaev S. A. Great Russian reformer. - M., 1997.
1. The 19th century began and passed under the sign of the Great French Revolution (1789 - 1794). This is an event of global significance, because it marked the transition in Europe and North America to an industrial civilization. Its defining feature was the technological revolution, which created opportunities for increasing the pace of production development.
In the political sphere, the revolution gave birth to a parliamentary republic, which led to the expansion of civil rights.
In the social sphere, as a result of class-forming processes, the struggle of the proletariat intensifies, social revolutions unfolded (Germany, Italy, France, England). The theoretical formulation of socialist doctrine is taking place.
2. By 30 - 40 years. 19th century In Russia, the industrial revolution began, the transition from manufactory to factory. Everywhere, manual labor was replaced by machine labor, and a market for civilian labor was formed. But unlike European states, Russia remained an agrarian country. 9/10 of its population was employed in agriculture. Serfdom fettered the development of productive forces. In terms of industrial output, Russia was 18 times behind Great Britain, 9 times behind Germany, and 7.2 times behind France. Russia's share in world industrial production was 1.7 percent.
Analyzing the socio-political development of Russia, V. O. Klyuchevsky singled out the main issues of the time: socio-political - new relations between classes; codification - streamlining new legislation; pedagogical - education of minds; financial - structure of the state economy 2 .
3. V.O. Klyuchevsky emphasized that in the process of solving these problems, the personality of the emperor himself, his character, played an important role. For the first half of the XIX century. the reign of two emperors falls: Alexander I (1801 - 1825) and Nicholas I (1825 - 1855).
Alexander I was raised by his grandmother Catherine II. She sought to prepare, to make of him, if not an ideal person, then an ideal sovereign. Alexander received an excellent education for that time. But he was a complex and contradictory nature. At the beginning of his reign, he was known as a liberal, he was looking for ways to decisively reform Russian reality, and ended his life path with a reputation as a persecutor of liberal ideas, a religious mystic.
To carry out reforms, the Indispensable Council was formed - an advisory body under the emperor. However, the main center in which the ideas of transformations were developed was the Unofficial Committee, which included those brought up on the advanced ideas of the 18th century. young friends of the tsar - Count P. A. Stroganov, Count V. P. Kochubey, Polish Prince Adam Czartorysky, Count Novosiltsev N.N.
The most liberal, though controversial, was the government's attempt in education. Universities were created: Kazan, Kharkov, St. Petersburg. Universities were opened in Dorpat and Vilna. In 1804, the Moscow commercial school was opened, which marked the beginning of a special economic education. In 1811, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was opened, the first graduation of which was glorified by A. S. Pushkin. A wide importation of foreign books began, and the works of Adam Smith were translated and published for the first time.
The main attention was paid to reforming the public administration system. An exceptional role in the development of these reforms was played by the State Secretary of the Permanent Council, M. M. Speransky. The son of a poor village priest, he made a dizzying career and became the closest adviser to the emperor. The great worker M. M. Speransky achieved encyclopedic knowledge by constant self-education. He prepared the document "Introduction to the code of state laws." As a result, in 1802 the Cabinet of Ministers was established under the leadership of the emperor himself. The ministries have replaced obsolete collegiums, unity of command has been established.
The Senate was reformed, becoming the highest judicial body, overseeing the rule of law in the empire. In 1910, on the initiative of Speransky, the State Council was created - the highest legislative body under the tsar.
Speransky's projects could have contributed to the beginning of the constitutional process in Russia, but they were implemented only a hundred years later - the convocation of the State Duma, for example.
Some steps were taken to reform the soil structure, to change the plight of the serfs. They limited the sale of peasants, they could not be sold "at retail", that is, without a family. State peasants were forbidden to be transferred into private hands. The decree "On Free Plowmen" provided for the release of peasants to freedom by mutual agreement with the landowner. But by 1825 less than 0.5% of the serfs were freed. In 1801 - 1805. serfdom was abolished in the Baltic States, the peasants received personal freedom, but did not receive land.
But even all these modest measures met with strong resistance from the conservative forces, the nobility. N. M. Karamzin became the ideologist of conservatism. In the note "On Ancient and New Russia", he insisted on the inviolability of autocracy and serfdom.
In practical life, conservative tendencies manifested themselves especially quickly in the “Arakcheevshchina”. Count A. A. Arakcheev pursued a policy aimed at strengthening absolutism and tightening serfdom. The most striking manifestation of "Arakcheevshchina" was military settlements - a special form of manning and maintaining the army.
The foreign policy situation associated with the expansionist activities of Napoleon Bonaparte forced the emperor to abandon his reform activities. Russia joined the anti-Napoleonic coalition and from 1805, in fact, fought against France. In the summer of 1807, she signed a highly disadvantageous peace treaty with France at Tilsit. He obliged Russia to join the continental blockade of Great Britain, which caused significant damage to the economy and international prestige of Russia.
On June 12, 1812, Napoleon at the head of the "Great Army" invaded Russian territory. The French invasion caused an upsurge of patriotic feelings in Russian society. The army and the people were ready for any hardships in the name of victory. It was the nationwide resistance to the invasion that ensured victory in the Patriotic War. December 25, 1812 Alexander I in the Manifesto informed the citizens of Russia about the victorious end of the war. In 1813 - 1814. the Russian army continued to fight Napoleon outside the country. Successful foreign campaigns of the Russian army were of great importance for the prestige of Russia in Europe. Alexander I became one of the creators of the Holy Alliance, which united all the monarchs of Europe. The basis of the union was the recognition of the inviolability of the existing European monarchies. Russia was now, together with other countries, deciding the fate of European civilization.
4. In Russia itself, the Patriotic War became one of the sources of the birth of "freethinking". Hopes were revived among educated people that Russia would move towards democracy, that the emperor would grant the Constitution. Many believed that the courage of the peasants in the war would be rewarded with liberation from serfdom. But this did not happen, and political opposition began to form in Russian society. In 1816, secret societies arose, movements that received the name of the Decembrist: The Decembrists, the core of which were young officers and officials with advanced views, came up with the idea of establishing a constitutional order, against serfdom, for the freedom and equality of citizens. Having seen a prosperous, dynamically developing Europe during foreign campaigns, the Decembrists sought to accelerate the advancement of Russia and create a state of the Western European type.
In November 1825, Alexander I died in Taganrog. A dynastic crisis arose, because, according to the will of the deceased, not Konstantin, but his younger brother Nikolai Pavlovich, was to become emperor. While the situation was being clarified, an atmosphere of interregnum was created. This created a favorable environment for the performance. On December 14, 1825, officers with their regiments came to Senate Square in St. Petersburg. The uprising was brutally suppressed.
Five leaders were hanged, hundreds of officers were exiled to Siberia and to the Caucasian regiments. About 2.5 thousand soldiers were tried by a special court. For many years in Russia it was forbidden to mention the performance of the Decembrists. The defeat of the uprising and the tragic withdrawal from the active social and political life of a whole generation of the best, most educated and honest people of the country became a national tragedy, the consequences of which affected the fate of society for a long time.
5. The reign of Nicholas I began with the cruel suppression of the uprising. The prince was brought up for a military career, and not for governing the state, he transferred army command methods to state affairs. The military was appointed to a wide variety of positions. The generals controlled public education, the spiritual department, provinces and cities. Of the 70-thousandth army of officials, half were military.
Nicholas I believed that the strict adherence of all citizens to the letter of the law would ensure order in the country. Therefore, the codification (streamlining) of the intricate Russian legislation was carried out. Under the leadership of M.M. Speransky, the laws adopted after the Council Code of 1649 were summarized. They were published in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire in 45 volumes. The first article read: "The Emperor of Russia is an autocratic and unlimited monarch."
Nicholas I, of course, could not see the deepening economic and socio-political gap between Russia and the advanced European countries. But to change anything, especially radically, he was not going to. Outwardly, Nikolaev Russia was a model of calm and stability, as opposed to Europe torn apart by social conflicts (revolutions of 1830, 1831, 1840, 1844 and 1848), the army shone at military reviews and maneuvers. Slowly, but the economy developed. The number of manufactories increased almost 6 times. Cities turned into industrial centers. The volume of trade increased. From 1801 - 1860 the volume of the average annual export increased almost 4 times, and the export of grain - 6 times. The communication system has been improved. In 1837, the railway St. Petersburg - Tsarskoye Selo was built. In 1851, the St. Petersburg - Moscow railway began to operate, highways were built.
However, in comparison with Europe, Russia developed insufficiently and contradictorily. The retribution for backwardness was not slow to tell. If in 1812 Russia defeated the united forces of Europe, then 40 years later it was defeated in the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853-1856.
1855 marked the beginning of a new period in the political life of Russia. In February, Nicholas I died and his son Alexander, Emperor Alexander II (1855 - 1881) ascended the throne.
Thus, the reign of Nicholas I was a direct logical continuation of the policy of the second half of the reign of Alexander I.
