Exactly 200 years have passed since the Russian Emperor Alexander I and the Prussian King Wilhelm III officially announced the engagement of Charlotte Lotchen and Tsarevich Nikolai Pavlovich in Berlin.

Their marriage has endured many trials. In order to save the family, the daughter of the Prussian king Charlotte, when she adopted Orthodoxy, named Alexandra Feodorovna, had to come to terms with the role of the empress, the rigidity of her husband and his regular betrayals.

german beauty

Charlotte was born to William III and Queen Louise in 1798. The mother of the future Russian Empress was one of the first beauties of her time, who was favored by Napoleon and the Russian Tsar Alexander.

Nicholas I. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The grown-up Charlotte was married to the brother of the Russian Emperor, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, which was solemnly announced in early November 1815. The couple was considered by that time one of the most beautiful in Europe. Their relations from the very beginning were very warm, despite the fact that this alliance was aimed primarily at strengthening Russian-German friendship. At the same time, the future spouses did not count on the crown, since Constantine was considered Alexander's heir.

A magnificent wedding was played in 1816. Charlotte of Prussia converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna. The wife of the future Tsar Nicholas I was well received at court, even the widowed mother-in-law Maria Feodorovna, known for her heavy disposition, warmly received her daughter-in-law.

The Russian language was taught to Alexandra Feodorovna by Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, with whom the future empress struck up a strong friendship. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was also fascinated by her special. Alexandra Fedorovna, nicknamed at the court of Lalla-Ruk, the poet captured in the following lines:

... into a silent tight circle,

Like a winged lily

Hesitating, Lalla Rook enters,

And over the drooping crowd

Shines with a royal head

And quietly curls and glides

A star-harita among the haritas.

Nervous tic

The first-born appeared in the royal family in 1818. Alexandra Feodorovna went to give birth to her son from St. Petersburg to Moscow. There, the future Emperor Alexander II was born, who was destined to finish his father's work and abolish serfdom.

A difficult moment in the life of the family occurred after the death of Emperor Alexander I. He bequeathed that after his departure, his brother, Nikolai, should ascend the throne. To do this, Constantine had to abdicate, who was pathologically afraid of becoming king and being strangled, like his father. The eldest heir refused to return to St. Petersburg from Warsaw, and in the meantime there was "distemper" in the country. The interregnum led to the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825. For Nikolai and Alexandra Feodorovna, this day was one of the most terrible. They understood that not only the imperial crown, but also their lives could end. The future empress, after the upheavals, began to suffer from a nervous tic. The character of Nicholas after this uprising became stubborn and cruel, which further alienated him from his wife.

According to the memoirs of historians, Alexandra Fedorovna asked her husband to pardon the Decembrists, but he flatly refused, reminding her that these people wanted to kill their children.

Love on the side

It became a tradition for the family to celebrate the birthday of the Empress. In the summer of 1828, Nikolai and Alexandra Feodorovna visited Berlin. The 30th anniversary of the queen was celebrated here. Europe remembered the grandiose holiday under the name of the White Rose - that is how the Empress was poetically called. Nicholas I himself left for Russia, where he prepared a gift for his wife - a cottage in Peterhof. The palace was decorated in a pseudo-Gothic style, and a white rose, the favorite flower of the Empress, became the coat of arms.

Emperor Nicholas I on Senate Square on December 14, 1825. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

In the 1830s, public masquerades came into vogue. Here, the upper classes could feel more at ease and start love affairs. Meanwhile, the heyday of masquerades at that time is also associated with a significant change in the intimate life of the august couple. The frequent childbirth of Alexandra Feodorovna undermined her health. By 1832, doctors completely forbade her to have an intimate life, which is why Nicholas I had to come to terms with the need to refrain from intimacy with his wife. At masquerades, the king began to take one mistress after another. He did not tell his wife about this, but carefully monitored the fidelity of Alexandra Feodorovna. He even personally began to approve the list of those who would dance with the empress at official events. More than once a year, the same surname was not repeated in this list. A small hobby of the Empress with Prince Alexander Trubetskoy was severely suppressed by the emperor - the suitor was quickly sent abroad.

Nicholas I, who showed signs of attention to a large number of court ladies, eventually ignited a strong feeling for Varvara Nelidova, who, moreover, was the native niece of his father's favorite. The new mistress of the tsar was the maid of honor of Alexandra Feodorovna. The queen, who could not help but notice the change in her wife, staged a riot. In 1845 she went to Italy and took Varvara Nelidova with her. Two weeks later, Nicholas I could not stand it and went after the travelers. They managed to discuss the extremely delicate situation in Naples and remove all questions. The three of them returned to St. Petersburg.

One by the bed

In 1853 the Crimean War broke out. Sevastopol fell, the landing of the Anglo-French troops in the vicinity of St. Petersburg was actively discussed. The betrayal of the former allies greatly crippled the king. Nicholas I eventually caught a bad cold and burned down from illness on March 2, 1855. Alexandra Fyodorovna was at his bedside during the last hours. The tsar, who observed decency, did not let Varvara Nelidova to his bed, who was not far from the door of his bedroom at the time of the tragedy.

The emperor left his mistress 200 thousand rubles. Nelidova decided to donate everything to charity and was left without a livelihood. Surprisingly, Alexandra Fedorovna forgave her rival and provided her with a court position. The memory of Nicholas I made them best friends until the end of their lives.

The Empress spent the rest of her life in foreign resorts - the damp climate of St. Petersburg greatly affected her health. Alexandra Feodorovna died on October 20, 1860. Varvara Nelidova survived her by 37 years, having managed to catch the coronation of her friend's great-grandson, who became the last Russian emperor.

The personality of Emperor Nicholas I is very controversial. Thirty years of reign is a series of paradoxical phenomena:

• an unprecedented flourishing of culture and manic censorship;
• total political control and prosperity of corruption;
• rise in industrial production and economic backwardness from European countries;
• control over the army and its impotence.

The statements of contemporaries and real historical facts also cause a lot of contradictions, so it is difficult to objectively assess

Childhood of Nicholas I

Nikolai Pavlovich was born on June 25, 1796 and became the third son of the imperial Romanov couple. Very little Nikolai was raised by Baroness Charlotte Karlovna von Lieven, to whom he became very attached and adopted some character traits from her, such as strength of character, stamina, heroism, and openness. It was then that his desire for military affairs was already manifested. Nikolai loved to watch military parades, divorces, and play military toys. And already at the age of three he put on his first military uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.

He suffered the very first shock at the age of four, when his father Emperor Pavel Petrovich died. Since then, the responsibility of raising the heirs fell on the shoulders of the widow Maria Feodorovna.

Nikolai Pavlovich's mentor

Since 1801 and over the next seventeen years, Nikolai's mentor was Lieutenant General Matvey Ivanovich Lamzdorf, the former director of the gentry (first) cadet corps under Emperor Paul. Lamzdorf did not have the slightest idea about the methods of educating royalty - future rulers - and about any educational activity in general. His appointment was justified by the desire of Empress Maria Feodorovna to protect her sons from being carried away by military affairs, and this was Lamzdorf's main goal. But instead of interest of the princes in other activities, he went against all their wishes. For example, while accompanying the young princes on their trip to France in 1814, where they were eager to take part in hostilities against Napoleon, Lamzdorf deliberately drove them very slowly, and the princes arrived in Paris when the battle had already ended. Due to the incorrectly chosen tactics, Lamzdorf's educational activity did not achieve its goal. When Nicholas I married, Lamzdorf was relieved of his duties as a mentor.

Hobbies

The Grand Duke diligently and passionately studied all the intricacies of military science. In 1812, he was eager to go to war with Napoleon, but his mother did not let him go. In addition, the future emperor was fond of engineering, fortification, and architecture. But Nikolai did not like the humanitarian disciplines and was negligent in their study. Subsequently, he greatly regretted this and even tried to fill in the gaps in training. But he never managed to do this.

Nikolai Pavlovich was fond of painting, played the flute, loved opera and ballet. He had good artistic taste.

The future emperor had a beautiful appearance. The growth of Nicholas 1 - 205 cm, thin, broad-shouldered. The face is slightly elongated, the eyes are blue, always a stern look. Nicholas had excellent physical fitness and good health.

Marriage

Elder brother Alexander I in 1813, having visited Silesia, chose Nicholas a bride - the daughter of the King of Prussia Charlotte. This marriage was supposed to strengthen Russian-Prussian relations in the fight against Napoleon, but unexpectedly for everyone, the young sincerely fell in love with each other. On July 1, 1817 they were married. Charlotte of Prussia in Orthodoxy became Alexandra Feodorovna. The marriage turned out to be happy and large. The Empress bore Nicholas seven children.

After the wedding, Nicholas 1, whose biography and interesting facts are presented to your attention in the article, began to command the guards division, and also took up the duties of inspector general for engineering.

Doing what he loved, the Grand Duke treated his duties very responsibly. He opened company and battalion schools under the engineering troops. In 1819, the Main Engineering School (now the Nikolaev Engineering Academy) was founded. Thanks to his excellent memory for faces, which allows even ordinary soldiers to be remembered, Nikolai won respect in the army.

The death of Alexander 1

In 1820, Alexander told Nicholas and his wife that Konstantin Pavlovich, the next heir to the throne, intended to renounce his right due to childlessness, divorce and remarriage, and Nicholas should become the next emperor. In this regard, Alexander signed a manifesto that approved the abdication of Konstantin Pavlovich and the appointment of Nikolai Pavlovich as heir to the throne. Alexander, as if feeling his imminent death, bequeathed to read the document immediately after his death. November 19, 1825 Alexander I died. Nicholas, despite the manifesto, was the first to swear allegiance to Prince Konstantin. It was a very noble and honest act. After some period of uncertainty, when Constantine did not officially abdicate the throne, but also refused to take the oath. The growth of Nicholas 1 was rapid. He decided to become the next emperor.

Bloody beginning of reign

On December 14, on the day of the oath of Nicholas I, an uprising (called the Decembrist uprising) was organized, aimed at overthrowing the autocracy. The uprising was crushed, the surviving participants were sent into exile, five were executed. The emperor's first impulse was to pardon everyone, but the fear of a palace coup forced him to organize a court to the fullest extent of the law. Nevertheless, Nicholas acted generously with those who wanted to kill him and his entire family. There are even confirmed facts that the wives of the Decembrists received monetary compensation, and children born in Siberia could study in the best educational institutions at the expense of the state.

This event influenced the course of the further reign of Nicholas 1. All his activities were aimed at preserving autocracy.

Domestic politics

The reign of Nicholas 1 began when he was 29 years old. Accuracy and exactingness, responsibility, the struggle for justice, combined with high efficiency were the outstanding qualities of the emperor. His character was influenced by the years of army life. He led a rather ascetic lifestyle: he slept on a hard bed, covering himself with an overcoat, observed moderation in food, did not drink alcohol and did not smoke. Nikolai worked 18 hours a day. He was very demanding in the first place to himself. He considered it his duty to preserve autocracy, and all his political activities served this purpose.

Russia under Nicholas 1 underwent the following changes:

1. Centralization of power and the creation of a bureaucratic apparatus of management. The emperor only wanted order, control and accountability, but in essence it turned out that the number of bureaucratic posts increased many times over and with them the number and size of bribes increased. Nikolai himself understood this and told his eldest son that only the two of them did not steal in Russia.
2. Solution of the issue of serfs. Thanks to a series of reforms, the number of serfs was significantly reduced (from 58% to 35% in about 45 years), they received rights, the protection of which was controlled by the state. The complete abolition of serfdom did not happen, but the reform served as the starting point in this matter. Also at this time, an education system for peasants began to take shape.
3. The emperor paid special attention to order in the army. Contemporaries criticized him for paying too much attention to the troops, while the morale of the army was of little interest to him. Frequent checks, reviews, punishments for the slightest errors distracted the soldiers from their main tasks, made them weak. But was it really so? During the reign of Emperor Nicholas 1, Russia fought with Persia and Turkey in 1826-1829, and in the Crimea in 1853-1856. In the wars with Persia and Turkey, Russia won. The Crimean War led to Russia's loss of influence in the Balkans. But historians call the reason for the defeat of the Russians the economic backwardness of Russia in comparison with the enemy, including the existence of serfdom. But a comparison of human losses in the Crimean War with other similar wars shows that they are less. This proves that the army under the leadership of Nicholas I was powerful and highly organized.

Economic development

Emperor Nicholas 1 inherited Russia, devoid of industry. All items of production were imported. By the end of the reign of Nicholas 1, economic growth was noticeable. Many types of production necessary for the country already existed in Russia. Under his leadership, the construction of paved roads and railways began. In connection with the development of railway transport, the machine-building industry began to develop, including the car-building industry. An interesting fact is that Nicholas I decided to build railways wider (1524 mm) than in European countries (1435 mm) in order to make it difficult for the enemy to move around the country in case of war. And it was very wise. It was this trick that did not allow the Germans in 1941 to supply ammunition in full during the attack on Moscow.

In connection with the growing industrialization, an intensive growth of cities began. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, the urban population more than doubled. Thanks to an engineering education received in his youth, Nikolai 1 Romanov followed the construction of all major facilities in St. Petersburg. His idea was not to exceed the height of the eaves of the Winter Palace for all buildings in the city. As a result, St. Petersburg has become one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Under Nicholas 1, growth in the educational sphere was also noticeable. Many educational institutions were opened. Among them are the famous Kyiv University and the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, military and naval academies, a number of schools, etc.

The heyday of culture

The 19th century was a real flowering of literary creativity. Pushkin and Lermontov, Tyutchev, Ostrovsky, Turgenev, Derzhavin and other writers and poets of this era were incredibly talented. At the same time, Nicholas 1 Romanov introduced the most severe censorship, reaching the point of absurdity. Therefore, literary geniuses periodically experienced persecution.

Foreign policy

Foreign policy during the reign of Nicholas I included two main areas:

1. Return to the principles of the Holy Alliance, the suppression of revolutions and any revolutionary ideas in Europe.
2. Strengthening influence in the Balkans for free navigation in the Bosporus.

These factors caused the Russian-Turkish, Russian-Persian and Crimean wars. The defeat in the Crimean War led to the loss of all previously won positions in the Black Sea and the Balkans and provoked an industrial crisis in Russia.

Emperor's death

Nicholas 1 died on March 2, 1855 (aged 58) from pneumonia. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

And finally...

The reign of Nicholas I, undoubtedly, left a tangible mark, both in the economy and in the cultural life of Russia, however, it did not lead to any epoch-making changes in the country. The following factors forced the emperor to slow down progress and follow the conservative principles of autocracy:

• moral unpreparedness to govern the country;
• lack of education;
• fear of overthrow due to the events of December 14;
• feeling of loneliness (conspiracies against father Paul, brother Alexander, abdication of the throne by brother Constantine).

Therefore, none of the subjects regretted the death of the emperor. Contemporaries more often condemned the personal characteristics of Nicholas 1, he was criticized as a politician and as a person, but historical facts speak of the emperor as a noble man who fully devoted himself to serving Russia.

Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov, the future Emperor Nicholas I, was born on July 6 (June 25, O.S.) 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo. He became the third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Nicholas was not the eldest son and therefore did not claim the throne. He was supposed to devote himself to a military career. At the age of six months, the boy received the rank of colonel, and at the age of three he already flaunted in the uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.

Responsibility for the upbringing of Nikolai and his younger brother Mikhail was assigned to General Lamzdorf. Home education consisted of the study of economics, history, geography, law, engineering and fortification. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of foreign languages: French, German and Latin. The humanities did not give Nikolai much pleasure, but everything that was connected with engineering and military affairs attracted his attention. As a child, Nikolai mastered the flute and took drawing lessons, and this acquaintance with art allowed him to be considered a connoisseur of opera and ballet in the future.

In July 1817, the wedding of Nikolai Pavlovich took place with Princess Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna after baptism. And from that time on, the Grand Duke began to take an active part in the arrangement of the Russian army. He was in charge of the engineering units, under his leadership educational institutions were created in companies and battalions. In 1819, with his assistance, the Main Engineering School and schools for guards ensigns were opened. Nevertheless, he was disliked in the army for his excessive pedantry and pickiness to trifles.

In 1820, a turning point occurred in the biography of the future Emperor Nicholas I: his elder brother Alexander I announced that in connection with the refusal of the heir to the throne, Constantine, the right to reign was transferred to Nicholas. For Nikolai Pavlovich, the news came as a shock, he was not ready for this. Despite the protests of his younger brother, Alexander I secured this right with a special manifesto.

However, on December 1 (November 19, O.S.), 1825, Emperor Alexander I suddenly died. Nicholas again tried to give up his reign and shift the burden of power to Constantine. Only after the publication of the royal manifesto, indicating the heir of Nikolai Pavlovich, did he have to agree with the will of Alexander I.

The date of the oath before the troops on Senate Square was December 26 (December 14 according to the old style). It was this date that became decisive in the speech of the participants in various secret societies, which went down in history as the Decembrist uprising.

The plan of the revolutionaries was not implemented, the army did not support the rebels, and the uprising was suppressed. After the trial, five leaders of the uprising were executed, and a large number of participants and sympathizers went into exile. The reign of Nicholas I began very dramatically, but there were no other executions during his reign.

The crowning of the kingdom took place on August 22, 1826 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and in May 1829 the new emperor assumed the rights of autocrat of the Polish kingdom.

The first steps of Nicholas I in politics were quite liberal: A. S. Pushkin returned from exile, V. A. Zhukovsky became the mentor of the heir; Nicholas's liberal views are also indicated by the fact that the Ministry of State Property was headed by P. D. Kiselev, who was not a supporter of serfdom.

Nevertheless, history has shown that the new emperor was an ardent supporter of the monarchy. Its main slogan, which determined state policy, was expressed in three postulates: autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality. The main thing that Nicholas I strove for and achieved with his policy was not to create something new and better, but to preserve and improve the existing order.

The emperor's desire for conservatism and blind adherence to the letter of the law led to the development of an even greater bureaucracy in the country. In fact, a whole bureaucratic state was created, the ideas of which continue to live to this day. The most severe censorship was introduced, a division of the Secret Chancellery was created, headed by Benckendorff, which conducted a political investigation. A very close observation of the printing business was established.

During the reign of Nicholas I, some changes also affected the existing serfdom. Uncultivated lands in Siberia and the Urals began to be developed, peasants were sent to their rise, regardless of desire. Infrastructure was created on the new lands, the peasants were supplied with new agricultural equipment.

Under Nicholas I, the first railway was built. The gauge of Russian roads was wider than European, which contributed to the development of domestic technology.

A financial reform began, which was supposed to introduce a unified system for calculating silver coins and banknotes.

A special place in the policy of the tsar was occupied by concern about the penetration of liberal ideas into Russia. Nicholas I sought to destroy any dissent not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. Without the Russian tsar, the suppression of all kinds of uprisings and revolutionary riots was not complete. As a result, he received the well-deserved nickname "the gendarme of Europe."

All the years of the reign of Nicholas I are filled with military operations abroad. 1826-1828 - Russian-Persian war, 1828-1829 - Russian-Turkish war, 1830 - suppression of the Polish uprising by Russian troops. In 1833, the Unkar-Iskelesi Treaty was signed, which became the highest point of Russian influence on Constantinople. Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships to the Black Sea. True, this right was soon lost as a result of the conclusion of the Second London Convention in 1841. 1849 - Russia is an active participant in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary.

The culmination of the reign of Nicholas I was the Crimean War. It was she who was the collapse of the political career of the emperor. He did not expect that Great Britain and France would come to the aid of Turkey. The policy of Austria also aroused fear, the unfriendliness of which forced the Russian Empire to keep an entire army on the western borders.

As a result, Russia lost its influence in the Black Sea, lost the opportunity to build and use military fortresses on the coast.

In 1855, Nicholas I fell ill with the flu, but, despite being unwell, in February he went to a military parade without outerwear ... The emperor died on March 2, 1855.

The future Emperor Nicholas I, the third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna, was born on July 6 (June 25, Old Style), 1796, in Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin).

As a child, Nikolai was very fond of military toys, and in 1799 for the first time he put on the military uniform of the Life Guards Horse Regiment, of which he was the chief from infancy. To serve, according to the traditions of that time, Nikolai began at the age of six months, when he received the rank of colonel. He was prepared, first of all, for a military career.

Baroness Charlotte Karlovna von Lieven was engaged in the upbringing of Nikolai, since 1801 General Lamzdorf was entrusted with the supervision of the upbringing of Nikolai. Among other teachers were the economist Storch, the historian Adelung, the lawyer Balugyansky, who failed to interest Nikolai in their subjects. He was good at engineering and fortification. Nicholas's education was limited mainly to the military sciences.

Nevertheless, from a young age, the emperor drew well, had good artistic taste, was very fond of music, played the flute well, and was a connoisseur of opera and ballet art.

Having married on July 1, 1817, the daughter of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, the German princess Friederike-Louise-Charlotte-Wilhelmina, who converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, the Grand Duke lived a happy family life, not taking part in public affairs. Prior to his accession to the throne, he commanded a division of the Guards and served (since 1817) as an inspector general for engineering. Already in this rank, he showed great concern for military educational institutions: on his initiative, company and battalion schools were established in the engineering troops, and in 1819 the Main Engineering School (now the Nikolaev Engineering Academy) was established; It was his initiative that the "School of Guards Ensigns" (now the Nikolaev Cavalry School) owes its appearance.

An excellent memory, which helped him to recognize by sight and remember by name even ordinary soldiers, won him great popularity in the army. The emperor was distinguished by considerable personal courage. When a cholera riot broke out in the capital, on June 23, 1831, he rode in a carriage to the crowd of five thousand that had gathered on Sennaya Square and stopped the riots. He also stopped the unrest in the Novgorod military settlements, caused by the same cholera. The emperor showed extraordinary courage and determination during the fire of the Winter Palace on December 17, 1837.

The idol of Nicholas I was Peter I. Extremely unpretentious in everyday life, Nicholas, already an emperor, slept on a hard camp bed, hiding himself in an ordinary overcoat, observed moderation in food, preferring the simplest food, and almost did not drink alcohol. He was very disciplined, worked 18 hours a day.

Under Nicholas I, the centralization of the bureaucratic apparatus was strengthened, a code of laws of the Russian Empire was drawn up, new censorship charters were introduced (1826 and 1828). In 1837, traffic was opened on the first Tsarskoye Selo railway in Russia. The Polish uprising of 1830-1831, the revolution in Hungary of 1848-1849 were suppressed.

During the reign of Nicholas I, the Narva Gates, the Trinity (Izmailovsky) Cathedral, the buildings of the Senate and the Synod, the Alexandria Column, the Mikhailovsky Theater, the building of the Nobility Assembly, the New Hermitage were erected, the Anichkov Bridge was reconstructed, the Annunciation Bridge across the Neva (Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge), the end pavement was laid on Nevsky prospect.

An important aspect of the foreign policy of Nicholas I was the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance. The emperor sought a favorable regime for Russia in the Black Sea straits, in 1829 peace was concluded in Andrianopol, according to which Russia received the eastern coast of the Black Sea. During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia participated in the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, and the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Nicholas I died on March 2 (February 18, O.S.), 1855, according to the official version - from a cold. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The emperor had seven children: Emperor Alexander II; Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, married Duchess of Leuchtenberg; Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, married Queen of Württemberg; Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna, wife of Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel; Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich; Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich; Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Doctor of Historical Sciences M. RAKHMATULLIN

In February 1913, just a few years before the collapse of tsarist Russia, the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was solemnly celebrated. In countless churches of the boundless empire, "many years" of the reigning family were proclaimed, in meetings of the nobility, corks from champagne bottles flew up to the ceiling to joyful exclamations, and all over Russia millions of people sang: "Strong, sovereign ... reign over us ... reign to the fear of the enemy." In the past three centuries, the Russian throne was occupied by various tsars: Peter I and Catherine II, endowed with remarkable intelligence and statesmanship; not very distinguished by these qualities, Paul I, Alexander III; Catherine I, Anna Ioannovna and Nicholas II, who were completely devoid of a state mind. Among them were cruel, like Peter I, Anna Ioannovna and Nicholas I, and relatively mild, like Alexander I and his nephew Alexander II. But they all had in common the fact that each of them was an unlimited autocrat, to whom the ministers, the police and all subjects obeyed implicitly ... What were these all-powerful rulers, from one casually thrown word of which much, if not all, depended? the journal "Science and Life" begins publishing articles on the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, who went down in Russian history mainly because he began his reign by hanging five Decembrists and ended it with the blood of thousands and thousands of soldiers and sailors in the shamefully lost Crimean War, unleashed , in particular, and due to the exorbitant imperial ambitions of the king.

Palace Embankment at the Winter Palace from the side of Vasilyevsky Island. Watercolor by Swedish artist Benjamin Petersen. Beginning of the 19th century.

Mikhailovsky Castle - view from the Fontanka embankment. Early 19th century watercolor by Benjamin Petersen.

Pavel I. From an engraving of 1798.

Empress Dowager and mother of the future Emperor Nicholas I Maria Feodorovna after the death of Paul I. From an early 19th century engraving.

Emperor Alexander I. Early 20s of the XIX century.

Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich in childhood.

Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich.

Petersburg. Uprising on the Senate Square on December 14, 1825. Watercolor by artist K. I. Kolman.

Science and life // Illustrations

Emperor Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Portraits of the first third of the XIX century.

Count M. A. Miloradovich.

During the uprising on Senate Square, Pyotr Kakhovsky mortally wounded the military governor-general of St. Petersburg Miloradovich.

The personality and deeds of the fifteenth Russian autocrat from the Romanov dynasty were already ambiguously assessed by his contemporaries. Persons from his inner circle, who communicated with him in an informal setting or in a narrow family circle, as a rule, spoke of the king with enthusiasm: "eternal worker on the throne", "dauntless knight", "knight of the spirit" ... For a significant part of society, the name The king was associated with the nicknames "bloody", "executioner", "Nikolai Palkin". Moreover, the last definition, as it were, reasserted itself in public opinion after 1917, when for the first time in a Russian edition a small pamphlet by L. N. Tolstoy appeared under the same name. The basis for its writing (in 1886) was the story of a 95-year-old former Nikolaev soldier about how the lower ranks who were guilty of something were driven through the ranks, for which Nicholas I was nicknamed Palkin by the people. The very picture of the "legitimate" punishment with gauntlets, terrifying in its inhumanity, is depicted with amazing force by the writer in the famous story "After the Ball".

Many negative assessments of the personality of Nicholas I and his activities come from A. I. Herzen, who did not forgive the monarch for his reprisal against the Decembrists and especially the execution of five of them, when everyone hoped for a pardon. What happened was all the more terrible for society because after the public execution of Pugachev and his associates, the people had already forgotten about the death penalty. Nicholas I is so disliked by Herzen that he, usually an accurate and subtle observer, places accents with obvious prejudice even when describing his appearance: “He was handsome, but his beauty was cold; his face. The forehead, quickly running back, the lower jaw, developed at the expense of the skull, expressed an unbending will and a weak thought, more cruelty than sensuality. But the main thing is the eyes, without any warmth, without any mercy, winter eyes.

This portrait contradicts the testimonies of many other contemporaries. For example, the life physician of Saxe-Coburg Prince Leopold, Baron Stockman, described Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich as follows: unusually handsome, attractive, well-built, like a young pine tree, regular features, a beautiful open forehead, arched eyebrows, a small mouth, an elegantly outlined chin, character very lively, manners easy and graceful. One of the noble ladies of the court, Mrs. Kemble, who was distinguished by a particularly strict judgment about men, exclaims endlessly in delight from him: "What a charm! What a beauty! This will be the first handsome man in Europe!" The English Queen Victoria, the wife of the English envoy Bloomfield, other titled persons and "simple" contemporaries spoke equally flatteringly about the appearance of Nicholas.

THE FIRST YEARS OF LIFE

Ten days later, the grandmother-empress tells Grimm the details of the first days of her grandson’s life: “Knight Nikolai has been eating porridge for three days, because he constantly asks for food. I believe that an eight-day-old child has never enjoyed such a treat, this is unheard of ... He looks at all in all eyes, holds his head straight and turns no worse than mine. Catherine II foresees the fate of the newborn: the third grandson "by his extraordinary strength, it seems to me, is also destined to reign, although he has two older brothers." Alexander was in his twentieth year at that time, Konstantin was 17 years old.

The newborn, according to the established rule, after the rite of baptism was transferred to the care of the grandmother. But her unexpected death on November 6, 1796 "unfavorably" affected the upbringing of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. True, the grandmother managed to make a good choice of a nanny for Nikolai. It was a Scottish woman Evgenia Vasilievna Layon, the daughter of a stucco master, invited to Russia by Catherine II, among other artists. She remained the only caregiver for the first seven years of the boy's life and is considered to have had a strong influence on the formation of his personality. The owner of a bold, resolute, direct and noble character herself, Evgenia Lion tried to inspire Nikolai with the highest concepts of duty, honor, fidelity to a given word.

On January 28, 1798, another son, Mikhail, was born in the family of Emperor Paul I. Paul, deprived by the will of his mother, Empress Catherine II, of the opportunity to raise his two eldest sons himself, transferred all his paternal love to the younger ones, giving a clear preference to Nicholas. Their sister Anna Pavlovna, the future Queen of the Netherlands, writes that their father "caressed them very tenderly, which our mother never did."

According to the established rules, Nikolai was enrolled in military service from the cradle: at the age of four, he was appointed chief of the Life Guards of the Horse Regiment. The boy's first toy was a wooden gun, then swords appeared, also wooden. In April 1799, he was put on the first military uniform - "crimson garus", and in the sixth year of his life, Nikolai saddled a riding horse for the first time. From the earliest years, the future emperor absorbs the spirit of the military environment.

In 1802, studies began. From that time on, a special journal was kept, in which the educators (“cavaliers”) record literally every step of the boy, describing in detail his behavior and actions.

The main supervision of education was entrusted to General Matvei Ivanovich Lamsdorf. It would be difficult to make a more awkward choice. According to contemporaries, Lamsdorf "not only did not possess any of the abilities necessary for educating a person of a royal house, called upon to have an influence on the fate of his compatriots and on the history of his people, but he was even a stranger to everything that is needed for a person who devotes himself to education of the private individual. He was an ardent supporter of the system of education generally accepted at that time, based on orders, reprimands and punishments that amounted to cruelty. Nikolai did not avoid frequent "acquaintance" with the ruler, ramrods and rods. With the consent of his mother, Lamsdorf zealously tried to change the character of the pupil, going against all his inclinations and abilities.

As often happens in such cases, the result was the opposite. Subsequently, Nikolai Pavlovich wrote about himself and his brother Mikhail: “Count Lamsdorf was able to instill in us one feeling - fear, and such fear and assurance of his omnipotence that mother’s face was second to us in terms of the importance of concepts. This order completely deprived us of the happiness of filial confidence in the parent, to whom we were rarely alone, and then never otherwise, as if on a sentence.The incessant change of surrounding faces instilled in us from infancy the habit of looking for weaknesses in them in order to take advantage of them in the sense that, according to our desires, we it was necessary and, it must be confessed, not without success... Count Lamsdorf and others, imitating him, used strictness with a vehemence that took away from us our sense of guilt, leaving only vexation for rough treatment, and often undeserved. "Fear and the search for how to avoid punishment occupied my mind most of all. In teaching, I saw one coercion, and I studied without a desire."

Still would. As the biographer of Nicholas I, Baron M. A. Korf, writes, “the grand dukes were constantly, as it were, in a vice. every step was stopped, corrected, made comments, persecuted by morality or threats. In this way, in vain, as time has shown, they tried to correct the as independent as the obstinate, quick-tempered character of Nicholas. Even Baron Korf, one of the biographers most disposed towards him, is forced to note that the usually uncommunicative and self-contained Nikolai seemed to be reborn during the games, and the self-willed principles contained in him, disapproved of by those around him, manifested themselves in their entirety. The magazines of the "cavaliers" for the years 1802-1809 are full of entries about the unbridledness of Nikolai during games with peers. “Whatever happened to him, whether he fell, or hurt himself, or considered his desires unfulfilled, and himself offended, he immediately uttered swear words ... he chopped a drum, toys with his hatchet, broke them, beat his comrades with a stick or whatever their games." In moments of temper he could spit on his sister Anna. Once he hit a friend of his games, Adlerberg, with such force with the butt of a child's gun that he was left with a scar for life.

The rude manners of both Grand Dukes, especially during military games, were explained by the idea (not without the influence of Lamsdorf) that was firmly established in their boyish minds, that rudeness is a mandatory feature of all military men. However, the educators notice, even outside the military games, Nikolai Pavlovich's manners "remained no less rude, arrogant and arrogant." Hence the clearly expressed desire to excel in all games, to command, to be the boss or to represent the emperor. And this despite the fact that, according to the same educators, Nikolai "possesses very limited abilities," although he had, according to them, "the most excellent, loving heart" and was distinguished by "excessive sensitivity."

Another trait that also remained for the rest of his life - Nikolai Pavlovich "did not tolerate any joke that seemed to him an insult, did not want to endure the slightest displeasure ... he seemed to constantly consider himself both higher and more significant than everyone else." Hence his persistent habit of admitting his mistakes only under strong duress.

So, only military games remained the favorite pastime of the brothers Nikolai and Mikhail. They had at their disposal a large set of tin and porcelain soldiers, guns, halberds, wooden horses, drums, pipes and even charging boxes. All attempts by the late mother to turn them away from this attraction were unsuccessful. As Nikolai himself later wrote, "some military sciences occupied me passionately, in them alone I found consolation and a pleasant occupation, similar to the disposition of my spirit." In fact, it was a passion primarily for paradomania, for frunt, which from Peter III, according to the biographer of the royal family N.K. Schilder, "took deep and strong roots in the royal family." "He loved exercises, reviews, parades and divorces invariably to death and made them even in winter," one of his contemporaries writes about Nikolai. Nikolai and Mikhail even came up with a "family" term to express the pleasure that they experienced when the review of the grenadier regiments went off without a hitch - "infantry delight."

TEACHERS AND PUPILS

From the age of six, Nikolai began to be introduced to the Russian and French languages, the Law of God, Russian history, and geography. This is followed by arithmetic, German and English - as a result, Nikolai was fluent in four languages. Latin and Greek were not given to him. (Subsequently, he excluded them from the program of teaching his children, because "he can not stand Latin since the time when he was tormented over it in his youth.") From 1802, Nikolai was taught drawing and music. Having learned to play the trumpet (cornet-piston) quite well, after two or three auditions, he, naturally gifted with a good ear and musical memory, could perform quite complex works at home concerts without notes. Nikolai Pavlovich retained his love for church singing all his life, he knew all the church services by heart and willingly sang along with the choristers on the kliros with his sonorous and pleasant voice. He drew well (in pencil and watercolor) and even learned the art of engraving, which requires great patience, a true eye and a steady hand.

In 1809, it was decided to expand the education of Nikolai and Mikhail to university programs. But the idea to send them to the University of Leipzig, as well as the idea to send them to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, disappeared due to the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812. As a result, they continued home education. Professors well-known at that time were attracted to the classes with the Grand Dukes: the economist A. K. Shtorkh, the jurist M. A. Balugyansky, the historian F. P. Adelung and others. But the first two disciplines did not captivate Nikolai. He later expressed his attitude towards them in the instruction of M. A. Korf, who was determined by him to teach law to his son Konstantin: “... Do not dwell too long on abstract subjects that are then either forgotten or do not find any application in practice. I I remember how we were tormented over this by two people, very kind, maybe very smart, but both insufferable pedants: the late Balugyansky and Kukolnik [father of the famous playwright. - M. R.]... At the lessons of these gentlemen, we either dozed off or drew some kind of nonsense, sometimes our own caricature portraits of them, and then for the exams we learned something in slurring, without fruit and benefit for the future. In my opinion, the best theory of law is good morality, and it should be in the heart, regardless of these abstractions, and have religion as its foundation.

Nikolai Pavlovich very early showed interest in construction and especially engineering. “Mathematics, then artillery, and especially engineering and tactics,” he writes in his notes, “attracted me exclusively; I made special progress in this area, and then I got a desire to serve in the engineering department.” And this is no empty boast. According to Lieutenant General E. A. Yegorov, a man of rare honesty and disinterestedness, Nikolai Pavlovich "always had a special attraction to the engineering and architectural arts ... love for the construction business did not leave him until the end of his life and, I must say the truth, he understood a lot about it ... He always entered into all the technical details of the production of work and amazed everyone with the accuracy of his remarks and the fidelity of his eye.

At the age of 17, Nikolai's compulsory studies are almost over. From now on, he regularly attends divorces, parades, exercises, that is, he completely indulges in what was previously not encouraged. At the beginning of 1814, the desire of the Grand Dukes to go to the Army in the field was finally realized. They stayed abroad for about a year. On this trip, Nicholas met his future wife, Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prussian king. The choice of the bride was not made by chance, but also answered the aspirations of Paul I to strengthen relations between Russia and Prussia by a dynastic marriage.

In 1815, the brothers were again in the active army, but, as in the first case, they did not take part in hostilities. On the way back, the official engagement to Princess Charlotte took place in Berlin. Enchanted by her, a 19-year-old young man, upon his return to St. Petersburg, writes a letter of significant content: “Farewell, my angel, my friend, my only consolation, my only true happiness, think of me as often as I think of you, and love if you can, the one who is and will be your faithful Nikolai for the rest of your life." Charlotte's reciprocal feeling is just as strong, and on July 1 (13), 1817, on her birthday, a magnificent wedding took place. With the adoption of Orthodoxy, the princess was named Alexandra Feodorovna.

Before the marriage, two study trips of Nikolai took place - to several provinces of Russia and to England. After marriage, he was appointed inspector general for engineering and chief of the Life Guards of the Sapper Battalion, which fully corresponded to his inclinations and desires. His indefatigability and service zeal amazed everyone: early in the morning he appeared at the line and rifle exercises of a sapper, at 12 o’clock he left for Peterhof, and at 4 o’clock in the afternoon he mounted a horse and again galloped 12 versts to the camp, where he remained until the evening dawn, personally leading work on the construction of training field fortifications, digging trenches, laying mines, land mines ... Nikolai had an extraordinary memory for faces and remembered the names of all the lower ranks of "his" battalion. According to colleagues, "who knew his business to perfection," Nikolai fanatically demanded the same from others and severely punished for any mistakes. So much so that the soldiers punished by his order were often carried away on a stretcher to the infirmary. Nikolai, of course, did not feel remorse, because he only strictly followed the paragraphs of the military regulations, which provided for the merciless punishment of soldiers with sticks, rods, gauntlets for any offenses.

In July 1818, he was appointed commander of a brigade of the 1st Guards Division (while retaining the post of inspector general). He was in his 22nd year, and he sincerely rejoiced at this appointment, for he received a real opportunity to command the troops himself, to appoint exercises and reviews himself.

In this position, Nikolai Pavlovich was taught the first real lessons in proper behavior for an officer, which laid the foundation for the later legend of the "emperor-knight".

Somehow, during the next exercise, he made a rude and unfair reprimand in front of the front of the regiment to K. I. Bistrom, a military general, commander of the Jaeger regiment, who had many awards and wounds. The enraged general came to the commander of the Separate Guards Corps I.V. Vasilchikov and asked him to convey to Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich his demand for a formal apology. Only the threat to bring to the attention of the sovereign about what had happened made Nikolai apologize to Bistrom, which he did in the presence of the officers of the regiment. But this lesson did not go to the future. Some time later, for minor violations in the ranks, he gave an insulting dressing to the company commander V.S. Norov, concluding it with the phrase: "I will bend you into a ram's horn!" The officers of the regiment demanded that Nikolai Pavlovich "give satisfaction to Norov." Since a duel with a member of the royal family is, by definition, impossible, the officers resigned. The conflict was difficult to resolve.

But nothing could dampen the service zeal of Nikolai Pavlovich. Following the rules of the military regulations "firmly poured" into his mind, he spent all his energy on the drill of the units under his command. “I began to exact,” he later recalled, “but I exacted alone, because what I defamed as a duty of conscience was allowed everywhere, even by my superiors. The situation was the most difficult; to act otherwise was contrary to my conscience and duty; bosses and subordinates against themselves, especially since they didn’t know me, and many either didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand.”

It must be admitted that his strictness as a brigade commander was partly justified by the fact that in the officer corps at that time "the order, already shaken by a three-year campaign, completely collapsed ... Subordination disappeared and was preserved only in the front; respect for superiors disappeared completely .. ... there were no rules, no order, and everything was done completely arbitrarily. It got to the point that many officers came to the exercises in tailcoats, throwing an overcoat over their shoulders and putting on a uniform hat. What was it like to put up with this to the marrow of the bones to the serviceman Nikolai? He did not put up, which caused not always justified condemnation of his contemporaries. The memoirist F.F. Vigel, known for his poisonous pen, wrote that Grand Duke Nikolai "was uncommunicative and cold, all devoted to his sense of duty; in his performance, he was too strict with himself and others. In the correct features of his white, pale face, there was some kind of immobility, some kind of unaccountable severity. Let's tell the truth: he was not loved at all.

The testimonies of other contemporaries relating to the same time are sustained in the same vein: “The usual expression of his face has something strict and even unfriendly in it. His smile is a smile of condescension, and not the result of a cheerful mood or passion. creature to the point that you will not notice in him any compulsion, nothing out of place, nothing memorized, and yet all his words, like all his movements, are measured, as if musical notes lie in front of him.There is something unusual in the Grand Duke: he speaks vividly, simply, by the way, everything he says is clever, not a single vulgar joke, not a single funny or obscene word, neither in the tone of his voice, nor in the composition of his speech, there is anything that would reveal pride or secrecy. you feel that his heart is closed, that the barrier is inaccessible and that it would be foolish to hope to penetrate into the depths of his thought or have complete confidence.

In the service, Nikolai Pavlovich was in constant tension, he was buttoned up with all the buttons of his uniform, and only at home, in the family, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna recalled those days, "he felt quite happy, however, like me." In the notes of V.A. Zhukovsky we read that "nothing could be more touching to see the great prince in his home life. As soon as he crossed his threshold, gloominess suddenly disappeared, giving way not to smiles, but to loud, joyful laughter, frank speeches and the most affectionate manner with those around him ... a happy young man ... with a kind, faithful and beautiful girlfriend, with whom he lived soul to soul, having occupations consistent with his inclinations, without worries, without responsibility, without ambitious thoughts, with a clear conscience, which is not did he get enough on the ground?"

THE WAY TO THE THRONE

Suddenly, overnight, everything changed. In the summer of 1819, Alexander I unexpectedly informs Nicholas and his wife of their intentions to renounce the throne in favor of their younger brother. “Nothing like this had ever occurred to me even in a dream,” emphasizes Alexandra Fedorovna. “We were struck like thunder; the future seemed gloomy and inaccessible to happiness.” Nikolai himself compares his feelings and his wife’s feelings with the feeling of a calmly walking man, when he “suddenly opens an abyss under his feet, into which an irresistible force plunges him, not allowing him to retreat or return. Here is a perfect image of our terrible situation.” And he did not dissemble, realizing how heavy the cross of fate looming on the horizon - the royal crown would be for him.

But these are just words, while Alexander I does not make any attempts to involve his brother in state affairs, although a manifesto has already been drawn up (albeit secretly even from the inner circle of the court) on the renunciation of the throne of Constantine and its transfer to Nicholas. The latter, as he himself wrote, is still busy, as he himself wrote, "with daily waiting in the anterooms or in the secretary's room, where ... gathered daily ... noble persons who had access to the sovereign. In this noisy meeting we spent an hour, sometimes more. .. This time was a waste of time, but also a precious practice for the knowledge of people and faces, and I took advantage of this."

This is the whole school of preparing Nicholas for governing the state, which, it should be noted, he did not aspire to at all and to which, as he himself admitted, “my inclination and desires led me so little; a degree for which I never prepared and, on the contrary, I always looked with fear, looking at the burden of the burden that lay on my benefactor "(Emperor Alexander I. - M. R.). In February 1825, Nikolai was appointed commander of the 1st Guards Division, but this essentially did not change anything. He could have become a member of the State Council, but did not. Why? The answer to the question is partly given by the Decembrist V.I. Shteingeil in his Notes on the Uprising. Regarding the rumors about the abdication of Konstantin and the appointment of Nikolai as heir, he quotes the words of the professor of Moscow University A.F. Merzlyakov: “When this rumor spread around Moscow, I happened to be Zhukovsky; I asked him:“ Tell me, perhaps, you are a close person should we expect from this change?" - "Judge for yourself," replied Vasily Andreevich, "I have never seen a book in [his] hands; the only occupation is the front and the soldiers."

The unexpected news that Alexander I was dying came from Taganrog to St. Petersburg on November 25. (Alexander made a trip to the south of Russia, he intended to travel the whole Crimea.) Nikolai invited the chairman of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers, Prince P.V. Lopukhin, the Prosecutor General, Prince A.B. Kurakin, the commander of the Guards Corps, A.L. Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count M. A. Miloradovich, endowed with special powers in connection with the departure of the emperor from the capital, and declared to them his rights to the throne, apparently considering this a purely formal act. But, as the former adjutant of Tsarevich Konstantin F. P. Opochinin testifies, Count Miloradovich "answered flatly that Grand Duke Nikolai could not and should not hope to succeed his brother Alexander in the event of his death; that the laws of the empire did not allow the sovereign to dispose of testament; that, moreover, Alexander's will is known only to certain persons and unknown to the people; that Constantine's abdication is also implicit and remained unpublished; that Alexander, if he wanted Nicholas to succeed him to the throne, had to make public his will during his lifetime and Constantine's consent to it ; that neither the people nor the army will understand the renunciation and will attribute everything to treason, especially since neither the sovereign himself nor the heir by birthright is in the capital, but both were absent; that, finally, the guard will resolutely refuse to take the oath to Nicholas in such circumstances , and then the inevitable consequence will be indignation ... The Grand Duke proved his rights, but Count Miloradovich did not want to recognize them and refused to help. On that they parted."

On the morning of November 27, the courier brought the news of the death of Alexander I, and Nikolai, shaken by Miloradovich's arguments and not paying attention to the absence of the Manifesto on the accession to the throne of the new monarch, which is mandatory in such cases, was the first to swear allegiance to the "legitimate Emperor Constantine". The others did the same after him. From that day on, a political crisis provoked by a narrow family clan of the reigning family begins - a 17-day interregnum. Between St. Petersburg and Warsaw, where Constantine was, couriers scurry about - the brothers persuade each other to take the remaining idle throne.

A situation unprecedented for Russia arose. If earlier in its history there was a fierce struggle for the throne, often reaching deaths, now the brothers seem to be competing in renouncing the rights to supreme power. But in the behavior of Konstantin there is a certain ambiguity, indecision. Instead of immediately arriving in the capital, as the situation required, he limited himself to letters to his mother and brother. Members of the royal house, writes the French ambassador Count Laferrone, "play with the crown of Russia, throwing it like a ball, one to another."

On December 12, a package was delivered from Taganrog addressed to "Emperor Konstantin" from the Chief of the General Staff, I. I. Dibich. After some hesitation, Grand Duke Nikolai opened it. “Let them depict for themselves what was to happen in me,” he later recalled, “when, casting their eyes on the included (in the package. - M. R.) a letter from General Dibich, I saw that it was about an existing and just discovered extensive conspiracy, whose branches spread through the entire Empire from St. Petersburg to Moscow and to the Second Army in Bessarabia. It was only then that I fully felt the full burden of my fate and remembered with horror the position in which I was. It was necessary to act without wasting a minute, with full authority, with experience, with determination.

Nikolai did not exaggerate: according to the words of the adjutant of the infantry commander of the Guards Corps K. I. Bistrom, Ya. We had to hurry to act.

On the night of December 13, Nikolai Pavlovich appeared before the State Council. The first phrase he uttered: "I am doing the will of brother Konstantin Pavlovich" - was supposed to convince the members of the Council of the compulsion of his actions. Then Nikolai in a "loud voice" read out in its final form the Manifesto polished by M. M. Speransky on his accession to the throne. “Everyone listened in deep silence,” Nikolai notes in his notes. This was a natural reaction - the tsar was by no means desired by everyone (S.P. Trubetskoy expressed the opinion of many when he wrote that "the young grand dukes are tired"). However, the roots of slavish obedience to autocratic power are so strong that the members of the Soviet accepted the unexpected change calmly. At the end of the reading of the Manifesto, they "bowed deeply" to the new emperor.

Early in the morning, Nikolai Pavlovich turned to specially assembled guards generals and colonels. He read out to them the Manifesto on his accession to the throne, the testament of Alexander I and documents on the abdication of Tsarevich Konstantin. The answer was the unanimous recognition of him as the rightful monarch. Then the commanders went to the General Headquarters to take the oath, and from there to their units to conduct the corresponding ritual.

On this critical day for him, Nikolai was outwardly calm. But his true state of mind is revealed by the words he then said to A. Kh. About the same he wrote to P. M. Volkonsky: "On the fourteenth I will be sovereign or dead."

By eight o'clock the oath ceremony in the Senate and the Synod was completed, the first news of the oath came from the guards regiments. Everything seemed to go well. However, as the Decembrist M. S. Lunin wrote, the members of secret societies who were in the capital "came to think that the decisive hour had come" and that they should "recourse to the force of arms." But this favorable situation for the performance came as a complete surprise to the conspirators. Even the sophisticated K. F. Ryleev "was struck by the inadvertence of the case" and was forced to admit: "This circumstance gives us a clear idea of ​​our impotence. I myself was deceived, we do not have an established plan, no measures have been taken ..."

In the camp of the conspirators, disputes are constantly on the verge of hysteria, and yet in the end it was decided to speak out: "It is better to be taken on the square," N. Bestuzhev argued, "than on the bed." The conspirators are unanimous in defining the basic setting of the speech - "fidelity to the oath to Konstantin and unwillingness to swear allegiance to Nicholas." The Decembrists deliberately deceived, convincing the soldiers that the rights of the legitimate heir to the throne, Tsarevich Konstantin, should be protected from the unauthorized encroachments of Nicholas.

And on a gloomy, windy day on December 14, 1825, about three thousand soldiers gathered on Senate Square, "standing for Konstantin", with three dozen officers, their commanders. For various reasons, far from all the regiments that the leaders of the conspirators counted on showed up. Those assembled had neither artillery nor cavalry. S. P. Trubetskoy, the other dictator, was scared and did not appear on the square. The languorous, almost five-hour standing in uniforms in the cold, without a definite goal, of any combat mission, had a depressing effect on the soldiers, who patiently waited, as V. I. Steingeil writes, "the denouement from fate." Fate appeared in the form of buckshot, instantly dispersing their ranks.

The command to fire live ammunition was not given immediately. Nicholas I, who, despite his general confusion, decisively took the suppression of the rebellion into his own hands, still hoped to do "without bloodshed", even after, he recalls, "they fired a volley at me, the bullets whistled through my head." All that day, Nikolai was in full view, ahead of the 1st Battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and his powerful figure on horseback was an excellent target. "The most amazing thing," he will say later, "is that I was not killed that day." And Nicholas firmly believed that God's hand was directing his fate.

The fearless behavior of Nicholas on December 14 is explained by his personal courage and bravery. He himself thought otherwise. One of the state ladies of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna later testified that when one of those close to him, out of a desire to flatter, began to tell Nicholas I about his "heroic deed" on December 14, about his extraordinary courage, the sovereign interrupted the interlocutor, saying: "You are mistaken; I was not as brave as you think. But a sense of duty forced me to overcome myself." The confession is honest. And afterwards he always said that on that day he "was only doing his duty."

December 14, 1825 determined the fate of not only Nikolai Pavlovich, but in many ways - the country. If, according to the author of the famous book "Russia in 1839" Marquis Astolphe de Custine, on that day Nikolai "from the silent, melancholic, as he was in the days of his youth, turned into a hero", then Russia for a long time lost the opportunity to hold any kind of there was a liberal reform, which she so badly needed. This was obvious even to the most insightful contemporaries. December 14 gave the further course of the historical process "a completely different direction," Count D. N. Tolstoy notes. Another contemporary clarifies it: "December 14, 1825 ... should be attributed to that dislike for any liberal movement, which was constantly noticed in the orders of Emperor Nicholas."

Meanwhile, the uprising could not have happened at all under only two conditions. The Decembrist A.E. Rosen clearly speaks of the first in his Notes. Noting that after receiving the news of the death of Alexander I, “all classes and ages were stricken with unfeigned sadness” and that it was with “such a mood of spirit” that the troops swore allegiance to Constantine, Rosen adds: “... a feeling of grief prevailed over all other feelings - and commanders and troops would have sworn allegiance to Nicholas just as sadly and calmly if the will of Alexander I had been communicated to them by law. Many people spoke about the second condition, but Nicholas I himself stated it most clearly on December 20, 1825 in a conversation with the French ambassador: terrifying scene... and the danger it plunged us into for several hours." As you can see, a coincidence of circumstances largely determined the further course of events.

Arrests began, interrogations of persons involved in the indignation and members of secret societies. And here the 29-year-old emperor behaved to such an extent cunningly, prudently and artistically that those under investigation, believing in his sincerity, made confessions that were unthinkable in frankness even by the most condescending standards. “Without rest, without sleep, he interrogated ... those arrested,” writes the famous historian P.E. Shchegolev, “forced confessions ... picking up masks, each time new for a new face. loyal subject, for others - the same citizen of the fatherland as the arrested person who stood before him; for still others - an old soldier suffering for the honor of his uniform; for the fourth - a monarch ready to pronounce constitutional covenants; for the fifth - a Russian, weeping over the disasters of the fatherland and passionately thirsting for the correction of all evils." Pretending to be almost like-minded, he "managed to inspire them with confidence that he is the ruler who will realize their dreams and benefit Russia." It is precisely the subtle hypocrisy of the tsar-investigator that explains the continuous series of confessions, repentance, and mutual slander of those under investigation.

The explanations of P. E. Shchegolev are supplemented by the Decembrist A. S. Gangeblov: “One cannot help but be amazed at the tirelessness and patience of Nikolai Pavlovich. the very appearance of the sovereign, his majestic posture, antique features, especially his look: when Nikolai Pavlovich was in a calm, gracious frame of mind, his eyes expressed charming kindness and tenderness ; but when he was angry, those same eyes flashed lightning."

Nicholas I, notes de Custine, "apparently knows how to subjugate the souls of people ... some kind of mysterious influence comes from him." As many other facts show, Nicholas I "always knew how to deceive observers who innocently believed in his sincerity, nobility, courage, but he was only playing. And Pushkin, the great Pushkin, was defeated by his game. He thought in the simplicity of his soul that the tsar honored inspiration in him, that the sovereign spirit is not cruel ... But for Nikolai Pavlovich Pushkin was just a varmint, requiring supervision. The manifestation of the mercy of the monarch to the poet was dictated solely by the desire to derive the greatest possible benefit from this.

(To be continued.)

The poet V. A. Zhukovsky since 1814 was brought closer to the court by the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna.