(violet) and other European empires in 1800
Ascension Alexander became Emperor of Russia when
his father was assassinated on 23 March 1801. Alexander, then 23 years old, was in the
Saint Michael's Castle at the moment of the assassination and his accession to the throne was announced by General
Nicholas Zubov, one of the assassins. Historians still debate Alexander's role in his father's murder. The most common theory is that he was let into the conspirators' secret and was willing to take the throne, but insisted that his father should not be killed. Becoming emperor through a crime that cost his father's life would give Alexander a strong sense of remorse and shame. Alexander I succeeded to the throne that day and was crowned in the
Kremlin on 15 September of that year.
Domestic policy (1837, posthumous) The
Orthodox Church initially exercised little influence on Alexander's life. The young emperor was determined to reform the inefficient, highly centralised systems of government that Russia relied upon. While retaining for a time the old ministers, one of the first acts of his reign was to appoint the
Private Committee, comprising young and enthusiastic friends of his own —
Viktor Kochubey,
Nikolay Novosiltsev,
Pavel Stroganov and
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — to draw up a plan of domestic reform, which was supposed to result in the establishment of a
constitutional monarchy in accordance with the teachings of the
Age of Enlightenment. A few years into his reign, the liberal
Mikhail Speransky became one of the Emperor's closest advisors, and he drew up elaborate plans for reforms. In the
Government reform, the old
Collegia were abolished and new Ministries were created in their place, led by ministers responsible to the Crown. A
Committee of Ministers under the chairmanship of the Sovereign dealt with all interdepartmental matters. The
State Council was created to improve the technique of legislation. It was intended to become the Second Chamber of a representative legislature. The
Governing Senate was reorganised as the Supreme Court of the Empire. The codification of the laws initiated in 1801 was never carried out during his reign. Alexander wanted to resolve another crucial issue in Russia, the
status of the serfs, although this was not achieved until 1861 (during the reign of his nephew
Alexander II). His advisors quietly discussed the options at length. Cautiously, he extended the right to own land to most classes of subjects, including
state-owned peasants, in 1801 and created a new social category of "
free agriculturalist", for peasants voluntarily emancipated by their masters, in 1803. The great majority of serfs were not affected. When Alexander's reign began, there were three universities in Russia, at
Moscow,
Vilna (Vilnius), and
Dorpat (Tartu). These were strengthened, and three others were founded at
Saint Petersburg,
Kharkiv, and
Kazan. Literary and scientific bodies were established or encouraged, and his reign became noted for the aid lent to the sciences and arts by the Emperor and the wealthy nobility. Alexander later expelled foreign scholars. After 1815, the
military settlements (farms worked by soldiers and their families under military control) were introduced, with the idea of making the army, or part of it, self-supporting economically and for providing it with recruits.
Views held by his contemporaries Called both an autocrat and
Jacobin, a man of the world and a mystic, Alexander appeared to his contemporaries as a riddle which each read according to his own temperament.
Napoleon Bonaparte thought him a "shifty
Byzantine", and called him the
Talma of the North, as ready to play any conspicuous part. To
Klemens von Metternich, he was a madman to be humoured.
Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, writing of him to
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, gave him credit for "grand qualities", but added that he is "suspicious and undecided"; and to
Thomas Jefferson he was a man of estimable character, disposed to do good, and expected to diffuse through the mass of the Russian people "a sense of their natural rights". In 1803,
Beethoven dedicated his
Opus 30 Violin Sonata to Alexander who in response gave the famous composer a diamond at the
Congress of Vienna where they met in 1814.
Napoleonic Wars Alliances with other powers Upon his accession, Alexander reversed many of the unpopular policies of his father, Paul, denounced the
League of Armed Neutrality, and made peace with
Britain (April 1801). At the same time, he opened negotiations with
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Soon afterwards, at
Memel, he entered into a close alliance with
Prussia, not as he boasted from motives of policy, but in the spirit of true
chivalry, out of
friendship for the young King
Frederick William III of Prussia and his beautiful wife
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The development of this alliance was interrupted by the short-lived peace of October 1801, and for a while it seemed as though
France and Russia might come to an understanding. Carried away by the enthusiasm of
Frédéric-César de La Harpe, who had returned to Russia from Paris, Alexander began openly to proclaim his admiration for French institutions and for the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. Soon, however, came a change. La Harpe, after a new visit to Paris, presented to Alexander his
Reflections on the True Nature of the Consul for Life, which, as Alexander said, tore the veil from his eyes and revealed Bonaparte "as not a true
patriot", but only as "the most famous tyrant the world has produced". Later on, La Harpe and his friend Henri Monod lobbied Alexander, who persuaded the other Allied powers opposing Napoleon to recognise
Vaudois and
Argovian independence, in spite of
Bern's attempts to reclaim them as
subject lands. Alexander's disillusionment was completed by the execution of the
Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien on trumped up charges. The Russian court went into mourning for the last member of the
Princes of Condé, and diplomatic relations with France were broken off. Alexander was especially alarmed and decided he had to somehow curb Napoleon's power.
Opposition to Napoleon In opposing Napoleon I, "the oppressor of Europe and the disturber of the world's peace," Alexander in fact already believed himself to be fulfilling a divine mission. In his instructions to
Niklolay Novosiltsev, his special envoy in London, the emperor elaborated the motives of his policy in language that appealed little to the prime minister,
William Pitt the Younger. Yet the document is of great interest, as it formulates for the first time in an official dispatch the ideals of international policy that were to play a conspicuous part in world affairs at the close of the revolutionary
epoch. Alexander argued that the outcome of the war was not only to be the liberation of France, but the universal triumph of "the sacred
rights of humanity". To attain this it would be necessary "after having attached the
nations to their
government by making these incapable of acting save in the greatest interests of their subjects, to fix the relations of the states amongst each other on more precise rules, and such as it is to their interest to respect". A general treaty was to become the main basis of the relations of the states forming "the European Confederation". While he believed the effort would not attain universal peace, it would be worthwhile if it established clear principles for the prescriptions of the rights of nations. The body would assure "the positive rights of nations" and "the privilege of neutrality", while asserting the obligation to exhaust all resources of mediation to retain peace, and would form "a new code of the law of nations".
1807 loss to French forces , Alexander, Queen
Louise, and
Frederick William III of Prussia in
Tilsit, 1807 Meanwhile, Napoleon never gave up hope of detaching him from the coalition. He had no sooner entered
Vienna in triumph than he opened negotiations with Alexander; he resumed them after the
Battle of Austerlitz (2 December). Russia and France, he urged, were "geographical allies"; there was, and could be, between them no true conflict of interests; together they might rule the world. But Alexander was still determined "to persist in the system of disinterestedness in respect of all the states of Europe which he had thus far followed", and he again allied himself with the Kingdom of Prussia. The
campaign of Jena and the
Battle of Eylau followed; and Napoleon, though still intent on the Russian alliance, stirred up Poles, Turks and Persians to break the obstinacy of the Tsar. A party too in Russia itself, headed by the Tsar's brother
Constantine Pavlovich, was clamorous for peace; but Alexander, after a vain attempt to form a new coalition, summoned the Russian nation to a holy war against Napoleon as the enemy of the Orthodox faith. The outcome was the
rout of Friedland (13/14 June 1807). Napoleon saw his chance and seized it. Instead of demanding harsh peace terms, he offered to the chastened autocrat his alliance, and a partnership in his glory. The two Emperors met at
Tilsit on 25 June 1807. Napoleon knew well how to appeal to the exuberant imagination of his new-found friend. He would divide with Alexander the Empire of the world; as a first step he would leave him in possession of the
Danubian Principalities and give him a free hand to deal with Finland; and, afterwards, the Emperors of the
East and
West, when the time should be ripe, would drive the
Turks from Europe and march across Asia to the conquest of
India. Nevertheless, a thought awoke in Alexander's impressionable mind an ambition to which he had hitherto been a stranger. The interests of Europe as a whole were utterly forgotten.
Prussia The brilliance of these new visions did not, however, blind Alexander to the obligations of friendship, and he refused to retain the Danubian principalities as the price for suffering a further dismemberment of Prussia. "We have made loyal war", he said, "we must make a loyal peace". It was not long before the first enthusiasm of Tilsit began to wane. The French remained in Prussia, the Russians on the Danube, and each accused the other of breach of faith. Meanwhile, however, the personal relations of Alexander and Napoleon were of the most cordial character, and it was hoped that a fresh meeting might adjust all differences between them. The
meeting took place at Erfurt in October 1808 and resulted in a treaty that defined the common policy of the two Emperors. But Alexander's relations with Napoleon nonetheless suffered a change. He realised that in Napoleon sentiment never got the better of reason, that as a matter of fact he had never intended his proposed "grand enterprise" seriously, and had only used it to preoccupy the mind of the Tsar while he consolidated his own power in
Central Europe. From this moment the French alliance was for Alexander also not a fraternal agreement to rule the world, but an affair of pure policy. He used it initially to remove "the geographical enemy" from the gates of Saint Petersburg by
wresting Finland from Sweden (1809), and he hoped further to make the Danube the southern frontier of Russia.
Franco-Russian alliance '' by
Adolphe Roehn, 1808 Events were rapidly heading towards the rupture of the Franco-Russian alliance. While Alexander assisted Napoleon in the
War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, he declared plainly that he would not allow the
Austrian Empire to be crushed out of existence. Napoleon subsequently complained bitterly of the inactivity of the Russian troops during the campaign. The tsar in turn protested against Napoleon's encouragement of the Poles. In the matter of the French alliance he knew himself to be practically isolated in Russia, and he declared that he could not sacrifice the interest of his people and empire to his affection for Napoleon. "I don't want anything for myself", he said to the French ambassador, "therefore the world is not large enough to come to an understanding on the affairs of Poland, if it is a question of its restoration". Alexander complained that the
Treaty of Schönbrunn, which added largely to the
Duchy of Warsaw, had "ill requited him for his loyalty", and he was only mollified for the time being by Napoleon's public declaration that he had no intention of restoring Poland, and by a convention, signed on 4 January 1810, but not ratified, abolishing the Polish name and orders of chivalry. But if Alexander suspected Napoleon's intentions, Napoleon was no less suspicious of Alexander. Partly to test his sincerity, Napoleon sent an almost peremptory request for the hand of the grand-duchess
Anna Pavlovna, the tsar's youngest sister. After some little delay Alexander returned a polite refusal, pleading the princess's youth and the objection of the dowager empress to the marriage. Napoleon's answer was to refuse to ratify the 4 January convention, and to announce his engagement to the Archduchess
Marie Louise in such a way as to lead Alexander to suppose that the two marriage treaties had been negotiated simultaneously. From this time on, the relationship between the two emperors gradually became more and more strained. Another personal grievance for Alexander towards Napoleon was the annexation of
Oldenburg by France in December 1810, as
Wilhelm, Duke of Oldenburg (3 January 17542 July 1823) was the uncle of the tsar. Furthermore, the disastrous impact of the Continental System on Russian trade made it impossible for the emperor to maintain a policy that was Napoleon's chief motive for the alliance. Alexander kept Russia as neutral as possible in the ongoing French war with Britain, Russia's
own war with Britain barely any more than nominal. He allowed trade to continue secretly with Britain and did not enforce the blockade required by the
Continental System. In 1810, he withdrew Russia from the Continental System and trade between Britain and Russia grew. in 1812 at its greatest extent Relations between France and Russia worsened progressively after 1810. By 1811, it became clear that Napoleon was not adhering to his side of the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit. He had promised assistance to Russia in its
war against the Ottoman Empire, but as the campaign went on, France offered no support at all. With war imminent between France and Russia, Alexander started to prepare the ground diplomatically. In April 1812, Russia and Sweden signed a
treaty for mutual defence. A month later, Alexander secured his southern flank through the
Treaty of Bucharest (1812), which ended the war against the Ottomans formally. His diplomats managed to extract promises from Prussia and Austria that should Napoleon invade Russia, the former would help Napoleon as little as possible and that the latter would give no aid at all. The
minister of war,
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, had managed the reform and improvement of the
Imperial Russian Army before the start of the 1812 campaign. Primarily on the advice of his sister and Count
Aleksey Arakcheyev, Alexander did not take operational control as he had done during the 1805 campaign, instead delegating control to his generals, Barclay de Tolly, Prince
Pyotr Bagration and
Mikhail Kutuzov.
War against Persia during the
Russo-Persian War Despite brief hostilities in the
Persian Expedition of 1796, eight years of peace passed before a new conflict erupted between the two empires. After the Russian annexation of the Georgian
Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1801, a subject of
Persia for centuries, and the incorporation of the
Derbent Khanate as well quickly thereafter, Alexander was determined to increase and maintain Russian influence in the strategically valuable
Caucasus region. In 1801, Alexander appointed
Pavel Tsitsianov, a die-hard Russian imperialist of
Georgian origin, as Russian commander in chief of the Caucasus. Between 1802 and 1804 he proceeded to impose Russian rule on Western Georgia and some of the
Persian controlled khanates around Georgia. Some of these khanates submitted without a fight, but the
Ganja Khanate resisted, prompting an attack. Ganja was ruthlessly sacked during the
Siege of Ganja, with some 3,0007,000 inhabitants of Ganja executed, and thousands more expelled to Persia. These attacks by Tsitsianov formed another casus belli. On 23 May 1804, Persia demanded withdrawal from the regions Russia had occupied, comprising what is now
Georgia,
Dagestan, and parts of
Azerbaijan. Russia refused, stormed Ganja, and declared war. Following an almost ten-year stalemate centred around what is now Dagestan, east Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern
Armenia, with neither party being able to gain the clear upper hand, Russia eventually managed to turn the tide. After a series of successful offensives led by General
Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, including a decisive victory in the
Siege of Lankaran, Persia was forced to sue for peace. In October 1813, the
Treaty of Gulistan, negotiated with British mediation and signed at
Gulistan, made the Persian Shah
Fath Ali Shah cede all Persian territories in the
North Caucasus and most of its territories in the
South Caucasus to Russia. This included what is now Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan. It also began a large demographic shift in the Caucasus, as many Muslim families emigrated to Persia
French invasion In the summer of 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia. It was the occupation of
Moscow and the desecration of the
Kremlin, considered to be the sacred centre of Holy Russia, that changed Alexander's sentiment for Napoleon into passionate hatred. The campaign of 1812 was the turning point for Alexander's life; after the
burning of Moscow, he declared that his own soul had found illumination, and that he had realized once and for all the divine revelation to him of his mission as the peacemaker of Europe. While the Russian army retreated deep into Russia for almost three months, the nobility pressured Alexander to relieve the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly. Alexander complied and appointed Prince Mikhail Kutuzov to take over command of the army. On 7 September, the
Grande Armée faced the Russian army at a small village called
Borodino, west of Moscow. The
battle that followed was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 soldiers and resulting in 70,000 casualties. The outcome of the battle was inconclusive. The Russian army, undefeated in spite of heavy losses, was able to withdraw the following day, leaving the French without the decisive victory Napoleon sought. '' by
Peter von Hess, 1844. The retreat across the
Berezina of the remnants of Napoleon's
Grande Armée in November 1812 A week later,
Napoleon entered Moscow, but there was no delegation to meet the Emperor. The Russians had evacuated the city, and the city's governor, Count
Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered several strategic points in Moscow to be set ablaze. The loss of Moscow did not compel Alexander to sue for peace. After staying in the city for a month, Napoleon moved his army out southwest toward
Kaluga, where Kutuzov was encamped with the Russian army. The French advance toward Kaluga was checked by the Russian army, and Napoleon was forced to retreat to the areas already devastated by the invasion. In the weeks that followed the starved and suffered from the onset of the
Russian Winter. Lack of food and fodder for the horses and persistent
attacks upon isolated troops from Russian peasants and
Cossacks led to great losses. When the remnants of the French army eventually
crossed the
Berezina river in November, only 27,000 soldiers remained; the had lost some 380,000 men dead and 100,000 captured. Following the crossing of the Berezina, Napoleon left the army and returned to
Paris to protect his position as Emperor and to raise more forces to resist the advancing Russians. The campaign ended on 14 December 1812, with the last French troops finally leaving Russian soil. The campaign was a turning point in the
Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon's reputation was severely shaken, and French hegemony in Europe was weakened. The , made up of French and allied forces, was reduced to a fraction of its initial strength. These events triggered a major shift in European politics. France's ally Prussia, soon followed by Austria, broke their imposed alliance with Napoleon and switched sides, triggering the
War of the Sixth Coalition.
War of the Sixth Coalition '' by
Johann Peter Krafft. Alexander,
Francis I of Austria and
Frederick William III of Prussia meeting after the
Battle of Leipzig, 1813 With the Russian army following up victory over Napoleon in 1812, the Sixth Coalition was formed with Russia, Prussia, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, and other nations. Although the French were victorious in the initial battles during the
campaign in Germany, the entry of Austria into the war led to France's decisive defeat at the
Battle of Leipzig in the autumn of 1813, which proved to be a massive victory for the Coalition. Following the battle, the Pro-French
Confederation of the Rhine collapsed, thereby ending Napoleon's hold on territory east of the
Rhine forever. Alexander, being the supreme commander of the Coalition forces in the theatre and the paramount monarch among the three main Coalition monarchs, ordered all Coalition forces in Germany to cross the Rhine and invade France. The Coalition forces, divided into three groups,
entered northeastern France in January 1814. Facing them in the theatre were the French forces numbering only about 70,000 men. In spite of being heavily outnumbered, Napoleon defeated the divided Coalition forces in the battles at
Brienne and
La Rothière, but could not stop the Coalition's advance and triumphant victory over Napoleon. Austrian Emperor Francis I and
King Frederick William III of Prussia felt demoralized upon hearing about Napoleon's victories since the start of the campaign. They even considered ordering a general retreat. But Alexander was far more determined than ever to victoriously enter Paris whatever the cost, imposing his will upon
Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, and the wavering monarchs. On 28 March, Coalition forces advanced towards Paris and prepared to launch an assault. Camping outside the city on 29 March, the Coalition armies were to assault the city from its northern and eastern sides the next morning on 30 March. The
battle started that same morning with intense artillery bombardment from the Coalition positions. Early in the morning the Coalition attack began when the Russians attacked and drove back the French
skirmishers near
Belleville before being driven back themselves by French cavalry from the city's eastern suburbs. By 7:00 a.m. the Russians attacked the
Young Guard near
Romainville in the centre of the French lines and after some time and hard fighting, pushed them back. A few hours later the Prussians, under
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, attacked north of the city and carried the French position around
Aubervilliers, but did not press their attack. The
Württemberg troops seized the positions at
Saint-Maur to the southeast, with Austrian troops in support. The Russian forces then assailed the heights of
Montmartre in the city's northeast. Control of the heights was severely contested, until the French forces surrendered. Alexander sent an envoy to meet with the French to hasten the surrender. He offered generous terms to the French and although having intended to avenge Moscow, he declared himself to be bringing peace to France rather than its destruction. On 31 March
Talleyrand gave the key of the city to the tsar. Later that day the Coalition armies triumphantly entered the city with Alexander at the head of the army followed by the King of Prussia and Prince Schwarzenberg. Until this battle it had been nearly 400 years since
a foreign army had entered Paris, during the
Hundred Years' War. On 2 April, the
Sénat conservateur passed the ''
Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur'', which declared Napoleon deposed. Napoleon was in
Fontainebleau when he heard that Paris had surrendered. Outraged, he wanted to march on the capital, but his
marshals refused to fight for him and repeatedly urged him to surrender. He abdicated in favour of his son on 4 April, but the Allies rejected this out of hand, forcing Napoleon to abdicate unconditionally on 6 April. The terms of his abdication, which included his exile to the Isle of
Elba, were settled in the
Treaty of Fontainebleau on 11 April. A reluctant Napoleon ratified it two days later, marking the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition. ==Postbellum==