Emperor Pavel Petrovich. Biography of Emperor Paul I Petrovich Military ranks and titles

He could not have children due to chronic alcoholism and, interested in the birth of an heir, turned a blind eye to the closeness of her daughter-in-law, first with Choglokov, and then with the chamberlain of the Grand Duke’s court, Saltykov. A number of historians consider Saltykov’s paternity to be an undoubted fact. Later they even claimed that Paul was not Catherine’s son. In "Materials for the biography of Emperor Paul I" (Leipzig, 1874) it is reported that Saltykov allegedly gave birth to a dead child, who was replaced by a Chukhon boy, that is, Paul I is not only not the son of his parents, but not even Russian.

In 1773, not even 20 years old, he married Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy - Natalya Alekseevna), but three years later she died in childbirth, and in the same 1776 Pavel married a second time, to Princess Sophia of Württemberg. Dorothea (in Orthodoxy - Maria Feodorovna). Catherine II tried to prevent the Grand Duke from participating in discussions of state affairs, and he, in turn, began to evaluate his mother’s policies more and more critically. Pavel believed that this policy was based on love of fame and pretense; he dreamed of introducing strictly legal governance in Russia under the auspices of the autocracy, limiting the rights of the nobility, and introducing the strictest, Prussian-style, discipline in the army.

Biography of Empress Catherine II the GreatThe reign of Catherine II lasted more than three and a half decades, from 1762 to 1796. It was filled with many events in internal and external affairs, the implementation of plans that continued what was done under Peter the Great.

In 1794, the Empress decided to remove her son from the throne and hand him over to her eldest grandson Alexander Pavlovich, but did not meet with sympathy from the highest state dignitaries. The death of Catherine II on November 6, 1796 opened the way for Paul to the throne.

The new emperor immediately tried to undo what had been done during the thirty-four years of Catherine II’s reign, and this became one of the most important motives of his policy.

The emperor sought to replace the collegial principle of organizing management with an individual one. An important legislative act of Paul was the law on the order of succession to the throne, published in 1797, which was in force in Russia until 1917.

In the army, Paul sought to introduce Prussian military order. He believed that the army is a machine and the main thing in it is the mechanical coherence of the troops and efficiency. In the field of class politics, the main goal was to transform the Russian nobility into a disciplined, fully serving class. Paul's policy towards the peasantry was contradictory. During the four years of his reign, he gave away gifts to about 600 thousand serfs, sincerely believing that they would live better under the landowner.

In everyday life, certain styles of clothing, hairstyles, and dances, in which the emperor saw manifestations of freethinking, were banned. Strict censorship was introduced and the import of books from abroad was prohibited.

The foreign policy of Paul I was unsystematic. Russia constantly changed allies in Europe. In 1798, Paul joined the second coalition against France; At the insistence of the allies, he placed Alexander Suvorov at the head of the Russian army, under whose command the heroic Italian and Swiss campaigns were carried out.

The capture by the British of Malta, which Paul took under his protection, accepting the title of Grand Master of the Order of St. in 1798. John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta), quarreled him with England. Russian troops were withdrawn, and in 1800 the coalition finally collapsed. Not content with this, Paul began to draw closer to France and conceived a joint struggle against England.

On January 12, 1801, Pavel sent the ataman of the Don Army, General Orlov, an order to march with his entire army on a campaign against India. A little over a month later, the Cossacks began their campaign, numbering 22,507 people. This event, accompanied by terrible hardships, was, however, not completed.

Paul's policies, combined with his despotic character, unpredictability and eccentricity, caused discontent in various social strata. Soon after his accession, a conspiracy began to mature against him. On the night of March 11 (23), 1801, Paul I was strangled in his own bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspirators burst into the emperor's chambers demanding that he abdicate the throne. As a result of the skirmish, Paul I was killed. It was announced to the people that the emperor had died of apoplexy.

The body of Paul I was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Even on a short winter day, a rare ray of sunlight will suddenly sparkle on the gilded ball of the tip of the obelisk on the Square of the Constable, reminding the Gatchina residents of the ancient Egyptian temples dedicated to the sun and of the closer France of the 18th century. Many corners of old Gatchina are connected by invisible threads with the history and culture of different countries and times. By unraveling this amazing tangle, you can take a fascinating journey into the past not only of our city.

The ensemble of Constable Square appeared in Gatchina in the 90s of the 18th century on the Great Road, as Paul I Avenue was then called, which today is the main thoroughfare of our city. The ensemble included not only the territory of the square, separated by a dry moat with an embankment, a stone parapet and a slender obelisk in the center, but also bridges across the moat to the palace and on the road to the Round Riga, as well as a stone balcony on the Long Island and two bridges over the channels between White and Black lakes. Dams with cascades were built under the bridges, and closer to the Admiralty Gate - with guardhouses, i.e. guard booths.

If you mentally remove the later buildings around the square, it is not difficult to imagine how the road rose up in a picturesque place between the lakes. To the left, on the opposite shore of the Black Lake, among the green hills, a miniature Priory castle with a turret and spire could be seen. To the right, on the high shore of Silver Lake, towered the bulk of the Gatchina Palace with towers in the corners. And ahead, the arrow of the obelisk rushed into the sky. Behind the square, the road seemed to be guarded by a round tower with carved battlements, made of “wild” stone. All this can be seen today in the paintings of Semyon Shchedrin and the watercolors of Grigory Sergeev.

The ensemble of the Place de la Constable, like in a medieval city, protected the approach to the palace. It is no coincidence that artillery pieces were installed in the embrasures of the parapet in the square and near the palace by order of Paul. The very name of the Place de la Constable also sounds like the beating of a military drum. The owner of Gatchina brought the name and idea of ​​creating such a square near the palace from France, from a trip to Europe in 1782-83. Despite the fact that the Counts of the North (under this name the grand ducal couple toured) were solemnly received in all royal courts, the most unforgettable for them were the three days spent visiting the Prince of Condé in Chantilly, a residence near Paris. In addition to the warm welcome, Pavel Petrovich was delighted at that time by the palace and park ensemble of Chantilly, no less famous than Versailles. The parks of Chantilly were also created by the famous Le Nôtre.

Under Louis XIV, during the heyday of French absolutism, the ideas of unlimited royal power were taken beyond the palaces and embodied in the principles and rules for constructing “French” gardens. As is known, Paul I recognized only absolutism as legal and he was impressed by the principles of “regularity” of French gardens with their geometrically correct layout, organization of space and the literal subordination of nature to the will of the owner.

Previously, Chantilly belonged to the family of famous French military leaders - the constables of Montmorency. One of them rebuilt an old feudal castle, laid out parks around it, and erected an equestrian statue of himself in the square in front of the castle. This is where the name of the square "Conntable" came from. According to Le Nôtre's plan, this avant-court square was turned into a grandiose ensemble, which included a variety of architectural and sculptural elements. The main thing is that the main axis of the parks was drawn through the square and the monument to the Constable. It offered majestic views of the parterres, ponds with fountains and cascades, as well as the wide expanse of the Grand Canal, from which the shape of our Karpin Pond was taken. For many years, living as a recluse, Pavel dreamed of creating a similar residence in his beloved Gatchina, “worthy of his greatness.”

Only 10 years after the trip, Pavel Petrovich was able to begin rebuilding the Gatchina palace, parks and city. Some of the ideas for the reconstruction were taken from the so-called album of the “Northern Counts”. Paul ordered this album with plans and projects for parks and structures in Chantilly from the Prince of Condé and later received it as a gift. The owner of Gatchina, limited in funds by Mother Catherine, could only gradually realize his plans. Gatchina Square with a French name turned out to be a small architectural replica of its prototype, but that didn’t make it any worse. It fits perfectly into the surrounding nature and landscape of Gatchina.

In 1793, a 32-meter obelisk or “pyramid”, as it was called in documents, was built. The work was supervised by a talented craftsman, contractor Kiryan Plastinin, known for many buildings in Gatchina. The author of the obelisk project has not yet been identified. Perhaps it was the same omnipresent V. Brenna, the favorite architect of Paul I, who, having knowledge of ancient architecture, easily coped with any task. During these same years, stone bridges, balconies, and guardhouses were built. In 1796, it was decided to enlarge the area of ​​the Constable and rebuild the bridges. The construction of the three-arched Lion Bridge according to the design of Andriyan Zakharov continued until 1801 and was not completed in the full version as designed by the architect.

However, for Pavel all this was not on the scale that he dreamed of! It is known that there was a grandiose project for the reconstruction of the Gatchina Palace - through the construction of a new building on the territory of the Dutch Gardens and even in the Priory Park, where the Place de la Constable would become an avant-garde in front of the palace, as in Chantilly. One of these projects is in the Kushelev albums, named after their editor, Admiral G. Kushelev. Today, images of Pavlovsk Gatchina from Kushelev’s albums are often published in various guidebooks.

However, plans for such a significant reconstruction were curtailed due to the death of Catherine II. Now Emperor Paul I began construction of his “ideal palace”, which he had dreamed of all his life in St. Petersburg. Mikhailovsky Castle is the embodiment of the dream of the Tsar Knight, the most romantic emperor of Russia.

Finally, in front of the Palace of St. Michael, a new version of the Place de la Constable was implemented. The entrance to the palace and the square began at a considerable distance - from the monumental gates, the path continued along a triple linden alley, on both sides of which there were buildings of the arena, stables, guardhouse, again bastions, bridges, cannons. In the center of the square stood the majestic equestrian statue of Peter I by B.K. Rastrelli with a meaningful inscription: “To great-grandfather - great-grandson.”

Meanwhile, Gatchina's Constable Square continued to live its destiny. So, in 1881, during a May thunderstorm, the obelisk was destroyed by a lightning strike, then restored again. During the fascist occupation of the city, a swastika was erected on its top, and during the retreat of the Germans, the obelisk and parapet were damaged, and bridges were destroyed. In recent years, the ensemble of the square has been transformed again: the obelisk, parapets, balcony, road have been restored, bridges have been restored according to historical drawings, and gilded balls have once again shone over the obelisk and guardhouses.

In Soviet times, when the coat of arms of Gatchina, approved by Paul I, was forgotten, the image of an obelisk with atoms rotating in orbits on its top even replaced the coat of arms and was a symbol of the connection between the past and present of Gatchina.

Researcher at the State Historical Museum "Gatchina"
V.V. Fedorov

During the stay of the heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, in Vienna in 1781, it was decided to organize a ceremonial performance in honor of the Russian prince. Shakespeare's Hamlet was chosen, but the actor refused to play the main role: “You're crazy! There will be two Hamlets in the theater: one on stage, the other in the imperial box!

Indeed, the plot of Shakespeare's play was very reminiscent of the story of Paul: the father, Peter III, was killed by his mother, Catherine II, and next to her was the all-powerful temporary worker, Potemkin. And the prince, removed from power, was exiled, like Hamlet, to travel abroad...

Indeed, the play of Paul's life unfolded like a drama. He was born in 1754 and was immediately taken from his parents by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who decided to raise the boy herself. The mother was allowed to see her son only once a week. At first she was sad, then she got used to it and calmed down, especially since she was pregnant again.

Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich as a child.

Here we can see that first, imperceptible crack, which later turned into a gaping abyss that forever separated Catherine and the adult Paul. The separation of a mother from her newborn child is a terrible trauma for both.

Over the years, his mother developed an alienation, and Pavel never had the first sensations of the warm, tender, perhaps unclear, but unique image of his mother, with which almost every person lives...

Panin's lessons

Of course, the child was not abandoned to the mercy of fate, he was surrounded by care and affection; in 1760, teacher N.I. Panin, an intelligent, educated man, appeared next to Pavel, who greatly influenced the formation of his personality.

It was then that the first rumors spread that Elizabeth wanted to raise Paul as her heir, and would send the boy’s hated parents to Germany.

Antoine Peng. Portrait of Catherine II in her youth.

Such a turn of events was impossible for the ambitious Catherine, dreaming of the Russian throne. An imperceptible crack between mother and son, again against their will, widened: Catherine and Paul, albeit hypothetically, on paper, as well as in gossip, became rivals, competitors in the fight for the throne. This affected their relationship.

When Catherine came to power in 1762, she could not, looking at her son, help but feel anxiety and jealousy: her own position was precarious - a foreigner, a usurper, a husband-killer, the mistress of her subject.

In 1763, a foreign observer noted that when Catherine appeared, everyone fell silent, “ and a crowd always runs after the Grand Duke, expressing their pleasure with loud cries" On top of that, there were people who were happy to drive new wedges into the crack.

Panin, as a representative of the aristocracy, dreamed of limiting the power of the empress and wanted to use Paul for this, putting constitutional ideas into his head. At the same time, he quietly but consistently turned his son against his mother.

Nikita Ivanovich Panin is the mentor of Paul I, who interfered with the marriage of Catherine II and the father of her three children, Grigory Orlov.

As a result, having firmly failed to assimilate Panin’s constitutional ideas, Pavel got used to rejecting the principles of his mother’s rule, and therefore, having become king, he so easily went to overthrow the fundamental foundations of her policy.

In addition, the young man adopted the romantic idea of ​​chivalry, and with it a love for the external side of things, decorativeness, and lived in a world of dreams far from life.

Marriages on earth and in heaven

1772 is the time of Paul’s coming of age. The hopes of Panin and others that Pavel would be allowed to govern did not materialize. Catherine did not intend to transfer power to the legal heir of Peter III. She took advantage of her son's coming of age to remove Panin from the palace.

Soon the empress found a bride for her son. In 1773, at the behest of his mother, he married Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy - Natalya Alekseevna) and was quite happy. But in the spring of 1776, Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna died in severe labor pains.

Natalya Alekseevna, née Princess Augusta-Wilhelmina-Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, is a Grand Duchess, the first wife of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (later Emperor Paul I).

Pavel was inconsolable: his Ophelia was no longer in the world... But the mother cured her son of grief in the most cruel way, similar to amputation.

Having found the love correspondence between Natalya Alekseevna and Andrei Razumovsky, a courtier and close friend of Paul, the Empress gave these letters to Paul. He was immediately cured of grief, although one can imagine what a cruel wound was then inflicted on Paul’s thin, fragile soul...

Almost immediately after Natalya's death, they found him a new bride - Dorothea Sophia Augusta Louise, Princess of Wirtemberg (in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna). Pavel, unexpectedly for himself, immediately fell in love with his new wife, and the young people lived in happiness and peace.

Maria Feodorovna; before converting to Orthodoxy - Sophia Maria Dorothea Augusta Louise of Württemberg - princess of the House of Württemberg, second wife of the Russian Emperor Paul I. Mother of Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I.

In the fall of 1783, Pavel and Maria moved to the former estate of Grigory Orlov, Gatchina (or, as they wrote then, Gatchino), given to them by the empress. Thus began Paul’s long Gatchina epic...

Gatchina model

In Gatchina, Paul created not just a nest, a cozy home, but built a fortress for himself, contrasting it throughout St. Petersburg, Tsarskoe Selo, and the “depraved” court of Empress Catherine.

Paul chose Prussia with its cult of order, discipline, strength, and drill as a role model for Paul. In general, the Gatchina phenomenon did not appear immediately. Let's not forget that Pavel, having become an adult, did not receive any power and his mother deliberately kept him away from government affairs.

Changing the guard in the halls of the Gatchina Palace.

The wait for Paul’s “turn” for the throne lasted over twenty years, and the feeling of his worthlessness did not leave him. Gradually he found himself in military affairs. A thorough knowledge of all the intricacies of the regulations led to strict adherence to them.

Linear tactics, built on regular, strict training in coordinated movement techniques, required complete automaticity. And this was achieved through continuous exercises, parades, and parades. As a result, the elements of the parade ground completely captured Pavel. This specific form of life for the then military man became the main one for him and turned Gatchina into little Berlin.

Paul's small army was dressed and trained according to the regulations of Frederick II, the heir himself lived the harsh life of a warrior and ascetic, not like these libertines from the eternally celebrating something nest of vice - Tsarskoye Selo!

But here, in Gatchina, there is order, work, business! The Gatchina model of life, built on strict police supervision, seemed to Pavel the only worthy and acceptable one. He dreamed of spreading it to all of Russia, which he set about after becoming emperor.

Parade in Gatchina.

At the end of Catherine's life, the relationship between her son and mother went wrong irreparably, the crack between them became a gaping abyss.

Pavel’s character gradually deteriorated, suspicions grew that his mother, who had never loved him, could deprive him of his inheritance, that her favorites wanted to humiliate the heir, were keeping an eye on him, and hired villains were trying to poison him - so, once they even put sticks in sausages.

The fight against "debauchery"

Finally, on November 6, 1796, Empress Catherine died. Paul came to power. In the first days of his reign, it seemed as if a foreign power had landed in St. Petersburg - the emperor and his men were dressed in unfamiliar Prussian uniforms.

Pavel immediately transferred the Gatchina order to the capital. Black and white striped booths brought from Gatchina appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg; the police furiously attacked passers-by, who at first took lightly the strict decrees banning tailcoats and vests.

In the city, which lived a midnight life under Catherine, a curfew was established; many officials and military men who somehow did not please the sovereign were instantly stripped of their ranks, titles, positions and sent into exile.

Coronation of Paul I 1796-1801.

The raising of the palace guards - a familiar ceremony - suddenly turned into an important event of a national scale with the presence of the sovereign and the court.

Why did Paul become such an unexpectedly harsh ruler? After all, as a young man, he once dreamed of the reign of law in Russia, he wanted to be a humane ruler, to reign according to irrevocable (“indispensable”) laws containing goodness and justice.

But it's not that simple. Paul's philosophy of authority was complex and contradictory. Like many rulers in Russia, he tried to combine autocracy and human freedoms, “the power of the individual” and “ executive power of the state“, in a word, tried to combine the incompatible.

In addition, during the years of waiting for his “turn” to the throne, a whole icy mountain of hatred and revenge grew in Paul’s soul. He hated his mother, her orders, her favorites, her leaders, and in general the entire world created by this extraordinary and brilliant woman, called by her descendants “Catherine’s era.”

A.N. Benoit. Parade under Emperor Paul I.

You can rule with hatred in your soul, but not for long... As a result, no matter what Paul thought about law and law, the ideas of tightening discipline and regulation began to dominate in all his policies. He began to build only one " executive state" This is probably the root of his tragedy...

The fight against the “licentiousness” of the nobles meant, first of all, the infringement of their rights; establishing order, sometimes necessary, in the army and state apparatus led to unjustified cruelty.

Undoubtedly, Paul wished well for his country, but was drowning in “small things.” And it was these that people remembered most of all. So, everyone laughed when he forbade the use of the words “snub-nosed” or “Mashka”.

Paul I wearing the crown, dalmatic and insignia of the Order of Malta. Artist V. L. Borovikovsky.

In pursuit of discipline and order, the king knew no limits. His subjects heard many wild decrees from the sovereign. Thus, in July 1800, all printing houses were ordered “seal so that nothing is printed in them" Well said! True, this ridiculous order soon had to be canceled - labels, tickets and tags were needed.

Spectators were also forbidden to applaud in the theater unless the sovereign sitting in the royal box did so, and vice versa.

Digging your own grave

Communication with the emperor became painful and dangerous for those around him. In place of the humane, tolerant Catherine, there was a strict, nervous, uncontrollable, absurd person. Seeing that his wishes remained unfulfilled, he was indignant, punished, scolded.

As N. M. Karamzin wrote, Pavel, “ to the inexplicable surprise of the Russians, he began to reign in universal horror, not following any regulations except his own whim; considered us not subjects, but slaves; executed without guilt, rewarded without merit, took away the shame of execution, the beauty of reward, humiliated ranks and ribbons with wastefulness in them... He taught heroes accustomed to victories to march.

Having, as a person, a natural inclination to do good, he fed on the bile of evil: every day he invented ways to frighten people, and he himself was more afraid of everyone; thought to build himself an impregnable palace and built a tomb».

Assassination of Emperor Paul I.

In a word, it did not end well. A conspiracy matured against Paul among the officers and among the aristocracy; on March 11, 1801, a night coup took place and in the newly built Mikhailovsky Castle, Pavel was killed by conspirators who broke into the royal bedroom...

Evgeniy Anisimov

Paul the First went down in history as a cruel reformer. Liberal views and European tastes were persecuted, censorship was established, and a ban on the import of foreign literature into the country was established. The Emperor, having received the throne, largely limited the rights of the nobility. Maybe that's why his reign was so short.

In contact with

Childhood

Peter the Third, Paul's father, was on the Russian throne for only 186 days, although he planned that many years of rule lay ahead of him. After the palace coup, the emperor signed an abdication of the throne, which passed to his wife (Princess Anhalt-Zerbst).

Catherine built her reign on expanding the rights and privileges of the noble class, as well as enslaving the peasants. During her reign borders of the Russian Empire were moved to the south and west.

The first son of Peter and Catherine, named Pavel, was born on September 20, 1754. During this period, there was a political struggle in the palace, so the boy was deprived of the love and care of his parents. At the age of eight he lost his father. Paul's mother hired a staff of the best nannies and teachers, after which she withdrew from raising the future heir to the throne.

Boy's teacher became Fedor Bekhteev- a diplomat distinguished by incredible discipline and rigor. He published a newspaper where the slightest misdeeds of the pupil were described. The second mentor was Nikita Panin, thanks to whom the boy began to study a wide range of subjects - natural history, the Law of God, music, dance.

The immediate environment also had an influence on the formation of the personality of the heir to the throne, but communication with peers was kept to a minimum - only children of noble families were allowed to interact with him.

Ekaterina bought it for her son the huge library of academician Korf. The boy studied many foreign languages, arithmetic, astronomy, history, geography, learned to draw, dance and fencing, and studied the Law of God. The boy was not taught military discipline; Catherine did not want her son to get carried away with it.

The heir had an impatient character and was a restless child, but could boast of a rich imagination and love of reading. His education was as high quality as possible at that time.

Personal life of the future emperor

The first wife of the future ruler died during childbirth, and the second chosen one was Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg (Maria Fedorovna).

Children of Paul I– firstborn Alexander (1777), Konstantin (1779), Alexandra (1783), Elena (1784), Maria (1786), Catherine (1788), Olga (1792, died in infancy), Anna (1795), Nikolai (1796) ), Mikhail (1798).

Despite having many children and almost constant pregnancies, Maria Fedorovna took care of the house and regularly participated in social events. However, she was not of particular importance at court due to her husband’s discord with his mother.

Maria Feodorovna was a submissive princess, who followed the postulates that she had learned in her youth, but due to circumstances beyond her control, her personal life with her husband came to discord after 20 years. After the birth of her last son, the obstetrician forbade her to become pregnant, as it could cost the woman her life.

The Emperor was disappointed by this circumstance and started a relationship with another woman, his favorite Anna Lopukhina. Maria Feodorovna herself became involved in charity work and began managing orphanages, streamlining the work of institutions for homeless and abandoned children. She also actively addressed issues of women's education and founded a number of educational institutions for them.

Rise to power

When Paul I reigned? He ascended the throne at the age of 42 on November 6, 1796, when Catherine II, his mother, died. This late date is explained by the complex relationship between the future emperor and his mother. They almost completely moved away from each other, realizing that they were people with opposing views. At first, the boy was raised as a future heir to the throne, but the older he became, the further they tried to keep him from matters of national importance.

Important! Many people had high hopes for Pavel Petrovich. His name was often on the lips of rebels, for example, . During the reign of Catherine II, many were dissatisfied with her decrees and laws.

Transformations

Numerous reforms characterize the reign of Paul 1: domestic and foreign policy underwent a number of changes.

What important steps have been taken:

• amendments were introduced to the procedure of succession to the throne, which was developed. The rights to the throne began to be enjoyed exclusively by the sons or brothers of the ruling dynasty in a descending line, or by seniority;
• the emperor's associates received the titles of senior officials or senators;
• comrades of Catherine II were removed from their posts;
• the activities of the highest government bodies have undergone changes for the better;
• a petition box was placed next to the palace, and reception days were also established for peasants who could openly leave complaints against their owners;
• corporal punishment has been abolished for older people over 70 years of age;
• Instead of the grain duty, which was burdensome for peasants, a financial tax was introduced. Debts of 7 million rubles were written off;
• it was forbidden to force peasants to work on holidays and weekends;
• corvee was limited - now it lasted 3 days a week;
• the sale of landless peasants and household servants was banned. If the owner treated the serfs inhumanely, the governors were obliged to carry out secret arrests and send the offenders to the monastery.
• over 4 years, 6,000 thousand state peasants were transferred to the nobles, since the emperor believed that their life was worse than that of the serfs;
• the cost of salt and food products in stores was reduced - the shortfall was compensated for by money from the treasury.

When Paul came to power, one of the the most important areas His activities turned out to be an infringement of the privileges and rights of the nobles.

He ordered all noble children who were enrolled in them to return to the regiments, and prohibited the unauthorized transfer to civilian service from the army without the permission of the Senate, approved by him personally.

The nobles had to pay new taxes, the money from which was sent to support the local administration.

The right according to which a nobleman addressed him with complaints and requests was abolished: now this was allowed to be done only with the permission of the governor. Punishment of noble people with sticks was reintroduced.

Immediately after ascending the throne, the emperor declared an amnesty, but multiple punishments soon followed. Decrees of Paul the First, limiting the power of the nobility, aroused anger and enmity on the part of the privileged class. Over time, the first conspiracies began to appear in the highest guards circles to overthrow the autocrat.

Features of foreign policy

Initially, it was announced at court that neutrality would be observed towards France. He always dreamed that wars would be fought solely for the purpose of defense. However, he was an opponent of the revolutionary sentiments of this country. Friendly relations were concluded with countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Prussia, which was the result of the creation of an anti-French coalition consisting of:

• Russia,
• Kingdom of Naples,
• Austria,
• England.

In Italy, commander A.V. Suvorov headed the domestic expeditionary force. In just six months, he won a victory in Italy over French troops, after which he entered Sweden, where he joined the corps of General A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov.

During the same period, the squadron F.F. Ushakova achieved several naval victories, as a result of which the Ionian Islands became free. However, the Russian-English corps located in Holland was unable to achieve its plans, as a result of which it returned. At the same time, only Russia's allies reaped the fruits of victories over Napoleon, which caused the severance of allied ties with Austria and England. The Emperor, outraged by England's position, decided to move closer to France.

Cause of the Emperor's death

A conspiracy was formed against the ruling emperor. It was headed by the Zubov brothers, the military governor of St. Petersburg P.A.

Palen and a number of others. The reason for the conspiracy is the internal policy of the autocrat, because he eased the situation of the peasants and at the same time limited the rights and privileges of the noble class.

Among the conspirators was Alexander Pavlovich, who was promised that his father would be left alive.

Led by Count Palen on the night of March 12, 1801 The conspirators broke into the Mikhailovsky Castle, reached the imperial chambers and put forward a demand to leave the throne. Having heard Paul's refusal to abdicate the throne, the conspirators killed the autocrat.

There were several conspiracies during the life and reign of the emperor. Thus, three cases of unrest among the troops were recorded. After the coronation of the new emperor, the Canal Workshop was formed - a secret organization whose members sought to kill the ruler. After the discovery of this conspiracy, all those who took part in it were sent to hard labor or exiled. All materials related to the investigation into the conspiracy were destroyed.

It was officially announced that Emperor Paul 1 had died from apoplexy.

Paul 1st - reign of the Tsar, reforms

The reign of Tsar Paul 1st - domestic and foreign policy, results

Results of the board

How long did Paul 1 reign?? His reign lasted several years, years of reign: from April 5, 1797. to March 12, 1801. In such a short period of time, no significant changes occurred in Russian society, although the emperor tried to introduce as many new measures as possible. At the beginning of the reign, favorable conditions were created for the development of industry and trade, but by the end of the reign, internal trade was in chaos and ruin, and external trade was almost completely destroyed.

Attention! The state was in a sad state when Paul I was killed.

Who ruled after Paul 1? The heir to the throne was his first-born Alexander 1. His reign turned out to be more successful: the first step was taken, the State Council was created, and a victory was won over Napoleon in 1812; the Russian army distinguished itself in other foreign campaigns. was more successful.

In November 1796, after the death of Catherine II, Emperor Paul 1 ascended the Russian throne. The short, but extremely important and eventful reign of one of the most mysterious and controversial figures in Russian history began. In order to understand and correctly evaluate what happened during the four and a half years of Pavlov’s reign, it is necessary to remember that by the time he ascended the throne, the emperor was already 42 years old, i.e. he was a mature man with an established character, established political convictions and ideas about the needs of Russia and the best ways to manage it. The character and political views of the emperor were formed in very difficult and unusual conditions.

The birth of Paul in 1754 was greeted at the court of grandmother Elizabeth Petrovna as a long-awaited event, since the empress was extremely worried about the continuation of the dynasty. Immediately after birth, the child was taken to Elizabeth’s chambers, where his parents were allowed only with her special permission. In fact, until the coup of 1762. Pavel is raised without the participation of his parents, not really knowing either his mother or his father. The latter was completely indifferent to him. It is significant that in the manifesto about Peter’s accession to the throne, neither Paul nor Catherine were even mentioned. From 1761, N.I. Panin was appointed Pavel’s chief educator.

Panin sincerely became attached to his pupil. Himself a supporter of the Enlightenment, he dreamed of raising Paul to be an ideal sovereign for Russia. And indeed, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, young Pavel was a well-educated romantic youth who also believed in the ideals of enlightened absolutism. He was prepared for the state career and he grew up with the consciousness that he would have to rule Russia.

In 1773, Pavel married Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was named Natalya Alekseevna upon baptism into Orthodoxy. The young man, who had just left the care of teachers and educators, fell madly in love with his young wife, but the happiness was short-lived - three years later Natalya Alekseevna died in childbirth. A few months later, Paul married again to Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg, who received the name Maria Feodorovna in Orthodoxy. In 1777, their first-born, the future Emperor Alexander 1, was born, and in 1779, their second son, Constantine. They were taken from their parents and raised under the supervision of their grandmother. In 1781-1782 Pavel and Maria Feodorovna traveled around Europe, where they made a favorable impression on European courts. But during the trip, Pavel behaved carelessly, openly criticizing the policies of Catherine and her favorites. Apparently, this became known to the empress, who, upon her son’s return, tried to remove him from the court by donating the Gatchina manor, where Paul henceforth spent most of his time. Like Peter I once did in Preobrazhenskoye and Peter III in Oranienbaum, Paul created his own small army in Gatchina and enthusiastically took up drill, taking the Prussian military system as a model. Discipline, order, and a certain asceticism seemed to be contrasted with the luxury and disorderly life of the St. Petersburg court. He enjoyed the unquestioning submission of his soldiers, dreaming of a time when all of Russia would submit to him in the same way. He believed that for a true autocrat, Catherine was too feminine and soft and liberal. The harmfulness of such a rule was increased in his eyes by the revolutionary danger, especially after the collapse of the monarchy in France. Under these conditions, Pavel saw the salvation of Russia only in strengthening power.

Paul's intention to deal with the rebels with the help of cannons should not, however, be considered only a manifestation of ruthlessness or political myopia. Behind this there was a certain system of views, according to which, in order to avoid revolution, it was necessary, with the help of military discipline and police measures, to preserve the existing regime for as long as possible, removing corrupting elements from it. According to Paul, this primarily concerned various manifestations of personal and public freedom and was expressed in the lifestyle and behavior of the nobles, in neglect of public service, in elements of self-government, in the excessive luxury of the court, in the relative freedom of thought and self-expression. Paul saw the reasons for the disintegration in the mistakes of Catherine's policies.

Paul contrasted the Enlightenment ideals of civil liberty with the ideals of medieval chivalry with its ideas about nobility, loyalty, honor, courage, and service to the sovereign.

And finally, on November 6, 1796, when the empress died, Paul received the long-awaited crown and power. The spirit of the military changed the appearance of the court and the capital.

Domestic policy of Paul I

The very first steps of Paul the Emperor demonstrated his intention to act contrary to his mother’s policies in everything. This desire colored, in fact, his entire reign. So, of course, it is not at all liberal sympathies that explain the release of Pavel Novikov, Radishchev, T. Kosciuszko, and with him other Poles, and the replacement of many senior officials on charges of corruption. The new emperor tried, as it were, to cross out the previous 34 years of Russian history, to declare them a complete mistake.

In Paul's domestic policy, several interrelated areas are highlighted - public administration reform, changes in class politics and military reform. At first glance, the reform of public administration carried out by Paul, just like Catherine’s policy, was aimed at further centralization of power, but this task was solved differently. Thus, if under Catherine the importance of the Prosecutor General of the Senate especially increased, and he was in charge of many state affairs, including all financial policy, then under Pavel the Prosecutor General turned into a kind of prime minister, concentrating in his hands the functions of the ministers of internal affairs. , justice, partly finance.

A further change in the functions of the Senate as a whole, for which Catherine in her later projects essentially prepared the role of the body of supreme legal supervision, is associated with the reorganization of central and local government. Back in the 80s. a number of collegiums were liquidated and only three remained - the Military one. Admiralty and Foreign Affairs. This was due to the fact that, declaring freedom of enterprise, Catherine believed it was possible to transfer the minimum necessary control over economic development into the hands of local authorities. Paul restored some colleges, considering, however, that it was necessary to transform them into ministries, replacing the principle of collegial government with one-man rule. Thus, in 1797, a completely new Ministry of Appanages was created, which was in charge of lands that belonged directly to the royal family, and in 1800, the Ministry of Commerce. Paul even more decisively destroyed the entire system of local government created on the basis of the Institutions of 1775.

Firstly, the positions of governors were eliminated, who, in the opinion of the new emperor, enjoyed too much independence. Secondly, the orders of public charity and the deanery council were closed; The city estate administration was merged with the police, and the city council was liquidated. The judicial system created by Catherine also underwent reform: a number of judicial instances were eliminated altogether, and the chambers of the civil and criminal courts were merged into one. In this regard, the role of the Senate as a judicial body was again strengthened.

Paul also changed the administrative-territorial division of the country, the principles of managing the outskirts of the empire. Thus, 50 provinces were transformed into 41 provinces and the Region of the Don Army. Traditional governing bodies were returned to the Baltic provinces, Ukraine and some other peripheral territories. All these transformations are obviously contradictory: on the one hand, they increase the centralization of power in the hands of the tsar and eliminate elements of self-government, on the other, they reveal a return to a variety of forms of governance on the national outskirts. This contradiction stemmed primarily from the weakness of the new regime, the fear of not being able to control the entire country, as well as the desire to gain popularity in areas where there was a threat of outbreaks of the national liberation movement. And, of course, there was a desire to redo everything in a new way. It is significant that the content of Paul’s judicial reform and the liquidation of class self-government bodies meant, in essence, a step back for Russia. This reform affected not only the urban population, but also the nobility.

The attack on noble privileges, legalized by the Charter of 1785, began almost from the first days of Pavlov's reign. Already in 1797, a review was announced for all officers on the lists of the regiments, and those who did not appear were dismissed. This measure was due to the fact that under Catherine there was a custom of enrolling young noble children in the regiment, so that by the time they reached adulthood they would already have officer ranks. Also, a large number of officers were listed as sick, on vacation, etc. In addition, many of the highest dignitaries of the state, along with positions in the state apparatus, had the ranks of generals and were listed in various, usually guards regiments. Therefore, the measure taken by Paul seemed quite reasonable and fair, although it embittered the nobles. It was followed by a restriction of the privileges of non-serving nobles. Having requested lists of such nobles in August 1800, Paul ordered that most of them be assigned to military service. Prior to this, since October 1799, a procedure had been established according to which special permission from the Senate was required to transfer from military service to civilian service. Another decree of the emperor prohibited non-serving nobles from participating in noble elections and holding elected positions.

In 1799, provincial noble assemblies were abolished, the rights of district members were limited and, conversely, the right of governors to interfere in noble elections was strengthened. In 1797, the nobles were obliged to pay a special tax for the maintenance of the provincial administration, and in 1799 the amount charged was increased. Historians are also aware of cases of the use of corporal punishment, abolished by Catherine for the nobility, in Pavlov’s time. But in general it would be a mistake to consider Paul’s policy as anti-noble. Rather, it shows a clear desire to transform the nobility into a knightly class - disciplined, organized, serving without exception and devoted to their sovereign. It is no coincidence that Paul made an attempt to limit the influx of non-nobles into the ranks of the nobility, prohibiting their promotion to non-commissioned officers. From these positions, the emperor’s policy towards the peasantry becomes clearer.

Paul's reign, like the previous one, was marked by massive distributions to peasants as a reward for service, and in four years Paul managed to distribute almost as many peasants as his mother did in 34 (about 600 thousand). However, the difference was not only in quantity. If Catherine gave her favorites either estates left without an owner or estates in newly conquered territories, then Paul distributed first of all to state peasants, thereby significantly worsening their situation. Having declared at the beginning of his reign that every subject had the right to file a complaint with him personally, Paul brutally suppressed such attempts on the part of the peasants. In December 1796, a decree was issued on assigning peasants to private owners in the Don Army Region and in Novorossiya, in March 1798 - on allowing merchant breeders to buy peasants for their enterprises with and without land. On the other hand, a number of legislative acts appeared that objectively contributed to the weakening of serfdom. So, in February 1797 The auction sale of courtyard and landless peasants was prohibited, and in October 1798, the sale of Ukrainian peasants without land was prohibited. For the first time in many years, upon Paul’s accession to the throne, serfs had to take an oath to the new emperor on an equal basis with free peasants; in December 1797, the arrears in the per capita tax were removed from the peasants and townspeople, and the recruitment set assigned by Catherine was canceled. The most famous is the so-called Manifesto on the Three-Day Corvee, published by Paul along with other important documents on the day of his coronation on April 5, 1797.

It is noteworthy that the main meaning of the manifesto is related to the ban on work on Sundays. i.e., it confirms the legal norm that already existed in the Council Code of 1649. The limitation of corvée to three days in the Manifesto is spoken of rather as a desirable, more rational distribution of the working time of farmers. The ambiguity of the manifesto led to an ambiguous interpretation by both contemporaries and historians. The peasants perceived the manifesto as a relief of their situation and tried to complain about the landowners who did not comply with it. There are cases when landowners were actually subjected to penalties and punishments for this.

However, the fact of non-fulfillment of the manifesto should not be discounted. Moreover, in some areas, for example in Ukraine, where corvee was limited to two days a week, the manifesto, on the contrary, worsened the situation of the peasants. The manifesto's ambiguity was most likely deliberate. Firstly, Paul, fearing peasant uprisings, tried to prevent them with populist measures, and secondly, he acquired another instrument of pressure on the nobles. Thirdly, he also could not openly weaken serfdom, since the dependence of the throne on the nobility was great, and he most likely had no such intentions.

Paul's policy towards the army looked more definite, to which he decided to transfer the Prussian military order, which he had so successfully used in Gatchina. The reform began with the introduction of a new uniform that completely copied the Prussian one: a long uniform, stockings and black patent leather shoes, a powdered head with a braid of a certain length; officers were given sticks with bone heads to punish offending soldiers. In December 1796, a new charter was issued, in which the main attention was paid to training soldiers in “shagistics”. Since it was based on the Prussian charter of 1760, no new achievements of Russian military thought, tested on the battlefields during Catherine’s reign, were reflected in it. Soon, several more regulations were issued for individual branches of the military, based on the idea of ​​the army as a machine, the main thing in which is the mechanical coherence of the troops and efficiency. Initiative and independence are harmful and unacceptable.

Endless parades, drills, combined with harsh measures against officers - dismissals, exiles and even arrests - caused great discontent in the army, not only in the capital, but also in the provinces. So, already in 1796-1798. In the Smolensk province there was an anti-government circle, which included officers of several regiments stationed there, officials of local institutions, as well as a number of retired military personnel.

Speaking about the internal policy of Paul I, it is worth mentioning some of his innovations related to the status of the sovereign and the royal family. On the day of his coronation, Paul published a decree on succession to the throne, establishing the transfer of the throne by inheritance strictly through the male line. The decree continued to be in force in Russia until 1917. What was also new was the creation of the already mentioned Ministry of Appanages, which meant the actual inclusion of the personal economy of the royal family in the sphere of state jurisdiction. Convinced of the divine origin of royal power, Paul did a lot to organize the external manifestations of the monarchical idea. He was a great lover of various ceremonies and rituals, which were carried out scrupulously, with observance of the smallest details, were distinguished by extraordinary pomp and lasted for many hours. The entire life of the court was given a strictly regulated ritual, which was further strengthened with the proclamation of Paul in 1798 as Grand Master of the Order of Malta. It should be noted, however, that all this Europeanized ritual was alien to Russia, and even in Europe itself it was already perceived as archaic, and therefore caused only grins among most contemporaries, in no way contributing to the goals of glorifying the monarchy that Paul set for himself.

Petty regulation extended to the daily lives of his subjects. In particular, special decrees prescribed certain styles and sizes of clothing; it was forbidden to wear round hats, shoes with ribbons instead of buckles, etc. Some prohibitions concerned appearance and behavior at the ball. It is characteristic that all these restrictions applied not only to Russian citizens, but also to foreigners. Thus, the charge d'affaires of Sardinia in Russia was expelled from St. Petersburg for wearing a round hat.

In Paul's policy there is clearly a desire to unify all spheres of life, to exclude the diversity of opinions, judgments, the possibility of choosing a lifestyle, style of behavior, clothing, etc. In this very possibility, Paul saw a revolutionary danger. The introduction of censorship and the ban on the import of books from abroad were aimed at combating the penetration of revolutionary ideas.

Foreign policy of Paul I

The main foreign policy problem of Pavlov's reign was the relationship with France. The war with her was already being prepared by Catherine II. It was planned to send a 50,000-strong corps under the command of Suvorov to Europe in 1797. Catherine's death caused the cancellation of this campaign. The French saw this as a sign of a change in Russia's attitude towards their country and tried to take advantage of the moment to exclude Russia from the number of their potential enemies. However, they were wrong. From the first months of his reign, Paul made it clear that his hatred of republican France was no weaker than Catherine’s. In 1797, Russia recruited regiments of French monarchists under the command of the Prince of Condé (a relative of the executed Louis of the 16th century), accepted the French king in exile, Louis XVIII, and assigned him an annual pension of 200,000 rubles. In 1798, all immigrants from France were prohibited from entering Russia. However, this was not enough. The countries of Europe, fearing the victorious troops of France, made all kinds of diplomatic efforts to involve Russia in the war. In 1798, a second anti-French coalition was created (Russia, Austria, Great Britain, Turkey, Sicily, Portugal and the South German states). One of the reasons for Russia’s entry into the coalition was Bonaparte’s seizure of Malta and the expulsion of the Order of Malta (Order of the Johannites) from there, after which Paul took him under his protection and promised to take revenge for the insult inflicted on the Order. The war was to be fought in three theaters: 1. in Holland together with England; 2. in Italy (the main forces under the command of Suvorov were sent here) together with Austria and 3. in the Mediterranean Sea (Ushakov’s fleet) together with England and Turkey.

Already in the fall of 1798, the Russian-Turkish squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakova entered the Mediterranean Sea to act against the French. The English squadron under the command of the famous Nelson acted independently against the garrison of Malta. Nakhimov focused his efforts on conquering the Ionian Islands, which were of great importance in the struggle for dominance in the Mediterranean. The apogee of the struggle for the islands was the storming of the fortress on the island of Corfu (Kerkyra) on February 18, 1799. The islands liberated by Ushakov formed the Republic of the Seven Islands - the first Greek state in modern history. After this, Russian naval detachments landed in various parts of Southern and Central Italy and captured Naples and Rome. In January 1800, the Russian squadron was recalled by Paul to Russia due to a change in the political situation.

The fighting on land began in 1799. In Holland, a joint Russian-English landing under the command of the Duke of York, more than doubling the French forces, acted indecisively and ultimately failed. The Allies intended to deliver the main blow to the French in Italy, where large forces of the Russian and Austrian armies were concentrated. Overall command was transferred to Suvorov, but the subordination of the Austrians was rather formal. in just one month - April 1799, Suvorov defeated the French army of General Moreau and captured all of Northern Italy (except Genoa). The army of General MacDonald came to the rescue of Moro from Southern Italy. Suvorov decided not to wait until the two enemy armies united and to defeat them piece by piece. He made a rapid march towards MacDonald and defeated him in the Battle of the River. Trebbii (6-9 June 1799). Now Suvorov had a great opportunity to finish off the remnants of Moreau’s troops, but the French were saved by the indecisiveness of the Austrians, who prohibited any risky operations. Only at the end of July did the Austrian troops unite with the Russians, and already on August 4, at Novi, a battle took place with the French army, the new commander-in-chief of which was General Joubert (died in battle). After this victory, Suvorov became the master of Italy. The French were again saved from complete defeat by the inconsistency of the allies (the Austrian Gofkriegsrat forbade its troops to participate in the pursuit of the retreating ones). Relations between the Russians and the Austrians deteriorated to such an extent that their governments decided to henceforth act separately. It was decided that the Russians would move to Switzerland, and the Austrians would remain in Italy. At the end of August, Suvorov led his troops on the now famous Swiss campaign (September - October 1799).

In Switzerland, in the Zurich area, it was planned to connect with the 30,000-strong corps of the general. Rimsky-Korsakov. However, at the time when Suvorov’s troops, knocking down the French barriers, were approaching the Alps, Rimsky-Korsakov’s corps was already defeated. Abandoned by their Austrian allies, the Russians lost 18 thousand people, almost all their guns and banners. This was the heaviest defeat of the Russian army in the entire 18th century. Having defeated Rimsky-Korsakov, the French considered Suvorov doomed, because. his troops were trapped (with enemies in front and behind). To save the army, Suvorov decided to try to break through the Alps, which were considered completely impassable for large masses of troops. At the cost of incredible efforts, Suvorov withdrew his army to Bavaria on October 19. Here he received orders from Paul to return to Russia. The alliance with Austria was dissolved. For outstanding military achievements, Suvorov received the title of Generalissimo and the title of Prince of Italy. It was ordered to give him royal honors, even in the presence of the emperor himself. This was Suvorov's last and, perhaps, most brilliant campaign. Soon after returning to Russia, he died.

Disillusioned with his allies (who, moreover, were greatly weakened), after the coup of the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799) in France, Paul began to lean toward rapprochement with Napoleon. In the next 1800, both sides took steps towards mutual rapprochement. In particular, France freed all Russian prisoners, and Bonaparte approached Paul with a proposal to establish friendly relations between the two sides. This appeal caused Paul's consent and on the eve of the new year 1801, 22,500 Don Cossacks were sent to conquer India. In development of this new line in relation to France, Paul I demanded that Louis XVIII leave the country and deprived him of his pension.

Coup of March 11, 1801

It is quite possible that if Paul’s transformations concerned only the sphere of administrative and police management and were carried out carefully and consistently, his fate would have turned out differently. But society, having already tasted the fruits of “enlightened absolutism,” did not want to part with that, albeit minimal, freedom that it acquired during Catherine’s reign. In addition, the impetuous, hot-tempered, fickle and unpredictable character of the emperor created a climate of uncertainty about the future, when the fate of the Russian nobleman turned out to be dependent on the random whim or change of mood of someone who was seen only as a tyrant on the throne, Moreover, if in the preparation of previous coups of the 18th century. The decisive role belonged to the guard, now discontent has spread to virtually the entire army. Paul failed to find support in any social system.

Paul's fate was thus sealed. The conspiracy was brewing virtually from the very beginning of his reign, and many dignitaries, courtiers, senior officers, and even the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, were involved in it (or at least were aware of it). The night of March 11, 1801 became fatal for Paul, when several dozen conspirators broke into the emperor’s chambers in the newly built Mikhailovsky Castle and killed him. Alexander I was proclaimed Emperor of All Russia.

Historians, as already mentioned, evaluate Pavlovsk’s reign differently, equally agreeing that the continued existence of Pavlov’s regime would have delayed the socio-political development of Russia. There is also a point of view according to which Paul’s policy corresponded to the interests of the absolute monarchy, and the means he chose corresponded to his goal. The reign of Alexander I became a new era in the history of Russia. For with the murder of Paul the Russian history of the 18th century ended.

wiki.304.ru / History of Russia. Dmitry Alkhazashvili.