Russian Emperor Paul III. Paul the first, poor Paul

Name: Pavel I

Age: 46 years old

Place of Birth: Saint Petersburg

A place of death: Saint Petersburg

Activity: Russian Emperor

Family status: was married

Biography of Emperor Paul I

If it were not for the constant humiliations and insults, perhaps Emperor Paul I would have become a ruler equal in greatness to Peter. However, his domineering mother thought otherwise. When Paul is mentioned, the image of a short-sighted soldier-“Prussian” comes to mind. But was he really like that?

Paul I - childhood

Pavel was born under very mysterious circumstances. Emperor Peter III and Catherine II could not give birth to an heir for ten years. The explanation for this was simple: Peter was a chronic alcoholic. Nevertheless, the empress became pregnant. Few people considered Peter III to be the father of the baby, but they preferred to keep quiet about it.

The birth of the long-awaited child did not bring happiness to the parents. The father suspected that the son was not his, and the mother considered the birth of the baby more likely a “state project” than a desired child. Strangers took over raising the newborn. Pavel experienced all the horror of the saying: “A child without an eye after seven nannies.” They often forgot to feed him, dropped him repeatedly, and left him alone for a long time. He hasn't seen his parents for years! The boy grew up fearful, withdrawn and deeply unhappy...

Paul I: Far from the throne

In 1762, Peter III was overthrown, and his wife Catherine II took the Russian throne for 34 long years. She treated her son coldly and with suspicion: he was the direct heir to the throne, and the empress did not intend to share power with anyone.

On September 20, 1772, Paul turned 18 years old - the time to ascend to the throne. However, all that he received from his mother was the position of admiral general of the Russian fleet and colonel of a cuirassier regiment. For the prince this was the first serious humiliation. Others followed him: he was not awarded a place either in the Senate or in the Imperial Council. On April 21, on her birthday, the Empress gave Pavel a cheap watch, and Count Potemkin, her favorite, an expensive one for 50 thousand rubles. And the whole yard saw it!

Paul I_- two wives, two worlds

To distract her son from thoughts about power, Catherine decided to marry him. The choice fell on the Prussian Princess Wilhelmina. In the fall of 1773, the young people got married. Contrary to expectations, the marriage did not bring happiness to Pavel. His wife turned out to be a powerful woman - she actually subjugated her husband and began to cheat on him. This did not last long - three years later Wilhelmina died in childbirth. The Empress consoled Pavel, who was heartbroken, in a unique way: she personally gave her son the love correspondence of his wife with Razumovsky, a close friend of the Tsarevich. The double betrayal made Pavel an even more gloomy and closed person.

The emperor did not remain single for long. In the same 1776, he went to Berlin to meet the 17-year-old Princess Sophia Dorothea. Prussia made a strong impression on Paul: unlike Russia, order and exemplary morality reigned among the Germans. Pavel's love for a foreign country quickly grew into sympathy for his bride; The German woman reciprocated. The wedding took place in October 1776. In Russia, Sofia-Dorothea received the name Maria Fedorovna.

For many years, Pavel lived in two worlds - in his personal life he enjoyed happiness, and in his public life he suffered from universal contempt. If in Europe he had long been revered as a full-fledged emperor, then in Russia every courtier looked at him with a disgusted grin - the country was ruled by Catherine II and her lover Count Potemkin.

When Paul's sons grew up. the empress personally took up their upbringing, demonstrating that she would rather agree to give the throne to one of her grandchildren than to her son. The crown prince's nerves gave way... On May 12, 1783, a final disagreement took place between Catherine and Paul. In August of the same year, Pavel received an estate near St. Petersburg as a gift from his mother. This meant only one thing - an invitation to voluntary exile.

Paul I - Prisoner of Gatchina

Pavel's new estate became for him both a place of secret imprisonment and an island of long-awaited freedom.

First of all, the prince defended the right to have three personal battalions consisting of 2,399 people in Gatchina. They lived and served according to Prussian laws; Paul himself commanded the daily exercises.

Having inflicted a dressing down on the soldiers, the prince set off to supervise numerous construction projects. In Gatchina, under his leadership, a hospital, a school, porcelain and glass factories, four churches (Orthodox, Lutheran, Catholic and Finnish), and a library were built. Its funds totaled 36 thousand volumes.

Pavel forgot his harshness and unsociability only in the evenings with his loved ones. He spent all his evenings with his wife Maria Fedorovna. The dinner was modest - a glass of Burgundy claret and sausages and cabbage. It seemed that until the end of his days he would lead this measured and calm life.

Paul I - The Great and Terrible

Catherine II died unexpectedly on November 6, 1796 from apoplexy. If the empress had lived six months longer, the throne would have gone to Alexander. All the papers with the order for his inheritance were ready.

The suddenly acquired power became for Paul not only a long-awaited gift, but also a real curse: he inherited the country in a terrible state. The ruble depreciated, corruption and theft reigned everywhere, and up to 12 thousand unsolved cases accumulated in the Senate. Three quarters of the Russian army's officer corps existed only on paper. Many received ranks without serving, desertion became the norm, and the fleet was still equipped with cannons from the times of Peter I.

Paul fought harshly against lawlessness and decadence of morals. Arrests, trials and exiles began throughout the country. Neither connections nor past merits saved the higher ranks from punishment. The officers also had a hard time: Paul banned revelry and trips to balls; they were replaced by early rises and exhausting exercises. Ordinary officials also expressed dissatisfaction with Paul's reforms - they were required to be at work as early as 5 a.m.

Paul I reigned for only four years and four months. During this time, he demoted 7 marshals and more than 300 senior officers, distributed 600 thousand peasants to landowners and issued 2179 laws.

Despite Pavel's tough temperament, his eldest son Alexander always sided with his father. But the emperor managed to lose this ally too. Once he called his son a fool in front of everyone, which turned the heir against himself.

Feast on Blood

The emperor had a presentiment of his death. In any case, this is evidenced by numerous memoirs of his contemporaries.

Here S. M. Golitsyn writes about the last evening: “It was customary that after dinner everyone went into another room and said goodbye to the sovereign. That evening he did not say goodbye to anyone and only said: “What will happen, will not be avoided.”

Another eyewitness said: “After dinner, the emperor looked at himself in the mirror, which had a flaw and made his faces crooked. He laughed at this and said: “Look how funny the mirror is; I see myself in it, with my neck on the side.” It was an hour and a half before his death...”

The last meeting of the conspirators took place on the night of March 12, 1801. All were commanded by General Bennigsen, the Zubov princes, and also Count Palen. Dissatisfaction with the policies of Paul I was discussed over champagne and wine. Having reached the required condition, the men moved to the emperor’s chambers.

Having overcome the barrier of two sentries, the conspirators burst into Pavel. Zubov invited the emperor to sign an act of abdication. Paul's refusal infuriated the visitors. According to one version, they strangled the unfortunate man with a pillow and then cut his body with sabers.

Even before dawn, Petersburg learned that Pavel had died suddenly from an “apoplectic stroke,” and Alexander took his place. Violent fun began in the Northern capital...

A few years later, General Ya.I. Sanglein, chief of the secret police under Alexander I, wrote: “Paul will forever remain a psychological problem. With a kind, sensitive heart, an exalted soul, an enlightened mind, a fiery love for justice... he was an object of horror for his subjects.” Neither his contemporaries nor his descendants-historians could fully understand the nature of Paul I.

Russian Hamlet - that’s what Pavel Petrovich Romanov’s subjects called him. His fate is tragic. Having not known parental affection since childhood, brought up under the leadership of the crowned Elizabeth Petrovna, who saw him as her successor, he spent many years in the shadow of his mother, Empress Catherine II.

Having become a ruler at the age of 42, he was never accepted by his surroundings and died at the hands of the conspirators. His reign was short-lived - he led the country for only four years.

Birth

Paul the First, whose biography is very interesting, was born in 1754, in the Summer Palace of his crowned relative, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. She was his great-aunt. The parents were Peter III (the future emperor, who reigned for only a short time) and Catherine II (having overthrown her husband, she shone on the throne for 34 years).

Elizaveta Petrovna had no children, but she wanted to leave the Russian throne to an heir from the Romanov family. She chose her nephew, the son of Anna's older sister, 14-year-old Karl, who was brought to Russia and named Pyotr Fedorovich.

Separation from parents

By the time Pavel was born, Elizaveta Petrovna was disappointed in his father. She did not see in him the qualities that would help him become a worthy ruler. When Paul was born, the empress decided to raise him herself and make him her successor. Therefore, immediately after birth, the boy was surrounded by a huge staff of nannies, and the parents were actually removed from the child. Peter III was quite happy with the opportunity to see his son once a week, since he was not sure that this was his son, although he officially recognized Paul. Catherine, even if at first she had tender feelings for the child, later became more and more distant from him. This was explained by the fact that from birth she could see her son very rarely and only with the permission of the empress. In addition, he was born from an unloved husband, whose hostility gradually spread to Paul.

Upbringing

We worked seriously with the future emperor. Elizaveta Petrovna drew up special instructions, which spelled out the main points of teaching, and appointed Nikita Ivanovich Panin, a man of extensive knowledge, as the boy’s teacher.

He prepared a program of subjects that the heir was supposed to study. It included natural sciences, history, music, dancing, the law of God, geography, foreign languages, drawing, astronomy. Thanks to Panin, Pavel was surrounded by the most educated people of that time. So much attention was paid to the upbringing of the future emperor that the circle of his peers was even limited. Only children from the most noble families were allowed to communicate with the heir.

Paul the First was a capable student, although restless. The education he received was the best at that time. But the heir’s lifestyle was more like a barracks life: getting up at six in the morning and studying all day with breaks for lunch and dinner. In the evenings, completely unchildish entertainment awaited him - balls and receptions. It is not surprising that in such an environment, and deprived of parental affection, Pavel the First grew up as a nervous and insecure person.

Appearance

The future emperor was ugly. If his eldest son Alexander was considered the first handsome man, then the emperor could not be classified as a person with an attractive appearance. He had a very large convex forehead, a small snub nose, slightly bulging eyes and wide lips.

Contemporaries noted that the emperor had unusually beautiful eyes. In moments of anger, Paul the First's face was distorted, making him even uglier, but in a state of peace and benevolence, his features could even be called pleasant.

Living in Mother's Shadow

When Pavel was 8 years old, his mother organized a coup. As a result, Peter III abdicated the throne and a week later died in Ropsha, where he was transported after his abdication. According to the official version, the cause of death was colic, but persistent rumors circulated among the people about the murder of the deposed emperor.

Carrying out a coup d'etat, Catherine used her son as an opportunity to rule the country until he came of age. Peter I issued a decree according to which the current ruler appointed the heir. Therefore, Catherine could only become regent for her young son. In fact, from the moment of the coup she had no intention of sharing power with anyone. And so it turned out that mother and son became rivals. Paul the First posed a considerable danger, since there were enough people at court who wanted to see him as ruler, and not Catherine. He had to be monitored and all attempts at independence had to be suppressed.

Family

In 1773, the future emperor married Princess Wilhelmina. After baptism, the first wife of Paul the First became Natalya Alekseevna.

He was madly in love and she cheated on him. Two years later, his wife died in childbirth, and Pavel was inconsolable. Catherine showed him his wife’s love correspondence with Count Razumovsky, and this news completely crippled him. But the dynasty was not to be interrupted, and in the same year Pavel was introduced to his future wife, Maria Fedorovna. She, like her first wife, came from German lands, but was distinguished by her calm and gentle character. Despite the ugly appearance of the future emperor, she loved her husband with all her heart and gave him 10 children.

The wives of Paul the First were very different in character. If the first, Natalya Alekseevna, actively tried to participate in political life and ruled her husband despotically, then Maria Fedorovna did not interfere in the affairs of public administration and was only concerned with her family. Her compliance and lack of ambition impressed Catherine II.

Favorites

Pavel loved his first wife immensely. He also felt tender affection for Maria Fedorovna for a long time. But over time, however, their opinions on various issues diverged more and more, which caused an inevitable cooling. His wife preferred to live in a residence in Pavlovsk, while Pavel preferred Gatchina, which he remodeled to his own taste.

Soon he was tired of his wife’s classic beauty. Favorites appeared: first Ekaterina Nelidova, and then Anna Lopukhina. Continuing to love her husband, Maria Fedorovna was forced to treat his hobbies favorably.

Children

The emperor had no children from his first marriage; his second brought him four boys and six girls.

The eldest sons of Paul the First, Alexander and Konstantin, were in a special position with Catherine II. Not trusting her daughter-in-law and her son, she did exactly the same thing as they had treated her - she took away her grandchildren and began raising them herself. Relations with his son had long since gone wrong; in politics he held opposing views and the Great Empress did not want to see him as her heir. She planned to appoint her eldest and beloved grandson Alexander as her successor. Naturally, these intentions became known to Pavel, which greatly worsened his relationship with his eldest son. He did not trust him, and Alexander, in turn, was afraid of his father’s changeable mood.

The sons of Paul the First took after their mother. Tall, stately, with a beautiful complexion and good physical health, in appearance they were very different from their father. Only in Konstantin were the features of a parent more noticeable.

Accession to the throne

In 1797, Paul the First was crowned and received the Russian throne. The first thing he did after ascending the throne was to order the ashes of Peter III to be removed from the grave, crowned and reburied on the same day as Catherine II in a neighboring grave. After the death of his mother, he thus reunited her with her husband.

The reign of Paul the First - major reforms

On the Russian throne was, in fact, an idealist and romantic with a difficult character, whose decisions were accepted with hostility by those around him. Historians have long reconsidered their attitude to the reforms of Paul the First and consider them in many ways reasonable and useful for the state.

The way he was illegally removed from power prompted the emperor to cancel Peter I's decree on succession to the throne and issue a new one. Now power passed through the male line from father to eldest son. A woman could take the throne only if the male branch of the dynasty ended.

Paul the First paid great attention to military reform. The size of the army was reduced, and the training of army personnel was intensified. The guard was replenished by immigrants from Gatchina. The emperor fired all the undersized people who were in the army. Strict discipline and innovations caused discontent among some officers.

The reforms also affected the peasantry. The emperor issued a decree “On three-day corvee”, which caused indignation on the part of the landowners.

In foreign policy, Russia under Paul made sharp turns - it made an unexpected rapprochement with revolutionary France and entered into confrontation with England, its longtime ally.

The murder of Paul the First: a chronicle of events

By 1801, the emperor's natural suspiciousness and suspicion had acquired monstrous proportions. He did not even trust his family, and his subjects fell into disgrace for the slightest offenses.

His close associates and long-time opponents took part in the conspiracy against Paul the First. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, he was killed in the newly built Mikhailovsky Palace. There is no exact evidence of Alexander Pavlovich’s participation in the events that took place. It is believed that he was informed of the plot, but demanded immunity for his father. Paul refused to sign his abdication and was killed during the ensuing scuffle. How exactly this happened is unknown. According to one version, death occurred from a blow to the temple with a snuffbox, while according to another, the emperor was strangled with a scarf.

Paul the First, the Russian emperor and autocrat, lived a rather short life, full of tragic events, and repeated the path of his father.

The ninth All-Russian Emperor Pavel I Petrovich (Romanov) was born on September 20 (October 1), 1754 in St. Petersburg. His father was Emperor Peter III (1728-1762), born in the German city of Kiel, and received the name Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp at birth. By coincidence, Karl Peter simultaneously had rights to two European thrones - Swedish and Russian, since, in addition to kinship with the Romanovs, the Holstein dukes were in a direct dynastic connection with the Swedish royal house. Since the Russian Empress did not have her own children, in 1742 she invited her 14-year-old nephew Karl Peter to Russia, who was baptized into Orthodoxy under the name Peter Fedorovich.

Having come to power in 1761 after the death of Elizabeth, Peter Fedorovich spent 6 months in the role of All-Russian Emperor. The activities of Peter III characterize him as a serious reformer. He did not hide his Prussian sympathies and, having taken the throne, immediately put an end to Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War and entered into an alliance against Denmark, Holstein's longtime offender. Peter III liquidated the Secret Chancellery, a gloomy police institution that kept all of Russia in fear. In fact, no one canceled denunciations; from now on they simply had to be submitted in writing. And then he took away the lands and peasants from the monasteries, which even Peter the Great could not do. However, the time allotted by history for the reforms of Peter III was not great. Only 6 months of his reign, of course, cannot be compared with the 34-year reign of his wife, Catherine the Great. As a result of a palace coup, Peter III was overthrown from the throne on June 16 (28), 1762 and killed in Ropsha near St. Petersburg 11 days after that. During this period, his son, the future Emperor Paul I, was not yet eight years old. With the support of the guard, the wife of Peter III came to power and proclaimed herself Catherine II.

The mother of Paul I, the future Catherine the Great, was born on April 21, 1729 in Stettin (Szczecin) in the family of a general in the Prussian service and received a good education for that time. When she was 13 years old, Frederick II recommended her to Elizabeth Petrovna as a bride for Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich. And in 1744, the young Prussian princess Sophia-Frederike-Augusta-Anhalt-Zerbst was brought to Russia, where she received the Orthodox name Ekaterina Alekseevna. The young girl was smart and ambitious, from the first days of her stay on Russian soil she diligently prepared to become a Grand Duchess, and then the wife of the Russian Emperor. But the marriage with Peter III, concluded on August 21, 1745 in St. Petersburg, did not bring happiness to the spouses.

It is officially believed that Pavel’s father is Catherine’s legal husband, Peter III, but in her memoirs there are indications (indirect, however) that Pavel’s father was her lover Sergei Saltykov. This assumption is supported by the well-known fact of the extreme hostility that Catherine always felt towards her husband, and against it is Paul’s significant portrait resemblance to Peter III, as well as Catherine’s persistent hostility towards Paul. A DNA examination of the emperor’s remains, which has not yet been carried out, could finally discard this hypothesis.

On September 20, 1754, nine years after the wedding, Catherine gave birth to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. This was a most important event, because after Peter I the Russian emperors had no children, confusion and confusion reigned at the death of each ruler. It was under Peter III and Catherine that hope for stability of the government appeared. During the first period of her reign, Catherine was concerned about the problem of the legitimacy of her power. After all, if Peter III was still half (on his mother’s side) Russian and, moreover, was the grandson of Peter I himself, then Catherine was not even a distant relative of the legal heirs and was only the wife of the heir. Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich was the legitimate but unloved son of the empress. After the death of his father, he, as the only heir, was supposed to take the throne with the establishment of a regency, but this, by the will of Catherine, did not happen.

Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich spent the first years of his life surrounded by nannies. Immediately after his birth, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna took him to her place. In her notes, Catherine the Great wrote: “They had just swaddled him when her confessor appeared, by order of the Empress, and named the child Paul, after which the Empress immediately ordered the midwife to take him and carry him with her, and I remained on the birthing bed.” The whole empire rejoiced at the birth of the heir, but they forgot about his mother: “Lying in bed, I cried and moaned continuously, I was alone in the room.”

Paul's baptism took place in magnificent surroundings on September 25th. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna expressed her favor towards the mother of the newborn by the fact that after the christening she herself brought her a decree to the cabinet on a golden platter to give her 100 thousand rubles. After the christening, ceremonial celebrations began at court: balls, masquerades, and fireworks on the occasion of Paul’s birth lasted about a year. Lomonosov, in an ode written in honor of Pavel Petrovich, wished him to compare with his great great-grandfather.

Catherine had to see her son for the first time after giving birth only 6 weeks later, and then only in the spring of 1755. Catherine recalled: “He lay in an extremely hot room, in flannel diapers, in a crib upholstered in black fox fur, they covered him with a satin blanket quilted on cotton wool, and on top of that, with a pink velvet blanket... sweat appeared on his face and all over his body "When Pavel grew up a little, the slightest breath of wind gave him a cold and made him sick. In addition, many stupid old women and mothers were assigned to him, who, with their excessive and inappropriate zeal, caused him incomparably more physical and moral harm than good." Improper care led to the fact that the child was characterized by increased nervousness and impressionability. Even in early childhood, Pavel’s nerves were so upset that he would hide under the table when doors slammed any loudly. There was no system in caring for him. He went to bed either very early, around 8 pm, or at one o'clock in the morning. It happened that he was given food when he “asked”; there were also cases of negligence: “Once he fell out of the cradle, so no one heard it. We woke up in the morning - Pavel was not in the cradle, they looked - he was lying on the floor and resting very soundly ".

Pavel received an excellent education in the spirit of the French enlightenment. He knew foreign languages, had knowledge of mathematics, history, and applied sciences. In 1758, Fyodor Dmitrievich Bekhteev was appointed his teacher, who immediately began teaching the boy to read and write. In June 1760, Nikita Ivanovich Panin was appointed chief chamberlain under Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, Pavel’s tutor and mathematics teacher was Semyon Andreevich Poroshin, a former aide-de-camp of Peter III, and the teacher of the law (since 1763) was Archimandrite Platon, hieromonk of the Trinity. Sergius Lavra, later Moscow Metropolitan.

On September 29, 1773, 19-year-old Pavel entered into marriage, marrying the daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, Princess Augustine-Wilhelmina, who received the name Natalya Alekseevna in Orthodoxy. Three years later, on April 16, 1776, at 5 a.m., she died in childbirth, and her child died with her. The medical report, signed by doctors Kruse, Arsh, Bock and others, speaks of a difficult birth for Natalya Alekseevna, who suffered from a curvature of the back, and the “large baby” was incorrectly positioned. Catherine, however, not wanting to waste time, begins a new matchmaking. This time the queen chose the Württemberg princess Sophia-Dorothea-Augustus-Louise. A portrait of the princess is delivered by courier, which Catherine II offers to Paul, saying that she is “meek, pretty, lovely, in a word, a treasure.” The heir to the throne falls more and more in love with the image, and already in June he goes to Potsdam to woo the princess.

Having seen the princess for the first time on July 11, 1776 in the palace of Frederick the Great, Paul writes to his mother: “I found my bride as she could only wish for in her mind: not ugly, large, slender, answers intelligently and efficiently. As for her heart, then She has it very sensitive and tender... She loves to be at home and practice reading and music, she is greedy to study in Russian..." Having met the princess, the Grand Duke passionately fell in love with her, and after parting, he wrote her tender letters declaring his love and devotion.

In August, Sophia-Dorothea comes to Russia and, following the instructions of Catherine II, on September 15 (26), 1776, receives Orthodox baptism under the name of Maria Feodorovna. Soon the wedding took place, a few months later she writes: “My dear husband is an angel, I love him to madness.” A year later, on December 12, 1777, the young couple had their first son, Alexander. On the occasion of the birth of the heir in St. Petersburg, 201 cannon shots were fired, and the sovereign grandmother Catherine II gave her son 362 acres of land, which laid the foundation for the village of Pavlovskoye, where the palace-residence of Paul I was later built. Work on the improvement of this wooded area near Tsarskoye Selo began already in 1778 The construction of the new palace, designed by Charles Cameron, was carried out mainly under the supervision of Maria Feodorovna.

With Maria Feodorovna, Pavel found true family happiness. Unlike mother Catherine and great-aunt Elizabeth, who did not know family happiness, and whose personal life was far from generally accepted moral standards, Pavel appears as an exemplary family man who set an example for all subsequent Russian emperors - his descendants. In September 1781, the grand ducal couple, under the name of Count and Countess of the North, set off on a long journey across Europe, which lasted a whole year. During this trip, Paul not only saw the sights and acquired works of art for his palace under construction. The journey also had great political significance. For the first time freed from the tutelage of Catherine II, the Grand Duke had the opportunity to personally meet European monarchs and paid a visit to Pope Pius VI. In Italy, Paul, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather Emperor Peter the Great, is seriously interested in the achievements of European shipbuilding and becomes acquainted with the organization of naval affairs abroad. In Livorno, the Tsarevich finds time to visit the Russian squadron located there. As a result of assimilating new trends in European culture and art, science and technology, style and lifestyle, Pavel largely changed his own worldview and perception of Russian reality.

By this time, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna already had two children after the birth of their son Konstantin on April 27, 1779. And on July 29, 1783, their daughter Alexandra was born, in connection with which Catherine II gave Pavel the Gatchina manor, bought from Grigory Orlov. Meanwhile, the number of Paul's children is constantly increasing - on December 13, 1784, daughter Elena was born, on February 4, 1786 - Maria, on May 10, 1788 - Ekaterina. Paul's mother, Empress Catherine II, rejoicing for her grandchildren, wrote to her daughter-in-law on October 9, 1789: “Really, madam, you are a master of bringing children into the world.”

All the older children of Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna were raised by Catherine II personally, having actually taken them away from their parents and without even consulting them. It was the empress who came up with names for Paul’s children, naming Alexander in honor of the patron saint of St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander Nevsky, and gave this name to Constantine because she intended her second grandson for the throne of the future Constantinople Empire, which was to be formed after the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. Catherine personally searched for a bride for Pavel’s sons, Alexander and Konstantin. And both of these marriages did not bring family happiness to anyone. Emperor Alexander only at the end of his life would find a devoted and understanding friend in his wife. And Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich will violate generally accepted norms and divorce his wife, who will leave Russia. Being the governor of the Duchy of Warsaw, he will fall in love with a beautiful Pole - Joanna Grudzinskaya, Countess Łowicz, in the name of preserving family happiness, he will renounce the Russian throne and will never become Constantine I, Emperor of All Rus'. In total, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna had four sons - Alexander, Konstantin, Nikolai and Mikhail, and six daughters - Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Ekaterina, Olga and Anna, of whom only 3-year-old Olga died in infancy.

It would seem that Pavel’s family life was developing happily. Loving wife, many children. But the main thing was missing, what every heir to the throne strives for - there was no power. Paul patiently awaited the death of his unloved mother, but it seemed that the great empress, who had an imperious character and good health, was never going to die. In previous years, Catherine wrote more than once about how she would die surrounded by friends, to the sounds of gentle music among flowers. The blow suddenly overtook her on November 5 (16), 1796, in a narrow passage between two rooms of the Winter Palace. She suffered a severe stroke, and several servants barely managed to drag the empress’s heavy body out of the narrow corridor and lay it on a mattress spread on the floor. The couriers rushed to Gatchina to tell Pavel Petrovich the news of his mother’s illness. The first was Count Nikolai Zubov. The next day, in the presence of her son, grandchildren and close courtiers, the empress died without regaining consciousness at the age of 67, of which she spent 34 years on the Russian throne. Already on the night of November 7 (18), 1796, everyone was sworn in to the new emperor - 42-year-old Paul I.

By the time he ascended the throne, Pavel Petrovich was a man with established views and habits, with a ready-made, as it seemed to him, program of action. Back in 1783, he broke off all relations with his mother; there were rumors among the courtiers that Paul would be deprived of the right to succession to the throne. Pavel dives into theoretical discussions about the urgent need to change the governance of Russia. Far from the court, in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, he creates a unique model of the new Russia, which seemed to him a model for governing the entire country. At the age of 30, he received from his mother a large list of literary works for in-depth study. There were books by Voltaire, Montesquieu, Corneille, Hume and other famous French and English authors. Paul considered the goal of the state to be “the happiness of each and all.” He recognized only monarchy as a form of government, although he agreed that this form was “associated with the inconveniences of mankind.” However, Paul argued that autocratic power is better than others, since it “combines in itself the force of the laws of the power of one.”

Of all the activities, the new king had the greatest passion for military affairs. Advice from military general P.I. Panin and the example of Frederick the Great attracted him to the military path. During his mother's reign, Pavel, removed from business, filled his long leisure hours with training military battalions. It was then that Pavel formed, grew and strengthened that “corporal spirit” that he sought to instill in the entire army. In his opinion, the Russian army of Catherine’s time was more of a disorderly crowd than a properly organized army. Embezzlement, the use of soldiers' labor on the estates of commanders, and much more flourished. Each commander dressed the soldiers according to his own taste, sometimes trying to save money allocated for uniforms in his favor. Pavel considered himself a successor to the work of Peter I in transforming Russia. His ideal was the Prussian army, by the way, the strongest in Europe at that time. Paul introduced a new uniform uniform, regulations, and weapons. Soldiers were allowed to complain about abuses by their commanders. Everything was strictly controlled and, in general, the situation, for example, of the lower ranks became better.

At the same time, Paul was distinguished by a certain peacefulness. During the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796), Russia participated in seven wars, which in total lasted more than 25 years and caused heavy damage to the country. Upon ascending the throne, Paul declared that Russia under Catherine had the misfortune of using its population in frequent wars, and affairs within the country were neglected. However, Paul's foreign policy was inconsistent. In 1798, Russia entered into an anti-French coalition with England, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. At the insistence of the allies, the disgraced A.V. was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. Suvorov, into whose jurisdiction the Austrian troops were also transferred. Under the leadership of Suvorov, Northern Italy was liberated from French domination. In September 1799, the Russian army made the famous crossing of the Alps. For the Italian campaign, Suvorov received the rank of generalissimo and the title of Prince of Italy. However, already in October of the same year, Russia broke the alliance with Austria, and Russian troops were recalled from Europe. Shortly before his murder, Paul sent the Don army on a campaign against India. These were 22,507 men without convoys, supplies or any strategic plan. This adventurous campaign was canceled immediately after the death of Paul.

In 1787, going into the active army for the first and last time, Paul left his “Order”, in which he outlined his thoughts on governing the state. Listing all the classes, he stops at the peasantry, which “contains with itself and with its labors all other parts, and therefore is worthy of respect.” Paul tried to implement a decree that serfs should work no more than three days a week for the landowner, and on Sunday they should not work at all. This, however, led to their even greater enslavement. After all, before Paul, for example, the peasant population of Ukraine did not know corvée at all. Now, to the joy of the Little Russian landowners, a three-day corvee was introduced here. In Russian estates it was very difficult to monitor the implementation of the decree.

In the area of ​​finance, Paul believed that state revenues belonged to the state, and not to the sovereign personally. He demanded that expenses be coordinated with the needs of the state. Paul ordered part of the silver services of the Winter Palace to be melted down into coins, and up to two million rubles in banknotes to be destroyed to reduce the state debt.

Attention was also paid to public education. A decree was issued to restore the university in the Baltic states (it was opened in Dorpat already under Alexander I), the Medical-Surgical Academy, many schools and colleges were opened in St. Petersburg. At the same time, in order to prevent the idea of ​​“depraved and criminal” France from entering Russia, Russians were prohibited from studying abroad, censorship was established on imported literature and music, and it was even forbidden to play cards. It is curious that, for various reasons, the new tsar paid attention to improving the Russian language. Soon after ascending the throne, Paul ordered in all official papers “to speak in the purest and simplest style, using all possible precision, and to always avoid pompous expressions that have lost their meaning.” At the same time, strange decrees that aroused distrust in Paul’s mental abilities were those prohibiting the use of certain types of clothing. Thus, it was forbidden to wear tailcoats, round hats, vests, or silk stockings; instead, a German dress with a precise definition of the color and size of the collar was allowed. According to A.T. Bolotov, Pavel demanded that everyone honestly perform their duties. So, driving through the city, writes Bolotov, the emperor saw an officer walking without a sword, and behind him an orderly carrying a sword and a fur coat. Pavel approached the soldier and asked whose sword he was carrying. He replied: “The officer who is in front.” “Officer! So, is it difficult for him to carry his sword? So put it on yourself, and give him your bayonet!” So Paul promoted the soldier to officer, and demoted the officer to private. Bolotov notes that this made a huge impression on the soldiers and officers. In particular, the latter, fearing a repetition of this, began to take a more responsible attitude towards the service.

In order to control the life of the country, Pavel hung a yellow box at the gates of his palace in St. Petersburg for submitting petitions in his name. Similar reports were accepted at the post office. This was new to Russia. True, they immediately began to use this for false denunciations, libels and caricatures of the Tsar himself.

One of the important political acts of Emperor Paul after ascending the throne was the reburial on December 18, 1796 of his father Peter III, who was killed 34 years earlier. It all started on November 19, when “by order of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, the body of the buried late Emperor Peter Fedorovich was removed from the Nevsky Monastery, and the body was placed in a new magnificent coffin, upholstered in gold, with imperial coats of arms, with the old coffin.” On the same day in the evening, “His Majesty, Her Majesty and their Highnesses deigned to arrive at the Nevsky Monastery, to the Lower Annunciation Church, where the body stood, and upon arrival, the coffin was opened; they deigned to venerate the body of the late sovereign... and then it was closed.” . Today it is difficult to imagine what the tsar was doing and forcing his wife and children to do. According to eyewitnesses, the coffin contained only bone dust and pieces of clothing.

On November 25, according to a ritual developed by the emperor in great detail, the coronation of the ashes of Peter III and the corpse of Catherine II was performed. Russia has never seen anything like this before. In the morning, in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Paul laid the crown on the coffin of Peter III, and in the second hour of the day, Maria Feodorovna in the Winter Palace laid the same crown on the deceased Catherine II. There was one eerie detail in the ceremony in the Winter Palace - the chamber cadet and valets of the empress “raised the body of the deceased” during the laying of the crown. Obviously, it was simulated that Catherine II was, as it were, alive. In the evening of the same day, the empress’s body was transferred to a magnificently arranged funeral tent, and on December 1, Paul solemnly transferred the imperial regalia to the Nevsky Monastery. The next day, at 11 o’clock in the morning, a funeral cortege slowly set off from the Lower Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Ahead of the coffin of Peter III, the hero of Chesma, Alexey Orlov, carried the imperial crown on a velvet pillow. Behind the hearse, the entire august family walked in deep mourning. The coffin with the remains of Peter III was transported to the Winter Palace and installed next to the coffin of Catherine. Three days later, on December 5, both coffins were transported to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. They were displayed there for worship for two weeks. Finally, on December 18 they were interred. The tombs of the hated spouses indicated the same date of burial. On this occasion N.I. Grech remarked: “You would think that they spent their whole lives together on the throne, died and were buried on the same day.”

This whole phantasmagoric episode struck the imagination of contemporaries, who tried to find at least some reasonable explanation for it. Some argued that all this was done in order to refute rumors that Paul was not the son of Peter III. Others saw in this ceremony a desire to humiliate and insult the memory of Catherine II, who hated her husband. Having crowned the already crowned Catherine at the same time as Peter III, who did not have time to be crowned during his lifetime, with the same crown and almost simultaneously, Paul, as if anew, posthumously, married his parents, and thereby nullified the results of the palace coup of 1762. Paul forced the murderers of Peter III to wear imperial regalia, thereby exposing these people to public ridicule.

There is information that the idea of ​​a secondary funeral for Peter III was suggested to Pavel by the freemason S.I. Pleshcheev, who by this wanted to take revenge on Catherine II for the persecution of “free masons”. One way or another, the ceremony of reburial of the remains of Peter III was performed even before the coronation of Paul, which followed on April 5, 1797 in Moscow - the new tsar attached such importance to the memory of his father, emphasizing once again that his filial feelings for his father were stronger than his feelings for the imperious mother. And on the very day of his coronation, Paul I issued a law on succession to the throne, which established a strict order of succession to the throne in a direct male descendant line, and not according to the arbitrary desire of the autocrat, as before. This decree was in effect throughout the 19th century.

Russian society had an ambivalent attitude towards the government measures of Pavlov's time and towards Pavel personally. Sometimes historians said that under Paul, the Gatchina people - ignorant and rude people - became the head of the state. Among them they call A.A. Arakcheev and others like him. The words of F.V. are cited as a characteristic of the “Gatchina residents”. Rostopchin that “the best of them deserves to be wheeled.” But we should not forget that among them were N.V. Repnin, A.A. Bekleshov and other honest and decent people. Among Paul's associates we see S.M. Vorontsova, N.I. Saltykova, A.V. Suvorova, G.R. Derzhavin, under him the brilliant statesman M.M. Speransky.

A special role in Paul's politics was played by relations with the Order of Malta. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which appeared in the 11th century, was associated with Palestine for a long time. Under the pressure of the Turks, the Johannites were forced to leave Palestine, settling first in Cyprus and then on the island of Rhodes. However, the struggle with the Turks, which lasted for centuries, forced them to leave this refuge in 1523. After seven years of wandering, the Johannites received Malta as a gift from the Spanish King Charles V. This rocky island became an impregnable fortress of the Order, which became known as the Order of Malta. By the Convention of January 4, 1797, the Order was allowed to have a Grand Priory in Russia. In 1798, Paul's manifesto "On the Establishment of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem" appeared. The new monastic order consisted of two priories - Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox with 98 commanderies. There is an assumption that Paul thereby wanted to unite the two churches - Catholic and Orthodox.

On June 12, 1798, Malta was taken by the French without a fight. The knights suspected Grand Master Gompesh of treason and deprived him of his rank. In the autumn of the same year, Paul I was elected to this post, and willingly accepted the signs of the new rank. Before Paul, the image of a knightly union was drawn, in which, in contrast to the ideas of the French Revolution, the principles of the order would flourish - strict Christian piety, unconditional obedience to elders. According to Paul, the Order of Malta, which had fought so long and successfully against the enemies of Christianity, should now gather all the “best” forces in Europe and serve as a powerful bulwark against the revolutionary movement. The residence of the Order was moved to St. Petersburg. A fleet was being equipped in Kronstadt to expel the French from Malta, but in 1800 the island was occupied by the British, and Paul soon died. In 1817 it was announced that the Order no longer existed in Russia.

At the end of the century, Pavel moved away from his family, and his relationship with Maria Fedorovna deteriorated. There were rumors about the empress's infidelity and unwillingness to recognize the younger boys - Nicholas, born in 1796, and Mikhail, born in 1798 - as her sons. Trusting and straightforward, but at the same time suspicious, Pavel, thanks to the intrigues of von Palen, who became his closest courtier, begins to suspect all the people close to him of hostility towards him.

Paul loved Pavlovsk and Gatchina, where he lived while awaiting the throne. Having ascended the throne, he began to build a new residence - St. Michael's Castle, designed by the Italian Vincenzo Brenna, who became the main court architect. Everything in the castle was adapted to protect the emperor. Canals, drawbridges, secret passages, it seemed, were supposed to make Paul's life long. In January 1801, construction of the new residence was completed. But many of Paul I’s plans remained unfulfilled. It was in the Mikhailovsky Palace that Pavel Petrovich was killed on the evening of March 11 (23), 1801. Having lost his sense of reality, he became maniacally suspicious, removed loyal people from himself, and himself provoked dissatisfied people in the guard and high society into a conspiracy. The conspiracy included Argamakov, Vice-Chancellor P.P. Panin, favorite of Catherine P.A. Zubov, Governor General of St. Petersburg von Palen, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N.I. Depreradovich, Kavalergardsky - F.P. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P.A. Talyzin. Thanks to treason, a group of conspirators entered the Mikhailovsky Castle, went up to the emperor’s bedroom, where, according to one version, he was killed by Nikolai Zubov (Suvorov’s son-in-law, Platon Zubov’s older brother), who hit him in the temple with a massive gold snuffbox. According to another version, Paul was strangled with a scarf or crushed by a group of conspirators who attacked the emperor. "Have mercy! Air, air! What have I done wrong to you?" - these were his last words.

The question of whether Alexander Pavlovich knew about the conspiracy against his father remained unclear for a long time. According to the memoirs of Prince A. Czartoryski, the idea of ​​a conspiracy arose almost in the first days of Paul’s reign, but the coup became possible only after it became known about the consent of Alexander, who signed a secret manifesto in which he pledged not to prosecute the conspirators after his accession to the throne. And most likely, Alexander himself understood perfectly well that without murder, a palace coup would be impossible, since Paul I would not voluntarily abdicate. The reign of Paul I lasted only four years, four months and four days. His funeral took place on March 23 (April 4), 1801 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Maria Feodorovna devoted the rest of her life to her family and perpetuating the memory of her husband. In Pavlovsk, almost on the edge of the park, in the middle of the forest, above a ravine, a Mausoleum was erected for the husband-benefactor according to the project. Like an ancient temple, it is majestic and silent, all nature around seems to be mourning along with a porphyry-bearing widow sculptured from marble, crying over the ashes of her husband.

Paul was ambivalent. A knight in the spirit of the outgoing century, he could not find his place in the 19th century, where the pragmatism of society and the relative freedom of representatives of the elite of society could no longer exist together. Society, which a hundred years before Paul tolerated any antics of Peter I, did not tolerate Paul I. “Our romantic king,” as A.S. called Paul I. Pushkin failed to cope with a country that was waiting not only for a strengthening of power, but also, above all, for various reforms in domestic policy. The reforms that Russia expected from every ruler. However, due to his upbringing, education, religious principles, experience of relationships with his father and, especially, with his mother, it was in vain to expect such reforms from Paul. Pavel was a dreamer who wanted to transform Russia, and displeased everyone. An unfortunate sovereign who died during the last palace coup in the history of Russia. An unfortunate son who repeated the fate of his father.

Madam dearest mother!

Please take a break, please, for a moment from your important activities in order to accept the congratulations that my heart, submissive and obedient to your will, brings on the birthday of Your Imperial Majesty. May Almighty God bless your days, precious for the entire fatherland, to the most distant times of human life, and may Your Majesty never dry up for me the tenderness of a mother and ruler, always dear and revered by me, the feelings with which I remain for you, Your Imperial Majesty , the most humble and most devoted son and subject of Paul.

Pavel was born in 1754. Immediately after his birth, Catherine 2 took him into her care in order to prepare Pavel to be a good manager for the country. However, Pavel did not love Catherine, and blamed her for separating him from his mother. This resentment will live in the heart of the future emperor for the rest of his life. As a result, feelings were born in Paul that forced him to do the opposite of what Catherine 2 did.

On November 5, 1796, Catherine 2 died, and Emperor Paul 1 led the country. Having come to power, the first thing Paul did was change the order of succession to the throne. From that time on, the throne belonged not to the one named by the previous ruler, but to a member of the royal dynasty in the male line in order of seniority. The next step taken by Emperor Paul 1 was the complete replacement of the entire top government of the country. The new emperor excommunicated from power all those who were loyal to Catherine 2. He himself appointed 35 senators and 500 officials.

Catherine 2 pursued an active policy of expanding Russian possessions. Emperor Paul 1, who did everything in defiance of Catherine, believed that aggressive campaigns were detrimental to Russia. In his opinion, the country should have limited itself to exclusively defensive wars. In foreign policy, cool relations with all countries remained for a long time. But soon Emperor Paul 1, believing in the sincerity of the friendship between England and Austria, joined the anti-French coalition. The Austrians by that time did not have a strong army, and could not fight Napoleon. The British have never been good at war. Russia and its gullible emperor had to take the rap for everyone. The allies demanded. For Russia to provide an army for a campaign in Italy, in order to liberate this region from Napoleon’s troops. The Russian army, numbering 45 thousand people, went to Italy. The army was led by the great commander Alexander Suvorov.

Suvorov won victory after victory. His army was truly invincible. Suvorov almost completely ousted all French forces from Italy and was preparing a campaign against France. The allies convinced Pavle 1 of the need to transfer Suvorov’s army to Switzerland in order to suppress the French resistance there too. Pavel 1, despite the protests of Suvorov, who, unlike the emperor, understood what was in store for him in the Swiss Alps, agreed and the Russian army went to Switzerland. The “Allies” sent this army to its death. Suvorov was given maps with non-existent routes. The Austrians completely withdrew their troops from Switzerland, which was overrun by French troops. Suvorov found himself among the French, without food and without support. This is what forced him to make the famous crossing of the Alps to save his army. Along the way, Suvorov won victories over the French, but the situation had already changed. It wasn't the victories that mattered. It was important to get out of Switzerland alive in order to save the army that the British and Austrians had sent to their deaths.

After these events, Emperor Paul 1 said that his “allies” had betrayed Russia and wanted to destroy its army. The Emperor broke off all diplomatic relations with England and Austria. Their ambassadors were expelled from Russia. After this, Paul's rapprochement with Napoleon began. The French emperor repeatedly said that he only wanted peace with Russia, that France and Russia were friendly countries that should dominate the world together.

However, the rapprochement of the countries was not destined to materialize. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, the conspirators broke into the emperor's bedroom and demanded that he abdicate the throne. When Emperor Paul 1 refused, he was killed. A few days earlier in France they tried to blow up the carriage in which Napoleon was traveling. The French emperor survived. After the death of Paul 1, Napoleon wrote the following about these events: “THEY missed me in Paris, but got me in Russia.” This is how the great French commander described the murder of Paul 1.

On the very first pages of his book about Paul I, Walishevsky talks about his tragic fate and the origins of this tragedy. Paul I is one of the most controversial and mysterious figures in Russian history. To understand Emperor Paul, you need to familiarize yourself with the period when he was still a contender for the throne, and, therefore, a rebel. This is the main part of the biography of the unfortunate sovereign. It was predominant during the first half of his life, but in the second half it was partly the reason for its brief but dramatic events. In the eyes of many historians, Waliszewski says, Paul was mentally ill, and they recognize the widespread opinion about the disastrous and tyranny of his reign. The author also gives examples of madness on the throne in the 18th century: George III in England, Christian VII in Denmark. All of them were contemporaries of Paul. At the same time, the historian questions the madness of Paul I, and therefore turns to his childhood and youth. He writes about his first tutors, about his ambition and his delicate nervous system. Gives interesting facts from the early childhood of Paul I.

Paul's upbringing evokes sharp condemnation among many, including K. Waliszewski. Catherine II herself, Paul's mother, played a negative role in this, not paying due attention as a child, and even encouraging his courtship of the most dissolute of the ladies-in-waiting at court. What the author writes about the teachers is that they overloaded Pavel with his studies. Therefore, for the rest of his life, Pavel was fascinated by ideas that he was unable to realize, but dreamed of them in reality. He did not know how to think and analyze; his every idea immediately turned into a desperate impulse. According to Valishevsky, the teachers, together with Catherine II, missed the identity of the pupil.

The author of the monograph believes that Paul’s personality problems were caused by a double drama. His father, Peter III, was killed by supporters of Catherine II. This tragedy determined his entire future fate, and from his earliest years Pavel lived among fear and gloomy visions, so that later, according to A.V. Suvorov, Pavel became “a charming sovereign and a despotic dictator” (p. 13). At the age of 15, Catherine chose his wife, Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, who later converted to Orthodoxy and became Natalya Alekseevna. But, according to K. Valishevsky, the marriage was tragic for Pavel; the betrayal of his beloved wife with his friend Razumovsky further aggravated his gloomy and suspicious character. As for Natalya Alekseevna herself, in 1776 she died during childbirth, allegedly from A.K. Razumovsky. Rumors spread that Natalya was poisoned on the orders of Catherine II. Catherine appointed a group of 13 doctors to refute the rumors. Natalya was buried in the Church of Alexander - Nevsky Lavra, since Catherine did not want her to rest, for her actions, with the Romanovs in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

K. Valishevsky believes that Pavel owes everything good in his character to his two teachers: N. I. Panin and S. A. Poroshin. Thanks to the latter, Pavel learned about the knightly Order of Malta, which later became his obsession, and then he became the master of this order. Paul felt the love of his teacher for himself and, in turn, loved and appreciated him. Unfortunately, this relationship did not last long, and at the same time the unsympathetic traits of the Grand Duke were revealed: the instability of his impressions, the instability of his attachments. Walishevsky, presenting to us Pavel's youth, describes his impulses with unusual touching and love. He, having analyzed his childhood and youth, gives an explanation for many of Paul’s actions in the future. The happiness and consolation of Paul I were the first years of his second marriage with Princess Maria Fedorovna of Württenberg. Walishevsky writes that he was absorbed in a happy family life, and was preparing to devote himself entirely to raising his first-born. But Catherine II prevented him from this noble intention. Pavel and his mother had different views on raising children. While in power, Catherine II did not want to share power with her son, which created a chasm in their relationship. Waliszewski found evidence in the archives that Paul was theoretically preparing all the time to become emperor, even drawing up a budget and plans for military reform. But Catherine II did not want to see Paul in the capital, and in order to move him away from the court, she gave him an estate in Gatchina, where Paul creates his own special Gatchina world, where his amusing army, dressed in Prussian uniforms, from the time of the great King Frederick II, played a big role. His father Peter III also adored him, and this love of his for Frederick was passed on to his son.

In the monograph, K. Valishevsky provides information that in Gatchina Paul felt freer from Catherine’s noisy court and that the events of the great French bourgeois revolution played a large role in the formation of Paul’s political views: the execution of the French king Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette terribly frightened Catherine II and Paul and all the nobility of Europe. And the massacres of nobles in France aroused in Paul hatred of the revolutionaries. And in the presence of Catherine II, Paul noted that it was necessary to simply shoot all the rebels in Europe. To which Catherine replied that ideas cannot be fought with guns, and her son is a beast, and it is impossible for the state to fall into such hands. From that time on, Catherine had a plan to finally remove Paul from inheriting the throne and transfer it to her grandson, Alexander II. Meanwhile, Pavel lived in Gatchina and, as Valishevsky notes, in constant fear for his life, fearing that at any moment his mother would order his arrest or someone would poison or kill him. The historian emphasizes that Paul's stay in Gatchina played a huge role in shaping him as a future emperor. Considering the period of Paul's life with his passion for the Prussian order, the author writes about the contradictory nature of his nature: on the one hand, the heir imagined himself as a philosopher and philanthropist, he cared about the peasants, because he considered them the breadwinners of all classes and wanted to improve their situation. But at the same time, he was a cruel and despotic person who believed that people should be treated like dogs. All his plans are in the nature of a general vague theory; they do not contain a single practical indication. Paul wanted to transform the entire life of his state, but did not know where to start.

Walishevsky tells with bitterness about the misunderstanding between father and son, without blaming either Paul or Alexander, since Catherine II played a significant role in these disagreements, who from the very beginning took up the upbringing of Alexander. And from a very early age he was morally confused by his improper upbringing. Catherine, shortly before her death, tried to attract Alexander II to ascend the throne, bypassing her unfortunate father. But all these desires of the great empress were unexpectedly interrupted by her death on November 6, 1796.

Speaking about the first period of Paul’s life as the heir to the throne, K. Walishevsky writes that the further fate and death of Paul are the consequences of the tragic events of childhood, when Catherine’s supporters killed his father Peter III, which gave birth to fear in Paul until the end of all his days. Despite all the efforts of his educators, they could not contain or suppress his fears, his sometimes sick fantasies, inability to control his own emotions, ardor, impatience, and the constant expectation of an attempt on his life from unknown or invented enemies. The betrayal of his first beloved wife gives rise to insecurity and distrust of people. The bloody events of the French Revolution give rise to fear of revolution in Russia and Europe, and he tries to defend himself with the system of the Prussian model of government, taking as a model the Prussian king, the “philosopher on the throne” (P.40), Frederick II. Acquaintance with the Order of Malta develops a romantic personality in Paul I. Mutual distrust between son and mother gives rise to constant suspicion and a long wait for the throne, and the fear of losing it in the future.

The new Emperor of Russia, Paul I, who was unpredictable and uncontrollable by his emotions, was supposed to take the throne.

K. Valishevsky presents to the reader in detail the events that occurred during the beginning of the reign of Paul I. Here are just the key moments of this time: being in Gatchina and learning about the death of his mother, Paul at first did not believe it, thinking that it was a provocation. But when representatives of various strata of society informed him about this, he, who had been waiting for so many years for the throne, even became confused for a while. But soon, already intoxicated by the unexpectedly fallen power, Pavel was true to his fantasies. And he brought one of them to life. As soon as he ascended the throne, Paul ordered the body of his father Peter III to be removed from the grave in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and put a crown on his head, thereby returning his imperial title to him, since when Peter III was killed, he was abdicated from power. Then Paul gave this crown to the murderer of Peter A. Orlov, who carried it along the troops lined up along the Nevsky behind the coffin of the emperor he killed.

On April 5, 1797, the coronation of Paul himself took place, and on the same day several important laws were promulgated.

The decree on succession to the throne established a certain order in the succession to the throne and put an end to the arbitrariness of the sovereign proclaimed by Peter I in the matter of appointing a successor. The “Institution of the Imperial Family” determined the order of maintenance of persons of the reigning house, allocating special, so-called appanage estates for this purpose, and organizing their management. According to this act, the throne passes to the eldest in the family in the male line. As for women, they have the right to inherit the throne only after the suppression of all male representatives of the dynasty.

Another decree, published under the same date, concerned the serf peasantry and, prohibiting the performance of corvee on Sundays, contained advice to landowners to limit themselves to three-day corvee for peasants. The majority understood this law in the sense of prohibiting a higher corvee than three days a week, but in this understanding it did not find practical application either under Paul himself or under his successors. A decree that followed some time prohibited the sale of peasants without land in Little Russia. These decrees, in any case, indicating that the government had once again taken into its own hands the protection of the interests of the serf peasantry, were poorly harmonized with Paul’s other actions aimed at increasing the number of serfs. Convinced, due to his unfamiliarity with the actual state of affairs, that the fate of the landowner peasants was better than the fate of the state-owned ones, Paul during his short reign distributed up to 600,000 souls of state-owned peasants into private ownership. On the other hand, the rights of the upper classes underwent serious reductions under Paul, compared with how they were established in the previous reign: the most important articles of letters of grant to the nobility and cities were abolished, the self-government of these classes and some personal rights of their members, such as , for example, freedom from corporal punishment.

The historian considers it necessary to note the peculiarity of Paul’s activities: within 100 years from the beginning of Peter’s reign, 12 noble courts received princely and count dignity; Paul also differs in this direction - during the four years of his reign, he created five new princely families and 22 counts.

In his government activities, Pavel, according to K. Valishevsky, allowed absurdities and sometimes excesses. Pavel ordered Major K.F. Tol to make a model of St. Petersburg so that not only all the streets, squares, but also the facades of all houses and even their view from the courtyard were represented with literal geometric accuracy. He banned the words “club”, “council”, “representatives”, “citizen”, “fatherland”. He issued a decree that determined at what hours city residents should turn off the lights in their homes. Through the chief of police, Pavel forbade dancing the waltz, wearing wide and large curls, and sideburns. Set the colors of collars, cuffs, women's frock coats, etc.

The author of the monograph more than once mentions the role of Prussia in the formation of the political views of Paul I. He, frightened by the events of the French Revolution, sought to create a state of absolute order in Russia. And it was Prussia that served as a model for him. Hence the Prussian drill in the guard and army, the Prussian uniform, the Prussian iron discipline. Pavel wanted the guard, which had long ago become just a toy, to now take up serious work. But the consequence of too radical military reform was the creation of a center of opposition to the new regime. The harsh actions, whims and oddities of the new sovereign threw everyone into confusion. The end result of this course of affairs was the complete breakdown of the entire administrative mechanism and the growth of increasingly serious discontent in society. Convinced of the need to protect Russian society from the perverse ideas of the revolution, Paul undertook a whole persecution of liberal thoughts and overseas tastes, which, despite all the severity with which it was carried out, had a rather curious character. In 1799, travel of young people abroad for study was prohibited, and the University of Dorpat was founded to avoid the need for such trips. In 1800, the import of all books and even music from abroad was prohibited; even earlier, in 1797, private printing houses were closed and strict censorship was established for Russian books. At the same time, a ban was imposed on French fashions and Russian harnesses, police orders determined the hour when residents of the capital had to put out the lights in their houses, the words “citizen” and “fatherland” were expelled from the Russian language, etc. The government system, thus , came down to the establishment of barracks discipline in the life of society.

As for foreign policy, Valishevsky also shows in it the influence of the sovereign’s ambiguous nature. Paul at first adhered to anti-French sentiments and, at the request of the Austrian Emperor Francis II to save Europe from the French, and, above all, Italy, he sent the great Suvorov, and Admiral Ushakov to the sea. Paul's contradictory nature was reflected in his creation of an alliance between Russia and Turkey, directed against France. But, disappointed in the actions of Austria, which actually betrayed Suvorov’s army to death, because it was afraid of increasing Russian influence in the Balkans and Italy, and unexpectedly for all of Europe, Pavel breaks off relations with England and Austria and creates an alliance with Napoleon. Pavel, with his great intelligence, understood that the time of the romantic French revolution was over, the time of seizures of colonies and lands was beginning, and the creation of the French Empire was beginning. He wrote a letter to Napoleon, in which he indicated that there was no need for them to argue, it was important to talk about creating peace in Europe, which it so desperately needed. At that time, Admiral Nelson captured Malta, the capital of the Order of Malta. The Knights of Malta fled and offered the title of Grand Master of the Order to Paul, as the protector of thrones and altars. So, Paul became the head of the Order of Malta. Considering himself a knight, a defender of faith and power from the encroachments of the French Revolution, his romantic nature also manifested itself in him. In the guise of Paul, three people were united: a knight of the Order of Malta - an admirer of the Prussian king Frederick II - an admirer of French absolutism of the era of Louis XIV. It was in these three concepts that Paul’s contradictory nature took shape, which to a great extent reflected the contradictory nature of the era in which he lived. Waliszewski writes that Paul I is “Jerusalem-Versailles-Potsdam” (P.417).

The historiography of Pavlovsk's reign is replete with general assessments of the nature of the internal political activity of that time. Meanwhile, the state transformations of the era of Paul I have not been sufficiently studied. Among them, not the least important and original place is occupied by urban reform. Valishevsky devotes a lot of space in his monograph to elucidating the reasons, goals, progress and results of its implementation in Moscow, as well as understanding the circumstances that accompanied its abolition. At the end of the 18th century, the urban improvement of Moscow was provided mainly by the in-kind contributions of the tax-paying population of the capital. Monetary contributions for citywide needs were small, and most of these funds were spent on the maintenance of the judiciary and the Duma. All financial orders of the latter were placed under the strict control of the provincial authorities. Two important Pavlovian innovations - the transfer of the police to the maintenance of the city treasury and the construction of barracks for troops and apartments for visiting officials - significantly changed the nature and scope of economic and financial care of the capital's governing bodies.

These events were a response to problems that worried Catherine’s administration. The reform of city government in Moscow was an attempt to adapt the capital's administrative mechanism to the new conditions that emerged as a result of these transformations. The priority for the legislator was the creation of an effective system of city institutions capable of carrying out instructions and bearing real responsibility to higher authorities. The Moscow Charter, which changed the composition, structure and functions of the capital's governing bodies, was created on the basis of the new St. Petersburg regulation. When compiling the latter, the Prussian experience was traditionally used. Features of the new administrative structure in Moscow were the creation of a rigid executive vertical, strengthening reporting and control over the activities of the bodies responsible for the state of city finances, the deployment of troops and the supply of food to the population. The administrative status of the capital's institutions and positions increased, and the city government was separated from the provincial government. Management costs have increased. Administrative and economic transformations led to the approval of the first city budget, were the immediate reason for the publication of regulations that legalized peasant trade in the city, and led to the drawing up of a guild charter. The increase in taxation raised the problem of equal distribution of duties and fees. The Moscow nobility was also attracted to the latter.

Subsequently, having abolished Pavlovian administrative regulations in the capitals and restored in general terms the city legislation of Catherine II, Alexander I nevertheless confirmed the financial and economic changes that had occurred. It soon became clear, however, that a simple return to the previous system of institutions was impossible, since it did not guarantee successful and reliable management. The search began for a form of administrative structure in the capital that would be acceptable under the new conditions. In this context, the reform of Moscow governance under Paul I seems to be the beginning of this process.

Having examined the reign of Paul I, Walishevsky wonders whether Catherine’s son was really mentally ill. Previously, the generally accepted opinion was that the reign of Paul I was disastrous and tyranny. But the last years of his reign still refute this opinion. And the first place in the refutation is occupied by the progress of science during the reign of Paul, his patronage in the field of art and literature. For twenty years Paul was an opponent of the policies and reign of Catherine II, whose merits, however, are recognized by everyone, despite some mistakes. He conceived, prepared and wanted to carry out a complete revolution of government, which gave Russia power and brilliance, which it has not had since then. Having achieved power, if he did not carry out this plan, then, in any case, he tried to do it. K. Waliszewski calls Paul “the true son of the revolution, which he so ardently hated and fought against” (p. XX). Therefore, he cannot be called either crazy in the pathological sense of the word, or even weak-minded, although he was capable of some recklessness. The historian explains this by saying that the emperor, as a man of mediocre intelligence, could not resist the general mental crisis, which made even the most powerful of that time delirious. Thus, Walishevsky justifies all of Pavel’s actions, joining rather the opinion of people who mistake wildness and rashness for the power of brilliant inspiration, rather than those who, speaking about Pavel’s character, consider him mentally abnormal.

According to K. Waliszewski, the death of Paul I gave rise to many mysteries, and in order to understand them more thoroughly, the author, in as much detail as possible, presents the events preceding the death of the sovereign. So, gradually, Paul’s entourage: the court nobility, the guard, especially its elite, the bureaucracy, the nobility, Paul’s relatives begin to experience the enormous burden of his demands, his often impossible orders, contradictory to each other, sometimes very cruel. From his youth, afraid of assassinations, conspiracies, coups, Pavel always feared for his life, not trusting anyone. There were very few people he loved. Since his first wife Natalya Alekseevna cheated on him, he stopped trusting people. And he trusted only his former hairdresser, Count Kutaisov, a baptized Turk. He demanded strict adherence to the rules of etiquette in his luxurious palaces, and saw in everything a desire to belittle his importance as the supreme monarch. St. Petersburg society was terrified of the Tsar every day. At parades and reviews, generals and officers were afraid of the tsar's antics. Sometimes Paul, depriving an officer of nobility for the slightest offense, could also subject him to corporal punishment, which was impossible in the time of Catherine II. Tension grew in society, accompanied by fear of Paul. As for the opinion of Walishevsky himself, he emphasizes that the tragic death of the sovereign was neither exclusively, nor even mainly, due to his mistakes and insults to those around him. On the contrary, it was his best aspirations that led Paul to death. The emperor’s entourage could not forgive the insult to their vanity, the reduction of the thefts they committed.

The rapprochement with Napoleon and the break with England gives rise to a desire among the courtiers and guards to get rid of Paul. The society was looking for a way out, which resulted in the organization of several conspiracies against Paul. And the most important character in the last conspiracy was the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, and confidant of Paul I, Count P. A. von der Palen. He decided to make the banner of the conspiracy the son of Paul Alexander, the beloved grandson of Catherine II, whom she wanted to elevate to the throne, bypassing Paul. Alexander, raised between two fires, forced to please his great grandmother and his stern father, became two-faced and evasive of specific answers and opinions. The conspirators took advantage of this duplicity of the heir. For the purpose of secrecy, von der Palen met with Alexander in the bathhouse and explained to him the situation of the country, ruled by a mad king. As a compelling argument, he cited the fact that if they do not act, then other conspirators may act and kill Paul. Because he himself will not kill, he will only abdicate the throne. Palen gathered all the conspirators on the night of March 11-12, 1801 in the apartment of the commander of the Preobrazhensky regiment, General Talyzin, and divided the conspirators into two groups. One was headed by the former favorite of Catherine II P. A. Zubov with his brother Nikolai, the second group was headed by Palen himself. The actions of the English Ambassador Whitworth to Russia played a large role in the death of Paul. He becomes the center of a conspiracy against Emperor Paul, whose policies do not suit England, which was interested in destroying the planned military-political alliance between Paul and Napoleon.

At the time when Palen sent his first group to Pavel, he had already been living in the Mikhailovsky Castle for 40 days. On the site where the Mikhailovsky Castle was built, there was once a wooden palace of Elizabeth Petrovna, where Pavel was born on October 20, 1 7 54. Starting the construction of the castle, Paul said: “Where I was born, there I will die.” Valishevsky makes an interesting observation that on the main facade of the Mikhailovsky Castle, in bronze and gold letters, there was an inscription from the Gospel: “To your house befits the holiness of the Lord for the length of days.” The number of letters in the inscription is equal to the number of years Paul lived.

When sending the first group, Palen hoped that if the conspirators killed Paul, he would keep his word given to Alexander, since he would not kill Paul. If they don’t kill him, then Palen will come as Paul’s liberator from the conspirators. Therefore, he deliberately walked quite slowly towards the castle. Valishevsky's book even gives a plan of the mezzanine of the Mikhailovsky Castle with the location of the rooms of Paul and his wife Maria Fedorovna. Lately, mistrusting his son and wife, Pavel ordered the doors to his wife’s room to be tightly locked. And from Pavel’s bedroom-office a secret staircase led to the lower floor, where Pavel’s favorite Anna Lopukhina lived. All the conspirators were drunk, when von der Palen ordered action, no one even moved at first. The cold-blooded German General Bennigsen went with the first group of conspirators. There were a huge number of guards both inside and outside the castle. Among them was the Semenovsky Guards battalion, whose chief was Alexander II. Literally 2 hours before his death, Pavel personally removed a squadron of horse guards under the command of commander Sablukov from his bedroom under the pretext that they were Jacobin revolutionaries. And therefore, instead of a guard, he placed two valets. The conspirators easily dealt with such security and burst into the bedroom, breaking down the door. But Pavel was not there. In fright, some of the conspirators tried to jump out of the bedroom, others went to look for Pavel in other rooms. Only Bennigsen remained; he calmly walked around all the corners of the bedroom and saw Paul’s legs sticking out of the cain. Returning, one of the conspirators ordered Paul to sign an abdication of the throne. Pavel refused, started an argument with N. Zubov, hit him on the hand, and Nikolai then hit Pavel in the temple with a gold snuffbox. The conspirators attacked Pavel and brutally killed him. Paul died in terrible agony. Waliszewski describes what happened as an attack by a disorderly drunken crowd on a defenseless creature, undoubtedly sympathizing with the emperor. When Palen reported to Alexander about the death of his father, he cried out in tears that Palen had promised to prevent the murder. To which Palen reasonably replied that he himself did not kill and added that, stop being childish, go reign. Alexander never forgot this terrible death of his father and could not find peace.