Lexander I (
Lexander I (
Lexander I (
Contents
1Early life
2Tsarevich
3Emperor
o 3.1Ascension
o 3.2Domestic policy
o 3.3Views held by his contemporaries
o 3.4Napoleonic Wars
3.4.2Opposition to Napoleon
o 3.5Prussia
o 3.6Franco-Russian alliance
o 3.8French invasion
4Postbellum
5Personal life
6Death
7Children
8Ancestry
9See also
10Notes
11References
12Further reading
13External links
Early life[edit]
Confirmation of Alexander's wife Elizabeth Alexeievna
Portrait of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, 1800, by Vladimir Borovikovsky
Alexander was born on 23 December 1777 in Saint Petersburg, and he and his younger
brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, Catherine.[3] Some sources[4] allege that she
planned to remove her son (Alexander's father) Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-
thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, he
imbibed the principles of Rousseau's gospel of humanity. But from his military governor, Nikolay
Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy.[5] Andrey Afanasyevich Samborsky, whom
his grandmother chose for his religious instruction, was an atypical, unbearded Orthodox priest.
Samborsky had long lived in England and taught Alexander (and Constantine) excellent English,
very uncommon for potential Russian autocrats at the time.[citation needed]
On 9 October 1793, when Alexander was still 15 years old, he married 14-year-old Princess Louise
of Baden, who took the name Elizabeth Alexeievna.[6] His grandmother was the one who presided
over his marriage to the young princess.[7] Until his grandmother's death, he was constantly walking
the line of allegiance between his grandmother and his father. His steward Nikolai Saltykov helped
him navigate the political landscape, engendering dislike for his grandmother and dread in dealing
with his father.[citation needed]
Catherine had the Alexander Palace built for the couple. This did nothing to help his relationship with
her, as Catherine would go out of her way to amuse them with dancing and parties, which annoyed
his wife. Living at the palace also put pressure on him to perform as a husband, though he felt only a
brother's love for the Grand Duchess.[8] He began to sympathize more with his father, as he saw
visiting his father's fiefdom at Gatchina as a relief from the ostentatious court of the empress. There,
they wore simple Prussian military uniforms, instead of the gaudy clothing popular at the French
court they had to wear when visiting Catherine. Even so, visiting the tsarevich did not come without a
bit of travail. Paul liked to have his guests perform military drills, which he also pushed upon his sons
Alexander and Constantine. He was also prone to fits of temper, and he often went into fits of rage
when events did not go his way.[9]
Tsarevich[edit]
Catherine's death in November 1796, before she could appoint Alexander as her successor, brought
his father, Paul, to the throne. Alexander disliked him as emperor even more than he did his
grandmother. He wrote that Russia had become a "plaything for the insane" and that "absolute
power disrupts everything". It is likely that seeing two previous rulers abuse their autocratic powers
in such a way pushed him to be one of the more progressive Romanov tsars of the 19th and 20th
centuries. Among the rest of the country, Paul was widely unpopular. He accused his wife of
conspiring to become another Catherine and seize power from him as his mother did from his father.
He also suspected Alexander of conspiring against him, despite his son's earlier refusal to Catherine
to seize power from Paul.[10]
Emperor[edit]
Ascension[edit]
Alexander became Emperor of Russia when his father was assassinated 23 March 1801. Alexander,
then 23 years old, was in the palace at the moment of the assassination and his accession to the
throne was announced by General Nicholas Zubov, one of the assassins. Historians still debate
Alexander's role in his father's murder. The most common theory is that he was let into the
conspirators' secret and was willing to take the throne but insisted that his father should not be killed.
Becoming emperor through a crime that cost his father's life would give Alexander a strong sense of
remorse and shame.[11]
Alexander I succeeded to the throne on