Birthday anniversary of Alexander I, Russian Emperor

12 (23) December, 1777 in Petersburg, into the family of the grand duke Paul Petrovich was born the son Alexander, future Emperor of Russia; an active participant of the anti-French coalition of European states (1813-1814), one of the leaders of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) and organizers of the Holly Alliance (1815).

Grandmother of Alexander, Empress Catherine II intended to make of him a successor of her ideas. In order to achieve this goal, she invited for Alexander a Swiss named F. Laharpe recommended to her by a French philosopher D. Didro. Laharpe influenced a lot the development of character of the grand duke. Russian Field Marshal General N. I. Saltykov was appointed Alexander’s guardian.

Having ascended the throne after the death of Paul I in March of 1801, Alexander I was going to make a radical reform of the Russian political structure by creation of a constitution which guaranteed to all the subjects the personal freedom and civil rights. In April of 1801 was established the Fundamental Council – a legislative and deliberative body under the monarch which was authorized to appeal against the deeds and decrees of the tsar. After that Alexander focused his efforts on the development of reforms in the circle of his associates creating the Privy Committee – unofficial supreme deliberative body under the emperor.

By the time of coronation of Alexander I in September 1801 the Fundamental Council developed a series of projects: Imperial Charter granted to the Russian people including the guaranties of the basic civil rights of the subjects (freedom of speech, of the press, liberty of conscience, personal security, guarantee of private property); Manifesto on the peasant question; project of the Senate reorganization. However, in the course of the projects’ discussion came out the contradictions between the members of the Privy Council so that not one of the three documents was made public.

Consideration of the peasant question in the Council resulted in the Decree on the free plowmen of February 1803 which authorized land owners to set the peasants free and allot the land to them as a property creating a category of personally free peasants.

The higher and central governing bodies were reformed: the Cabinet o ministers and the ministries were established, the State Council (instead of the Privy Council) was created.

In 1808 Alexander I charged count M. M. Speransky with the development of a new project of the state reform which stipulated the reorganization of Russia into a constitutional monarchy where the monarch’s power would be limited by the two chambers’ legislative body of a parliament type. Besides, during 1810-1811 the State Council discussed the projects of financial, ministerial and senate reforms proposed by Speransky.

In the foreign policy the government of Alexander I tried to create the system of collective security in Europe bounding all the leading states to one another by a series of agreements. In 1801 Russia concluded peace treaties with the Great Britain and France. However, the aggressive policy of Napoleon Bonaparte led to aggravation of the international situation. Thus, in May of 1804 the Russian side recalled its ambassador from France.

In 1805-1807 Alexander I took part in the coalitions against the Napoleon France. But the defeat of the Russian army in the Battle of Austerlitz in November 1805 forced the Russian Emperor to make an accord with Napoleon (1807): Russia and France concluded in Tilsit an alliance and a treaty dividing the zones of influence. In 1808 the sides discussed the plans of the joint campaign against India and the partition of the Ottoman Empire. However, at that time already the relations between the allies began to worsen due to the conflict of interests.  

The struggle with Napoleon draw Russia into war with Sweden, Turkey and Persia, as a result of which were concluded the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (1809), the Treaty of Bucharest (1812) and the Treaty of Gulistan (1813). In September 1808 Alexander I opened the Seim and approved the constitution of Finland. In 1810-1812 the issue of bank notes stopped, the capitation and quitrent increased and new indirect taxes were established. The burden of Tilsit conditions, unwillingness to follow the continental custom system which was accepted by Napoleon in order to struggle with England but was ruinous for Russia, led to the war with France.

In June 1812 French armies crossed the Russian border – the Patriotic War broke out. After a long retreat and leaving Moscow, Russian armies managed to reverse the course of the war and banish the enemy beyond the borders of the country. The war with Napoleon continued abroad in alliance with Austria and Prussia, and ended in 1815 by seizure of Paris.

In May 1815 the Russian emperor announced the granting of constitution to the Kingdom of Poland which stipulated the creation of the two-chamber Seim, the system of local self-government and the freedom of press. In 1818 Alexander I charged count N. N. Novosiltsev with preparation of a draft of the constitution for Russia. The draft of the “Constitutional Charter of the Russian Empire” which stipulated the federative structure of the country, was ready by the end of 1820 and approved by the emperor, but its implementation was postponed for an uncertain time.  

In September 1815 Alexander I initiated the creation of the Holy Alliance, a prototype of international organizations, which was a sort of a guarantor of observance of the Vienna Congress resolutions (1814-1815). The Russian Emperor personally attended the congresses of the Holy Alliance in Aachen (September–November 1818), Troppau and Laibach (October–December 1820 – January 1821), Verona (October-December 1822).

19 November (1 December), 1825 Alexander I died in Taganrog during the trip around Russia and was buried in the burial vault of the Romanovs family – Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Lit.:  Вандаль А. Наполеон и Александр I. Ростов-на-Дону, 1995; Мироненко С. В. Самодержавие и реформы: Политическая борьба в России в начале XIX в. М., 1989; Михайловский-Данилевский А. И. Император Александр I и его сподвижники в 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815 годах. СПб., 1845-1849; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://runivers.ru/lib/book4718/; Haдлер А. Император Александр Первый и идея Священного союза. Рига, 1885-1868; Николай Михайлович, великий князь. Император Александр I. СПб., 1912; Путята Н. Обозрение жизни и царствования императора Александра I // Исторический сборник. 1872. № 1. С. 426—494; Пыпин А. Общественное движение при Александре I. СПб., 1871; Сахаров А. Н. Александр I // Российские самодержцы (1801-1917). М., 1993; Троицкий Н. А. Александр I и Наполеон. М., 1994; Шильдер Н. К. Император Александр I. Его жизнь и царствование. СПб., 1904-1905.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Alexander I (1777–1825) // House of Romanov. The Zemsky Sobor of 1613: [digital collection].