Alexander I, Emperor (1777-1825)

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ALEXANDER I (1777, St. Petersburg - 1825), Emperor (since 1801). Son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Fedorovna. Brought up by his grandmother, Empress Catherine II. Married (in 1793) the Princess of Baden, Marie Louise Auguste (Elizaveta Alexeevna). In 1796, he was appointed General Governor of St. Petersburg and Inspector of the St. Petersburg Division, then Head of the Military Collegium. He took the crown as a result of a coup on the palace on 11 March 1801, accompanied by murder of his father (which turned into a psychological trauma for him). He declared adherence to Catherine II's political plans, and restored the Noble Charter and towns abolished by his father. During the reform of central control, collegiums were replaced by ministries (1802), and in 1810 the State Assembly was established. He founded the Tsarskoselsky (Alexandrovsky) Lyceum. In the summertime, he preferred to live in the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, where all important decisions were made (including the appointment of M.I. Kutuzov as the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Forces in 1812). Stiffening of internal policy in the second half of Alexander I's reign led to the appearance of opposition among the nobility and the organization of secret societies (see Decembrist Movement). Alexander I's sudden death in Taganrog led to a dynastic crisis. In the interim, at the end of 1825, members of secret societies attempted a tentative military uprising (see December 14, 1825). By order of Empress Catherine II, a summer house was built for Alexander in St. Petersburg (today 46 Kurlyandskaya Street), as was the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Emperor Paul I presented him with Oranienbaum. Alexander I was buried in the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral. A number of monuments are devoted to him (Alexander Column), as well as to events during his reign (the Narva Triumph Gates, the General Staff Arch).

References: Мироненко С. В. Самодержавие и реформы: Полит. борьба в России в нач. XIX в. М., 1989; Федоров В. А. Александр I // ВИ. 1990. № 1. С. 50-72; Сахаров А. Н. Человек на троне. М., 1992.

Y. A. Kuzmin. Alexander I, Emperor
Catherine II, Empress
Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov) Mikhail Illarionovich, Gracious Prince
Maria Fedorovna, Empress
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Kurlyandskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 46
Мироненко С. В. Самодержавие и реформы: Полит. борьба в России в нач. XIX в. М., 1989
Федоров В. А. Александр I // Вопр. истории, 1990
Сахаров А. Н. Человек на троне. М., 1992 Military Collegium
State Assembly
Lyceum
Lyceum
Decembrists
Decembrist Revolt of 1825
Alexander Palace (Pushkin)
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
Alexander Column
Narva Triumphal Arch
1777
1801
1825