Pavel 1 and his children. Our "Pavlovnas" (the fate of the daughters of Paul the First)

Although, because of his father's jokes on the topic "it is not known where his wife has children," many consider Ekaterina Alekseevna's favorite, Sergei Saltykov, to be the father of Paul I. Moreover, the first-born was born only after 10 years of marriage. However, the outward resemblance of Paul and Peter should be seen as a response to such rumors. The childhood of the future autocrat cannot be called happy. Because of the political struggle, the current Empress Elizabeth I Petrovna was afraid for Paul the First, protected him from communication with his parents and surrounded him with a real army of nannies and teachers who curried favor with high-ranking persons more than worried about the boy.

Pavel the First in childhood | Runiverse

Biography of Paul I claims that he received better education which was only possible at the time. An extensive library of Academician Korf was placed at his personal disposal. The teachers taught the heir to the throne not only the traditional Law of God, foreign languages, dancing and fencing, but also painting, as well as history, geography, arithmetic and even astronomy. Interestingly, none of the lessons included anything related to military affairs, but the inquisitive teenager himself became interested in this science and mastered it quite well. high level.

Pavel the First in his youth | Arguments and Facts

When Catherine II ascended the throne, she allegedly signed an obligation to transfer the reign to her son Paul I when he came of age. This document has not reached us: perhaps the Empress destroyed the paper, or maybe it's just a legend. But it was precisely such a statement that all the rebels, including Yemelyan Pugachev, who were dissatisfied with the rule of the “iron German”, always referred to. In addition, there was talk that already on her deathbed, Elizabeth Petrovna was going to transfer the crown to her grandson Paul I, and not to her nephew Peter III, but the corresponding order was not made public and this decision did not affect the biography of Paul the First.

Emperor

Paul the First sat on the throne of the Russian Empire only at the age of 42. Right during the coronation, he announced changes in the succession to the throne: now only men could rule Russia, and the crown was passed only from father to son. By this, Paul unsuccessfully hoped to prevent the palace coups that had become more frequent in recent times. By the way, for the first time in history, the coronation procedure took place simultaneously for both the emperor and the empress on the same day.

The disgusting relationship with his mother led to the fact that Paul I chose the method of governing the country in fact by contrasting his decisions with her previous ones. As if "in spite" of the memory of Ekaterina Alekseevna, Pavel the First returned freedom to the condemned radicals, reformed the army and began to fight serfdom.

Pavel the First | Petersburg history

But in reality, all these ideas did not lead to anything good. The release of the radicals after many years will backfire in the form of an uprising of the Decembrists, the reduction of corvee remained only on paper, and the fight against corruption in the army turned into a series of repressions. Moreover, both the highest ranks, who one after another lost their posts, and ordinary military personnel remained dissatisfied with the emperor. They grumbled about the new uniform, modeled on the Prussian army, which turned out to be incredibly uncomfortable. In foreign policy, Paul the First became famous for his struggle with ideas French Revolution. He introduced the strictest censorship in book publishing; french books, French fashion, including round hats.

Pavel the First | Wikipedia

During the reign of Paul I, thanks to the commander Alexander Suvorov and Vice Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, the Russian army and navy achieved many significant victories, cooperating with the Prussian and Austrian troops. But later, Paul I showed his fickle character, broke off relations with the allies and formed an alliance with Napoleon. It was in Bonaparte that the Russian emperor saw the force that could stop the anti-monarchist revolution. But he made a strategic mistake: Napoleon did not become a winner even after the death of Paul the First, but because of his decision and the economic blockade of Great Britain, Russia lost its largest sales market, which had a very significant impact on the standard of living in Russian Empire.

Personal life

Officially, Paul the First was married twice. His first wife, Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, was a German princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt by birth. She died two years after the wedding during childbirth. The first son of Paul I was born dead. In the same year, the future emperor remarried. The wife of Paul the First, Maria Feodorovna, was called Sophia Maria Dorothea of ​​Württemberg before marriage, and she was destined to become the mother of two rulers at once, Alexander I and Nicholas I.

Princess Natalya Alekseevna, first wife of Paul I | pinterest

Interestingly, this marriage was not only beneficial for the state, Pavel really fell in love with this girl. As he wrote to his relatives, "this blonde with a pleasant face captivated a widower." In total, in alliance with Maria Feodorovna, the emperor had 10 children. In addition to the two autocrats mentioned above, it is worth noting Mikhail Pavlovich, who founded the first Russian Artillery School in St. Petersburg. By the way, he is the only child born precisely during the reign of Paul the First.

Pavel I and Maria Fyodorovna surrounded by children | Wikipedia

But falling in love with his wife did not prevent Paul the First from following the generally accepted rules and getting himself a favorite. Two of them, ladies-in-waiting Sofya Ushakova and Mavra Yuryeva, even gave birth to illegitimate children from the emperor. It is also worth noting Ekaterina Nelidova, who had a huge influence on the emperor and it is believed that she tried to lead the country through the hands of her lover. The personal life of Paul I and Ekaterina Nelidova was more intellectual than carnal. In it, the emperor realized his ideas of romantic chivalry.

Favorites of Paul I, Ekaterina Nelidova and Anna Lopukhina

When those close to the court realized how much the power of this woman had increased, they arranged a “replacement” for the favorite of Paul I. Anna Lopukhina became his new lady of the heart, and Nelidova was forced to retire to Lode Castle, on the territory of present-day Estonia. It is curious that Lopukhina was not happy with this state of affairs, she was burdened by the status of the mistress of the ruler Paul the First, his “chivalrous” manifestations of attention, and was annoyed that these relations were put on display.

Death

During the several years of the reign of Paul the First, despite the change in inheritance, at least three conspiracies were organized against him, the last of which was crowned with success. Almost a dozen officers, commanders of the most famous regiments, as well as statesmen on the night of March 24, 1801, they entered the emperor's bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle and committed the murder of Paul I. The official cause of his death was apoplexy. It is worth noting that the nobles and ordinary people met the news of death with badly broken jubilation.

Engraving "The Assassination of Emperor Paul I", 1880 | Wikipedia

The perception of Paul the First by subsequent generations is ambiguous. Some historians, especially during the reign of his heir Alexander I, and then in Soviet time, created the image of a tyrant and a petty tyrant. Even the poet in the ode "Liberty" called him "a crowned villain." Others try to emphasize the heightened sense of justice of Paul the First, calling him "the only romantic on the throne" and "Russian Hamlet". The Orthodox Church even at one time considered the possibility of canonizing this man. Today it is generally accepted that Paul the First does not fit into the system of any known ideology.

PROLOGUE
V Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich
W ate 1768...

P first chapter of life

The son of Empress Catherine II, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, is 14 years old. The Empress Mother began to think about looking for a bride for her son. She was only four years away from adulthood.

The eighteen-year-old Grand Duke found a bride, a born seventeen-year-old princess.

Augusta-Wilhelmina-Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt.

The wedding was not delayed. On August 15, 1773, Princess Wilhelmina converted to Orthodoxy and became known as Natalia Alkseevna. The wedding took place on September 23, 1773. Grand Duke was passionately in love with his wife.
A.A. Turgenev (Paul I's orderly) wrote about what kind of woman she was.
"Natalya Aleseevna was a cunning, subtle, penetrating mind, a quick-tempered, persistent woman ... she gained a strong influence over the prince ... and successfully fulfills the instructions given to her by King Frederick II of Prussia ..."
The king needed "his" man at Catherine's court. And Natalya Alekseenva has already begun to justify the expectations of her Prussian "uncle".

Catherine II very quickly figured out the character and true intentions of her daughter-in-law.
It is not difficult to guess how the relationship between Catherine and her daughter-in-law would have developed, if not for the sad events - Natalya Alekseevna died during childbirth.
Catherine II wrote:
"After her death, during the autopsy, it turned out that the Grand Duchess had been injured since childhood, that the dorsal bone looked like the letter S ..."
Paul suffered. His grief was sincere and great. Catherine decided to heal her son. She handed over the love letters of Natalia Alekseevna to Count Andrei Razumovsky (Paul's chamberlain).

Artist I.-B. Lampi, 1810s. Razumovsky Andrei Kirillovich
Catherine II quickly sent Andrey Kirillovich Rozumovsky as an ambassador to London. Throughout the reign of Catherine II, he was an ambassador to different countries. After Paul's accession, the count considered it prudent not to return to Petersburg.

V second chapter of life
Catherine II quickly found a second bride.
Sophia Maria Dorothea Augusta Louise of Württemberg - Princess of the House of Württemberg

Alexander Roslin.Portrait Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
From the memoirs of contemporaries:
"Princess Dorothea at that time was as good as God's day; tall, slender, she combined a noble and majestic look with thin, regular features. She was born for the crown"
But Dorothea was already engaged. The crown prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ludwig, wooed her.
Catherine II, through King Frederick II, persuaded Ludwig "to give up his bride", for which she sent " young man"10,000 rubles compensation.
On September 14, 1776, in the church of the Winter Palace, the princess was baptized and named Maria Feodorovna, and on September 26 their wedding took place.
Pavel plunged into family life and became attached to his wife.
Pavel and his wife had ten children - four sons and six daughters.
One of the Grand Duchesses, Olga Pavlovna, died in infancy.
About the fate of the five daughters of Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna, a further story.

Literature:
1. Albina Danilova. Five Princesses. Daughters of Emperor Paul I
2.Russian emperors, German princesses

Tsar Paul's daughters: Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Catherine, Olga and Anna

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

In contact with

Childhood

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

Catherine built her reign on the expansion of the rights and privileges of the nobility, as well as the enslavement of the peasants. During her reign borders of the Russian Empire were moved to the south and west.

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

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

The inner circle also had an influence on the formation of the personality of the heir to the throne, but communication with peers was minimized - only children of noble families were allowed to reach him.

Catherine bought for her son huge library of Academician Korf. The boy studied many foreign languages, arithmetic, astronomy, history, geography, learned to draw, dance and fence, studied the Law of God. The lad was not taught military discipline, Catherine did not want her son to be fond of this.

The heir was distinguished by an impatient character, was a restless child, but he could boast of a rich imagination and a love of reading. His education was of the highest quality possible at that time.

Personal life of the future emperor

The first wife of the future ruler died in childbirth, and Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg (Maria Feodorovna) became the second chosen one.

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

Despite having many children and almost constant pregnancies, Maria Fedorovna was engaged in housekeeping and regularly participated in social events. However, it was not of particular importance at court due to the discord between her husband and his mother.

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

The emperor was disappointed by this circumstance and started a relationship with another woman - the favorite Anna Lopukhina. Maria Fedorovna herself took up charity work and began to manage orphanages, streamlining the work of institutions for homeless and abandoned children. She also actively addressed the issues of women's education and founded a number of educational institutions.

Rise to power

When Paul I ruled? He ascended the throne at the age of 42 on November 6, 1796, when Catherine II, his mother, died. Such a late date is explained by the difficult relationship of the future emperor with his mother. They almost completely distanced themselves from each other, realizing that they are people with opposing views. At first, the boy was brought up as the future heir to the throne, but the older he became, the further they tried to keep him from matters of national importance.

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

Transformations

Numerous reforms characterize the reign of Paul 1: internal and foreign policy have undergone a number of changes.

What important steps have been taken:

• amendments were introduced to the procedure for succession to the throne, which was developed. The rights to the throne began to be enjoyed exclusively by the sons or brothers of the ruling dynasty in descending line, or by seniority;
• the emperor's associates received the titles of senior officials or senators;
• associates of Catherine II were removed from their posts;
• higher government agencies changed for the better;
• next to the palace they put a box for petitions, and also installed visiting days for peasants who could openly leave complaints against their owners;
• abolition of corporal punishment for older people over 70 years of age;
• instead of the burdensome grain service for the peasants, a financial levy was introduced. Debts of 7 million rubles were written off;
• it was forbidden to force peasants to work on holidays and weekends;
• corvee is limited - now it lasted 3 days a week;
• the sale of landless peasants and householders was banned. If the owner treated the serfs inhumanely, the governors were obliged to carry out secret arrests and send the offenders to the monastery.
• for 4 years, 6,000 thousand state peasants were transferred to the nobles, since the emperor believed that their life was worse than that of serfs;
• the cost of salt and food products in stores was reduced - the lack was compensated by money from the treasury.

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

He ordered all the children of the nobility who were in them to return to the regiments, forbade the unauthorized transfer to the civil service from the army without the permission of the Senate, approved by him personally.

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

The right was abolished, according to which the nobleman turned to him with complaints and requests: now it was allowed to do this only with the permission of the governor. The punishment of noble people with sticks was reintroduced.

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

Peculiarities of conducting foreign policy

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

• Russia,
• kingdom of naples,
• Austria,
• England.

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

In the same period, the squadron of F.F. Ushakova achieved several naval victories, as a result of which the Ionian Islands became free. However, the Russian-English corps, located in Holland, could not achieve its plans, as a result of which it returned. At the same time, only Russia's allies reaped the fruits of their victories over Napoleon, which caused the rupture of allied ties with Austria and England. The emperor, outraged by the position of England, decided to get closer to France.

Cause of the emperor's death

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

Palen and others. Reason for conspiracy domestic politics autocrat, because he eased the position of the peasants and at the same time limited the rights and privileges of the nobility.

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

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

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

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

Paul 1st - reign of the king, reforms

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

Board results

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

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

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

Almost immediately, a complete dissimilarity of character and upbringing is revealed. George can be half an hour, an hour late with a visit to both her and her brother Alexander. Catherine is terribly infuriated. One day, the Prince of Wales was an hour and a half late, but a courtier came out to him and said that his highness had arrived too early, her highness was taking a bath.
Meanwhile, one of George's brothers, the Duke of Clarence, was seriously carried away by the Russian beauty. It wouldn’t be her prejudice against the boors of the English - and she would eventually be the Queen of England
However, the enmity between Catherine and the English world was quite cruel. The wife of our ambassador in London, Daria Lieven (the sister of the future chief of the gendarmes Benckendorff and the head of our residency in Europe), writes about her king’s sister, in solidarity with the Prince of Wales: “She was very power-hungry and was distinguished by great conceit. I have never met a woman who was so obsessed with the need to move, act, play a role and outshine others.
“The need to move and play a role” led to the fact that in London, in passing, Catherine upset the emerging alliance of the heir to the Dutch throne with one of the English princesses and urgently reoriented it in favor of her younger sister Anna.
Moving further in the matrimonial direction, Catherine finds a groom for herself - this is her close relative, the heir to the throne of the Duchy of Württemberg, the handsome Wilhelm. For the sake of his beloved sister, Alexander assigns the status of a kingdom to Württemberg through the Congress of Vienna. (Moreover, Württemberg is the birthplace of Maria Feodorovna).
So, having flown past the Austrian, French and English crowns, Catherine nevertheless becomes the Queen of Württemberg (since 1816).
Her second marriage is successful in every way. The couple love each other passionately and sincerely. Both are engaged in the organization of their kingdom. It's amazing: Catherine does so much for the prosperity of Württemberg that the inhabitants of this German land still honor her memory! Catherine's motto: "Giving work is more important than giving alms" - sounds acutely relevant today!
She gives her husband two daughters. One of them will eventually become the wife of Count Neiperg, the son of Marie-Louise and her second (after Napoleon) husband. No matter how the rope twists, the descendants of Catherine of Württemberg still had to intermarry with the Habsburgs (and to some extent with Bonaparte)
In 1818, Maria Fedorovna visited the capital of her kingdom and her hometown of Stuttgart. She is delighted with Catherine's successes, with the happiness that reigns in their house, and leaves them with tears of emotion to continue her journey to the Courts of her daughters. The path of Maria Feodorovna lies in Weimar. And here terrible news overtakes her: shortly after her departure on January 9, 1819, Catherine of Württemberg dies of transient meningitis.
She hasn't turned 32 yet.
King Wilhelm still could not believe his loss, he was literally taken away by force from the corpse of his wife
Catherine was buried outside the city in Orthodox Church which has survived to this day. This church is connected not only with Russian history, but also with Russian culture. Many years later, the wedding of the 58-year-old poet V. A. Zhukovsky and the 17-year-old daughter of his friend Elizaveta Reitern took place here.
In 1994, the whole of Germany widely celebrated the 175th anniversary of the birth of Catherine of Württemberg. She is remembered more there than at home.

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 not for the constant humiliation and insults, perhaps Emperor Paul I became a ruler equal in majesty to Peter. However, his domineering mother thought otherwise. At the mention of Paul, an image of a short-sighted martinet-"Prussian" arises in one's thoughts. But was he really like that?

Pavel I - childhood

Paul was born under very mysterious circumstances. Emperor Peter III and Catherine II for ten years could not give birth to an heir. There was a simple explanation for this: 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 this.

The born long-awaited child did not become happiness for the parents. The father matured that the son was not his, and the mother considered the appearance of the baby, rather, a “state project” than a desired child. Engaged in raising a newborn strangers. Pavel experienced the whole horror of the saying: "V seven nannies a child without an eye." He was often forgotten to feed, repeatedly dropped, left alone for a long time. He hasn't seen his parents in years! The boy grew up shy, withdrawn and deeply unhappy...

Pavel I: Far from the throne

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

September 20, 1772, Paul turned 18 years old - it's time to ascend the throne. However, all that he received from his mother was the position of Admiral General of the Russian Navy and colonel of the cuirassier regiment. For the prince, this was the first serious humiliation. Others followed him: he was not awarded a seat 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!

Pavel I_- two wives, two worlds

To distract her son from thoughts of power, Catherine decided to marry him. The choice fell on the Prussian princess Wilhelmina. In the autumn of 1773, the young people got married. Contrary to expectations, the marriage did not bring happiness to Paul. His wife turned out to be a powerful woman - she actually subjugated her husband and began to cheat on him. It did not last long - three years later Wilhelmina died in childbirth. The empress consoled the grief-stricken Pavel in a peculiar way: she personally handed over to her son the love correspondence of his wife with Razumovsky, a close friend of the prince. The double betrayal made Paul an even more gloomy and closed person.

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

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

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

Pavel I - Prisoner of Gatchina

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

First of all, the prince defended the right to have three personal battalions in Gatchina consisting of 2399 people. They lived and served according to Prussian laws; Paul himself commanded the daily exercises.

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

Pavel forgot his sharpness and unsociableness only in the evenings with his relatives. He spent all his evenings with his wife Maria Fedorovna. Dinner was modest - a glass of Burgundy claret and sausages with cabbage. It seemed that until the end of his days he would lead this measured and calm life.

Pavel I - The Great and Terrible

Catherine II died unexpectedly - November 6, 1796 from apoplexy. Had the empress lived six months longer, the throne would have gone to Alexander. All the papers with the order of his succession were ready.

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

With lawlessness and decadence, morals Paul fought hard. Arrests, trials and exile began all over the country. From the punishment of the highest ranks, neither connections nor past merits saved. The officers also had a hard time: Paul forbade revelry and trips to balls, they were replaced by early rises and exhausting exercises. Dissatisfaction with Paul's reforms was also expressed by ordinary officials - as early as 5 in the morning they were required to be in the service.

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 Paul's tough temper, his eldest son Alexander always sided with his father. But the emperor managed to lose this ally as well. Once, in front of everyone, he called his son a fool, which restored the heir against himself.

Feast on blood

The emperor foresaw his death. In any case, numerous memoirs of his contemporaries testify to this.

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 said only: "What will be, will not be avoided."

Another eyewitness said: “After dinner, the emperor looked at himself in the mirror, which had a flaw and made faces crooked. He laughed at this and said: "Look, what a funny mirror; 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. Everything was commanded by General Bennigsen, the princes Zubov, and also Count Palen. Dissatisfaction with the policies of Paul I was discussed over champagne and wine. Having reached the desired condition, the men moved to the chambers of the emperor.

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

Even before dawn, St. Petersburg learned that Pavel had died suddenly from an "apoplexy," and Alexander had taken his place. In the Northern capital, stormy fun began ...

A few years later, General Ya.I. Sanglen, head of the secret police under Alexander I, wrote: “Pavel will forever remain a psychological task. 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.