Alexander I

Alexander I, czar of Russia

Alexander I, 1777–1825, czar of Russia (1801–25), son of Paul I (in whose murder he may have taken an indirect part). In the first years of his reign the liberalism of his Swiss tutor, Frédéric César de La Harpe, seemed to influence Alexander. He suppressed the secret police, lifted the ban on foreign travel and books, made attempts to improve the position of the serfs, and began to reform the backward educational system. In 1805, Alexander joined the coalition against Napoleon I, but after the Russian defeats at Austerlitz and Friedland he formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon's Continental System. Alexander requested M. M. Speranski to draw up proposals for a constitution, but adopted only one aspect of Speranski's scheme, an advisory state council, and dismissed him in 1812 to placate the nobility. During this period Russia gained control of Georgia and parts of Transcaucasia as a result of prolonged war with Persia (1804–13) and annexed (1812) Bessarabia after a war with Turkey (1806–12). Relations with France deteriorated, and Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Alexander's defeat of the French made him one of the most powerful rulers in Europe. At first his foreign policy was liberal, but from 1812 on, Alexander was preoccupied by a vague, mystical Christianity, which contributed to his increasing conservatism. Under the influence of the pietistic Juliana Krüdener and others, he created the Holy Alliance to uphold Christian morality in Europe. Viewing revolutionary movements as challenging to the authority of legitimate Christian monarchs, the czar now supported Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements. Alexander's religious fervor was partly responsible for the establishment of military colonies, which were agricultural communities run by peasant soldiers. Intended to better the lot of the common soldier, the colonies became notorious for the regimentation and near-serfdom imposed on the soldiers. Alexander abrogated many of his earlier liberal efforts. His policies caused the formation of secret political societies, and when Alexander's brother Nicholas I succeeded him the societies led an abortive revolt (see Decembrists). After Alexander's death, rumors persisted that he escaped to Siberia and became a hermit. His tomb was opened (1926) by the Soviet government and was found empty; the mystery remains unsolved. In Alexander's reign St. Petersburg became a social and artistic center of Europe. Ivan Krylov and Aleksandr Pushkin dominated the literary scene. An excellent picture of Alexander's period is found in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Bibliography

See biographies by A. Palmer (1974) and H. Troyat (1986); study by C. Cate (1985).

---

Alexander I, king of Scotland

Alexander I, 1078?–1124, king of Scotland (1107–24), son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret of Scotland. He succeeded his brother Edgar, who had divided the kingdom so that Alexander ruled only N of the Forth and Clyde rivers, while his brother David ruled in the south. Early in his reign he decisively quelled an uprising in N Scotland. Like his mother, Alexander encouraged ecclesiastical conformity with English ways and established several monasteries, including the abbeys at Inchcolm and Scone. David succeeded him as David I.

---

Alexander I

 Russian Aleksandr Pavlovich

(born Dec. 23, 1777, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Dec. 1, 1825, Taganrog) Tsar of Russia (1801–25). He became tsar in 1801 after the assassination of his father, Paul I. He and his advisers corrected many of the injustices of the preceding reign but failed to carry out the abolition of serfdom. During the Napoleonic Wars he alternately fought and befriended Napoleon and helped form the coalition that finally defeated him. Alexander also participated in the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and formed the Holy Alliance (1815). After his sudden death in 1825, a legend sprang up that he had simply “departed” to a Siberian retreat.

---

Alexander I

(born Dec. 4, 1888, Cetinje, Montenegro —died Oct. 9, 1934, Marseille, France) King of Yugoslavia (1921–34). After commanding Serbian forces in World War I, Alexander succeeded his father, Peter I, as king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1921. In 1929 he abolished the constitution and established a royal dictatorship. As part of his efforts to unify his subjects, he changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia; outlawed political parties based on ethnic, religious, or regional distinctions; reorganized the state; and standardized legal systems, school curricula, and national holidays. In 1934 he was assassinated by an agent of Croatian separatists.

---

Alexander I

1. c. 1080--1124, king of Scotland (1107--24), son of Malcolm III

2. 1777--1825, tsar of Russia (1801--25), who helped defeat Napoleon and formed the Holy Alliance (1815)

---

Alexander I 

Born Dec. 12 (23), 1777, in St. Petersburg; died Nov. 19 (Dec. 1), 1825, in Taganrog. Russian emperor from Mar. 12, 1801. Oldest son of Paul I. Educated under the guidance of Catherine II. Ascended the throne after the murder of Paul I through a court conspiracy. Married in 1793 to the daughter of the margrave of Baden, Louise-Marie Auguste, who took the name of Elizaveta Alek-seevna (1779–1826). His character was marked by duplicity, indecisiveness, suspiciousness, and unhealthy self-esteem. At the same time, he was well educated, and his intellect was undeniable; he was an outstanding diplomat.

Moderately liberal reforms set the tone for the first half of Alexander I’s reign. Many of them were worked out by the so-called Unofficial Committee. The reforms included granting the right to buy unsettled land to merchants, the middle classes, and state settlers; the promulgation of the edict on free cultivators; the establishment of ministries, the Committee of Ministers, and the State Council; and the opening of Petersburg, Khar’kov, and Kazan universities. The aim of these measures was to preserve the autocracy in the context of the decay of serfdom and to avert a revolutionary explosion. In 1808, M. M. Speranskii became Alexander’s closest colleague. In essence, Speranskii’s project of state reform had the same goals as the other reforms. However, the basic propositions of Speranskii’s project were never realized.

In his foreign policy, Alexander I vacillated at first between England and France, and he simultaneously concluded peace treaties with both powers in 1801. In 1805–07 he participated in the Third and Fourth coalitions against Napoleonic France. Defeats at Austerlitz (1805), where Alexander I was in effect the commander in chief, and at Friedland (1807) and England’s refusal to subsidize the military expenses of the coalition led to the signing of the Peace of Tilsit (1807) with France. The treaty did not, however, prevent further Russian-French conflicts. Successful wars with Turkey (1806–12) and Sweden (1808–09) strengthened Russia’s international position. During Alexander’s reign, Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812), and Azerbaijan (1813) were annexed by Russia.

The tsar was with the army in the field at the start of the Patriotic War of 1812 but left because of his inability to direct military operations. Under the pressure of public opinion, he designated M. I. Kutuzov commander in chief. In 1813–14, Alexander I headed the anti-French coalition of the European powers. On Mar. 31, 1814, he entered Paris at the head of the allied armies. He was one of the leaders of the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and an organizer of the reactionary Holy Alliance (1815), at whose congresses he was an unfailing participant.

The victory of reaction in Europe after the defeat of Napoleonic France allowed Alexander to cease playing at liberalism in the domestic politics of Russia and embark openly on a reactionary course. In place of M. M. Speranskii, who was eliminated from all official duties in 1812 and exiled to Nizhny Novgorod, A. A. Arakcheev, A. N. Golit-syn, and others became Alexander’s closest aides. The right of landlords to exile their serfs without trial to Siberia, abolished in 1809, was reinstated; military settlements were created; and progressive science and culture were subjected to persecution. Various religious and mystical organizations blossomed. In the last years of his life Alexander I fell into extreme mysticism. His sudden death in Taganrog gave birth to the legend that Alexander had escaped to Siberia under the name of the elder Fedor Kuz’mich.

REFERENCES

Shil’der, N. K. Imperator Aleksandr I, vols. 1–4. St. Petersburg, 1904–05.
Istoriia SSSR s drevneishikh vremen do nashikh dnei, vol. 4. Moscow, 1967. Chapters 2–4.

B. OKUN’