Paul I of Russia

Paul I of Russia (Russian: Pavel Petrovich, Павел I Петрович) (October 1, 1754 - March 23, 1801) was an Emperor (Tsar) of Russia (1796 - 1801). Paul I of Russia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Paul I of Russia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in Leap years). ... 1754 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... An emperor is a monarch and sovereign ruler of an empire or any other imperial realm. ... Tsar (Bulgarian цар, Russian царь,  listen; often spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Childhood

Paul was born in the Summer Palace at St Petersburg. He was the son of the Grand Duchess, afterwards Empress, Catherine. According to some, his father was not her husband, the Grand Duke Peter, afterwards emperor, but Catherine's lover Sergei Saltykov. Although Catherine herself hinted that the story was true, it is fairly likely that this was simply an attempt to cast doubt on Paul's right to the throne, in order to prop up Catherine's own somewhat shaky claim. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... H.I.M. Ekaterina II Aleksejevna the Great, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias Catherine II (Екатерина II Алексеевна: Yekaterína II Alekséyevna, April 21, 1729 - November 6, 1796), born Sophie Augusta Fredericka, known as Catherine the Great, reigned as empress of Russia from June 28, 1762, to her death... Peter III (February 21, 1728 - July 17, 1762) (Russian Пётр III Федорович (Pyotr III Fyodorovitch)) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. ...

During his infancy Paul was taken from the care of his mother by the Empress Elizabeth, whose ill-judged fondness allegedly injured his health. As a boy he was reported to be intelligent and good-looking. His pugnacious facial features in later life are attributed to an attack of typhus, from which he suffered in 1771. It has been asserted that his mother hated him, and was only restrained from putting him to death while he was still a boy by the fear of what the consequences of another palace crime might be to herself. Lord Buckinghamshire, the English ambassador at her court, expressed this opinion as early as 1764. In fact, however, others suggest that the empress, who was at all times very fond of children, treated Paul with kindness. He was put in charge of a trustworthy governor, Nikita Panin, and of competent tutors. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-62) Yelizaveta Petrovna (Елизаве́та Петро́вна) (December 29, 1709 - January 5, 1762) was an Empress of Russia (1741 - 1762) who took the country into the War of Austrian succession (1740 - 1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-63). ... This is about the disease Typhus. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Ambassador (disambiguation). ... 1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin (Никита Иванович Панин) (September 18, 1718 - March 31, 1783) was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first eighteen years of her reign. ...

Her dissolute court provided a bad home for a boy destined to become the sovereign, but Catherine took great trouble to arrange his first marriage with Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (who acquired the Russian name "Natalia Alexeievna") in 1773. She allowed him to attend the council in order that he might be trained for his work as emperor. His tutor Poroshin complained of him that he was "always in a hurry", acting and speaking without reflection. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt came into existence in 1568, as the portion of George, youngest of the four sons of Landgrave Philipp of Hesse. ... 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Early Life

After his first marriage Paul became involved in intrigues. He believed he was the target of assassination. He also suspected his mother of intending to kill him, and once openly accused her of causing broken glass to be mingled with his food. Yet, though his mother removed him from the council and began to keep him at a distance, her actions were not unkind. The use made of his name by the rebel Pugachev in 1775 tended no doubt to render his position more difficult. When his wife died in childbirth in that year, his mother arranged another marriage on October 7, 1776, with the beautiful Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, renamed in Russian "Maria Feodorovna". On the birth of his first child in 1777 the Empress gave him an estate, Pavlovsk. Paul and his wife gained leave to travel through western Europe in 1781-1782. In 1783 the Empress granted him another estate at Gatchina, where he was allowed to maintain a brigade of soldiers whom he drilled on the Prussian model. Yemelian Ivanovich Pugachev (Russian: Емелья́н Ива́нович Пугачёв, best transliterated as Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachov), born in 1740 or 1742 and executed in 1775, as a pretender to the Russian throne led a Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II. Background Pugachev, the son of a small Don Cossack landowner... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years). ... This article is about the year 1776. ... Portrait of Maria Fyodorovna in 1777 by Alexander Roslin Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise of Württemberg or Maria Fyodorovna (Russian: )(October 25, 1759 - November 5, 1828) the second wife of Tsar Paul I of Russia. ... Württemberg (often spelled Wurttemberg in English) refers to an area and a former state in Swabia, a region in south-western Germany. ... 1777 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Pavlovsk (Russian: Павловск) is a town situated in the Leningrad oblast, Russia, 30 km from St. ... 1781 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Gatchina is the former seasonal residence of the Russian emperors in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. ...

Rise to Power

Paul became emperor after Catherine suffered a stroke on November 5, 1796, and died in bed without having regained consciousness. Emperor Paul was idealistic and capable of great generosity, but he was also mercurial and capable of vindictiveness. In 1797 he allowed famous Russian writer Radishchev to return from Siberian exile. Yet Radishchev was kept in his own estate under police supervision. In 1798, Paul was elected as the Grand Master of the Order of St John, to whom he gave shelter following their ejection from Malta by Napoleon. His leadership resulted in the establishment of the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St John/Maltese Order) within the Imperial Orders of Russia. A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ... November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev (Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Ради́щев) (1749 – 1802) was a Russian author and social critic who was arrested and exiled under Catherine the Great. ... Siberian federal subjects of Russia Siberia ( Russian: Сиби́рь, common English transliterations: Sibir, Sibir; possibly from the Mongolian for the calm land) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of northern Asia. ... 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Knights Hospitaller (the or Knights of Malta or Knights of Rhodes) is a tradition which began as a Benedictine nursing Order founded in the 11th century based in the Holy Land, but soon became a militant Christian Chivalric Order under its own charter, and was charged with the care... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Brother Gerard created the Order of St John of Jerusalem as a distinctive Order from a previous Benedictine Establishment of Hospitallers. ...

Foreign Relations

His independent conduct of the foreign affairs of Russia plunged the country first into the Second Coalition against France in 1798, and then into the armed neutrality against Britain in 1801. In both cases it seems as if he acted on personal pique, quarrelling with France because he took a "sentimental" interest in the Hospitallers, and then with England because he was flattered by Napoleon. Besides the previously abandoned plans of joint Russo-French naval assault onto the British Isles, another of his gravest mistakes was the dispatching of the Cossack expeditionary force to India (Indian March of Paul). But his so-called political follies might have been condoned. But it is more likely that the Emperor was just trying to follow in the footsteps of Peter the Great. The inscription on the monument to Peter the Great erected in Paul's times near the Mikhailovskiy (St. Michael) Palace reads in Russian "To the Grandfather from the Grandson", a subtle but obvious mockery of Latin "PETRO PRIMO CATHERINA SECUNDA", the pompous dedication by Catherine on the 'Bronze Horseman', the most famous statue of Peter in St Petersburg. The name Second Coalition (1798 - 1800) designates the second major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain revolutionary France. ... 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... British Isles is also an old name for the Great Britain, Great Britain Ireland The Isle of Man The Isle of Wight The Northern Isles, including Orkney, Shetland and Fair Isle The Hebrides, including the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides and Small Isles Rockall The islands of the lower Firth of... The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey. ... Indian March of Paul, Russian Indiyskiy Pokhod Pavla, thats how the Russians call the Cossack cavalry deployment as the first stage of the allied Russo-French expedition against the British forces in India. ... Peter I Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Peter I (Pyotr Alekseyvich) (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. ... Guido Renis archangel Michael (in the Capuchin church of Sta. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Bronze Horseman is a poem by Aleksandr Pushkin which is widely considered to be one of the most significant works of Russian literature. ...

Domestic Policy

Paul repealed Catherine's law which allowed the corporal punishment of the free classes of the population of Russia. Under Catherine's rule, no one could feel safe from exile or brutal ill-treatment at any moment. Paul also directed reforms which resulted in greater rights for the peasantry, and better treatment for serfs on agricultural estates. This was a great annoyance to the noble class and Paul's enemies. The Emperor also discovered outrageous machinations and corruption in the Russian treasury. If Russia had possessed any political institution except the tsardom, his enemies could have conspired to put him under restraint. But the country was not sufficiently civilized to deal with Paul as the Portuguese had dealt with Alphonso VI, a very similar person, in 1667. In early 19th-century Russia, as in medieval Europe, there was no safe haven for a deposed ruler. Paul's premonitions of assassination were well-founded. See Exile (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... Afonso VI (August 21, 1643 - September 12, 1675) was king of Portugal, the second king of the House of Braganza. ... Events January 20 - Poland cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo that put a final end to the Deluge, and Poland lost its status as a Central European power. ...

Assassination

A conspiracy was organized—some months before it was executed—by Counts Pahlen, Panin, and a half-Spanish, half-Neapolitan adventurer named Admiral Ribas. The death of Ribas delayed the execution. On the night of the March 23, 1801, Paul was murdered in his bedroom in the St Michael Palace by a band of dismissed officers headed by General Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service. They burst into his bedroom after supping together and when flushed with drink. The conspirators forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and one of the assassins struck him with a sword, and he was then strangled and trampled to death. He was succeeded by his son, the Emperor Alexander I, who was actually in the palace, and to whom general Nicholas Zubov, one of the assassins, announced his accession. March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Levin August, count von Bennigsen (February 10, 1745 - December 3, 1826), Russian general, of Hanoverian family, was born in Brunswick, and served successively as a page at the Hanoverian court and as an officer of foot-guards. ... Alternate meanings: Hanover (district), Hanover (region), Hanover (state), other uses Map of Germany showing Hanover Hanover (in German: Hannover [haˈnoːfɐ]), on the Leine river, is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in Germany. ... Aleksandr Pavlovich Romanov or Tsar Alexander I (The Blessed), (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825), Emperor of Russia (reigned March 23, 1801–December 1, 1825), son of the Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, afterwards Paul I, and Maria Fedorovna, daughter of the Duke of Württemberg. ...

Legacy

A common unresearched view of Paul I, is that he was mad, had a mistress, his acceptance of the office of Grand Master of the Order of St John furthered his delusions, and that these eccentricities and his unpredictability in other areas led to his assassination. Such a portrait of Paul is a gift to those who seek to discount and ridicule the reign of Paul I. Given that histories are usually written by the victorious party to any conflict, in this context, how true is that picture of Paul? Brother Gerard created the Order of St John of Jerusalem as a distinctive Order from a previous Benedictine Establishment of Hospitallers. ...

Comparatively recent research has rehabilitated the character of Paul I. The popularist view of Paul was originally generated by his assassins in justification of their actions. It would be easy for authors writing about Paul I to follow the propaganda uncritically, ignoring new research, which has been available for nearly three decades. It is as if the propaganda has become accepted historical fact through being venerated by age.

In the 1970s, two academic Panels provided the assessments of new research into Paul I. These were at Montreal in 1973 and St Louis in 1976. Some of the findings were presented in a book edited by Hugh Ragsdale in 1979; Paul I: A reassessment of His Life and Reign, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1979. The reappraisal of Paul I has demonstrated his character as someone of high morals, who followed his conscience. Dismissed as unlikely is Paul's infidelity in having a mistress, and the involvement with the Order of St John is understood against a background of his idealising their history as a lesson in high chivalric ideals, he wished the Russian Nobility would adopt. Paul saw in the Russian Nobles an element of degeneracy, and introducing the high ideals of the Knights of Malta, was Paul's method of reform. Paul suffered a lonely and strict upbringing and whilst he was eccentric and neurotic, he was not mentally unbalanced. Whilst an analysis of his biography reveals an obsessive-compulsive personality, what the evidence reveals is that he had "characteristics fairly common in the population at large". Where Paul differed, was that by 1796 he had to manage the whole of the Russian Empire. Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... The Knights Hospitaller (the or Knights of Malta or Knights of Rhodes) is a tradition which began as a Benedictine nursing Order founded in the 11th century based in the Holy Land, but soon became a militant Christian Chivalric Order under its own charter, and was charged with the care... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ...

A new film on the rule of Paul I was produced by Lenfilm in 2003. Poor, Poor Paul ("Бедный, бедный Павел") is directed by Vitaliy Mel'nikov and stars Viktor Sukhorukov as Emperor Paul I. The film portrays Paul I more compassionately than the long-existing stories about him. The movie won the Michael Tariverdiev Prize for best music to a film at the Open Russian Film Festival "Kinotavr" in 2003. "The film, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Petersburg, tells about the tragic fate of the Russian emperor Paul I." Lenfilm (Ленфи́льм) is a Russian movie studio, based in Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad). ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See Also

• A reasonable and balanced picture of Paul I, can be gained from;
  

Hugh (Ed) Paul I: A reassessment of His Life and Reign, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1979.

• For early literature tending to suggest that Paul was mad see;
  
• For Paul's early life; K. Waliszewski, Autour d'un trone (Paris, 1894), or the English translation, The Story of a Throne (London, 1895), and P. Morane, Paul I. de Russie avant l'avenement (Paris, 1907).
  
• For Paul's reign; T. Schiemann, Geschichte Russlands unter Nikolaus I (Berlin, 1904), vol. i. and Die Ermordung Pauls, by the same author (Berlin, 1902).
• Other readings : (in Russian) V.V.Uzdenikov. Monety Rossiyi XVIII-nachala XX veka (Russian coinage from XVIII to the beginning of XX century). Moscow - 1994. ISBN 5-87613-001-X.

Peter III (February 21, 1728 - July 17, 1762) (Russian Пётр III Федорович (Pyotr III Fyodorovitch)) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. ... Christian VII (January 29, 1749_ March 13, 1808), King of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Schleswig and Holstein. ... H.I.M. Ekaterina II Aleksejevna the Great, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias Catherine II (Екатерина II Алексеевна: Yekaterína II Alekséyevna, April 21, 1729 - November 6, 1796), born Sophie Augusta Fredericka, known as Catherine the Great, reigned as empress of Russia from June 28, 1762, to her death... Tsar, (Bulgarian цар�, Russian царь; often spelled Czar or Tzar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to 1917. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Aleksandr Pavlovich Romanov or Tsar Alexander I (The Blessed), (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825), Emperor of Russia (reigned March 23, 1801–December 1, 1825), son of the Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, afterwards Paul I, and Maria Fedorovna, daughter of the Duke of Württemberg. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

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