Constantine was known for his repugnant physical features which resembled those of his father, Emperor Paul.

Constantine Pavlovich Romanov (Russian: Константи́н Па́влович Рома́нов) (the accent marks are given for pronunciation ONLY: Russian is NOT written with accents) (27 April 1779–27 June 1831), grand duke and tsesarevich of Russia, was prepared by his grandmother, Catherine the Great, to become an emperor of the would-be restored Byzantine Empire. Although he was never crowned, he is sometimes listed among the Russian emperors as Constantine I. In his capacity of the first Viceroy of Poland, he is remembered as the great champion of the Poles. His love for a Polish woman cost him the Russian crown. Generally, he was an impossible man in an impossible situation. ImageMetadata File history File links Urod. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Urod. ... 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). ... The House of Romanov (Рома́нов, pronounced Ro-MAH-nof) was the second and last imperial dynasty of Russia, which ruled Muscovy and the Russian Empire for five generations from 1613 to 1762. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... 1831 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Tsesarevich was the title of the Heir Apparent to the tsars of Russia, (see Tsar). ... 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 on November 6, 1796. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. ... A viceroy is somebody who governs a country or province as a substitute for the monarch. ...

Early life

Constantine was born at Tsarskoye Selo on the 27th April 1779. Of the sons born to the unfortunate tsar Paul Petrovich and his wife Maria Feodorovna, the princess of Wurttemberg, none more closely resembled his father in bodily and mental characteristics than did the second, Constantine Pavlovich. Catherine Palace and Park Tsarskoye Selo (Царское Село in Russian, may be translated as “Tsar’s Village”) is a former Russian residence of the royal family and visiting nobility 24 km south of St. ... 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Paul I of Russia by Vladimir Borovikovsky Paul I of Russia (Russian: Pavel Petrovich, Павел I Петрович) (October 1, 1754 - March 23, 1801) was an Emperor (Tsar) of Russia (1796 - 1801). ... 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. ...

The direction of the boys upbringing was entirely in the hands of his grandmother, the empress Catherine II. As in the case of her eldest grandson (afterwards the emperor Alexander I), she regulated every detail of his physical and mental education; but in accordance with her usual custom she left the carrying out of her views to the men who were in her confidence. Count Nicolai Ivanovich Saltykov was supposed to be the actual tutor, but he too in his turn transferred the burden to another, only interfering personally on quite exceptional occasions, and exercised neither a positive nor a negative influence upon the character of the exceedingly passionate, restless and headstrong boy. The only person who really took him in hand was Cesar La Harpe, who was tutor-in-chief from 1783 to May 1795 and educated both the empress's grandsons. H.I.M. Yekaterina II Alexeyevna the Great, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias Catherine II (Russian: , tr. ... Aleksander 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), King of Poland (reigned 1815–1825), son of the Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, afterwards Paul I, and Maria Fedorovna, daughter of the Duke... Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov (c. ...

Like Alexander, Constantine was married by Catherine when he was not yet seventeen years of age, a raw and immature boy, and he made his wife, Juliana of Coburg (Queen Victoria's aunt), intensely miserable. After the first separation in the year 1799, she went back permanently to her German home in 1801, the victim of a frivolous intrigue, in the guilt of which she was herself involved. An attempt made by Constantine in 1814 to win her back to his hearth and home broke down on her firm opposition. Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Napoleonic Wars

During the time of this tragic marriage Constantine's first campaign took place under the leadership of the great Suvorov. The battle of Bassignano was lost by Constantine's fault, but at Novi he distinguished oi imseif by such personal bravery that the emperor Paul bestowed on him the title of tsesarevich, which according to the fundamental law of the constitution belonged only to the heir to the throne. Though it cannot be proved that this action of the tsar denoted any far-reaching plan, it yet shows that Paul already distrusted the grand-duke Alexander. ImageMetadata File history File links Novi. ... Monument to Suvorov as youthful Mars, the Roman god of war (1801). ... Tsesarevich was the title of the Heir Apparent to the tsars of Russia, (see Tsar). ...

However that be, it is certain that Constantine never tried to secure the throne. After his father's death he led a wild and disorderly bachelor life. He abstained from politics, but remained faithful to his military inclinations, though, indeed, without manifesting anything more than a preference for the externalities of the service. In command of the Guards during the campaign of 1805, he had a share of the responsibility for the unfortunate turn which events took at the battle of Austerlitz; while in 1807 neither his skill nor his fortune in war showed any improvement. Map of the battle from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon. ...

However, after the peace of Tilsit he became an ardent admirer of the great Corsican and an upholder of the Russo-French alliance. It was on this account that in political questions he did not enjoy the confidence of his imperial brother. To the latter the French alliance had always been merely a means to end, and after he had satisfied himself at Erfurt, and later during the Franco-Austrian War of 1809, that Napoleon likewise regarded his relation to Russia only from the point of view political advantage, he became convinced that the alliance must transform itself into a battle of life and death. Such sight was never attained by Constantine; even in 1812, after the fall of Moscow, he pressed for a speedy conclusion of peace with Napoleon, and, like field-marshal Kutuzov, he too opposed the policy which carried the war across the Russian frontier to victorious conclusion upon French soil. The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: listen â–¶(?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (September 16, 1745 – April 28, 1813 (n. ...

During the campaign he was a boon companion of every commanding-officer. Barclay de Tolly was twice obliged to send him away from the army. His share in the battles in Germany and France was insignificant. At Dresden, on the 26th of August, his military knowledge failed him at the decisive moment, but at La Fre-Champenoise distinguished himself by personal bravery. In Paris the grand-duke excited public licule by the manifestation of his petty military fads. His first visit was to the stables, and it was said that he had been marching and drilling even in his private rooms. Knyaz Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, called by the Russians as Mikhail Bogdanovich Barklay de Tolly (Михаи́л Богда́нович Баркла́й-де-То́лли) (1761 - 1818), Russian field marshal, was born in Livonia, a descendant of a Scottish family which had settled in Russia in the 17th century. ... The Battle of Dresden was fought on August 26-27, 1813, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against Austrians, Russians and Prussians under General Schwartzenberg. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

Governor of Poland

In the great political decisions of those days, Constantine took the smallest part. His importance in political history dates only from the moment when the emperor Alexander entrusted him in Poland with a task which enabled him to concentrate all the one-sidedness of his talents and all the doggedness of his nature on a definite object: that of the militarization and discipline of Poland. With this begins the part played by the grand-duke in history. In the Congress Poland created by Alexander he received the post of commander-in-chief of the forces of the kingdom; to which was added later (1819) the command of the Lithuanian troops and of those of the Russian provinces that had formerly belonged to the kingdom of Poland. The term Congress Poland is an unofficial name of the Kingdom of Poland (1815-1831), a political entity that was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, when European powers reorganised Europe following the Napoleonic wars. ... Commander-in-Chief (in NATO-lingo often C-in-C or CINC pronounced sink) is the commander of all the military forces within a particular region or of all the military forces of a state. ... The state formed by Boleslaus I of Poland in 1025 during his coronation. ...

Constantine's palace in Strelna

In effect he was the actual ruler of the country, and soon became the most zealous advocate of the separate position of Poland created by the constitution granted by Alexander. He organized new army for the Poles, and felt himself more a Pole than a Russian, especially after his marriage, on the 27th of May 1820, with a Polish lady, Countess Joanna Grudzińska, who was given the title of Her Serenity Princess Lowicka. Connected with this was his renunciation of any claim to the Russian succession, which was formally completed in 1822. The Constantine Palace, Strelna. ... The Constantine Palace, Strelna. ... The Constantine Palace in 1921 Strelna (Russian: Стрельна) is a historic village situated about halfway between Saint Petersburg and Peterhof and overlooking the shore of the Gulf of Finland. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

His efforts to strengthen the secret police and suppress the Polish patriotic movements led to popular discontent among his subjects. He also persecuted the liberal opposition and replaced Poles with Russians on important posts in local administration and the army, which led to conflicts within the officer corps. Finally, his disobedience of the constitution he was personally proud of, conflicted him with the Polish parliament, until then mostly dominated by supporters of the personal union with Russia. Any holder of an office or of a post may bear the title officer. ... This article is about the lower chamber of Polish parliament. ... A personal union is a political union of two or more entities that, internationally, are considered separate states, but through established law, share the same head of state —hence also whatever political actions are vested in the head of state, but none (or at least extremely few) others. ...

One inch from the throne

It is well known how, in spite of this, when Alexander I died on the 1st of December 1825, the grand-duke Nicholas had him proclaimed emperor in St Petersburg, in connection with which occurred the famous revolt of the Russian Liberals, known as the rising of the Dekabrists. In this crisis Constantine's attitude had been very correct, far more so than that of his brother, which was vacillating and uncertain. 1825 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... In politics, the term liberal refers to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism or a state or quality of this ideology. ... This article is about the failed Russian revolt. ...

Under the emperor Nicholas also Constantine maintained his position in Poland. But differences soon arose between him and his brother in consequence of the share taken by the Poles in the Dekabrist conspiracy. Constantine hindered the unveiling of the organized plotting for independence which had been going on in Poland for many years, and held obstinately to the belief that the army and the bureaucracy were loyally devoted to the Russian empire. The eastern policy of the tsar and the Turkish War of 1828 and 1829 caused a fresh breach between them. It was owing to the opposition of Constantine that the Polish army took no part in this war, so that there was in consequence no Russo-Polish comradeship in arms, such as might perhaps have led to a reconciliation between the two nations. Nicholas I of Russia Nikolai I Pavlovich (Russian: Николай I Павлович, July 6 (June 25, Old Style), 1796–March 2 (February 18, Old Style), 1855), also Nicholas, was the Emperor of Russia and king of Poland from 1825 until 1831. ... The Greeks struggle for independence sparked the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, in which Russian forces advanced into Bulgaria, the Caucasus, and northeastern Anatolia itself before the Turks sued for peace. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

The insurrection at Warsaw in November 1830 took Constantine completely by surprise. It was owing to his utter failure to grasp the situation that the Polish regiments passed over to the revolutionaries; and during the continuance of the revolution he showed himself as incompetent as he was lacking in judgment. Every defeat of the Russians appeared to him almost in the light of a personal gratification: his soldiers were victorious. The suppression of the revolution he did not live to see. He died of cholera at Vitebsk on the 27th of June 1831. The November Uprising (1830-1831) was an armed rebellion against Russias rule in Poland. ... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is an infectious disease, caused by bacteria that are typically ingested by drinking water that is contaminated by improper sanitation, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ... Categories: Belarus-related stubs | Towns in Belarus ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... 1831 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Further reading

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
• Karnovich's The Cesarevich Constantine Pavlovich (2 vols., St Petersburg, 1899).
• Pienkos, Angela T. (1987): The Imperfect Autocrat. Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich and the Polish Congress Kingdom, New York.