The biography of the heir to the throne

From birth, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna took care of the heir to the throne. The birth of Paul I was a political event for the yard full of public importance.

The reigning Elizaveta Petrovna herself determined the heir to the nannies, teachers and mentors. Under her control, he studied history, mathematics, foreign languages ​​and geography. Catherine saw her son only on the fortieth day. The relationship of his son and mother were complicated, however, documentary sources of the presidential library indicate that when Catherine II just ascended the throne, attempts to bring closer and joint discussion of key political issues were still.

In the publication “Empress Catherine II, Princess Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna: letters, notes and discharge” published on the website of the presidential library, Pavel’s appeal to the mother after the announcement of the manifesto of the announcement of the second war with the Turks: Paul I ascended after the death of his mother on November 17. The coronation of Emperor Paul took place in Moscow on April 5 - according to the new style of April of the year in the Assumption Cathedral.

From the first days of reign, the emperor began to break the Catherine orders and destroy the state management system it created. In the year, still being Tsarevich, Pavel was thinking about the procedure for the transfer of the highest state power in Russia, which excluded the possibility of removing legal heirs from the throne. As a result, he developed an “Act [on the throne of”, approved on the day, this document was valid for up to a year.

On the day of the wedding at the kingdom, Paul released the manifesto of the landowner peasants, which laid the foundation for the restriction of serfdom. In addition, the rights of the peasants were expanded: a ban on the division of serfs during sale was introduced, the peasants were also granted the right to appeal in court. By a decree on a three -day corvee, he banned the work of peasants on weekends.

Of all the estates, unless one clergy did not have indignation against him. Thus, Russia moaned for more than four years, ”the line of Erasmus Casprofovich, the compiler of the collection“ Materials for the biography of Emperor Paul I ”, summarizes. At the same time, Pavel I Amnestied many political prisoners of the Catherine. Among the pardoned, which is indicative, was the philosopher Alexander Radishchev, whom Catherine II sent to exile for his work “Travel from St.

Petersburg to Moscow”. At the same time, Paul I reduced the privileges of the nobility: he introduced strict discipline and new orders in the army. From the year it became forbidden to resign before receiving the first officer rank. And the nobles, who did not serve or evading the service, according to Paul, had to be betrayed by the court. Subsequently, a decree was also issued, according to which the nobles resigned from the army were deprived of the right to enter civilian service.

The emperor was of the opinion that the nobles were spoiled and pampered. And literally declared a war to the nobility: he deprived some of the rights, took away the lands, exiled, and returned, he closer, awarded. No one could know what would happen to him tomorrow, how fate would turn out. Paul transformations in this area caused open discontent, the causes of which are reflected in the digital copy of the collection "The Highest Orders of the Sovereign Emperor Paul I - Years." It happened that three full generals, three lieutenant generals, 9 majors, 68 chief officers of the Guards regiments, 90 non-commissioned officers and one Preobrazhensky regiment were fired on one day!

It is not said for what. " The introduction of an uncomfortable army form according to the Prussian model also caused a murmur among military personnel. The king’s foreign policy was characterized by unsystematic and impulsiveness. The king ruined relations with the former powerful ally of Russia - Great Britain, began rapprochement with Napoleon and even made joint plans with him to go to India.

All these steps, combined with a despotic character, unpredictability and eccentricity, caused dissatisfaction in a variety of social layers. Already soon after his accession, a conspiracy began to ripen against him. On the night of March 23, the emperor was killed in his new residence - the Mikhailovsky castle in St. Petersburg. Details of the tragic event are given in the memoirs “Time of Paul and his death.

Notes of contemporaries and participants in the event of March 11, the famous historian Theodor Shiman in his work “The Murder of Paul I and the accession to the throne of Nicholas I” emphasizes: “A much larger number of conspirators and much more carefully waged by a conspiracy could not succeed in this murder if there were no general silent consent of the entire capital, the general desire of the whole of Russia.” The official cause of the death of the emperor was named an apoplexic blow.

According to one version, the emperor was killed by Nikolai Zubov, the older brother of the last favorite of Catherine the Great Plato Zubov. He allegedly hit Paul I with a gold snuffer in the temple, and later the emperor was strangled by a scarf. None of the murderers and participants in the conspiracy carried away a serious punishment for the murder of Paul I. Text: Anna Khrustaleva.