Alexander I. Domestic and foreign policy. National politics in Tsarist Russia

Alexandra 1 is known to many. Of course, this is the same Russian emperor who at one time managed to defeat Napoleon. However, many prefer to stop there, not knowing how much this man brought for the country. His skillful diplomacy and cunning, concern for the Motherland can serve as a real example for modern Russian politicians.

Third anti-French coalition

Revolutionary France at the end of the eighteenth century was an enemy to almost everyone. The monarchs were afraid that the republican infection would not visit their homes, and therefore they waged many wars against the carrier state.

Alexander's father, Paul, successfully participated in the first two coalitions against France. However, for his son, the beginning of his journey in foreign policy began with a monumental failure.

While Napoleon was persistently gaining power and turning his state into a powerful empire, the Third Anti-French Coalition from Russia, England and Austria gathered. She had to prevent the Corsican's plans from coming true.

Unfortunately, the Austrians, despite the support of the Russian army, began to quickly lose. Ignoring Kutuzov’s demand not to give a decisive battle, Alexander 1 met Napoleon’s army at Austerlitz, which ended in a grandiose victory for the French emperor and the strengthening of France as a potential world ruler.

In short, foreign policy Alexandra 1 changed a lot after this incident.

Union of Enemies

Wise Alexander 1 saw in Bonaparte something that many did not notice - the absence in this man of the very thought of losing. It was clear that now this Corsican with his eyes burning with a thirst for conquest could not be defeated. It is necessary to wait.

The direction of foreign policy has changed dramatically. He broke off relations with Great Britain and met Napoleon in person on rafts in the middle of the river near the town of Tilsit.

It seemed that the agreement concluded there created for Russian Empire exceptionally unsatisfactory conditions for existence (recognition of all the conquests of Bonaparte, abandonment of a number of areas conquered from Turkey). However, in reality it was a more than profitable world. We can name at least two reasons for such an agreement.

Alexander 1 was given the opportunity to focus on domestic politics, which also needed his presence.
In fact, such an agreement gave Russia peace of mind and a free hand in everything related to the eastern part of the world. If everything had gone according to plans, there should have been two superpowers left in the world - the Western Empire with Napoleon at its head and the Eastern Empire with Alexander 1.

It’s worth taking a break from diplomacy and figuring out what the internal policy of Alexander 1 was (briefly, for understanding further developments).

Politics inside

The reign of the son of Paul 1 changed Russia forever. What new did Alexandra 1 bring? This can be summarized in four main areas.

For the first time, the Russian emperor decided to discuss the issue of abolishing serfdom - one of the pillars of the Russian legal system. He even ordered the preparation of three projects. However, none of them were implemented. But the very fact of working with this topic shows colossal changes in the moral character of the country.
Deep power reforms were carried out. This concerned the change of the State Council, its final strengthening as the main adviser to the emperor. In addition, many privileges were granted, and a single set of duties was established for the Senate.
But the most important is, of course, the ministerial reform, which created eight ministries. Their heads were obliged to report to the emperor and bear full responsibility for the subject industry.
Education reform, thanks to which literacy became accessible to even the lowest stratum of the population. Primary schools became free, and the hierarchy of “secondary-higher” educational institutions finally began to fully function.

An assessment of the internal policy of Alexander 1 can be given objectively only on the basis of further events. Because all his reforms played a decisive role.

Bonaparte's Challenge

Probably everyone knows what a year is. Usually, when the foreign policy of Alexander 1 is briefly described, they only dwell on it. Let us note only the main facts of this event.

So, it all started with the treacherous French attack on Russia. It was truly unexpected, since before this, as already mentioned, an agreement beneficial to the French had been signed. The reason for the invasion was Russia's refusal to actively support the blockade of Great Britain. Bonaparte saw this as betrayal and unwillingness to cooperate.

What happened after must be called the greatest mistake of the French emperor. After all, he did not know that Alexander 1 and Russia were not going to simply surrender, like many states before. Kutuzov’s strategic talent, to which the Russian ruler now listened, outplayed Napoleon’s tactics.

Very soon Russian troops were in Paris.

Other wars

One should not think that France was the only thing on which Alexander 1’s foreign policy was based. It is worth briefly recalling his other conquests.

One of the achievements of Alexander 1 was the conflict between the Russians and the Swedes, which turned into a complete defeat for the latter. Thanks to the cunning and courage of Alexander 1, who ordered the transfer of troops across the frozen Gulf of Bothnia, the Russian Empire acquired the entire territory of Finland. In addition, Sweden, at that time the only big player on the European field, which tried to stay away from the France-England conflict, Great Britain had to be boycotted.

Alexander 1 successfully helped the Serbs gain autonomy and successfully completed the Russian-Turkish campaign, which was one of the most important stages of the long confrontation with Russia. And of course, one cannot help but recall the war with the Persians, which made Alexander 1 a full-fledged Asian player.

Results

This is the foreign policy of Alexander 1 (briefly outlined).

The Russian emperor annexed many territories to the state: Transnistria (during the war with Turkey), Dagestan and Azerbaijan (due to the confrontation with the Persians), Finland (thanks to the campaign against Sweden). He significantly raised the global authority of Russia and forced the whole world to finally fully reckon with its homeland.

But, of course, no matter how briefly the foreign policy of Alexander 1 is stated, his main achievement will be the victory over Napoleon. Who knows what the world would be like now if Russia had been conquered then.

And he replaced revolutionary anarchy with a strong military dictatorship. The murder of Paul in 1801 occurred not without the participation of the British, who wanted to prevent a hostile Russian-French rapprochement. Having ascended the throne, he based his foreign policy on the rejection of an alliance with Bonaparte, but did not return to the anti-French coalition, deciding that Russia still needed peace.

Portrait of Alexander I. Artist F. Gerard, 1817

However, over the next few years, Napoleon's influence in Europe grew dangerously. He strengthened his power in France, first proclaiming himself consul for life (1802), and then emperor (1804). Believing that Bonaparte's ambition threatened to destroy the European balance, Alexander I at the end of 1804 - beginning of 1805 joined the new, Third, coalition against France. Besides Russia, its main participants were again England and Austria.

Kutuzov's Russian army moved to the West, but even before its arrival, Napoleon managed to force the main Austrian army to capitulate near Ulm and soon took Vienna. The balance of forces was now such that Kutuzov advised avoiding a decisive battle with the French, but Alexander I insisted on giving it at Austerlitz (November 20, 1805). Napoleon won a complete victory over the Russians and the remnants of the Austrians in this battle. A month later, the Austrian Emperor Franz signed the Peace of Presburg with the French, and the Third Coalition ceased to exist.

Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. Painting by F. P. S. Gerard, 1810

The unprecedented strengthening of France now prompted the Prussians, who in the Third Coalition War behaved favorably towards Napoleon, to oppose it. In the summer of 1806, through the efforts of the foreign policy of Alexander I, the Fourth Coalition against France was formed, whose main participants were Russia, Prussia and England. However, Bonaparte, acting swiftly this time, managed to defeat the main Prussian army in the double battle of Jena and Auerstedt (October 14, 1806) before the Russians arrived. Most of Prussia was occupied by the French, and in its eastern provinces the troops of Alexander I began a stubborn struggle with them. On January 26-27, 1807, a stubborn two-day battle between the French and Russians at Preussisch-Eylau took place - the bloodiest battle ever fought by Napoleon. It ended in a draw, and in many European capitals the army of Alexander I was even considered the winner. But in the summer of 1807, Napoleon concentrated the predominant forces in East Prussia and on June 2 defeated the Russian military leader Bennigsen near Friedland.

Alexander I could continue the fight, but for Russia it was made difficult by the war with the Turks that began in 1806 and the struggle against the Persians in the Caucasus that began in 1804. In addition, Alexander was outraged by the selfish behavior of Russia's allies. The entire brunt of both the Third and Fourth Coalition Wars fell on Russian shoulders. Austria and Prussia were defeated without making almost any contribution to the struggle, and England limited itself to seizing French colonies at sea. Turkey, which participated in the Second and Third Coalitions as a partner of Russia, rushed to side with Bonaparte after the Battle of Austerlitz.

Realizing that Russia remained a very formidable adversary, Napoleon himself offered Alexander I an alliance and a profitable peace. According to its terms, the Russians and the French were to share dominance over the European continent: Napoleon received hegemony in the west, and Alexander I in the east. After the signing of the Russian-French alliance, Sweden, friendly to the British, became an enemy of Russia, and Bonaparte suggested that Alexander I take Finland from it. France promised not to interfere with the Russian defeat of the Turks. In exchange for this, Alexander I had to agree to the territorial reduction of Prussia and join the continental blockade - a trade boycott of England, which Napoleon ordered to be carried out in all Western European harbors.

Alexander I accepted these conditions. Having personally met with Napoleon on June 13, 1807 on rafts in the middle of the Neman River against the city of Tilsit, the Tsar signed the Peace of Tilsit with him. With this treaty, Alexander I left his former European friends and entered into an alliance with Napoleon against them. However, such an act could not be considered “betrayal”: on the contrary, in the Second, Third and Fourth coalitions former friends The tsar always cared only about his own benefits to the detriment of the interests of Russian foreign policy.

Subsequent years were marked rapid growth Russian power. In the war of 1808-1809, the armies of Alexander I took Finland from the Swedes. A glorious episode of this war was the heroic march of Russian troops across the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia to the outskirts of Stockholm. Finland was annexed to Russia with the rights of broad autonomy, as a special “grand duchy”.

French retreat in 1812. Painting by I. Pryanishnikov

Opposition to the Russian government grew in Poland, despite all the generous benevolence of Alexander I (providing the Poles with broad autonomy, their own government, their own parliament-Sejm, permission to create a special Polish army, large financial and customs benefits at the expense of the Russian regions, which in a matter of years provided a devastated country years of Napoleonic rule, the country experienced material prosperity). The Polish aristocracy began to demand the revival of an independent Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders of 1772 (along the Dnieper in the east). IN last years Alexander I's Russian foreign policy was complicated by several clashes between the tsar and the Polish Sejm. They were not too sharp, but the further growth of the Polish movement led to the uprising of 1830-1831 during the reign of Nicholas I. Its main slogan was the restoration of the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1772 and the separation from Russia of not only the Polish regions themselves, but also Lithuania, Right-Bank Ukraine and the greater parts of Belarus.

During the reign of Emperor Alexander 1, Russia was already the largest country in the world in size, so a huge number of different peoples and nations lived on its territory. The constant annexation of new lands led to the fact that the Russian Empire included territories with their own culture, traditions and customs. All this had to be taken into account when carrying out the country’s internal policy. Therefore, the national policy of Alexander 1 is a very important topic, which allows us to understand the processes that took place in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century, as well as demonstrate the position of the authorities in relation to the annexed lands and peoples.

Each of these regions is unique, each with its own traditions and customs. Therefore, we will study the features of the internal policy of the Russian Empire during the era of Alexander 1, aimed at the national outskirts of the country.

Grand Duchy of Finland

Finnish lands for a long time were part of Sweden. The situation changed in 1809, when the Swedes lost the Russian-Swedish war. The peace terms turned out to be quite moderate, but the Swedes lost Finland. On the new land of Russia it was necessary to carry out a national policy, since the empire included lands with peoples that had not existed before. There were mainly two nationalities living in Finland: Swedes and Finns. Alexander 1 chose a very restrained policy for this region, giving these lands great independence.

Distinctive features of Russian national policy in Finland during the era of Alexander 1 are as follows:

Office work in the principality was conducted in Swedish. Please note that the language is not Finnish, since Finland has never had independent status. For centuries the Swedes ruled here and the main language was Swedish.
The principality was governed by the Sejm - a gathering of representatives of various categories of the population. The Sejm is something similar to a Slavic veche. Without the consent of the Sejm, new laws could not be introduced or repealed on the territory of the Principality of Finland.
The principality was governed by a governor general. He, like any other officials, was appointed by the Emperor.
Finnish General Administration Committee managed all administrative issues. It consisted of 12 local residents who reported to the governor general. Of these 12 inhabitants, 6 were from the nobility and 6 were not.
The principality retained complete independence in the system of education and self-government.

Finland, in the status of a separate principality of the Russian Empire, received the status of a state within a state. Yes, the Russian emperor appointed the governor-general and other officials, but, as a rule, this candidacy was initially agreed upon with the Finnish Sejm. In other aspects of the development of the principality, no restrictions and no attempts were made to crush the national movement or completely subjugate the peoples of Finland or Sweden to Russia. Therefore, Finland developed very confidently in Russia and lived without any shocks.

Polish kingdom

Poland was annexed into the Russian Empire in 1815. The territorial unit and official name was used - Polish kingdom. In the same year, the Constitution was approved, according to which the current emperor was confirmed as the head of the kingdom. The constitution was quite liberal, so the Poles accepted it very happily. On the other hand, this led to big problems that resulted in Russian-Polish conflicts 10 years later, after the death of Alexander 1. The Polish question is very important, since there were many Poles in Russia. They ranked 3rd in number among all the peoples inhabiting Russia, second in number only to the Russians and Ukrainians. It is noteworthy that the fourth largest number of national representatives in the Russian Empire were Jews, who lived in huge numbers on the territory of Poland.

The national policy of Alexander 1 regarding Poland assumed:

The Russian Emperor became the full and sole ruler of the Kingdom. However, the Constitution was introduced, which was the main law of this region, and to which the emperor also swore allegiance.
Legislative power belonged to the emperor. Partially, these functions fell on the local diet, which was attended only by Poles. The Sejm had the right to recommend necessary laws to the Tsar, but the adoption of laws was assigned exclusively to the State Council under Alexander I.
Only Poles were to be appointed to all key positions of government of the Kingdom.
The official language in this region remained Polish. Record keeping was also conducted in Polish.

The Constitution of the Polish Kingdom is an important topic, since it is impossible to interpret it unambiguously. On the one hand, it preserved Russia’s liberal attitude towards the Poles (especially the nobility), but on the other hand it created huge contradictions. The Constitution itself was perceived differently by the emperor and the Polish nobility. The Polish nobility was confident that the liberal constitution was only the first step, and in the future the territory of Poland could expand at the expense of the territories of Ukraine and Belarus in order to recreate the disintegrated Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the future. Alexander the First was confident that the adoption of a liberal Constitution gave the Polish kingdom already enormous advantages and opportunities, which may even have been unnecessary. Therefore, on the part of the Emperor, the national policy towards the Poles assumed the transfer of specific rights and opportunities, the expansion of which was not intended, and the Polish nobles were confident that Russian Emperor and must further increase their rights. As a result, the foundation was laid for subsequent national conflicts in the region.

Comparative position of Poland and Finland

For a detailed description of the national policy of Russia in the era of Alexander 1, I propose to compare the position of Finland and Poland within the Russian Empire, to find common and distinctive features in the management of each of these regions. We will prepare a special table for this.

Comparing the position of the two regions of the Russian Empire, it is important to note that the Principality of Finland had greater independence than the Kingdom of Poland. This was largely facilitated by the fact that the Poles had historical disagreements with the Russian Empire, and granting them complete independence could create big problems.

Baltic lands

In the western national outskirts of Russia, the Baltic states, there was a very acute national question. This issue mainly concerned land. We should start with the fact that the Baltic states at the time of the reign of Alexander 1 consisted of 3 provinces:

Kurlyandskaya. It became part of the Russian Empire with the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Livlyandskaya. Annexed to the Russian Empire in 1721.
Estonian.

The Baltic states did not have such broad national privileges as Poland or Finland had. The main issue in this region concerned land. The issue was very acute, since the peasants were mainly Estonians and Latvians, and the landowners, for historical reasons, were Germans. Therefore, national conflicts in this region were not Russian in nature, but exclusively German-Baltic. To solve this problem, in 1804, Alexander actually abolished serfdom in the Baltic states. According to the Decree issued by the emperor, each peasant received land at his disposal, which he had the right to transfer by inheritance. Landowners lost the right to sell or exchange peasants without land. At the same time, land and other obligations of peasants to landowners were significantly reduced.

The implementation of such a national policy on the part of Alexander 1 led to contradictions with the Baltic landowners. To eliminate them, in 1816-1819, partial counter-reforms were carried out on the territory of all 3 Baltic provinces, which partially rolled back what had been done earlier. The peasants retained their independence from the landowners, but lost the right to even personal land, not to mention inherited land. All the land returned to the landowners. The peasants only received the right to rent this land. All administrative and execution bodies were their own for the peasants, but they were now controlled by the landowners.

Territory of the Caucasus

The Caucasus has always been a difficult region for Russia. IN early XIX centuries, about 50 nationalities lived here, each of which had its own language, culture and religion. The main linguistic groups of the Caucasus during this period are as follows:

Iranian. Representatives are Tats, Kurds and Ossetians.
Armenian. Representatives are Armenians.
Turkic. Representatives are Balkars, Kumyks, Azerbaijanis, Karachais, Nogais.
Karelian. Representatives are Georgians.
North Caucasian. Representatives are Ingush, Circassians, Abazins, Lezgins, Sokurs, Abkhazians, Dargins, Rutulians and others.

All peoples had their own language. They had different religions. They had different culture and customs. They were engaged in different things and different trades. The Russian Empire expanded its possessions in the Caucasus. The national policy here was quite soft and the regions did not lose their status and their right to religion, language and traditions. For the Russian Empire itself, the annexation of the Caucasus regions spoiled relations primarily with Iran and Turkey. These countries also claimed their rights to this region.

The annexation of different peoples took place in different ways. Many of them, fleeing Turkey and Iran, themselves voluntarily entered the Russian Empire, and some peoples had to be subjugated by force.

Siberia

The national question in Siberia was no less acute for the Russian Empire. Suffice it to say that at the beginning of the 19th century, 200 thousand people lived here, and by the middle of the century more than 600 thousand people lived here. This growth is associated not only with demographic factors, but also with the migration of people from the western part of the Empire to the east. At this time, all Siberian peoples were called foreigners. There were quite a lot of such foreign peoples, and the Russian Empire set itself the task of preserving the national identity of each of these peoples. The second task was to smoothly and gradually integrate these peoples into the life of the empire. To solve these problems, in 1822 it was adopted Charter on the management of foreigners. Its author was Speransky, who as of this year held the position of Governor-General of Siberia. The charter was very progressive and divided all foreigners into three large groups:

Strays. These included the Nenets, Koryaks and others. They lived according to tribal rules. The leaders of these foreigners were princes from the local nobility.
Nomadic. These included the Buryats, Yakuts, Khakass and others. According to the control system, they were similar to strays.
Sedentary. These included Tatars, Altaians, Mansi and others. These are people who “settled on the earth”, so they were equal in rights to peasants. But these were not serfs. and state peasants.

Speransky's charter assumed that wandering and nomadic peoples should eventually become settled and also receive the rights of state peasants. It is only important to note the fact that everything foreigners of Siberia were exempted from military service. Even settled peoples, who were equated with state peasants, were exempted from military service and were not allowed to participate in it. From the point of view of history, Speransky’s Charter is interesting in that there was no such document in relation to national borderlands and nationalities in any other country in the world. In this regard, the national policy of Alexander 1 was very flexible and very progressive. He did not seek to subjugate and destroy the annexed peoples, but rather sought, on the contrary, to preserve their identity.

1. Reforms at the beginning of the century. Alexander I came to power as a result palace coup V March 1801 G., when his father the emperor was overthrown and killed Pavel 1. Soon, to prepare reforms, a Secret Committee was created from friends and closest associates of Alexander I - V.P. Kochubeya, N.N. Novosiltsev, A. Czartoryski.

In 1803, the “Decree on Free Plowmen” was issued. Landowners received the right to set their peasants free, providing them with land for a ransom. However, the decree on free cultivators did not have any great practical consequences: during the entire reign of Alexander I, only a little more than 47 thousand souls of serfs were freed, i.e. less than 0.5% of their total.

Reforms of the public administration system were carried out. In order to strengthen the state apparatus, in 1802, instead of collegiums, 8 ministries were established: military, naval, foreign affairs, internal affairs, commerce, finance, public education and justice. The Senate was also reformed.

In 1809, Alexander I ordered MM. Speransky develop a reform project. The basis was the principle of separation of powers - legislative, executive and judicial. It was planned to create a representative body - State Duma, which was supposed to give opinions on the bills presented and hear reports from ministers. Representatives of all branches of government were united in the State Council, whose members were appointed by the tsar. The decision of the State Council, approved by the tsar, became law.

The entire population of Russia was supposed to be divided into three classes: the nobility, the middle class (merchants, petty bourgeois, state peasants) and the working people (serfs and wage earners: workers, servants, etc.). Only the first two estates were to receive voting rights, and on the basis of property qualifications. However, civil rights, according to the project, were granted to all subjects of the empire, including serfs. However, in the aristocratic environment, Speransky was considered an outsider and an upstart.

His projects seemed dangerous, too radical. In March 1812 he was exiled to Nizhny Novgorod.

2. Domestic policy in 1814-1825. In 1814-1825 Reactionary tendencies intensified in the domestic policy of Alexander 1. However, at the same time, attempts were made to return to the course of liberal reforms: the peasant reform in the Baltic states (started in 1804-1805) was completed, as a result of which peasants received personal freedom, but without land; in 1815, Poland was granted a constitution that was liberal in nature and provided for internal self-government of Poland as part of Russia. In 1818, work began on preparing a draft Constitution, headed by N. N. Novosiltsev. It was planned to introduce a constitutional monarchy in Russia and establish a parliament. However, this work was not completed. In domestic politics, conservatism is beginning to increasingly prevail: cane discipline was restored in the army, one of the results of which was the unrest of 1820 in the Semenovsky regiment; in 1821, Kazan and St. Petersburg universities were purged. The censorship that persecuted free thought intensified. To supply the army with self-sufficiency in peacetime, military settlements were created, where soldiers, under conditions of the most severe discipline, were obliged to engage in and agriculture. The turn to reaction after the War of 1812 is associated with the name of the Tsar’s favorite A.A. Arakcheeva and received the name “Arakcheevshchina”.

3. Results of the internal policy of the era of Alexander I. In the first decade of his reign, Alexander I promised profound changes and, to a certain extent, improved the system of public administration and contributed to the spread of education in the country. For the first time in Russian history, although very timid, the process of limiting and even partially abolishing serfdom began. The last decade of Alexander's reign was a time of growing conservative tendencies in domestic politics. The main issues were not resolved: the abolition of serfdom and the adoption of a constitution. The refusal of the promised liberal reforms led to the radicalization of part of the noble intelligentsia and gave rise to noble revolutionism (Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825 on Senate Square in St. Petersburg).

Hello, nowadays people are increasingly interested in the history of their fatherland and its popularity is growing literally before our eyes. Many people take the Unified State Exam in History, which becomes more complicated every year, and today, albeit briefly, we will talk about perhaps one of the most interesting and controversial moments in the history of Russia - the Domestic Policy of Alexander 1, which took place against the backdrop of the era of revolutions in Europe and the Age of Enlightenment .

Emperor Alexander the First

Childhood and adolescence

The future manager spent his childhood under the strict supervision of his grandmother and his personal tutor, the Swiss Laharpe. It was they who introduced him to the works of great French educators such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. During this period, the young man had already established liberal values in his head, which later influenced his reign.

How did it all begin? “The Alexandrov days are a wonderful beginning...”

The reign of Alexander 1 began in 1801. Then, on the night of March 23-24, the father of the future emperor, Paul 1, was killed by a group of conspirators in the Mikhailovsky Castle, and with the tacit consent of his son, for which he would then feel remorse for the rest of his life. Before he could ascend the throne, the young ruler began vigorous activity to change the situation within the country.

Reforms began to be carried out to change all aspects of the Russian state together with the wisest manager M.M. Speransky, who had the greatest influence, and even Napoleon himself noted his literacy and abilities.

The same M.M. Speransky

It was the time from 1801-1806 that was considered the peak of reforms, and the period before Patriotic War A.S. Pushkin aptly called “The Alexandrov Days a wonderful beginning...”

To assist the monarch, the Permanent Council was created in 1801. The young ruler found himself in a peculiar “ Bermuda Triangle"from the courtiers of Catherine 2, Paul 1 and newly minted people. The activities of this council were aimed at repealing the unpopular reforms of his father and discussing bills, but then lost its role and was abolished in 1810. During its operation, the charters of the nobility were restored, the import of foreign literature was allowed, and nobles were allowed to travel abroad.
In 1801-1803, a Secret Council was convened, which included Prince Kochubey, Count Stroganov, Novosiltsev and Prince Czartoryski. It was here that the most important reforms were prepared.
1802 – Ministerial reform, the idea of which was to replace colleges with ministries. If in the collegiums a group of people did the work, then in the ministries he was alone. Ministries such as military, naval, foreign affairs, internal affairs, justice, finance, commerce and public education were created.
The country had serfdom, which hindered progress in Russia. It was necessary to solve the peasant question. Alexander 1 did not remove it, although in 1804-1805 it was completely abolished in the Baltic states, and therefore he issued a decree on free cultivators in 1803. Peasants could, for a ransom and the consent of the landowner, become free “free cultivators.”
It is also worth mentioning the education system, because it was during this period that it was formed as compulsory, but it was class-based and divided into 4 levels. 1) Parish church year-long schools for peasants, where they taught counting, reading and writing. 2) District two-year schools for townspeople and merchants. 3) Provincial four-year gymnasiums for nobles. 4) Universities for nobles and especially gifted people of other classes. The Emperor contributed in every possible way to the development of education in the country and believed that everything should be built on it. From 1802 to 1819, universities were opened in Dorpat, Vilna, Kharkov, Kazan and St. Petersburg. In 1804, a “university charter” was issued, which established the autonomy of higher educational institutions, thanks to which the state did not interfere in their affairs.
1810 -Establishment of the State Council. It was the highest advisory body in the Russian Empire and existed until its very end. The most important bills were discussed here. The emperor could listen to advice, but only he himself made the decision.
1810 - Creation of Military settlements. Soldiers could live in a certain territory, take care of their household and live with their families.
This allowed peasants to combine military service with ordinary life.

The middle and end of the reign. "Arakcheevshchina"

After the victory, Alexander dramatically changed his worldview. He was afraid of the spread of revolutionary people and exchanged reform activities for “reaction.”

Tsar's favorite A.A. Arakcheev

The removal of Speransky from power and the rise of Arakcheev became the cause of reactionary activity. This period lasted from 1812 until the death of the ruler in 1825. Characterized by police despotism and brutal discipline, harsh suppression of any unrest. Inextricably linked with military settlements in which iron order was established. However, despite this, the government took steps to gradually introduce a constitution

In 1815, a constitution was granted to the Kingdom of Poland. Poland was allowed to have its own army and retain their ancient state body - the Sejm, as well as freedom of the press.
The “Charter of the Russian Empire” was developed. Its introduction would mean colossal changes in the lives of citizens and, in fact, the introduction of a constitutional monarchy. With the rise of Arakcheev, this plan was discarded and forgotten. The strengthening of autocracy began.

Conclusion

Domestic policy Alexander 1 can be described as a controversial period, which is divided into two stages. First, these are radical transformations and reforms, then reaction and strengthening of autocratic power. But the contribution of this historical figure to our country cannot be denied.