Mikhail Speransky
Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Спера́нский; 12 January 1772 – 23 February 1839) was a Russian reformist during the reign of Alexander I of Russia, to whom he was a close advisor. He later served under Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. Speransky is referred to as the father of Russian liberalism. Personal life Speransky was born on 12 January 1772 in Cherkutino, Vladimir Governorate (now Vladimir Oblast), Russia. Speransky was the son of Mikhail Tretyakov, a village priest. He studied at the religious seminaries in Vladimir and St Petersburg, where he acquired the surname of Speransky, from the Latin verb "to hope" ( sperare). Later, in the ecclesiastical seminary in St. Petersburg, he became a professor of mathematics and physics. His skills led him to become the secretary to Prince Kurakin and a competent imperial official. Details of his marriage are sketchy, but he is believed to have married Elizabeth Jane Stephens ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1992. p. 73. . The etymologically related English term "county" denoted the territories associated with the countship. Definition The word ''count'' came into English from the French ''comte'', itself from Latin ''comes''—in its accusative ''comitem''—meaning “companion”, and later “companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor”. The adjective form of the word is "comital". The British and Irish equivalent is an earl (whose wife is a "countess", for lack of an English term). In the late Roman Empire, the Latin title ''comes'' denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative: before Anthemius became emperor in the West in 467, he was a military ''comes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cantacuzino Family
The House of Cantacuzino (french: Cantacuzène) is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specifically from Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (reigned 1347–1354). After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11, a lateral branch of the family settled in Russia, receiving the princely ('' Knyaz'', as opposed to ''Velikij Knyaz'') status. In 1944, Prince Ștefan Cantacuzino settled in Sweden, where his descendants form part of the unintroduced nobility of that country. Origin of the family Members of the family claim that the genealogical links between the Byzantine Greek and Romanian branches of the family have been extensively researched.Jean-Michel Cantacuzène, ''Mille ans dans les Balkans'' Éditions Christian Paris (1992) . The family first appears among the Phanariotes in the late 16th century, with Michael "Şeytanoğlu" Kan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev
Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (russian: граф Алексе́й Андре́евич Аракче́ев) ( – ) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. He served under Tsars Paul I and Alexander I as an army commander and Inspector of Artillery. He had a violent temper, but was a competent artillerist, and is known for his reforms of Russian artillery known as the "System of 1805". When Alexander was succeeded by Nicholas I, he lost all his offices. Early years Count Arakcheyev was born on his father's estate in Garusovo, in Vyshnevolotsky Uyezd (at the time a part of Novgorod Governorate, from 1796 part of Tver Governorate). He was educated in arithmetic by a priest, and though he shone at arithmetic, he never mastered writing and grammar. In 1783, with the help of General Peter Ivanovich Melissino, Arakcheyev enrolled in the Shlyakhetny artillery school in Saint-Petersburg. By 1787 he had become a lieutenant i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established when the French ceded a part of Polish territory to the Russian Empire following France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1915, during World War I, it was replaced by the German-controlled nominal Regency Kingdom until Poland regained independence in 1918. Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland ceased to exist as an independent nation for 123 years. The territory, with its native population, was split between the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire. After 1804, an equivalent to Congress Poland within the Austrian Empire was the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also commonly referred to as "Austrian Poland". The area incorporated into Prussia and subse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grand Duchy Of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed between 1809 and 1917 as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the King of Sweden, the country became autonomous after its annexation by Russia in the Finnish War of 1808–1809. The Grand Duke of Finland was the Romanov Emperor of Russia, represented by the Governor-General. Due to the governmental structure of the Russian Empire and Finnish initiative, the Grand Duchy's autonomy expanded until the end of the 19th century. The Senate of Finland, founded in 1809, became the most important governmental organ and the precursor to the modern Government of Finland, the Supreme Court of Finland, and the Supreme Administrative Court of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zemstvo
A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Nikolay Milyutin elaborated the idea of the zemstva, and the first zemstvo laws went into effect in 1864. After the October Revolution the zemstvo system was shut down by the Bolsheviks and replaced with a multilevel system of workers' and peasants' councils ("soviets"). Structure The system of elected bodies of local self-government in the Russian Empire was represented at the lowest level by the mir and the volost and was continued, so far as the 34 Guberniyas (governorates) of old Russia were concerned, in the elective district and provincial assemblies (zemstvo). The goal of the zemstvo reform was the creation of local organs of self-government on an elected basis, possessing sufficient authority and independence to re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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State Council Of Imperial Russia
The State Council ( rus, Госуда́рственный сове́т, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet) was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia. From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under the Russian Constitution of 1906. 18th century Early Tsars' Councils were small and dealt primarily with external politics. Peter I of Russia introduced the Secret Council. Catherine I of Russia introduced the Supreme Secret Council. Its role varied during different reigns. Peter III of Russia created the Imperial Council on 20 May 1762 ("Императорский Совет"), or, formally "The Council at the Highest Court" ("Совет при высочайшем дворе"). It was dismissed shortly after the succession of Catherine II of Russia. 1810–1906 The State Council was established by Alexander I of Russia in 1810 as part of Speransky's reforms. Although envisaged by Speransky as the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for the implicit threat of a coup d'état or other forms of rebellion). In earlier times, the term ''autocrat'' was coined as a favorable description of a ruler, having some connection to the concept of "lack of conflicts of interests" as well as an indication of grandeur and power. This use of the term continued into modern times, as the Russian Emperor was styled "Autocrat of all the Russias" as late as the early 20th century. In the 19th century, Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse peoples. Autocracy is the most common and durable regime type since the emergence of the state. History and etymology Autocracy comes from the Ancient Greek ''autos'' (Greek: αὐ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia. The first formally constituted state duma was the Imperial State Duma introduced to the Russian Empire by Emperor Nicholas II in 1905. The Emperor retained an absolute veto and could dismiss the State Duma at any time for a suitable reason. Nicholas dismissed the First State Duma (1906) within 75 days; elections for a second Duma took place the following year. The Russian Provisional Government dissolved the last Imperial State Duma (the fourth Duma) in 1917 during the Russian Revolution. Since 1993, the State Duma (russian: Государственная дума, label=none) has functioned as the lower legislative house of the Russian Federation. Etymology The Russian word is inherited from the Proto-Slavic word ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Government Reform Of Alexander I
The early Russian system of government instituted by Peter the Great, which consisted of various state committees, each named ''Collegium'' with subordinate departments named ''Prikaz'', was largely outdated by the 19th century. The responsibilities of the Collegia were chosen very randomly and often overlapped. Soon after Alexander I inherited the throne in 1801, he formed a Privy Committee (Негласный комитет) which consisted of Viktor Kochubey, Nikolay Novosiltsev, Pavel Stroganov and Adam Jerzy Czartoryski. Mikhail Speransky took an active part in the Committee, although he was not a formal member. The reforms proposed by Speransky were to introduce a parliament and a State Council as legislative and executive bodies of the Tsar and to relieve the Governing Senate of these functions, transforming it to a kind of Supreme Court. Speransky even prepared the Constitution project. The reforms were stopped by 1810 because of the Napoleonic wars and growing resistan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the ''de facto'' leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy endures to this day, as a highly celebrated and controversial leader. He initiated many liberal reforms that have persisted in society, and is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. His wars and campaigns are studied by militaries all over the world. Between three and six million civilians and soldiers perished in what became known as the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica, not long af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Congress Of Erfurt
The Congress of Erfurt was the meeting between Napoleon, Emperor of the French, and Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia, from Tuesday 27 September to Friday 14 October 1808 intended to reaffirm the alliance concluded the previous year with the Treaties of Tilsit which followed the end of the War of the Fourth Coalition.Steffen Raßloff (2012). ''Geschichte der Stadt Erfurt''. Erfurt: Sutton Verlag. Background At Tilsit, Napoleon had made an admirer of Alexander, but by the time of the meeting at Erfurt anti-French sentiment at the Russian court was beginning to threaten the newly forged alliance. Napoleon and his foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny sought to strengthen the alliance once more in order to settle affairs in Spain and prepare for the expected war with Austria. Working at cross-purposes to Napoleon was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord who had by this time come to the conclusion that Napoleon was leading France to destruction, and who secretly a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |