Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was
Emperor of Russia
The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the Absolute monarchy, monarch of the Russian Empire.
The title originated in conn ...
from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of
Peter III and
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her lover
Sergei Saltykov
Count Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov ( rus, link=no, Сергей Васильевич Салтыков, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof; c. 1726 – 1765) was a Russian officer (chamberlain) who became the first lover of Empre ...
.
[Aleksandr Kamenskii, ''The Russian Empire in the Eighteenth Century: Searching for a Place in the World'' (1997) pp 265–280.] Paul remained overshadowed by his mother for most of his life. He adopted the
laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted until the end of the
Romanov dynasty
The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...
and of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. He also intervened in the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
and, toward the end of his reign, added
Kartli and Kakheti in
Eastern Georgia
Eastern Georgia ( ka, აღმოსავლეთ საქართველო, ''aghmosavlet' sak'art'velo'') is a geographic area encompassing the territory of the Caucasian nation of Georgia to the east and south of the Likhi and Meskhe ...
into the empire, which was confirmed by his son and successor
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
.
He was ''de facto''
Grand Master of the
Order of Hospitallers from 1799 to 1801 and ordered the construction of a number of
Maltese thrones. Paul's pro-German sentiments and unpredictable behavior made him unpopular among Russian nobility, and he was secretly assassinated by his own officers.
Early years
Paul was born in the
Palace of Elizabeth of Russia,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. His father, the future
Emperor Peter III
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
, was the nephew and heir apparent of the Empress. The last edition of Catherine's memoirs explained that Peter III was certainly Paul's father after all and why. She lied when hints about another father were written in the first edition, published by Hertzen. His mother, born the daughter of a minor German prince, would later depose her own husband (Paul's father) and reign in her own right as Catherine II, known to history as
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
.
Paul was taken almost immediately after birth from his mother by the
Empress Elizabeth
Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of ...
, whose overwhelming attention may have done him more harm than good. Once Catherine had done her duty in providing an heir to the throne, Elizabeth had no more use for her and Paul was taken from his mother at birth and allowed to see her only during very limited moments. In all events, the Russian Imperial court, first of Elizabeth and then of Catherine, was not an ideal home for a lonely, needy and often sickly boy. As a boy, he was reported to be intelligent and good-looking. His pug-nosed facial features in later life are attributed to an attack of
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure.
...
, from which he suffered in 1771. Paul was put in the charge of a trustworthy governor,
Nikita Ivanovich Panin
Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin (russian: Ники́та Ива́нович Па́нин) () was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first 18 years of her reign (1762-1780). In that role, he advocated ...
, and of competent tutors. Panin's nephew went on to become one of Paul's assassins. One of Paul's tutors, Poroshin, complained that he was "always in a hurry", acting and speaking without reflection.
Under Catherine II
Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, when Paul was 8 years old, and he became crown prince with the accession of his father to the throne as Peter III. However, within a matter of months, Paul's mother engineered a coup and not only deposed her husband but, for a long time, was believed to have had him killed by her supporters. It was later found that Peter III probably died due to a fit of apoplexy when exerting himself in a dispute with Prince Feodor, one of his jailers. Some historians believe that he was murdered by a vindictive Alexei Orlov. After the death of Peter III, Catherine then placed herself on the throne in a surpassingly grand and ostentatious coronation ceremony, for which event the
Russian Imperial Crown
The Imperial Crown of Russia (russian: Императорская Корона России), also known as the Great Imperial Crown (russian: Великая Императорская Корона), was used by the monarchs of Russia from 1762 ...
was crafted by court jewellers. The 8-year-old Paul retained his position as crown prince.
![Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna by Roslin (1777, Hermitage)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Grand_Duchess_Maria_Feodorovna_by_Roslin_%281777%2C_Hermitage%29.jpg)
In 1772, her son and heir, Paul, turned eighteen. Paul and his adviser, Panin, believed he was the rightful tsar of Russia, as the only son of Peter III. His adviser had also taught him that the rule of women endangered good leadership, which was why he was so interested in gaining the throne. Distracting him, Catherine took trouble to find Paul a wife among the minor princesses of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. She chose Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, who acquired the Russian name "
Natalia Alexeievna", a daughter of
Ludwig IX,
Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...
. The bride's older sister,
Frederika Louisa, was already married to
the Crown Prince of Prussia. Around this time, Catherine allowed Paul to attend the council in order that he might be trained for his work as Emperor. Wilhelmina died in childbirth on 15 April 1776, three years after the wedding. It soon became even clearer to Catherine that Paul wanted power, including his separate court. There was talk of having both Paul and his mother co-rule Russia, but Catherine narrowly avoided it. A fierce rivalry began between them, as Catherine knew she could never truly trust her son, as his claim to her seat was superior to her. Paul coveted his mother's position, and by the laws of succession prevalent then, it was rightfully his.
After her daughter-in-law's death, Catherine began work forthwith on the project of finding another wife for Paul, and on 7 October 1776, less than six months after the death of his first wife, Paul married again. The bride was the beautiful
Sophia Dorothea of
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
, who received the new Orthodox name Maria Feodorovna. Their first child,
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, was born in 1777, within a year of the wedding, and on this occasion the Empress gave Paul 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,
Gatchina Palace
The Great Gatchina Palace (russian: Большой Гатчинский дворец) is a palace in Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It was built from 1766 to 1781 by Antonio Rinaldi (architect), Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigori Grigoryevi ...
, where he was allowed to maintain a brigade of soldiers whom he drilled on the Prussian model, an unpopular stance at the time.
Relationship with Catherine the Great
Catherine and her son and heir Paul maintained a distant relationship throughout her reign. The aunt of Catherine's husband, Empress Elizabeth, took up the child as a passing fancy.
[McGrew, Roderick E. (1992), ''Paul I of Russia''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press)
] Elizabeth proved an obsessive but incapable caretaker, as she had raised no children of her own. Paul was supervised by a variety of caregivers. Roderick McGrew briefly relates the neglect to which the infant heir was sometimes subject: "On one occasion he fell out of his crib and slept the night away unnoticed on the floor."
Even after Elizabeth's death, relations with Catherine hardly improved. Paul was often jealous of the favours she would shower upon her lovers. In one instance, the empress gave to one of her favourites 50,000 rubles on her birthday, while Paul received a cheap watch.
[Sorokin, 185.] Paul's early isolation from his mother created a distance between them that later events would reinforce. She never considered inviting him to share her power in governing Russia. And once Paul's son
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
was born, it appeared that she had found a more suitable heir. The use made of his name by the rebel
Yemelyan Pugachev
Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (russian: Емельян Иванович Пугачёв; c. 1742) was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks who led a great popular insurrection during the reign of Catherine the Great. Pugachev claimed to be Catherine's ...
, who impersonated his father Peter, tended no doubt to render Paul's position more difficult.
Catherine's absolute power and the delicate balance of courtier status greatly influenced the relationship at Court with Paul, who openly disregarded his mother's opinions. Paul adamantly protested his mother's policies, writing a veiled criticism in his ''Reflections'', a dissertation on military reform.
In it he directly disparaged expansionist warfare in favour of a more defensive military policy. Unenthusiastically received by his mother, ''Reflections'' appeared a threat to her authority and added weight to her suspicion of an internal conspiracy with Paul at its centre. For a courtier to have openly supported or shown intimacy towards Paul, especially following this publication, would have meant political suicide.
Paul spent the following years away from the Imperial Court, content to remain at his private estates at
Gatchina Palace
The Great Gatchina Palace (russian: Большой Гатчинский дворец) is a palace in Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It was built from 1766 to 1781 by Antonio Rinaldi (architect), Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigori Grigoryevi ...
with his growing family and perform Prussian drill exercises. As Catherine grew older, she became less concerned that her son attend court functions; her attentions focused primarily on the future Emperor
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
.
It was not until 1787 that Catherine may have in fact decided to exclude her son from succession.
After Alexander and his brother
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
were born, she had them placed under her charge, just as Elizabeth had done with Paul. That Catherine grew to favour Alexander as sovereign of Russia rather than Paul is unsurprising. She met secretly with Alexander's tutor
de La Harpe to discuss his pupil's ascension, and attempted to convince Alexander's mother
Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
to sign a proposal authorizing her son's legitimacy. Both efforts proved fruitless, and though Alexander agreed to his grandmother's wishes, he remained respectful of his father's position as immediate successor to the Russian throne.
Accession to the throne
Catherine suffered a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
on 17 November 1796, and died without regaining consciousness. Paul's first act as Emperor was to inquire about and, if possible, destroy her testament, as he feared it would exclude him from succession and leave the throne to Alexander. These fears may have contributed to Paul's promulgation of the
Pauline Laws
The Pauline Laws are the house laws of the Romanov rulers of the Russian Empire. The name comes from the fact that they were initially established by Emperor Paul I of Russia in 1797.
Paul I abolished Peter the Great's law that allowed each rei ...
, which established the strict principle of
primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
in the House of Romanov, leaving the throne to the next male heir. As emperor, Paul sought revenge for the deposition of his father, and the coup of his mother.
![Imperial Monogram of Tsar Paul I of Russia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Imperial_Monogram_of_Tsar_Paul_I_of_Russia.svg)
The army, then
poised to attack Persia in accordance with Catherine's last design, was recalled to the capital within one month of Paul's accession. Upon his death in 1762, Peter had been buried without any honors in the
Annunciation Church at the
Alexander Nevsky Monastery
Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alex ...
in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Immediately after the death of his mother, Paul ordered his father's remains transferred, first to the church in the
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
and then to the
Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, the burial site of the Romanovs. 60-year-old Count
Alexei Orlov, who had played a role in deposing Peter III and possibly also in his death, was made to walk in the funeral cortege, holding the Imperial Crown of Russia as he walked in front of Peter's coffin. Peter III had never been crowned so at the time of his reburial, Paul personally performed the ritual of coronation on his remains. Paul responded to the rumour of his illegitimacy by parading his descent from Peter the Great. The inscription on the
monument to the first Emperor of Russia near the
St. Michael's Castle reads in Russian "''To the Great-Grandfather from the Great-Grandson''". This is an allusion to the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
"PETRO PRIMO CATHARINA SECUNDA", the dedication by Catherine on the '
Bronze Horseman
The ''Bronze Horseman'' (russian: link=no, Медный всадник, literally "copper horseman") is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in the Senate Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was opened to the public on 7 (18) August ...
' of Peter the Great.
Purported eccentricities
Emperor Paul was idealistic and capable of great generosity, but he was also mercurial and capable of vindictiveness. In spite of doubts of his legitimacy, he greatly resembled his father, Peter III, and other Romanovs as well and shared the same character. During the first year of his reign, Paul emphatically reversed many of his mother's policies. Although he accused many of
Jacobinism
A Jacobin (; ) was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–1799).
The club got its name from meeting at the Dominican rue Saint-Honoré M ...
, he allowed Catherine's best known critic,
Radishchev, to return from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
n exile. Besides Radishchev, he liberated
Novikov from
Schlüsselburg fortress, and also
Tadeusz Kościuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, an ...
, yet after liberation both were confined to their own estates under police supervision. He viewed the
Russian nobility
The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire.
Up until the February Revolution ...
as decadent and corrupt, and was determined to transform them into a disciplined, principled, loyal caste resembling a medieval
chivalric order
An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order (distinction), order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic Military order (religious society), military orders of the ...
. To those few who conformed to his view of a modern-day knight (e.g., his favourites
Kutuzov
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ( rus, Князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов, Knyaz' Mikhaíl Illariónovich Goleníshchev-Kutúzov; german: Mikhail Illarion Golenishchev-Kut ...
,
Arakcheyev, and
Rostopchin) he granted more serfs during the five years of his reign than his mother had presented to her lovers during her thirty-four years. Those who did not share his chivalric views were dismissed or lost their places at court: seven field marshals and 333 generals fell into this category.
Paul made several idiosyncratic and deeply unpopular attempts to reform the army. Under Catherine's reign,
Grigori Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
introduced new uniforms that were cheap, comfortable, and practical, and designed in a distinctly Russian style. Paul decided to fulfill his father Peter III's intention of introducing Prussian uniforms. Impractical for active duty, these were deeply unpopular with the men, as was the effort required to maintain them. His love of parades and ceremony was not well-liked either. He ordered that ''Wachtparad'' ("Watch parades") take place early every morning in the parade ground of the palace, regardless of the weather conditions. He would personally sentence soldiers to be flogged if they made a mistake, and on one occasion ordered a Guards regiment to march to Siberia after they became disordered during maneuvers, although he changed his mind after they had walked about . He attempted to reform the organization of the army in 1796 by introducing ''The Infantry Codes'', a series of guidelines for the army based largely upon show and glamour. But his greatest commander,
Suvorov, completely ignored them, believing them to be worthless. At great expense, he built three palaces in or around the Russian capital. Much was made of his
courtly love
Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...
affair with
Anna Lopukhina
Princess Anna Petrovna Lopukhina (russian: Анна Петровна Лопухина) (8 November 1777 – 25 April 1805) was a royal mistress to Emperor Paul of Russia. In 1798, she replaced Catherine Nelidova as the chief mistress.
Family
...
.
Emperor Paul also ordered the bones of
Grigori Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
, the famed military commander and one of his mother's lovers, dug out of their grave and scattered.
Foreign affairs
Paul's early foreign policy can largely be seen as reactions against his mother's. In foreign policy, this meant that he opposed the many expansionary wars she fought and instead preferred to pursue a more peaceful, diplomatic path. Immediately upon taking the throne, he recalled all troops outside Russian borders, including the struggling expedition Catherine II had sent to conquer
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
through the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
and the 60,000 men she had promised to Britain and Austria to help them defeat the French. Paul hated the French before their revolution, and afterwards, with their republican and anti-religious views, he detested them even more.
[Haukeil, 351.] In addition to this, he knew French expansion hurt Russian interests, but he recalled his mother's troops primarily because he firmly opposed wars of expansion. He also believed that Russia needed substantial governmental and military reforms to avoid an economic collapse and a revolution, before Russia could wage war on foreign soil.
![Paul I by A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Paul_I_by_A.F._Mitrokhin.jpeg)
Paul offered to mediate between Austria and France through Prussia and pushed Austria to make peace, but the two countries made peace without his assistance, signing the
Treaty of Campoformio
The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treat ...
in October 1797.
This treaty, with its affirmation of French control over islands in the Mediterranean and the partitioning of the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
, upset Paul, who saw it as creating more instability in the region and displaying France's ambitions in the Mediterranean. In response, he offered asylum to the
Prince de Condé
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
and his army, as well as the future
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
, both of whom had been forced out of Austria by the treaty.
By this point, the French Republic had seized Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, establishing republics with constitutions in each, and Paul felt that Russia now needed to play an active role in Europe in order to overthrow what the republic had created and restore traditional authorities.
In this goal he found a willing ally in the Austrian chancellor
Baron Thugut
Johann Amadeus Franz de Paula Freiherr von Thugut (24 May 173628 May 1818) was an Austrian diplomat.
Early life
He was born in Linz. His origin and his unusual name (literally "do good") have been the subject of some legends. One such legend was t ...
, who hated the French and loudly criticized revolutionary principles. Britain and the Ottoman Empire joined Austria and Russia to stop French expansion, free territories under their control and re-establish the old monarchies. The only major power in Europe who did not join Paul in his anti-French campaign was Prussia, whose distrust of Austria and the security they got from their current relationship with France prevented them from joining the coalition.
Despite the Prussians’ reluctance, Paul decided to move ahead with the war, promising 60,000 men to support Austria in Italy and 45,000 men to help England in North Germany and the Netherlands.
Another important factor in Paul's decision to go to war with France was the island of
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, the home of the
Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
. In addition to Malta, the Order had priories in the Catholic countries of Europe that held large estates and paid the revenue from them to the Order. In 1796, the Order approached Paul about the Priory of Poland, which had been in a state of neglect and paid no revenue for 100 years, and was now on Russian land.
[McGrew, Roderick E. (1979) "Paul I and the Knights of Malta," in ''Paul I: A Reassessment of His Life and Reign'', ed. Hugh Ragsdale (Pittsburgh: University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh) ] Paul as a child had read the histories of the Order and was impressed by their honor and connection to the old order it represented. He relocated the Priories of Poland to St. Petersburg in January 1797.
The knights responded by making him a protector of the Order in August of that same year, an honour he had not expected but, in keeping with his chivalric ideals, he happily accepted.
![Pawlowsk-Palast 2005 b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Pawlowsk-Palast_2005_b.jpg)
In June 1798,
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 ...
seized Malta; this greatly offended Paul.
In September, the Priory of St. Petersburg declared that
Grand Master Hompesch had betrayed the Order by selling Malta to Napoleon. A month later the Priory elected Paul
Grand Master on 24 November 1798, according to the 1847 edition of the ''Glossary of Heraldry''.
This election resulted in the establishment of the
Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller
The Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller is a collection of charitable organisations claiming continuity with the Russian Orthodox grand priory of the Order of Saint John. The order emerged when Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 dur ...
within the Imperial
Orders
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
of Russia. The election of the sovereign of an Orthodox nation as the head of a Catholic order was controversial, and it was some time before the Holy See or any of the Order's other priories approved it. This delay created political issues between Paul, who insisted on defending his legitimacy, and the priories’ respective countries.
Though recognition of Paul's election would become a more divisive issue later in his reign, the election immediately gave Paul, as Grand Master of the Order, another reason to fight the French Republic: to reclaim the Order's ancestral home.
The Russian army in Italy played the role of an auxiliary force sent to support the Austrians, though the Austrians offered the position of chief commander over all the allied armies to
Alexander Suvorov
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy ...
, a distinguished Russian general. Under Suvorov, the allies managed to push the French out of Italy, though they suffered heavy losses. However, by this point in time, cracks had started to appear in the Russo-Austrian alliance, due to their different goals in Italy. While Paul and Suvorov wanted the liberation and restoration of the Italian monarchies, the Austrians sought territorial acquisitions in Italy, and were willing to sacrifice later Russian support to acquire them.
The Austrians, therefore, happily saw Suvorov and his army out of Italy in 1799 to go meet up with the army of
Alexander Korsakov
Alexander Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov (russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ри́мский-Ко́рсаков) (August 24, 1753May 25, 1840) was a Russian general remembered as an unlucky assistant to Alexander Suvorov during hi ...
, at the time assisting the Austrian
Archduke Charles
Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...
to expel the French armies currently occupying Switzerland. However, the campaign in Switzerland had become a stalemate, without much activity on either side until the Austrians withdrew. Because this happened before Korsakov and Suvorov could unite their forces, the French could attack their armies one at a time, destroying Korsakov's and forcing Suvorov to fight his way out of Switzerland, suffering heavy losses. Suvorov, shamed, blamed the Austrians for the terrible defeat in Switzerland, as did his furious sovereign. This defeat, combined with Austria's refusal to reinstate the old monarchies in Italy and their disrespect of the Russian flag during the taking of Ancona, led to the formal cessation of the alliance in October 1799.
Although by the fall of 1799 the Russo-Austrian alliance had more or less fallen apart, Paul still cooperated willingly with the British. Together, they planned to invade the Netherlands, and through that country attack France proper. Unlike Austria, neither Russia nor Britain appeared to have any secret territorial ambitions: they both simply sought to defeat the French.
The
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland
The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland, or Helder Expedition) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and ...
started well, with a British victory - the
Battle of Callantsoog
The Battle of Callantsoog (sometimes also called Battle of Groote Keeten) (27 August 1799) followed the amphibious landing by a British invasion force under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby near Callantsoog in the course of the Anglo-Russia ...
(27 August 1799) - in the north, but when the Russian army arrived in September, the allies found themselves faced with bad weather, poor coordination, and unexpectedly fierce resistance from the Dutch and the French, and their success evaporated. As the month wore on, the weather worsened and the allies suffered more and more losses, eventually signing an armistice in October 1799. The Russians suffered three-quarters of allied losses and the British left the Russian troops on an island in the Channel after the retreat, as Britain did not want them on the mainland.
This defeat and subsequent maltreating of Russian troops strained Russo-British relations, but a definitive break did not occur until later.
The reasons for this break are less clear and simple than those of the split with Austria, but several key events occurred over the winter of 1799–1800 that helped: Bonaparte released 7,000 captive Russian troops that Britain had refused to pay the ransom for; Paul grew closer to the Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Sweden, whose claim to neutral shipping rights offended Britain; Paul had the British ambassador in St. Petersburg (
Whitworth) recalled (1800) and Britain did not replace him, without any clear reason given as to why; and Britain, needing to choose between their two allies, chose Austria, who had with certainty committed to fighting the French to the end.
Finally, two events occurred in rapid succession that destroyed the alliance completely: first, in July 1800, the British seized a Danish frigate, prompting Paul to close the British trading factories in St. Petersburg as well as impound British ships and cargo; second, even though the allies resolved this crisis, Paul could not forgive the British for
Admiral Nelson's refusal to return Malta to the Order of St. John, and therefore to Paul, when the British captured it from the French in September 1800. In a drastic response, Paul seized all British vessels in Russian ports, sent their crews to detention camps and took British traders hostage until he received satisfaction. Over the next winter, he went further, using his new
Armed Neutrality coalition with Sweden, Denmark and Prussia to prepare the Baltic against possible British attack, prevent the British from searching neutral merchant vessels, and freeze all British trade in Northern Europe. As France had already closed all of Western and Southern Europe to British trade, Britain, which relied heavily upon imports (especially for timber, naval products, and grain) felt seriously threatened by Paul's move and reacted fast. In March 1801, Britain sent a fleet to Denmark,
bombarding Copenhagen and forcing the Danes to surrender in the beginning of April. Nelson then sailed towards St. Petersburg, reaching
Reval
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...
(14 May 1801), but after the conspiracy assassinated Paul (23 March 1801), the new Tsar Alexander opened peace-negotiations shortly after taking the throne.
The most original aspect of Paul I's foreign policy was his rapprochement with France after the coalition fell apart. Several scholars have argued that this change in position, radical though it seemed, made sense, as Bonaparte became
First Consul
The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Co ...
and made France a more conservative state, consistent with Paul's view of the world. Paul also decided to
send a Cossack army to take British India, as Britain itself was almost impervious to direct attack, being an island nation with a formidable navy, but the British had left
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
largely unguarded and would have great difficulty staving off a force that came over land to attack it. The British themselves considered this enough of a problem that they signed three treaties with Persia, in
1801, 1809 and 1812, to guard against an army attacking India through Central Asia. Paul sought to attack the British where they were weakest: through their commerce and their colonies. Throughout his reign, his policies focused reestablishing peace and the balance of power in Europe, while supporting autocracy and old monarchies, without seeking to expand Russia's borders.
Irano-Georgian matters
In lieu of Russia's failure to honour the terms of the
Treaty of Georgievsk
The Treaty of Georgievsk (russian: Георгиевский трактат, Georgievskiy traktat; ka, გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი, tr) was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Ge ...
,
Qajar Iran
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
reinvaded Georgia and
captured and sacked Tbilisi. Georgian rulers felt they had nowhere else to turn now as Georgia was again re-subjugated by Iran.
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
was captured and burnt to the ground, and eastern Georgia reconquered. However,
Agha Mohammad Khan
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, rul ...
, Persia's ruler, was assassinated in 1797 in
Shusha
/ hy, Շուշի
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg
, image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govhar ...
, after which the Persian grip on Georgia softened again.
Erekle, King of Kartli-Kakheti, still dreaming of a united Georgia, died a year later. After his death, a civil war broke out over the succession to the throne of Kartli-Kakheti, and one of the rival candidates called on Russia to intervene and decide matters. On 8 January 1801, Tsar Paul I signed a decree on the incorporation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire, which was confirmed by Tsar
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
on 12 September 1801. The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg,
Garsevan Chavchavadze
Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze ( ka, გარსევან ჭავჭავაძე) (July 20, 1757 - April 7, 1811) was a Georgian nobleman (''tavadi''), politician and diplomat primarily known as the Georgian ambassador to Imperial Russia.
...
, reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor
Alexander Kurakin. In May 1801, Russian General Carl Heinrich von Knorring removed the Georgian heir to the throne,
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
Batonishvili
''Batonishvili'' ( ka, ბატონიშვილი) (literally "a child of batoni (lord or sovereign)" in Georgian) is a title for royal princes and princesses who descend from the kings of Georgia from the Bagrationi dynasty and is suffixe ...
, from power and deployed a provisional government headed by General Ivan Lazarev.
![Roubaud](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Roubaud._Russian_troops_entering_Tiflis_in_1799.JPG)
Some of the Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until April 1802, when General Knorring held the nobility in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
's
Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the imperial crown of Russia. Those who disagreed were arrested. Wanting to secure the northernmost reaches of his empire, and aware that the grip on Georgia was drastically loosening with Russia's formal entrance into Tbilisi, Agha Mohammad Khan's successor,
Fath Ali Shah Qajar
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلىشاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irr ...
, got involved in the
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)
The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Iran, Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in th ...
. In the summer of 1805, Russian troops on the Askerani River and near Zagam defeated the Persian army. In 1810, the kingdom of
Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
(Western Georgia) was annexed by the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
after the suppression of King
Solomon II's resistance. In 1813, Qajar Iran was officially forced to cede Georgia to Russia per the
Treaty of Gulistan
The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distri ...
of 1813. This marked the official start of the Russian period in Georgia.
Assassination
Paul's premonitions of
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
were well founded. His attempts to force the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
to adopt a code of
chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
alienated many of his trusted advisors. The Emperor also discovered outrageous machinations and
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
in the Russian
treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
. As he had revoked Catherine's decree allowing
corporal punishment of the free classes, and directed reforms that resulted in greater rights for the
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
ry and provided for better treatment for
serfs on agricultural estates, many of his policies greatly annoyed the nobility and induced his enemies to work out a plan of action.
![Spb 06-2017 img21 StMichael Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Spb_06-2017_img21_StMichael_Castle.jpg)
A
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
was organized, some months before it was executed, by Counts
Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen
Peter Ludwig Graf von der Pahlen (russian: Пётр Алексе́евич Па́лен, translit= Pyotr Alekseyevich Palen; , Palms Manor, Palms (now ) – , Mitau (now )), a Baltic-German courtier and general, played a pivotal role in the as ...
,
Nikita Petrovich Panin, and
Admiral de Ribas, with the alleged support of
the British ambassador in Saint Petersburg,
Charles Whitworth.
The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of , a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of
Saint Michael's Castle
Saint Michael's Castle (russian: Миха́йловский за́мок, ''Mikhailovsky zamok''), also called the Mikhailovsky Castle or the Engineers' Castle (russian: Инженерный замок, ''Inzhenerny zamok''), is a former royal ...
. The assassins included
General Bennigsen, a
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
ian in the Russian service, and
General Yashvil, a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
. They charged into Paul's bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner. The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his
abdication
Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
. Paul offered some resistance, and
Nikolay Zubov Nikolay Zubov may refer to:
* Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov (1763-1805), Russian nobleman
* Nikolay Nikolaevich Zubov (1885-1960), Russian naval officer and oceanographer
* Nikolay Zubov (icebreaker), see Project 23550 patrol ship
Project 23550 ...
struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death. Paul's successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had "given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination". General Nikolay Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, "Time to grow up! Go and rule!" Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician,
James Wylie, declared
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
the official cause of death.
Legacy
There is some evidence that Paul I was venerated as a saint among the Russian Orthodox populace, even though he was never officially canonized by any of the Orthodox Churches.
Portrayals in popular culture
* In 1906, Dmitry Merezhkovsky published his tragedy ''Paul I''; the most prominent performance of which was made on the Soviet Army Theatre's stage in 1989, with
Oleg Borisov
Oleg Ivanovich Borisov (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Бори́сов; 8 November 1929 – 28 April 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1978).
Biography
Childhood and youth
Oleg Borisov was ...
as Paul.
* ''
The Patriot'' (1928 film), directed by
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...
, is a biopic starring
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The La ...
as Paul. It won the
Best Writing Oscar at the
2nd Academy Awards. It is now mostly
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
, with about one-third of the film preserved in archives.
* The Soviet film ''
Lieutenant Kijé'' (1937), directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer and based on a novella of the same name by Yury Tynyanov, satirizes Paul's obsession with rigid drill, instant obedience, and martinet discipline.
* In
Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
's novel ''
Nausea
Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the ...
'' (1938), Marquis de Rollebon, a fictional character being studied by the protagonist Antoine Roquentin, is implicit in Paul I's assassination.
* The Soviet experimental film ''
Assa
Assa may refer to: Places
* Assa (Chalcidice), a town of Chalcidice in ancient Macedonia, Greece
* Assa, Morocco, a town in Southern Morocco in the Jbel Ouarkziz
* Asa River (Kazakhstan), river in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan
* Assa (river), river ...
'' (1987) has a subplot revolving around Paul's murder; Paul is portrayed by Dmitry Dolinin.
* ''
Poor Poor Paul
''Poor Poor Paul'' (russian: Бедный, бедный Павел, Bednyy bednyy Pavel) is a 2003 Russian historical drama film. It is a biopic of Czar of Russia, Czar Paul I of Russia and the final film of the historical trilogy of Vitaly Melniko ...
'' (2003; Бе́дный бе́дный Па́вел) is a film about Paul's rule produced by
Lenfilm, directed by Vitaliy Mel'nikov, and starring
Viktor Sukhorukov
Viktor Ivanovich Sukhorukov PAR (russian: Виктор Иванович Сухоруков; born 10 November 1951) is a Russian actor. He has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since 1974. He starred in '' Happy Days'' (1991), ...
as Paul and
Oleg Yankovsky
Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Янко́вский; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russia, Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectu ...
as Count Pahlen, who headed the conspiracy against him. The film portrays Paul 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
Kinotavr (russian: Кинотавр), also known as the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival is an open film festival held in the resort city of Sochi, Russia annually in June since 1991, until it was cancelled in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasi ...
, in 2003.
* The young Paul appears in the 2014
Russia-1
Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...
television series
''Ekaterina''.
* The young Paul is portrayed by
Joseph Quinn
Joseph Quinn ( – July 5, 1887) was a New York clerk, amateur wrestler and murder victim of Danny Lyons, a co-leader of the Whyos street gang.
Early life
Although reportedly described as a pimp and rival Five Points thug, Quinn is described in ...
in the 2019
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
mini-series ''
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
''.
Archives
Paul's letters to his first mother-in-law,
Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken
Caroline of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken (Caroline Henriette Christiane Philippine Louise; 9 March 1721 – 30 March 1774) was Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt by marriage to Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was famed as one of the mos ...
, (together with letters from his first wife to her mother) are preserved in the Hessian State Archive (Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt) in Darmstadt, Germany. In addition, Paul's letters to his first father-in-law,
Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Ludwig) (15 December 1719 – 6 April 1790) was the reigning Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.
Louis IX and his wife became the most recent common ancestors of all current European monarchs ...
, (together with letters from his first wife to her father) are also preserved in the Hessian State Archive in Darmstadt.
Paul's correspondence with his brother-in-law, King
Frederick I of Württemberg
, image = Seele-Friedrich I..jpg
, caption = Portrait by Johann Baptist Seele
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Treptow an der Rega, Prussia (now Trzebiatów, Poland)
, death_date =
, death_place = Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württe ...
(Maria Feodorovna's brother), written between 1776 and 1801, is preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany. Paul's correspondence with his parents-in-law,
Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg
Friedrich Eugen, Duke of Württemberg (21 January 1732 – 23 December 1797) was the fourth son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (11 August 1706 – 1 February 1756). He was born in Stuttg ...
, and
Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, written between 1776 and 1797, is also preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.
Issue
Paul and Sophie had ten children; nine survived to adulthood (and from whom can be traced
19 grandchildren):
Mistresses and illegitimate children
*
Sophia Razumovskaya
Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek. It may refer to:
*Sophia (wisdom)
* Sophia (Gnosticism)
*Sophia (given name)
Places
* Niulakita or Sophia, an island of Tuvalu
*Sophia, Georgetown, a ward of Georgetown, Guyana
*Sophia, North Carolina, an unincorp ...
(1746–1803), lady in waiting of
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
.
**Semyon Afanasyevich Velikiy (1772 – 13 August 1794)– became a naval officer and died in ship wreck.
Semen Velikiy
Retrieved 20 January 2022
*Mavra Yuryeva (1760–1828), spouse of Aleksey Vakar
**Marfa Pavlovna Musina-Yuryeva (1801–1803) – died prematurely
Ancestry
See also
* Manifesto of three-day corvee
The Manifesto of three-day corvee or An Imperial Edict Forbidding Sunday Labor by Serfs (russian: link=no, Манифест о трёхдневной барщине от 5 апреля 1797 года) was issued by the Russian emperor Paul I on Ap ...
* Tsars of Russia family tree
The following is a family tree of the monarchs of Russia.
Rurik dynasty
Romanov dynasty
Gallery
File:Ruriks.jpg,
File:Romanov f ...
References
Attribution
*
*
Bibliography
* Alexander, John T. ''Catherine the Great: Life and Legend'' (Oxford University Press, 1989).
* Almedingen, E. M. ''So Dark a Stream: a Study of the Emperor Paul I of Russia, 1754-1801'' (1959
online
* Haukeil, Henry A. and Tyrrell, H., The History of Russia from the foundation of the Empire to the War with Turkey in 1877–78, Volume 1 (London: The London Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, 1854)
* Macek, Bernhard A. (2012) Haydn, Mozart und die Großfürstin: Eine Studie zur Uraufführung der "Russischen Quartette" op. 33 in den Kaiserappartements der Wiener Hofburg. (Wien: Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.) .
* de Madariaga, Isabel. ''Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great'' (Yale U.P. 1981)
* Kamenskii, Aleksandr. ''The Russian Empire in the Eighteenth Century: Searching for a Place in the World'' (1997) pp 265–280.
* Massie, Robert K. ''Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman'' (Random House) New York, NY, 2011.
* McGrew, Roderick E. (1979) "Paul I and the Knights of Malta," in ''Paul I: A Reassessment of His Life and Reign'', ed. Hugh Ragsdale (Pittsburgh: University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh) , pp. 44 ff.
* McGrew, Roderick E. (1992), ''Paul I of Russia''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press)
online review
* Ragsdale, Hugh, ed. ''Paul I: A reassessment of His Life and Reign'', (University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1979)
*
* Sorokin, Iurii Alekseevich (1996)
"Emperor Paul I, 1796–1801"
in ''The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs'', ed. Donald J. Raleigh (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe) .
* Waliszewski, K. ''The Story of a Throne'' (London, 1895)
External links
at AlexanderPalace.org
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul 01 Of Russia
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