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Reactionary policy of Nicholas I. The regime of Nicholas I: political reaction

The 30-year reign (1825-1855) of Alexander I's brother, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, or Nicholas I, was the apotheosis of autocratic Russia, the highest level of traditional society in its later, relatively civilized and, moreover, military-police-bureaucratic form. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich himself represents the most powerful and colorful personality of the later Russian emperors (from the time of the death of his grandmother Catherine the Great until the revolution), with an iron will, regal charm and brilliant manners, personifying (along with the imperial court that blinded foreigners with its splendor) external splendor great empire, an excellent actor who knew how to put on many masks, moreover, a pedantically precise, stern martinet, a fanatic of the idea of legitimate autocracy.

Main content domestic policy Nicholas I boils down to the following:

Undoubted positives:

1. Codification of laws (which previously represented a shapeless heap), carried out by M.M. Speransky, and streamlining the work of the state apparatus.

2. Development of technical education, founding of the first technical universities in Russia.

3. Monetary reform of the Minister of Finance E. Kankrin with the transition to the silver standard of the ruble, which strengthened its stability.

4. Easing the situation of state peasants (P. Kiselev’s reform).

5. Patronage of national culture (Pushkin, Glinka, etc.).

“Nullified” positive - 6. Repeated attempts to begin the abolition of serfdom through secret committees convened 7 times, unrealized due to the resistance of the nobility and the inertia of the higher bureaucracy.

Controversial Features:

7. Political reaction after the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, which began the reign of Nicholas, and the pacification of the Polish uprising of 1831. The reaction was expressed primarily in the suppression of any dissent, tightening of censorship and political repression. Resumed use death penalty, which had not previously been used for 50 years (from the time of the Pugachev rebellion to the Decembrist putsch). When “sedition” did not fall under a criminal article, other measures of influence were invented, shining example- case of P. Chaadaev. A Westerner, a friend of Pushkin, who diverged from him politically, since Pushkin stood for patriotic positions, Chaadaev in 1836, due to a censor’s oversight, published an article with sweeping criticism Russian history, culture, religion and traditions; at the same time, it did not contain language that would directly subject the author to trial. Then Chaadaev was declared mentally ill. Thus, Nicholas I became an “innovator” in the method of repression and in this far anticipated the later Soviet leaders who sent dissidents to mental hospitals.

The reaction especially intensified in the last years of Nicholas's reign, after the revolutionary events of 1848 in European countries. In particular, previously free travel abroad was sharply limited (mainly only for diplomats) - in fact, for the first time, an “iron curtain” was erected between Russia and Europe, so in this too, Nikolai was far ahead of the leaders of the USSR.

8. The creation of a secret political police - the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty's own Chancellery and the subordinate corps of gendarmes (1826, first chief - General Count A.H. Benckendorf), nicknamed the “blue uniforms”, to fight the revolutionary and other opposition movements. She had enormous powers (including checking personal letters) and was personally subordinate to the emperor and monitored all subjects of the empire.

9. A turn from Peter’s ideology of “learning from Europe” to a nationalist course, expressed in the motto “Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality” (a formula invented by the Minister of Education Count S. Uvarov) and protecting the conservative foundations of Russian life. The reason for this turn, like the “Iron Curtain,” was the dangerous influence of the revolutionary and liberal tendencies of the West for the monarchy, which began during the French Revolution. On the one hand, this ideology was partly anticipated Patriotic War with Napoleon and is aimed at reviving patriotic self-awareness, largely lost by the upper strata of society as a result of the general and uncritical passion for everything Western and especially French since the time of Peter. (In particular, Nicholas ordered the nobles to speak Russian at court, since many of them had already forgotten native language). On the other hand, fencing off Europe with the “Iron Curtain”, although it did not reach such a degree of confrontation as during the “Moscow - Third Rome”, since it was no longer dictated religious fanaticism, but quite pragmatic motives (in particular, scientific, technical and business contacts with the West, youth training foreign languages), but still contributed to the partial conservation of the country.

In general, most historians agree in recognizing the Nicholas era as a time of missed opportunities to modernize the country - and not only because of the personal conservatism of the emperor, but also the inertia of the ruling bureaucracy and nobility - after all, it was they who ultimately “slowed down” all the tsar’s initiatives on the issue of the abolition of serfdom. Rejecting the false, unequivocally negative stereotype regarding Nicholas I, created by liberal and revolutionary historiography (starting with A. Herzen) and entrenched in Soviet era, something else should be recognized. For all the extraordinary personal qualities of Nicholas - certainly the largest and most colorful of the Russian emperors after Peter and Catherine, and for all the positive innovations, they still had a private character. Behind the regal image of Nicholas that captivated people and the external splendor of his empire, from the dazzling court splendor to the army, drilled with cane discipline to the acrobatic art of parades, and behind the seemingly ideal bureaucratic mechanism, lay outdated class-serfdom remnants, and most importantly, a growing economic, technical and military lag behind Europe, in which the industrial revolution had already taken place, machine production, railways, steam fleet and rifled weapons dominated, while in our country all these processes were still in the initial and extremely slow stage, since they were slowed down by the lack of free labor in conditions of serfdom. All this gave rise to the aforementioned revolutionary publicist A. Herzen, with all his tendentiousness, to very successfully call Nicholas Russia “an empire of facades.”

Main directions foreign policy Nicholas I became:

1) expansion to the East and South;

2) the fight against the revolutionary movement in Europe, the result of which was the transformation of Russia into the “gendarme of Europe” (the figurative expression of K. Marx), which further strengthened the hostility of progressive European public opinion and its international isolation, which led to a dramatic outcome in Crimean War.

The chronicle of the main events of foreign policy is as follows:

1828-1829 - annexation of Eastern Armenia and Northern Azerbaijan as a result of victorious wars with Turkey and Persia (Iran).

1831 - Polish national liberation uprising and its suppression.

1834-1859 - war of extermination for conquest North Caucasus(in many ways similar to the recent war in Chechnya) with the mountaineer tribes led by Shamil (ended in victory after the death of Nicholas).

1849 - military intervention in Hungary and the suppression of the revolution in it, which saved the Austrian monarchy from collapse and death, which later turned against Russia itself.

The sad result of Nicholas's reign was the Crimean War (1853-1855), which was the result of his desire for the final destruction and division of the once formidable for Europe, and by that time decrepit Muslim Ottoman (or Ottoman) Empire (Turkey). Contrary to Nicholas’s calculations, England and France came to its defense (and even Austria, which he saved from collapse, took a hostile position). This reflected the international isolation of Russia, whose foreign policy ambitions had long caused general discontent. Despite the victories over the Turks (in particular, the defeat of the Turkish fleet at Sinop) and the heroic defense of Sevastopol from the British and French under the leadership of Admiral P.S. that lasted almost a year. Nakhimov, the war ended in defeat and (after the death of Nicholas, under the terms of the peace treaty of 1856) the loss of the Black Sea Fleet by Russia.

The Crimean War clearly and mercilessly exposed the economic and military-technical backwardness of Russia from the leading countries of Europe. According to A. Tyutcheva, “the entire magnificent phantasmagoria of Nicholas’s reign dissipated like smoke,” which became the reason for his premature death (even before the end of the war). The halo of invincibility of autocratic-serf Russia dissipated. As a result, the defeat in the Crimean War became the decisive impetus for the Great Reforms of the next reign.

Throughout great history Our great Motherland was reigned by many kings and emperors. One of these was, who was born on July 6, 1796, and ruled his state for 30 years, from 1825 to 1855. Nikolai is remembered by many as very careful emperor, not pursuing an active internal policy in his state, which will be discussed later.

The main directions of the domestic policy of Nicholas 1, briefly

The vector of development of the country that the emperor chose had a very great influence Decembrist uprising, which occurred in the year when the ruler ascended the throne. This event determined that all reforms, changes and, in general, the entire course of the ruler’s internal policy would be aimed at any destruction or prevention of the opposition.

Fight against any dissatisfied- this is what the head of state who ascended the throne adhered to throughout his reign. The ruler understood that Russia needed reforms, but his primary goal was the need for the stability of the country and the sustainability of all bills.

Reforms of Nicholas 1

The emperor, realizing the importance and need for reforms, tried to implement them.

Financial reform

This was the first change that the ruler made. Financial reform Also called the Kankrin reform- Minister of Finance. Main goal and the essence of the change was to restore confidence in paper money.

Nikolai is the first person who made an attempt not only to improve and create stability in the financial situation of his state, but also to issue a powerful currency that was highly valued in the international arena. With this reform, banknotes were to be replaced with credit notes. The entire change process was divided into two stages:

The state accumulated a metal fund, which later, according to the plan, was supposed to become a security for paper money. To achieve this, the bank began to accept gold and silver coins and subsequently exchange them for deposit tickets. In parallel with this, the Minister of Finance, Kankrin, fixed the value of the assigned ruble at the same level, and ordered that all state payments be calculated in silver rubles.
The second stage was the process of exchanging deposit tickets for new credit tickets. They could be exchanged for metal rubles without any problems.

Important! Thus, Kankrin managed to create a financial situation in the country in which ordinary paper money was backed by metal and was valued in exactly the same way as metal money.

The main features of Nicholas's domestic policy were actions aimed at improving the lives of peasants. During his entire reign, 9 committees were created to discuss the possibility of improving the lives of serfs. It’s worth noting right away that until the end The emperor failed to resolve the peasant issue, because he did everything very conservatively.

The great sovereign understood the importance, but the ruler’s first changes were aimed at improving the lives of the state peasants, and not all:

In state villages, towns and others populated areas the number of educational institutions and hospitals increased.
Special plots of land were allocated where members of the peasant community could use them in order to prevent a bad harvest and subsequent famine. Potatoes are what these lands were mainly planted with.
Attempts were made to solve the problem of land shortage. In those settlements where peasants did not have enough land, state peasants were transferred to the east, where there were a lot of free plots.

These first steps that Nicholas 1 took to improve the lives of the peasants greatly alarmed the landowners, and even caused them discontent. The reason for this was that the life of state peasants began to really get better, and consequently, ordinary serfs also began to show discontent.

Later, the government of the state, headed by the emperor, began to develop a plan to create bills that, one way or another, improved the lives of ordinary serfs:

A law was passed that prohibited landowners from retail trading in serfs, that is, the sale of any peasant separately from his family was henceforth prohibited.
The bill, called “On Obligated Peasants,” was that now landowners had the right to release serfs without land, as well as to release them with land. However, for such a grant of freedom, the freed serfs were obliged to pay certain debts to their former masters.
WITH certain moment serfs gained the right to buy their own land and therefore become free people. In addition, serfs were also given the right to purchase property.

ATTENTION! Despite all the above-described reforms of Nicholas 1, which came into force under this emperor, neither the landowners nor the peasants used them: the former did not want to release the serfs, and the latter simply did not have the opportunity to redeem themselves. However, all these changes were an important step towards the complete disappearance of serfdom.

Education Policy

Ruler of the State decided to distinguish three types of schools: parish, district and gymnasiums. The first and most important subjects studied in schools were Latin and Greek, and all other disciplines were considered additional. As soon as Nicholas the first ascended the throne, there were about 49 gymnasiums in Russia, and by the end of the emperor’s reign their number was 77 throughout the country.

Universities have also undergone changes. Rectors, as well as professors of educational institutions, were now elected by the ministry public education. The opportunity to study at universities was given only for money. In addition to Moscow University, higher education institutions educational institutions were in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Kharkov and Kyiv. In addition, some lyceums could provide higher education to people.

The first place in all education was occupied by the “official nationality”, which consisted in the fact that the entire Russian people are the custodians of patriarchal traditions. That is why in all universities, regardless of faculty, subjects such as church law and theology.

Economic development

The industrial situation, which had settled in the state by the time Nicholas came to the throne, was the most terrible in the entire history of Russia. There could be no talk of any competition in this area with Western and European powers.

All those types of industrial products and materials that the country simply needed were purchased and delivered from abroad, and Russia itself supplied only raw materials abroad. However, towards the end of the emperor's reign the situation changed very noticeably in better side. Nikolai was able to begin the formation of a technically developed industry, already capable of competition.

Very strong development production of clothing, metals, sugar and textiles received. Huge number products from completely different materials began to be produced in Russian Empire. Working machines also began to be made in the homeland, and not bought abroad.

According to statistics, for more than 30 years, industrial turnover in the country in one year it more than tripled. In particular, engineering products increased their turnover by as much as 33 times, and cotton products by 31 times.

For the first time in the history of Russia, the construction of highways with hard surfaces began. Three major routes were built, one of which was Moscow-Warsaw. Under Nicholas 1, construction also began railways. The rapid growth of industry served to increase the urban population by more than 2 times.

Scheme and characteristics of the internal policy of Nicholas 1

As already mentioned, the main reasons for the tightening of domestic policy under Nicholas 1 were the Decembrist uprising and new possible protests. Despite the fact that the emperor tried and made the life of the serfs better, he adhered to the principles of autocracy, suppressed opposition and developed bureaucracy . This was the internal policy of Nicholas 1. The diagram presented below describes its main directions.

The results of Nicholas’s domestic policy, as well as the general assessment of modern historians, politicians and scientists, are ambiguous. On the one hand, the emperor managed to create financial stability in the state and “revive” industry, increasing its volume tenfold.

Attempts were even made to improve life and partially free ordinary peasants, but these attempts were unsuccessful. On the other hand, Nicholas the First did not allow dissent and made it so that religion occupied almost the first place in people’s lives, which, by definition, is not very good for normal development states. The protective function was, in principle, respected.

Domestic policy of Nicholas I

Domestic policy of Nicholas I. Continued

Conclusion

The result of everything can be formulated as follows: for Nicholas 1, the most important aspect during his reign was precisely stability within your country. He was not indifferent to the life of ordinary citizens, but he could not improve it much, primarily because of the autocratic regime, which the emperor fully supported and tried to strengthen in every possible way.

In politics, as in everything public life, not to go forward means to be thrown back.
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich

The domestic policy of Nicholas 1, who ruled the Russian Empire from 1825 to 1855, was distinguished by the fact that the emperor raised the role of the state in public life, and also personally tried to delve into all the problems of his country. It is important to note that Nicholas was the third son of Paul 1, so no one really considered him in the role of a Russian ruler and no one prepared him for power. The fate of a military man was prepared for him. Nevertheless, power went to Nicholas the First, whose internal policy, especially in initial stage, was very similar to an army dictatorship. The young emperor tried to surround himself with obedient, dutiful people who could be subordinated to his own will. If we describe in a few words the main directions of the foreign policy of Emperor Nicholas 1, here they are:

Strengthening autocracy.
Expansion of the state apparatus. In fact, it was during this era that gigantic bureaucracy was created.
Fight against all those who disagree. During the reign of Nicholas 1, there was an active struggle against all social and political associations that dared to express their dissatisfaction with the current government.

Strengthening the role of the state

The first years of the reign of Nicholas 1 were marked by the fact that the emperor, unlike his predecessors, sought to independently delve into all the problems of the country. He delved not only into key problems, but also studied little important aspects life of the country. To solve these problems, the ruler expanded, and very significantly, the powers of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. In fact this one government agency began to play a fundamental role in the life of Russia. If in previous years all domestic policy was built on the basis of the work of the Cabinet of Ministers, who now key role It was the Chancellery that played.

Moreover, the emperor sought to increase the role of this Office. So, in 1826, the second department of the Chancellery was created, headed by Speransky. He was returned from exile by the emperor. The role of the second branch was to create a unified set of state laws. It is important to note that no one managed to do this before Nicholas 1. However, already in 1832, 45 volumes of laws of the Russian Empire were published. All of them were developed with the direct participation of Speransky. In 1833 it was published full set current laws Russian Empire.

Speaking about strengthening the role of the state as the most important component of the domestic policy of Nicholas 1, it is important to note that the strengthening of the autocracy was carried out in 4 main directions:

Creation of His Imperial Majesty's Own Office. We talked about it above.
Creation of special committees. All created Committees were personally subordinate to the Emperor and were responsible for resolving various state issues.
Creation of the "Theory of Official Nationality". You can read more about this theory in the corresponding section of our website, but now I just want to note that it was the theory of creating a new ideology for the population.
Creation of complete control over public and political life countries. Any organization could be closed and destroyed on the mere suspicion of disagreement with the current policy.

In 1826, a secret committee was created. It was headed by Kochubey. The main task of this committee was the creation and development of key reforms of public administration in Russia. Despite the importance of this task, Kochubey failed to solve it.

A very important feature of the domestic policy of that period is the gigantic expansion of the bureaucracy. Judge for yourself. At the time of the death of Alexander 1, there were 15,000 officials in Russia. By the end of the reign of Nicholas 1, there were already 90,000 of them. Such a gigantic expansion of the bureaucracy (6 times!) led to the fact that it became impossible for the state to exercise control over the activities of each of its officials. Therefore, very often for ordinary people the decision of a minor official was much more important than the decision of the Ministers or even the Emperor.

Reliance on the nobility

In an effort to strengthen his own power, Nicholas 1 decided to rely specifically on the nobility. This was mainly expressed in the fact that the young emperor was very worried that during the years of the reign of his predecessors, many noble families became very poor. This was especially significant during the reign of Alexander 1. The internal policy of Nicholas 1 of that time was largely based on building the foundations of public administration, relying on the nobility. Therefore, major steps have been taken to improve financial situation noble families, thereby causing them to want to protect the current monarch. The following steps were taken to implement this plan:

When inheriting noble property, which included at least 400 peasant households, it was prohibited to divide this property.
Since 1828 the average and higher education in the Russian Empire it became available exclusively to children from noble families.

These steps were aimed at raising the role and authority of the nobility in the life of the state. That is why we can say that the policy of Nicholas 1 within the country was carried out largely in the interests of the wealthy classes, on which the emperor decided to rely in his work.

The solution to the peasant question

By the beginning of the reign of Nicholas 1, no one in Russia denied the fact that the life of ordinary peasants needed to be improved. The solution to the peasant question has been brewing for a long time, but no one has seriously addressed it. In 1837 - 1841 the drone was carried out peasant reform, which affected exclusively state peasants. This reform was led by General Kiselyov, who at the time of the reform served as a member of the State Council and Minister of State Property. As a result of these reforms, peasants were allowed to create their own self-government, and schools and hospitals began to be built in villages. An important point of this reform concerned the introduction of “public arable land”. It was introduced in order to protect peasants from lean years. But the peasants worked together on such arable land and also used the results of their work together. However, one should not think that such innovations were positively received by society. Many of the reforms of the Russian emperors were distinguished by their illogicality and lack of thought. In particular, in most cases, peasants were forcibly forced to grow potatoes on public fields. As a result, a series of potato riots swept across the country in 1842.

The main stages of solving the peasant question

I don’t want to die and not solve... the Krastyan question...
Nikolai 1 Pavlovich

Kiselev’s peasant reform should be assessed objectively, as changes that did not change the lives of peasants for the better. Moreover, it should be said that this reform introduced huge differences between state and serf peasants. But as for improving the lives of serfs, and even more so attempts to emancipate them, here Kiselev and Nicholas 1 were of the opinion that Russia was not ready for this. In particular, this was argued by the fact that the abolition of serfdom could lead to serious complications with the nobility. And we have already said that the internal policy of the Emperor of the Russian Empire, Nicholas 1, was largely based on the nobility.

However, some steps were taken to improve the lives of serfs:

Landowners were given the right to free serfs and provide them with land for their own use. To be fair, we note that no one took advantage of this right.
In 1847, a law was passed according to which a peasant had the right to buy back his freedom if the landowner put him up for sale for debts.

These changes are not significant changes they were not brought into the life of the peasants. Serfdom existed and remained to exist, and those advantages that were formally realized on paper were not put into practice in practice.

Fight against revolutionaries within the country

One of the main directions of Nicholas 1's domestic policy was the fight against the revolution. At the same time, the emperor tried to destroy the revolution and revolutionaries in any of their manifestations. For these purposes, the activities of the political police were completely reorganized. To help her, in 1826, the 3rd department of the royal chancellery was created. Very interesting is the wording that describes the task of this office - control over the mood of minds. In the same year, 1826, strict censor control over all press organs was visible. Modern historians often call this censorship cast iron.

Therefore, we can safely say that the internal policy of Nicholas 1 was carried out exclusively in the interests of the nobility and in the fight against the revolution. All reforms and all transformations within the country during the reign of this emperor were carried out exclusively for these purposes. It is the strengthening of the power of the nobility and the fight against the revolution that explains all the political processes that were carried out in the Russian Empire during the reign of Nicholas 1.

The new period of Russian history, which began after the defeat of the Decembrists, is inextricably linked with the personality of Nicholas I.

In 1796, in the last year of the reign of Catherine II, her third grandson was born, who was named Nicholas. He grew up healthy and strong child standing out among peers tall. He lost his father at the age of four. He did not have close relationships with his older brothers. He spent his childhood in endless war games with younger brother. Looking at Nicholas, Alexander I thought with longing that this frowning, angular teenager would probably take his throne over time.

Nikolai studied unevenly. Social sciences seemed boring to him. However, to the exact and natural sciences he felt gravity, and was really interested in military engineering. One day he was assigned an essay on the topic that military service- is not the only occupation of a nobleman; there are other occupations, honorable and useful. Nikolai did not write anything, and the teachers had to write this essay themselves and then dictate it to their student.

Having visited England, Nikolai expressed the wish that all these talkers who make noise at rallies and clubs would be rendered speechless. But in Berlin, at the court of his father-in-law, the Prussian king, he felt at home. The German officers were surprised at how well he knew the Prussian military regulations.

Unlike Alexander I, Nicholas I was always alien to the ideas of constitutionalism and liberalism. He was a militarist and a materialist who disdained the spiritual side of life. In everyday life he was very unpretentious. He remained stern even among his family. Once, when he was already an emperor, he talked with the governor in the Caucasus. At the end of the conversation, as usual, he asked about his wife’s health. The viceroy complained about her frayed nerves. “Nerves?” asked Nicholas. “The empress also had nerves. But I said that there should be no nerves, and they were gone.”

Nicholas personally interrogated many Decembrists. He tried to persuade some to openly testify with gentle treatment, while he shouted at others. Those arrested were kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress in harsh conditions. They were taken to interrogations in shackles. Investigators often threatened torture. The trial of the Decembrists took place behind closed doors. The obsequious courtiers appointed as judges handed down a very cruel sentence. Five Decembrists (K.F. Ryleev, P.I. Pestel, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky) were sentenced to quartering. Nikolai replaced it with hanging. The execution took place early in the morning of July 13, 1826 in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

121 Decembrists were exiled to hard labor or to a settlement in Siberia, imprisoned in a fortress, or sent to die in the Caucasus as ordinary soldiers. Few had a chance to survive the long reign of Nicholas.

Nicholas I was terribly proud of his victory over the Decembrists. Meanwhile, in military terms it meant nothing. But in moral terms, Nicholas lost, because with harsh sentences in the Decembrist case, he forever alienated that part of educated society with which they were connected by ideological, family and friendly ties. Nothing strengthens ideas more than inhuman persecution of their supporters.

The government has taken a number of measures to strengthen the police. In 1826, the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was established, which became the main organ of political investigation. At his disposal was the Separate Corps of Gendarmes. The head of the Third Department was also the chief of the gendarme corps. For many years this position was held by Count A.Kh. Benckendorf, who participated in the defeat of the Decembrists and in the aftermath of them. personal friend Nicholas I, he concentrated enormous power in his hands.

In a society terrorized by the massacre of the Decembrists, they looked for the slightest manifestations of “sedition.” The cases instituted were exaggerated in every possible way, presented to the king as a “terrible conspiracy”, the participants of which received exorbitantly heavy punishments. In 1827, a circle of six people was discovered among students at Moscow University who intended to place a proclamation demanding a constitution at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky. This is how the “case of the Cretan brothers” arose. The elder brother died four years later in the Shlisselburg fortress, another brother, sent as a private to the Caucasus, died in battle, the third ended up in prison companies along with three other comrades in misfortune.

The government believed that Russian reality did not provide grounds for the emergence of a “seditious” way of thinking, that all this appeared under the influence of Western European liberation ideas. Therefore, exaggerated hopes were placed on censorship. Minister of Public Education Count S.S. Uvarov, who was in charge of censorship, saw his task as multiplying “wherever possible the number of mental dams” against the influx of “harmful” ideas. In 1826 it was adopted new charter about censorship, nicknamed "cast iron". The censors were not supposed to pass through any works that condemned the monarchical system of government. It was forbidden to express “unauthorized” proposals for government reforms. Religious free-thinking was severely suppressed. Insufficiently vigilant censors received penalties or were fired.

Other departments also began to seek censorship rights for themselves - each in its own area of interest. Soon the Third Department acquired this right. Synod, almost all ministries. Even the Horse Breeding Department has its own censorship. The rampant censorship has exceeded all reasonable limits - even from the government's point of view. But attempts to somehow rectify the situation gave only short-term success, and then chaos and arbitrariness were restored in the censorship. People friendly to the government often became its victims, and liberation ideas continued to penetrate into Russia in unknown ways.

The Nikolaev government tried to develop its own ideology, introduce it into schools, universities, the press, and educate a young generation loyal to the autocracy. Uvarov became the main ideologist of the autocracy. In the past, a freethinker who was friends with many Decembrists, he put forward the so-called “theory of official nationality” (“autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality”). Its meaning was to contrast the noble-intelligentsia revolutionism and the passivity of the masses, observed with late XVIII V. Liberation ideas were presented as a superficial phenomenon, widespread only among the “spoiled” part of educated society. The passivity of the peasantry, its patriarchal piety, and persistent faith in the Tsar were portrayed as “primordial” and “original” traits of the people’s character. Other nations, Uvarov assured, “know no peace and are weakened by differences of opinion,” and Russia “is strong in unparalleled unanimity - here the tsar loves the Fatherland in the person of the people and rules it like a father, guided by the laws, and the people do not know how to separate the Fatherland from the tsar and see in him is his happiness, strength and glory."

Uvarov's theory, which at that time seemed to rest on very solid foundations, still had one major flaw. She had no prospects. If the existing order in Russia is so good, if there is complete harmony between the government and the people, then there is no need to change or improve anything. Everything is fine. It was in this spirit that Benckendorff interpreted Uvarov’s ideas. “Russia’s past was amazing,” he wrote, “its present is more than magnificent, and as for its future, it is above everything that the wildest imagination can imagine.” Decembrist noble censorship gendarmerie

In reality, there was no harmony of interests even then. On the contrary, there were many problems that the late emperor struggled with, but which the late emperor never solved. But they seemed to succumb to endless postponement. And they began to deny them or stopped noticing them. The most prominent representatives of official science (historians M.P. Pogodin, N.G. Ustryalov, etc.) made every effort to inflate the legends and myths of the “official people.” Feigned optimism, the opposition of “original” Russia to the “corrupt” West, praise of the existing order in Russia, including serfdom - all these motives permeated the writings of official writers.

For many sensible people, the far-fetchedness and hypocrisy of official empty talk was obvious, but few dared to speak about it openly. That is why the “Philosophical Letter”, published in 1836 in the journal “Telescope” and written by P.Ya., made such a deep impression on his contemporaries. Chaadaev, friend A.S. Pushkin and many Decembrists. Chaadaev spoke with bitter indignation about the isolation of Russia from the latest European ideological trends, about the climate of national complacency and spiritual stagnation that had established itself in the country. By order of the king, Chaadaev was declared insane and placed under house arrest. The theory of “official nationality” became cornerstone ideology of autocracy.

Not trusting the public, Nicholas I saw his main support in the army and bureaucrats. During Nicholas' reign there was an unprecedented expansion of the bureaucratic apparatus. New ministries and departments appeared, striving to create their own local bodies. The objects of bureaucratic regulation became the most various areas human activity, including religion, art, literature, science. The number of officials grew rapidly (in early XIX V. - 15-16 thousand, in 1847 - 61.5 thousand and in 1857 - 86 thousand).

Managerial centralism intensified, going beyond all reasonable limits. Almost all cases were resolved in central departments. Even the highest institutions (the State Council and the Senate) were overloaded with a mass of small matters. This gave rise to a huge correspondence, often of a formal nature. Provincial officials sometimes wrote a response to a paper from St. Petersburg without understanding its meaning.

However, the essence of bureaucratic management is not the writing of a large number of papers and clerical red tape. This is his external signs. The essence is that decisions are made and implemented not by any meeting of representatives, not solely responsible official(minister, governor), and the entire administrative machine as a whole. The minister or governor constitutes only a part of this machine, albeit a very important one. Once, in a moment of insight, Nicholas I said: “Russia is ruled by the mayors.”

Nicholas I Pavlovich (1825–1855) ascended the throne in 1825, during the unsuccessful Decembrist uprising. The new emperor ruled Russia for 30 years. Characteristic feature Nikolaev regime began: centralization; militarization of the entire control system.

Under Nicholas I, a system of comprehensive state guardianship was created over all spheres of society: political, economic, social. After ascending the throne, Nicholas formed a secret committee that was supposed to prepare a project for reforms in the public administration system. M.M. was involved in his work. Speransky. The committee, having worked until 1830, never created a comprehensive reform program.

The most important body State administration under Nicholas I became his personal office, which consisted of three branches.

The first department of the chancellery was in charge of documents that came to the tsar and carried out the tsar’s orders.

Department II focused on streamlining (codifying) laws.

III department carried out police functions, there had to be all-seeing eye king, to monitor the exact execution of the laws.

This department was also entrusted with all political affairs and control over the mood in society.

The main directions of the domestic policy of Nicholas I:

1) codification of legislation- under the leadership of M.M. Speransky prepared and published the Basic State Laws of the Russian Empire. This work should have culminated in the creation of a new code, but Nicholas I limited himself to existing legislation;

2) peasant question– in 1837–1844. under the leadership of Count P.D. Kiselev, a reform of the management of state peasants was carried out. In accordance with it, self-government was introduced in the settlements of state peasants, schools and hospitals began to open. Land-poor peasants were now able to move to free lands. In 1841, measures were taken that concerned landowner peasants, according to which it was forbidden to sell peasants without land. In 1843, landless nobles were deprived of the right to acquire serfs. Since 1847, serfs received the right to buy their freedom if the landowner sold his estate for debts. But still, these measures did not abolish the institution of serfdom, it generally continued to be preserved;

3) currency reform– in 1839–1843 under the leadership of Minister of Finance E.F. Kankrin, a monetary reform was carried out. The silver ruble became the main means of payment. Then notes of credit were issued that could be exchanged for silver. The country maintained a proportion between the number of banknotes and the stock of silver. This made it possible to strengthen the financial situation in the country;

4) reactionary measures in education- During the reign of Nicholas, a number of reforms were carried out in the field of education. In 1835, a new university charter was adopted, which was the most reactionary of all university charters in pre-revolutionary Russia;

5) harsh censorship of the press. But the order in Russia became even more brutal after a series of European revolutions in 1848, which horrified Nicholas I.