I.

Introduction

Alexander I (of Russia) (1777-1825), Emperor of Russia (1801-1825) during whose reign Russia’s fortunes were transformed by the Napoleonic Wars, and Russia became a significant military and diplomatic force in Europe.

Alexander was born in St Petersburg on December 23, 1777 (December 12 according to the Julian, or Old Style, calendar then in use in Russia), the eldest son of Paul, the only son of Catherine the Great, and Maria Fyodorovna. His liberal and progressive education was supervised by his grandmother, Catherine, who regarded Alexander as her favoured successor (though it was Paul who became emperor on her death in 1796). She appointed the Swiss republican philosopher César-Frédéric de la Harpe to be his tutor, giving the young Alexander an early induction into the currents of European thought. In 1793 he married Louise of Baden (who took the name Elizaveta Alekseyevna on her baptism into the Orthodox Church). The couple had two daughters, both of whom died in childhood. Alexander came to the throne on March 23 (March 11, Old Style), 1801, as the result of a conspiracy, led by Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, during which the unpopular and unstable Paul was murdered. The extent of Alexander’s complicity in this plot remains controversial, though it is believed that Alexander had given his support on condition that his father’s life was spared.