Reign of Paul 1 domestic and foreign policy. Domestic and foreign policy of Paul I

The personality and internal activity of Emperor Paul I Empress Catherine was succeeded by her son Pavel Petrovich, who ascended the throne on November 6, 1796, already forty-two years old, having experienced many difficult moments in his life and having spoiled his character under the influence of cold,

Paul I was born on September 20, 1754. His father is Peter III, mother Catherine II. As a boy, he was separated from his parents soon after birth by his reigning great-aunt Elizabeth, who regarded him as the rightful heir to the throne and took his upbringing under her direct supervision. Pavel grew up in an atmosphere of raw passions, intrigue, and humiliating quarrels, which influenced the development of his personality. Having lost his father as a result of a coup d'état, headed by his mother Catherine II, at the age of eight he was removed from serious studies and any participation in state affairs. Paul was also expelled from his mother’s entourage; he was constantly surrounded by spies* and was treated with suspicion by the court favorites**. This explains his temper and irritability, for which his contemporaries blamed him.

Pavel's childhood was spent in the care of a lonely and loving grandmother, without maternal affection and warmth. His mother remained an unfamiliar woman to him and over time became more and more distant. When the heir was six years old, he was given a wing of the Summer Palace, where he lived with his court and his teachers. Nikita Ivanovich Panin, one of the most famous statesmen of his time, was appointed Chief Chamberlain under him.

Paul I was taught mathematics, history, geography, languages, dancing, fencing, maritime affairs, and when he grew up, theology, physics, astronomy and political sciences. He is introduced early to educational ideas and history: at the age of ten or twelve, Pavel is already reading the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Helvetius, and D'Alembert. Poroshin talked with his student about the works of Montesquieu and Helvetius, forcing him to read them to enlighten the mind. He wrote the book “The State Mechanism” for the Grand Duke, in which he wanted to show the different parts by which the state moves.

Pavel studied easily, showing both sharpness of mind and good abilities; was distinguished by an extremely developed imagination, lack of perseverance and patience, and inconstancy. But, apparently, there was something in the crown prince that evoked the prophetic words of his junior teacher S. A. Poroshin: “With the best intentions, you will make people hate you.”

When Paul I was seven years old, Empress Elizabeth died. Subsequently, Pavel learned how Catherine made her victorious campaign at the head of the guard to Peterhof and how her confused husband, who had abdicated the throne, was taken to Ropsha. And Nikita Ivanovich Panin, to whom Pavel soon became accustomed, skillfully instilled in him some strange and restless thoughts about the empress. There were others who explained to the boy that after the death of Peter III, he, Paul, should have been emperor, and the wife of the suppressed sovereign could only be regent and ruler until he, Paul, came of age. Pavel remembered this very well. For thirty-four years he thought about this day and night, harboring in his heart a painful fear of that princess who took possession of the Russian throne, without at all doubting her right to autocratically rule a people of many millions.

September 20, 1772 was the day he came of age. Many were confident that Catherine would attract a legitimate heir to rule the country. But this, of course, did not happen. Catherine understood that with her death, if Paul ascended the throne, her entire state program would be destroyed in the very first days of his reign. And she decided to remove Paul from the throne. And he guessed about it.

Paul's character began to emerge from the time when he matured and began to realize his position at court: the heir to the throne, neglected by his mother, who was treated with disdain by his favorites, who was not entrusted with any state affairs.

In 1773, at the age of 19, Pavel married the daughter of a Protestant landgrave - Princess Augustine - Wilhelmina, who, after converting to Orthodoxy, received the name Natalya Alekseevna. On the eve of Pavel's wedding with his first wife. On the eve of Paul’s wedding with his first wife, Solm, the Prussian envoy in St. Petersburg, writes about the young Grand Duke Solm: “It’s easy for any girl to fall in love with him,” he said. “Although he is not tall, he is very handsome in face, of very regular build, his conversation and manners are pleasant.” , he is meek, extremely courteous, helpful and cheerful. Beneath the beautiful appearance lies a most excellent soul, the most honest and exalted, and at the same time the most pure and innocent, which knows evil only from the side that repels it, and in general is knowledgeable about evil only to the extent necessary to arm itself with the determination to avoid it and not approve of it. in others."? Unfortunately, Pavel did not live long with his first wife; she died 3 years later from childbirth.

In 1776, the Grand Duke married for the second time the seventeen-year-old Princess Sophia - Dorothea of ​​Württemberg - Mempelgard, who after the necessary conversion to the Orthodox faith received the name Maria Feodorovna, who bore him ten children: Alexander (heir to the throne), Constantine, Nicholas, Mikhail, Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Olga, Ekaterina, Anna. Pavel was a wonderful family man, as evidenced by the memoirs of his youngest son Nikolai, who says that his father “enjoyed watching us play on the carpet in his room.” Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, his youngest daughter, recalled “Father was so gentle and so kind to us that we loved to go to him. He said that he was removed from his older children, taken away from him as soon as they were born, but that he wanted to see the younger children near him in order to get to know them better.” And here’s what Maria Feodorovna wrote to her friend a few months after the wedding: “My dear husband is an angel. I love him to madness.”

An idealist, an internally decent person, but with an extremely difficult character and no experience or skills in government, Pavel ascended the Russian throne on November 6, 1796. While still an heir, Pavel Petrovich was thinking through a program of his future actions, but in practice he began to be guided rather by personal feelings and views, which led to an increase in the element of chance in politics, giving it an outwardly contradictory character.

Having become emperor, Paul cancels the most difficult recruitment and solemnly announces that “from now on, Russia will live in peace and tranquility, that now there is not the slightest need to think about expanding its borders, since it is already quite vast...”. Immediately upon his accession to the throne, Emperor Paul I announced that he was abandoning preparations for war with France.

“It is impossible to depict,” writes Bolotov, “what a pleasant effect this beneficent decree had throughout the entire state, and how many tears and sighs of gratitude were released from the eyes and hearts of many millions of inhabitants of Russia. The whole state and all the ends and borders of it were delighted with him and everywhere only the same wishes for all the best to the new sovereign were heard...”

On November 29, 1796, an amnesty was declared for captured Poles. The emperor ordered “to release all such people and release them to their former homes; and foreigners, if they wish, abroad. Our Senate has the right to immediately issue appropriate orders regarding the implementation of this, ordering where necessary that measures be taken for supervision from the provincial boards and other zemstvo authorities, so that these released remain calm and behave decently, without entering into any harmful relations, under the threat of the heaviest punishment"

Soon peace is concluded with Persia. In a letter to the Prussian king dated January 3, 1797, Paul wrote: “You can’t do much with the existing allies, and since the struggle they waged against France only contributed to the growth of the revolution and its resistance, the world can weaken it by strengthening peaceful anti-revolutionary elements in France itself, hitherto oppressed by the revolution.” The counter-revolutionary coup on July 27, 1794 leads to the fall of the Jacobin dictatorship in France. The revolution is on the wane. The brilliant victories of General Bonaparte over the Austrians in Italy lead to the emergence of a number of democratic republics under the auspices of France. Pavel sees in this the further spread of the “revolutionary infection” and advocates the convening of a European Congress to resolve territorial disputes and suppress revolutionary gains. He is even ready to recognize the French Republic “for the sake of calming Europe,” because otherwise “you will have to take up arms against your will.” However, neither Austria nor England supported him, and in 1798 a new coalition was created against France. Russia, in alliance with England, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of Naples, begins a war against France.

“To put a limit to the successes of French weapons and anarchic rules, to force France to enter its former borders and thereby restore lasting peace and political balance in Europe,” is how Pavel evaluates Russia’s participation in this coalition. Instructing General Rosenberg, appointed to command the Russian expeditionary force, Pavel wrote: “... To avert everything that in non-hostile lands can arouse hatred or reprehensible impressions about the troops (to avoid participation in food executions), to inspire that we have not come to in order to promote power-hungry intentions, but to protect general peace and security, for this purpose gentle and friendly treatment of the residents. Restoration of thrones and altars. Protect troops from the “pernicious infection of the minds”, observe church rituals and holidays.”

On April 4, Suvorov arrived at the main headquarters of the allied army, located in the town of Valeggio in northern Italy. Already on April 10, military operations began with the capture of Brescia. The 58,000-strong French army acted against the 86,000-strong Allied army; in the north it was commanded by the former Minister of War Scherer, and in the south by the young and talented General MacDonald. Using the numerical superiority of the allies, Suvorov decided to push the enemy into the mountains beyond Genoa and capture Milan, and then defeat MacDonald. In the future, he planned to invade France through Savoy, and the troops of Archduke Charles, together with the Russian corps of Rimsky-Korsakov, were supposed to oust the French from Switzerland and rush to the Rhine. On April 15, a stubborn three-day battle with the French began on the Adda River. On this day, the decrepit Scherer was replaced by one of the best commanders in France, General Moreau.

In a bloody battle, success accompanied first one side and then the other. The energetic Moreau tries to gather together troops stretched over tens of kilometers, but he fails. Having lost three thousand killed and five thousand captured, the French rolled back to the south. The fate of Lombardy was decided - Suvorov called the Adda River the Rubicon on the way to Paris.

Having received news of this victory, Paul I summoned fifteen-year-old Major General Arkady Suvorov, appointed adjutant general, and told him: “Go and learn from him. I can’t give you a better example and put it in better hands.”

With a rapid Suvorov march from east to west, the allies threw back the enemy army and entered Milan. Not allowing the remnants of Moro's army to unite with MacDonald, Suvorov defeats him at Marengo and enters Turin. In a fierce battle near the Trebbia River, General Macdonald was also defeated.

Many years later, the famous marshal of France told the Russian ambassador in Paris: “I was young during the battle of Trebbia. This failure could have had a detrimental effect on my career; I was saved only by the fact that my winner was Suvorov.”

In two months the French lost all of Northern Italy. Congratulating Suvorov on this victory, Paul I wrote: “I congratulate you with your own words: “Glory to God, glory to you!”

On July 6, the famous General Joubert, who rose from private to general in four years, was appointed commander of the French troops. Not knowing about the capture of the Mantua fortress by the Austrians, Joubert unexpectedly met the entire allied army. It was not too late to turn back to the mountains, but then he would not have been Joubert: on August 4, at dawn, gun salvoes heralded the beginning of the fiercest and bloodiest battle of this campaign. Never before in his long service had Suvorov encountered such fierce enemy resistance.

After this battle, General Moreau said of Suvorov: “What can be said about a general who will die himself and lay down his army to the last soldier before retreating one step.”

It took Suvorov only four months to liberate Italy. The allies rejoiced: poems were read about him in London theaters, and his portraits were exhibited. Suvorov's hairstyles and pies appear; at dinners, following a toast to the king, they drink to his health.

And in Russia, the name of Suvorov does not leave the pages of newspapers, it becomes a legend. The delighted Pavel wrote to the commander: “I no longer know what to give you, you have put yourself above my rewards...”.

In France, they were anxiously awaiting the start of the invasion. Bet was made on how many days Suvorov would reach Paris. But the allies were primarily concerned with their own interests: the British propose to first take possession of Holland and Belgium, and the Austrians, in the hope of getting the latter, support them.

Paul I was forced to agree with the new plan of his allies.

This plan was as follows: the Austrians from Switzerland go to the Rhine, and Suvorov, uniting with Korsakov’s corps, invades France; The Anglo-Russian expeditionary force begins to operate in Holland, and the Austrians remain in Italy. Suvorov was against the upcoming regrouping of a huge mass of troops, but he had to obey.

On August 28, the Russian army begins its campaign. Taking advantage of this, General Moreau descends from the mountains to help the Tortona fortress besieged by the Austrians and occupies the town of Novi. Suvorov had to go back to help the allies and lose three precious days. Meanwhile, the Austrian Archduke Karl, without waiting for Suvorov, began to withdraw his troops from Switzerland, leaving Korsakov’s Russian corps alone with the French. Having learned about this, the indignant field marshal wrote to St. Petersburg about Thugut, the first minister of Austria: “Is this owl crazy or never had it. Massena will not wait for us, and will rush towards Korsakov... Although I’m not afraid of anything in the world, I will say that in danger from Massena’s superiority, my troops will not help my troops from here, and it’s too late.”

In Switzerland, against the 60,000-strong French army of General Massena, the 24,000-strong corps of Korsakov and the 20,000-strong corps of the Austrians of General Gotze remain. Suvorov rushes to Korsakov's rescue by the shortest and most difficult route - through the St. Gotthard Pass. But here, too, the Austrians failed their allies - the mules they promised did not turn up. “There are no mules, no horses, but there is Tugut, and mountains, and abysses,” Suvorov wrote bitterly to Pavel. Another five days pass in search of the mules. Only on September 12 the army begins to climb the pass. The Russian army moved slowly along the rocks and cliffs, step by step, overcoming the cold, fatigue and enemy resistance.

When St. Petersburg learned about the Archduke's departure from Switzerland, a scandal broke out, and only the fear of a separate peace between France and Austria stopped Paul from breaking with the allies. Understanding the seriousness of the situation and the difficulties facing the army, he gives Suvorov special powers. “I offer this, asking you to forgive me for this and entrusting it to you to choose what to do,” he writes to the field marshal.

Suvorov sends Rosenberg's corps around and, on the other hand, Bagration, and with the rest attacks the enemy, but to no avail: the French rise higher and higher. Already in the evening, during the third attack, Bagration helped, striking from above. The pass was taken, but at a high cost - about a thousand people were taken out of action. And more difficult trials awaited them.

On September 15, the army reached the town of Altdorf, but here it turned out that the St. Gotthard road ended further, and the harsh Rossstock mountain range stood in the way of the exhausted, naked and hungry army.

On September 16, early in the morning, the vanguard of Prince Bagration begins to climb Rosshtok. This unprecedented trek through loose, deep snow in thick fog lasted for sixty hours straight. The ascent was difficult, but the descent was more difficult. A sharp, gusty wind was blowing, people huddled in heaps to keep warm. We went down to the town of Muttental and here we learned terrible news - Korsakov’s corps was defeated on September 15th. The disaster, aggravated by Korsakov's arrogance, was complete: six thousand people died, many were captured. On the same day, General Soult defeated the Austrians.

Leaving Zurich, General Massena promised the captured Russian officers that Field Marshal Suvorov and Grand Duke Konstantin would soon be brought to them.

The exhausted Russian army found itself locked in Muttental - both exits to Schwyz and Glaris were blocked by the French. On September 18, Suvorov convened a military council. “We are surrounded by the betrayal of our ally,” he began his speech, “we are put in a difficult situation. Korsakov is defeated, the Austrians are scattered, and we are now alone against the enemy’s army of sixty thousand. Going back is a shame. That would mean retreating, and the Russians and I never retreated!” Suvorov carefully looked at the generals who were listening intently to him and continued: “We have no one to expect help from, our only hope is in God, in the greatest courage and selflessness of the troops led by you. Only this remains for us, for we are on the edge of an abyss. - He fell silent and exclaimed: - But we are Russian! Save, save the honor and property of Russia and its autocrat!” With this exclamation, the field marshal knelt down.

On September 19, at seven o'clock in the morning, the vanguard under the command of Prince Bagration set out for the town of Glarisa. Behind him with the main forces is General Derfelden, in the rearguard is General Rosenberg. They had to fight to overcome the Panike ridge, covered with snow and ice, and then descend into the Upper Rhine valley.

Bagration, having climbed one of the peaks, attacks the enemy; at this time, Massena strikes Rosenberg’s body, trying to cut him off and destroy him. The stubborn battle ended with a desperate bayonet attack. The French could not stand it and retreated. On the night of September 24, the last and most difficult campaign began.

Only on October 20 did St. Petersburg learn about the successful outcome of the campaign. “May the Lord God save you for saving the glory of the sovereign and the Russian army,” Rostopchin wrote to Suvorov, “everyone has been awarded, all non-commissioned officers have been promoted to officers.”

The Russian army receives orders to return to their homeland. When Rostopchin asked what the allies would think about this, the emperor replied: “When the official note comes about the demands of the Viennese court, the answer is that this is nonsense and nonsense.”

The coalition of states, each guided by its own interests, fell apart. Paul could not forgive his former allies for their betrayal and the premature withdrawal of Archduke Charles' troops from Switzerland. After the completion of Suvorov’s campaign, F. Rostopchin wrote: “France, England and Prussia will end the war with significant benefits, but Russia will remain nothing, having lost 23 thousand people solely in order to assure itself of the treachery of Pitt and Thugut, and Europe of the immortality of the prince Suvorov".

Entering the coalition, Paul I was carried away by the knightly goal of restoring the “shocked thrones.” But in reality, Italy, liberated from the French, was enslaved by Austria, and the island of Malta was captured by England. The treachery of the allies, in whose hands he was only a tool, deeply disappointed the emperor. And the restoration of strong power in France in the person of the first consul Bonaparte gave rise to a change in the course of Russian foreign policy.

Exhausted France needed peace and tranquility most of all. Realizing this, Bonaparte, with his characteristic energy, sets about searching for peace. Already on December 25, the first consul sent messages to England and Austria with a proposal to begin peace negotiations. This further raises his authority, and the Allies’ refusal of peace proposals causes a wave of indignation and patriotism. The people are eager to punish the enemies of peace, and Bonaparte begins preparations for war.

The desire to get closer to France, expressed in January, hung in the air - the ideas and traditions of cooperation only with the “legitimate” dynasty were still strong, and influential social circles led by Vice-Chancellor N.P. Panin, the most colorful figure of that time, contributed a lot to this .

The rapid defeat of Austria and the establishment of order and law in France itself contribute to a change in Paul's position. “He gets things done and you can do business with him,” he says of Bonaparte.

“After much hesitation,” writes Manfred, “Paul comes to the conclusion that Russia’s state strategic interests must be placed above the abstract principles of legitimism.” The two great powers begin to seek a rapprochement that quickly leads to an alliance.

Bonaparte hurries Foreign Minister Talleyrand in every possible way in search of ways leading to rapprochement with Russia. “We need to show Pavel signs of attention and we need him to know that we want to enter into negotiations with him,” he writes to Talleyrand. “Until now, the possibility of entering into direct negotiations with Russia has not yet been considered,” he replies. And on July 7, 1800, a message written by two of the smartest diplomats in Europe leaves for distant St. Petersburg. It is addressed to N.P. Panin, the most implacable enemy of republican France. Paris is well aware of this and hopes that such a step will become “evidence of the impartiality and strict correctness of the correspondents.”

On December 18, 1800, Paul I addressed a direct message to Bonaparte. “Mr. First Consul. Those to whom God has entrusted the power to govern the nations must think and care about their welfare,” this is how this message began. “The very fact of addressing Bonaparte as head of state and the form of the address were sensational. They meant recognition de facto and, to a large extent, de jure, of the power of someone who only yesterday had been branded a “usurper.” This was a complete violation of the principles of legitimism. Moreover, in conditions of a formally ongoing war, direct correspondence between the two heads of state meant the actual establishment of peaceful relations between both powers. Paul's first letter contained that famous phrase, which was then so often repeated: “I do not speak and do not want to quarrel either about the rights of man, or about the principles of the various governments established in each country. We will try to return to the world the peace and quiet that it so needs.”

The rapprochement between the two great powers proceeded at an accelerated pace. A new political situation is emerging in Europe: Russia and France are brought together not only by the absence of real contradictions and common interests in the broad sense, but also by specific practical tasks in relation to a common enemy - England.

Suddenly and quickly, everything changed in Europe: yesterday, France and Russia, still alone, now stood at the head of a powerful coalition of European states directed against England, which found itself in complete isolation. France and Russia are uniting in the fight against it; Sweden, Prussia, Denmark, Holland, Italy and Spain.

The treaty of alliance signed on December 4-6, 1800 between Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark actually meant a declaration of war on England. The British government gives the order to seize ships belonging to coalition countries. In response, Denmark occupies Hamburg and Prussia occupies Hanover. All exports to England are prohibited, and many ports in Europe are closed to it. The lack of bread threatens her with hunger.

In the upcoming campaign to Europe, it is prescribed: von Palen to be with the army in Brest-Litovsk, M.I. Kutuzov - near Vladimir-Volynsky, Saltykov - near Vitebsk. On December 31, an order was issued on measures to protect the Solovetsky Islands. The barbaric bombing of peaceful Copenhagen by the British caused a wave of indignation in Europe and Russia.

On January 12, 1801, the ataman of the Don Orlov army received an order “to advance to the Indus River through Bukharia and Khiva.” 30 thousand Cossacks with artillery cross the Volga and go deeper into the Kazakh steppes. “I forward all the cards I have. You will only reach Khiva and Amu Darya,” wrote Pavel I to Orlov. Until recently, it was believed that the trip to India was just another whim of the “mad” emperor. Meanwhile, this plan was sent to Bonaparte for approval and testing in Paris, and he cannot be suspected of either madness or projectism. The plan was based on joint actions of the Russian and French corps. At Paul's request, the famous general Massena was to command them.

Along the Danube, through the Black Sea, Taganrog, Tsaritsyn, the 35,000-strong French corps was supposed to connect with the 35,000-strong Russian army in Astrakhan.

The combined Russian-French forces were then to cross the Caspian Sea and land at Astrabad. The journey from France to Astrabad was expected to be completed in 80 days; another 50 days were required to enter the main regions of India through Herat and Kandahar. They planned to begin the campaign in May 1801 and, therefore, reach India in September. The seriousness of these plans is evidenced by the route along which the phalanxes of Alexander the Great once passed, and the alliance concluded with Persia.

Paul I is confident in the successful implementation of the Franco-Russian plan for the conquest of India, which was kept in deep secrecy. On February 2, 1801, the government of the almighty Pitt fell in England. Europe froze in anticipation of great events.

Suddenly news came from the distant banks of the Neva - Emperor Paul I was dead.

England was saved, and the history of Europe took a different path. It is impossible to predict how it would have developed without this tragedy, but one thing is clear - Europe would have been freed from devastating, bloody wars that claimed millions of human lives. By uniting, the two great powers would be able to provide her with a long and lasting peace!

Never before has Russia had such power and authority in international affairs. “The most brilliant appearance of Russia on the European stage belongs to this reign,” argued V. O. Klyuchevsky.

A. Kotzebue: “The consequences proved that he was more far-sighted than his contemporaries in the foreign policy course he pursued... Russia would inevitably have felt its beneficial consequences if cruel fate had not removed Paul I from the political scene. If he were still alive, Europe would not now be in a slave state. You can be sure of this without being a prophet: Paul’s word and weapons counted a lot on the scales of European politics.”

The first, published almost at the very beginning of the new reign, was the Military Regulations, which introduced various changes in the structure of the entire army. They concerned the transformation of the guard and the reorganization of the entire army, in particular the infantry and cavalry, for which, taking into account the experience of the Seven Years' War, new regulations were issued. The core of the army, infantry, cavalry and garrison units, consisted of almost 369,000 people, for the maintenance of which the state had to spend 24.1 million rubles. Before Paul’s accession to the throne, according to the characteristics of the scientist and writer A.T. Bolotov, famous for his memoirs, the guards officer service was often a “pure puppet comedy.” The officers standing guard dressed in dressing gowns; it also happened that the wife put on her husband’s uniform and served for him. Under Catherine II, people often did not serve in military service as much as they were registered in it. It happened that rich parents enrolled unborn children (among whom there could be girls) into the guard service. While the children were growing up, they were given ranks. It is known that Pavel hated lies in any of its manifestations and it is natural that he could not tolerate such a situation in the army. Then Pavel I makes a very original decision: He ordered the entire guard to appear for the royal inspection in St. Petersburg... For failure to appear, those who failed to appear were ordered to be fired. After such a “purge”, 1,541 fictitious officers were removed from the lists in only one horse guard. Trying to stop the luxury of the guards officers, the emperor introduced a new cheap uniform for them and forbade them to wear muffs and fur coats in winter. Most of the military were very dissatisfied with the new uniform, ugly and uncomfortable. However, only Suvorov dared to protest. When they sent him samples of braids and measurements for braids, he said: “Powder is not gunpowder, braids are not guns, a braid is not a cleaver, I am not a German, a natural hare!” For this act, Suvorov was dismissed from service without a uniform. (Paul had to regret this action, and already in March 1799 he would ask Suvorov to go with the army to Italy to help the allies; the Field Marshal, as a true patriot of his Motherland, without hesitation agreed.)

The idle life in the guard is over. Pavel “began the awakening of all the guards from their previous slumber, sleep and laziness. Everyone had to completely forget their former pampered way of life, accustom themselves to get up very early, be in uniform with the soldiers before dawn, be in the ranks every day.” (memoirs of A. T. Bolotov) Looking ahead, I would like to say that it was the officers who were most dissatisfied with the emperor and it was they who organized the conspiracy against him). Under Paul, the pampered guard had to experience the strictest discipline. According to some sources, severe punishment was imposed for the slightest offense. Once there was even a case when the emperor sent an entire regiment to Siberia for a bad parade, shouting to it: “The regiment is marching to Siberia!!” According to other sources, Paul I was a benevolent and generous person, inclined to forgive insults, ready to repent of his mistakes. Often the sovereign mourned his temper, but, unfortunately, did not have enough willpower to overcome himself. During his reign, officers were often sent straight from the parade to other regiments over long distances for minor oversights and mistakes in command. This happened often, and at that time all the officers used to carry their wallets with money in their bosoms, so as not to be left without a penny in case of sudden exile. Often, too, the emperor’s outbursts of anger ended with one laugh from Paul himself (this is how he tried to smooth out the sudden outburst.) But What is forgiven to ordinary people, they do not want to forgive to kings.

In general, I would like to say regarding the military reform that, of course, excessive severity may not have been justified, but in the army, discipline and order are most important - that is why it is strong. Given that the threat of the French Revolution was already growing in the west, the changes and reforms carried out by the Emperor in the army showed that he was right, as evidenced by the events of 1812.

Under Paul, trade matters were dealt with by the Commerce Collegium. The main subjects of activity were foreign and domestic trade, communications, and the tariff department. In these areas, if any changes occurred under Paul, they concerned the quantitative expansion of the department’s subjects, but not the qualitative one.

Paul's government, despite partial deviations, essentially continued the policy of Catherine II. How it looked at trade and what views it held can be seen from the following decrees: “From the very beginning of our reign, we focused our attention on trade, knowing that it is the root from which abundance and wealth grow.” In another order we read: “...we wanted to strengthen this important industry in the depths of our state with new means, to spread its employees.” Given this government view of trade, it is important to establish how practices developed aimed at “promoting trade.”

First of all, in the interests of trade, domestic industry was encouraged, which was supposed to fill the domestic market. For this purpose, the import of a number of foreign goods is prohibited: silk, paper, linen and hemp, steel, salt, etc. On the other hand, with the help of subsidies, privileges, and government orders, domestic manufacturers were encouraged to produce goods not only for the treasury, but also for free sale. This was the case, for example, in relation to cloth and mountain breeders. In order to make it easier for merchants to pay duties, a decree of August 14, 1798 ordered “in the event of a shortage of silver and gold coins, to accept gold and silver bars from merchants.” The provincial authorities were generally ordered to assist the merchants by all means.

A big blow to Russian foreign trade was dealt by the severance of relations with England. On October 23, 1800, the Prosecutor General and the Commerce Board were ordered to “impose sequestration on all English goods and ships located in Russian ports,” which was carried out at the same time. In connection with the confiscation of goods, the complex issue of settlements and credit transactions between English and Russian merchants arose. On this occasion, on November 22, 1800, the highest decree of the commercial board was issued: “The debts of the British owed to Russian merchants will be retained until settlement, and the English goods available in shops and stores will be prohibited for sale.” Then, on November 30, at the request of Russian merchants, English goods were allowed to be sold to pay debts, and liquidation offices were established in St. Petersburg, Riga and Arkhangelsk for mutual debt settlements.

The economic struggle between Russia and England, which began at the end of 1800, intensified every month, and Paul himself led this struggle most actively. Already on November 19, 1800, a general order was given to ban the import of English goods. It was much more difficult to resist the export of Russian raw materials to England. On December 15, the Highest Command was announced, “that it be strictly observed that no Russian products are exported in any way and under any pretext to the British.” However, it soon became clear that Russian materials were going to England through Prussia. Then came the ban on the export of Russian goods to Prussia. The most extreme measure in the Russian government’s fight against foreign trade was the general order of the Commerce Board on March 11, 1801 (on the last day of Paul’s life) that “no Russian goods should be released anywhere from Russian ports and border land customs houses and outposts without special Highest command." Naturally, this order could no longer be carried out. However, for the whole day the entire country became a closed economic zone, even if only on paper. It is obvious that the authorities caused considerable damage to Russian trade by quarreling with England, which bought 1/3 of the country's agricultural products. For example, the price of Berkovets hemp after the break with England fell in Ukraine from 32 to 9 rubles. The trade balance in those years was not in favor of Russia either. Even under Catherine, the balance of foreign trade in 1790 was: import 22.5 million rubles, export - 27.5 million rubles, when on the eve of the revolution France reached 4 times this figure, and England gave 24 with one export .9 million pounds sterling. More convincing evidence is the information of the English consul in Russia S. Sharpe about the fluctuations of Russian trade from 1796 to 1798.

Having broken the trade alliance with England, Russia resumed trade with France. However, a number of trade agreements could not significantly affect trade turnover due to the fact that the main trade routes in the North and West were in the hands of the British.

Much more significant were attempts to conquer the Asian market. To this end, a number of measures were taken to increase trade with Persia, Khiva, Bukhara, India and China. In 1798, it was allowed to export iron, copper, tin, bread, foreign gold and silver coins to Asia. The previous ban remained only on the export of military ammunition. Orders were issued to protect merchants trading in Central Asian countries. Before the break with England, there was no need for this trade, but already in September 1800, the Prosecutor General, by order of the emperor, turned to the merchants with a proposal to expand trade with Khiva, for which he promised government support. On December 29, 1800, the Highest Order was issued: “To make a provision to the Commerce Board on the expansion of trade with India, Bukhara and Khiva, from Astrakhan along the Caspian Sea and from Orenburg, and to draw up a plan for a new customs order for that region, a tariff and a charter for the proposed company; to evenly enter into the consideration of means for the establishment and expansion of trade along the Black Sea." Interest in Asian trade waned after Paul's death, when relations with England were restored.

In the area of ​​foreign trade relations, one can highlight the creation of the first Russian-American company in 1798.

One of the main items of Russian trade was bread. When the harvest exceeded the quantity required for domestic consumption, the government opened ports and customs for the unhindered sale of grain. But as soon as a shortage of grain was noticed and prices for it rose within the country, export was prohibited both for individual places and for the entire state. Catherine II acted in this direction, and Paul did the same. During his reign there were repeated fluctuations in the grain trade. Only by the end of 1800 did the government, in full agreement with the merchants, come to the conclusion that it was possible, even with some restrictions on the grain market, to sell abroad the most expensive and most profitable grain product for sale - wheat, which was usually not used to feed the common population.

Trade was also concerned with the activities of the Commerce Board in organizing customs and developing tariffs. The Collegium developed issues related to customs duties. On October 14, 1797, she developed a general tariff that lasted throughout the reign of Paul.

Another important task of the Commerce Board, it should be recognized, is the work on establishing communication routes. Her duties included collecting information about land roads in Asia, but much more attention had to be paid to water communications. The government was considering measures necessary to strengthen merchant shipping. And along with the question of waterways of communication, the question of shipbuilding also arose. At the suggestion of the Commerce Board, this problem was solved by transferring part of the military frigates to the merchants.

Such is the activity of the Commerce Board during Pavlovsk times. It took place under a moderate protective and prohibitive system, which, in addition to the usual fluctuations, experienced a sharp change due to the break with England and forced the government to reconsider a number of issues related to trade. It is worthy of attention that both the government and the merchants, having almost broken trade relations with the West, not only took up the issue of strengthening and expanding their internal trade, but also turned their projects to the East and South, intending to increase trade relations with Asian countries. However, as already noted, there were much more disappointments in this industry than successes.

In this chapter it is necessary to mention another institution of Pavlovian times, which dealt with matters of internal trade.

The Chamber Collegium was restored by decree on February 10, 1797. It was entrusted with contracts for the supply of wine and taxes on drinking taxes, settlements under contracts and distilleries. The activities of the board were expressed, first of all, in concerns about the welfare of state-owned wineries, warehouses and shops. The board was also in charge of farming out wine sales. The latter was due to the fact that during Catherine’s time the farming system covered a significant number of provinces and required that “hunters” be called out every 4 years, and wine sales in this province were farmed out at auction. In 1798, the period of these farm-outs expired, and the chamber collegium had to deal with the holding of trades and the farming out of drinking water sales for the next four years (1799-1802). The auction, as Klochkov notes, was apparently successful, because many people received awards.

The Chamber Collegium was responsible for overseeing not only state-owned wineries, but also private wineries. Her duties included collecting information about wine and drinking income, as well as the fight against tavern in those provinces where drinking sales were farmed out or on faith. It is interesting to note that when information on the amount of wine sold by province was collected from the state chambers for 1795, it turned out that 6,379,609 buckets of wine were sold in 34 provinces with a population of about 11 million people paying taxes, i.e. . There was a little more than half a bucket for each. Such statistics can refute many statements regarding drunkenness in Rus'. And here the credit goes to the government, which skillfully regulated the sale of drinking products.

As many historians note, the reign of Catherine II was the time of the greatest flourishing of serfdom. Having begun with a theoretical protest against serfdom in the drafts of the “Nakaz,” Catherine ended with the statement that “a good landowner has no better fate for our peasants in the entire universe.”

When he was Tsarevich, Pavel more than once spoke about the plight of the Russian peasant and the need to improve his life. According to Paul, in order to eliminate the causes of popular discontent, it would be necessary to “remove unnecessary taxes from the people and stop orders from the land.”

And indeed, in the very first days of Pavlov’s reign, conscription duty was eased. By decree of November 10, 1796, the recruitment announced by Catherine was canceled (a similar cancellation occurred in 1800). The army from 500 thousand was reduced to 350 thousand people. November 12, 1796 at the Council of His Emperor. The village adopted a decree to replace the grain tax of 1794 “due to inconvenience in reception” with a moderate cash tax, “counting 15 kopecks per quadruple” and starting the collection from the next 1797. Following this, the price of salt was reduced; forgiveness of arrears from the stifling tax for a huge amount of 7 million rubles, which amounted to 1/10 of the annual budget. A whole series of decrees was aimed at setting up bread stores for the famine years. However, the peasants, forced to carry part of the collected grain to these warehouses, were not sure that in case of famine they would find grain there. Therefore, they gave it away reluctantly, often concealing it. As a result, when a terrible famine occurred in the Arkhangelsk province in 1800, the shops were practically empty. In addition to legalization and measures aimed at the entire peasant population, it is worth noting some measures related to the main groups of the peasantry: 1 - appanage, 2 - state-owned, 3 - factory, 4 - landowners.

Appanage peasants appeared in the circle of the palace department thanks to the “institution of the imperial family” on April 5, 1797. The meaning of this legal provision boiled down to the following: 1 - it was necessary to provide the peasants with land and correctly distribute it among them; 2 - to improve the peasant economy with improved technology, the development of crafts, and the establishment of factories; 3 – organize training and serving duties on a new basis, keeping in mind the equal distribution of labor; 4 - establish and put in order rural administration.

When the separation of appanages was undertaken, it became clear that there was a shortage of land for many villages. The question was raised whether it was possible to dissociate lands from state-owned peasants and supply them to appanage peasants, or whether the lands should be acquired, as was immediately assumed, by an appanage department. By decree of March 21, 1800, appanage peasants were given an important right - to buy land from private owners, with the condition that the deed of sale be made in the name of the appanage department. The right to use land was granted to “the only person who purchased such land” in addition to the share that fell to him during the allocation of land for the entire population.

It is known that not only agriculture, but also work “on the side” was the occupation of appanage peasants. The latter was embarrassed by the passport system and the obligation to present a passport to the specific expedition. By decree of March 2, 1798, it was established to issue intermediate passports to appanage peasants, which not only greatly facilitated the peasants’ departure to work, but also their entry into the merchant class. In view of the fact that this was seen as “the agreement of public benefit with an increase in income,” a decree of October 22, 1798 ordered the dismissal of appanage villagers to the merchants “by right” for the payment of a redemption amount assigned by a secular verdict and approved by the department.

The same basic questions about land and self-government, but much more broadly posed, were interpreted in numerous decrees and government measures concerning peasants of the state department. During the 18th century, legislation developed the concept of land allotment for state-owned villagers of various denominations, which would be sufficient to feed a peasant and his family and give him the opportunity to pay taxes and serve state duties. Such an allotment was recognized as a 15-acre plot for each revision soul.

In order to actually implement the decrees on allocating land to the peasants, at the end of 1799, Paul, when sending out senators to inspect the provinces, ordered in a special paragraph of the instruction: “to take information” whether the peasants have enough land, “to make a provision” to present this to the Senate and find out the question of relocating villagers from land-scarce areas to empty lands. The senators' reports revealed one sad circumstance: the treasury did not have the land fund necessary to provide the peasants with a 15-acre allotment, even though quitrent lands and forests were put into the distribution cycle. The way out of this situation was to reduce the allotment to 8 dessiatines and establish the following rules: 1 - to allocate land to peasants in 15 dessiatines each where there is enough of it; 2 - where there is not enough land, establish an 8-tithe norm for those who have less; 3 - in case of land shortage, those wishing to be given the opportunity to move to other territories.

Another important aspect of Pavlov’s measures regarding state-owned peasants should be the rationing of taxes. By Decree N18 in December 1797, the dues from “all villagers of government rank” were increased, but not to the same extent. In 1783, it was established as a uniform tax of 3 rubles; in 1797, all provinces were divided into IV classes. Depending on this, the villagers had to pay different rents “according to the nature of the land, the abundance in it and the methods for the inhabitants to work.” In the provinces of the 1st class. - quitrent, together with the previous one, amounted to 5 rubles, in II grade. - 4.5 rubles, in III grade. - 4 rubles, in IV grade. - 3.5 rub. A similar gradation continued in subsequent times.

The motives for increasing the collection, in addition to the need for new sources of income, were the following circumstances specified in the law of December 18, 1797: “the prices of things have risen incomparably... the villagers have spread their profits.” The wording, apparently, is quite vague, which is generally typical for many of Pavlov’s decrees. And yet, the main reason for raising the tax should be considered the poor financial position of the state (this problem will be discussed below in the chapter “Financial Policy”).

It should also be noted that the decree of October 21, 1797, which confirmed the right of state-owned peasants to enroll as merchants and philistines.

The number of factory peasants increased slightly under Paul. By a decree of March 16, 1798, “in order to avoid abuse and encourage industry for the sake of”, factory owners and breeders from merchants were allowed to acquire peasants for their enterprises so that those purchased “would always be at the plants and factories without delay.” Although this law was in conflict with Paul’s intentions to resolve the fate of the assigned peasants, this action was caused partly by the abuses that occurred when merchants were prohibited from buying peasants for factories, and partly by the fact that industry required workers, which were extremely difficult to find by civilian means. . All this forced the government to move along the beaten path when creating new state-owned plants and factories, assigning peasants to them. It should be noted that Paul tried to ease the severity of such registration by issuing decrees to facilitate the work of assigned peasants. For example, in

The decree on the assignment to the earthenware factory stated that only the required number of workers, “entire families,” should be assigned, and after the taxes were worked out, the money earned “in addition be given to them (the peasants) from the income of the factory. The decree of March 16, 1798 ordered that when purchasing peasants, private factories, so that their number of “workable days is spent half on factory work, and the other half on peasant work.”

However, these decisions did not touch the essence of the matter - the factory peasants remained in a difficult situation. An attempt to resolve their fate was the project of the director of the Berg College, M. F. Soimonov. This document proposed to supply factories and factories with “indispensable workers”, while completely freeing the remaining peasants from factory work. In a personal decree on this occasion we read: “We have found with particular pleasure that all the means proposed by him (Simonov) are the most consistent with Our intention to free the peasants from factory work... We command: 1 - to staff the factories with indispensable artisans, taking from 1000 souls according to the calculation 58 people fit for work; 2 - all others, in addition to the set, were freed from factory work, classifying them as state peasants and others (November 9, 1800). It was under Paul that the assigned peasants were finally freed from heavy compulsory work.

In relation to this group of peasants, only a small number of decrees issued by Paul’s government can be identified. Among them: a decree of October 16, 1798 on not selling Little Russian peasants without land, on February 16, 1797 on not selling domestic servants and without land peasants “by auction or at a similar auction for this sale,” on “collecting government debts from landowners.” and private" (by decree of January 28, 1798 it was decided: "to evaluate them (peasants) by work and by the income that each of them through art, handicrafts and labors delivers to the owner, to take them to the treasury, receiving it as a percentage of the capital, which and counted as government debt"); on the transfer of peasants without fragmenting the family, dated January 19, 1800. That’s practically everything that the government did for the landowner peasants.

The manifesto of April 5, 1797, which became the first attempt at legislation to stand between the landowner and the peasant in relation to the regulation of labor, deserves a separate discussion.

The manifesto of April 5, 1797 established the norm of corvee at three days. The decree was announced on the day of the coronation and, one might assume, was a simple mercy to the peasants, but in terms of its significance it is assessed as one of the main transformations of the entire Pavlovian time. The manifesto contains two ideas: forcing peasants to work on Sundays and a three-day corvee. As for the first, this did not become new (even in the Code of Alexei Mikhailovich, Sunday work was prohibited). Of interest is the part of the manifesto about the three-day corvee. Before this, no law had ever been passed that regulated corvée. However, as Valishevsky notes, the legislator was not fully familiar with the many differences in the meaning and form of this duty in individual provinces. In Little Russia, landowners usually demanded only two days of corvee a week. It is clear that they were not slow to take advantage of the new law to increase their demands. On the contrary, in Great Russia, where corvee was almost daily, the landowners wanted to see in the same text only an indication, advice. And, indeed, the form used allowed for a variety of interpretations. There is no categorical order, but a wish was expressed: six days, equally divided, “with good management,” “will be sufficient to satisfy economic needs.” There is no doubt that Paul himself understood the manifesto as law, despite this, the Senate had a different opinion. In society, in general, a multifaceted understanding of the decree has developed.

No matter how you understand the manifesto, it is important to find out whether the three-day corvee rule was used in practice. Numerous evidence suggests that the decree was not respected. In the same 1797, the peasants submitted complaints to the emperor, in which they reported that they work for the landowner “every day”, were driven “to an extreme state by heavy various kinds of fees”, that the landowner “would force them into corvee from Monday, then until Sunday itself.” and will hold on”, etc. The same is evidenced by noble circles (Bezborodko, Radishchev, Malinovsky...).

If we summarize the results of Paul’s policy towards the peasantry, we can note that in this activity one cannot find a desire to directly raise the question of liberating the peasants from serfdom or radically improving the living conditions of the peasants. And yet the general benevolent attitude of the government towards the peasantry in general is clearly visible. Although Paul’s measures were not distinguished by restraint and systematicity (during his reign, Paul distributed 550 thousand souls and 5 million acres of land), at the same time, among them one can find a number of important measures that undoubtedly contributed to improving the lives of peasants. This should include the relief of many duties, land management policy, the organization of rural and volost administration, the resolution on “indispensable artisans,” etc. Undoubtedly, the manifesto on the three-day corvee played a major role in the liberation of the peasants. It can be said that for the peasants, Paul's reign marked the beginning of a new era: the growth of serfdom was put to an end, and the transition to the complete emancipation of the peasants gradually began, ending with the reform of 1861. And in this matter, the great merit of Emperor Paul I.

In characterizing the state of Russian industry, we will consider the activities of two boards that influenced the development of this sector of the economy.

The Manufactory Collegium was re-established by decree on November 19, 1796. Under Paul, no significant changes occurred in industry. The government maintained a moderate patronage system, and the College of Manufactures was entrusted with the responsibility of promoting the welfare and spread of the main forms of industry - handicrafts and factories. It should be noted that special attention was paid to cloth factories that supply their products to the treasury. This was due to the fact that the products of this industry went almost entirely to the needs of the army, to which Pavel himself was far from indifferent. Thus, by decree of January 15, 1798, the manufacturing board was ordered to give sums of money without interest to those wishing to establish factories for the production of soldier's cloth in the Orenburg, Astrakhan, Kiev, Podolsk and Volyn provinces. The duties of the college were to vigilantly ensure that the required amount of cloth was delivered to the treasury. When, at the beginning of 1800, it turned out that there was not enough cloth, a decree followed on March 5: “The missing amount of cloth must be redeemed at the expense of the estate of the director of the manufactory board...”

Some benefits were introduced for cloth suppliers who fulfilled their obligations. For example, they were allowed to sell their products both within the state and abroad. In general, during the reign of Paul, factory owners enjoyed some support from the government. Their privileges were strictly protected, and any harassment of breeders was punished. Thus, it is known that when the Voronezh police chief, contrary to the law, imposed a guard in the house of the cloth manufacturer Tulinov, Pavel, having learned about this, ordered: “the police chief should be brought to trial, and the Senate should order the authorities everywhere so that nowhere such burdens could be imposed on factory owners.”

Concerned about improving industry, the manufacturing board is taking measures to introduce machines in factories. On April 13, 1798, the report of the manufacturing board on the construction of a factory near St. Petersburg for processing cotton paper and wool using special machines received the highest approval.

Similar government actions aimed at mechanizing production led to the rapid growth of capitalist industry in the 19th century. New factories began to appear, both state-owned and private. In 1797, in the town of Zuevo, the famous manufacturer Savva Morozov, being a simple weaver and serf, founded a small manufacturing factory.

In addition to these activities, the government was interested in the development and improvement of new textile industries, for example, sericulture. In 1798, the chief director of the manufactory board, Prince. N. B. Yusupov was given instructions to collect “correct and sufficient information on sericulture and in general regarding manufactories, and to present the most reliable measures to improve and expand this important branch of the state economy.” The measures taken by Yusupov really contributed to the strengthening of this new branch of Russian industry.

In relation to the nationalization of industry, the decree of February 19, 1801 is curious. It prohibited all manufacturers and craftsmen in Russia from putting foreign brands and inscriptions on the things they produced. A procedure was introduced for each manufacturer to submit samples of their products to the manufacturing board. However, this decree, which introduced regulations that were restrictive for production and reminiscent of Peter’s orders, was not implemented.

Concerns about some industries were undoubtedly beneficial and the number of factories in these industries increased.

However, as Valishevsky notes, who generally tends to find only bad things in all of Paul’s actions, only from this reign did Russia begin to lag economically behind the states of Europe. The mentioned historian considers the city of Arzamas to be an example of the industrial decline of the country, which, as he assures, “was an industrial center of such importance that only Manchester or Birmingham could compare.” Still, I think it is a mistake to attribute all sins to one reign, especially such a short one. In my opinion, the reasons for Russia’s economic lag at the end of the 18th century must be sought in Peter’s reforms, which were not brought to their logical conclusion by Peter’s successors.

If we summarize the activities of the manufactory board, then it can be noted that although this activity was not too extensive and did not contain anything new, it was nevertheless aimed at partial improvements and improvements in Russian industry. The government tried to put the Russian manufacturer in an independent position from foreign industry and give it access to the Asian market.

The competence of the Berg College included control over all “mining and coinage matters.” In view of the decline of mining under Catherine II, the Berg College saw the goal of its activities as “bringing mining production to the possible perfection as one of the most important branches of internal well-being and foreign commerce.”

One can point to some private measures by which the Berg College tried to improve the situation of state-owned factories: from among the criminals fit for mining, a set of workers was recruited for the Nerchinsk factories; taking measures to sell the remaining iron from state-owned factories and selling it to everyone, according to the decree of February 10, 1799, “10 kopecks per ruble below free prices.” In 1797, 655 thousand rubles were allocated for the needs of the Berg College to expand production and procure grain for assigned peasants.

More extensive measures were also taken. In this regard, the manifesto of November 9, 1800, which streamlined factory work, is important. General surveillance of private factories was also carried out. On November 3, 1797, private owners of copper factories were given new benefits: 1 - reduction of fees from factories; 2 - increase in payment for half of the smelted copper delivered by the manufacturer to the treasury by 1.5 rubles. per pood. However, this only applied to bona fide breeders. Subsequently, factory owners were allowed to buy peasants with land for their enterprises.

Due to this privileged position of breeders, the profits they receive from production have increased significantly. The capital used for the enterprise, according to the chief director of the Berg College, Soimonov, began to bring “from 70% to 100% or more profit.” In this situation, Soimonov considered it fair to increase fees from the owners of iron smelting plants, which was done.

The responsibilities of the Berg College also included the search for new deposits. The conditions for the exploitation of mining resources by previous factories, the discovery of new deposits, the streamlining of the mining industry, the management of the whole business by one central institution, which was the Berg College - all this gave positive results in the very first years of Pavlovsk's rule. In 1798, the treasury received profits of 500 thousand rubles. more than in 1796. The Berg College should also be credited with the fact that they looked at mining from a state point of view, which they ardently defended before the Tsar and the Senate when discussing the advantages of state and private exploitation of mining resources. Of all the departments that operated under Paul, perhaps this alone fully coped with the responsibilities assigned to him.

In the field of financial policy, Paul was of the opinion that state revenues belong to the state, and not to the sovereign personally. In Gatchina, Pavel independently developed the state budget. Income and expenses were balanced in the amount of 31.5 million rubles. But, according to the calculations of the financial department, just maintaining the army in peacetime in 1797 required a loan exceeding this amount. Thus, the total amount of upcoming expenses amounted to 80 million rubles, which was 20 million more than expected income. At the same time, over the past 13 years the state. the debt reached a colossal amount for that time of 126,196,556 rubles, and the huge amount of paper money in circulation exceeded 157 million. This money was lost during exchange from 32% to 39% of its value.

Pavel declared his intention to eliminate this heavy liability in a large part of it. He managed to secure only one external debt of 43,739,180 rubles, with the help of a wide operation in cooperation with the “House of Gope in Amsterdam”. Regarding banknotes, Paul stated that there was no need for them and that all banknotes would be paid for in silver coin. Which? Paul talked about recasting all the silverware of the Court. He will “eat on the tin” until the paper ruble rises to its nominal price. This did not happen. And at first, even despite the desire for savings, which in practice turned out to be mostly unfeasible, the true budget for 1797 reached a figure twice as large as that previously adopted by Paul - 63,673,194 rubles. Of this money, 20 million went to the army, and 50 million to the navy. Already in July 1797, the need arose to revise this budget. The distribution of state-owned lands that was taking place at that time took about 2 million rubles from the treasury. It was necessary to reduce the same amount of credit allocated to pay off government debts. Over the next years, Paul's budgets reached and even exceeded the level of Catherine's:

From the very first year, with the exception of appropriations for the army and navy, the expenses of the new reign differed very little from those established before.

In income items, large sums also continued to be delivered by taxes on peasants:

The foreign and domestic policies pursued by Paul caused great discontent in the country. There are 30 known attempts on his life. In an atmosphere of growing discontent, a group of nobles sought to eliminate what they considered an unpredictable emperor. The apposition tried in every possible way to discredit the emperor in the eyes of society. Rumors about the emperor's premeditation were spreading everywhere. Petersburg resembled a disturbed beehive: everyone was talking about the emperor's actions - some were annoyed, others with fear or ridicule. When meeting the royal carriage, it was necessary (regardless of the rain or cold) to get out of the carriages and make deep curtsies. The emperor deliberately came up with such an inconvenient custom in order to put silk stockings, which all men wore, out of fashion. He was an enemy of luxury, and silk stockings cost three times more than a nine-pound kilo of flour.

Next order: In theaters it was possible to applaud only after the emperor began to applaud. In the book Mikhailovsky Castle we read The fact that the emperor tried to force the capital's public to behave in an appropriate manner can rather evoke sympathy rather than condemnation. Once untimely applause from the courtiers disturbed Paul himself, who often took part in court performances as a child. But the rumors grew and grew. An atmosphere of misunderstanding on the part of loved ones and hatred of those around him was created around the king. The idea of ​​a coup was already in the air. At the head of the conspiracy was Count Peter Alekseevich von der Palen, a master of brilliant intrigues, a man whom Paul trusted so much. The conspirators also initiated the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander, into their intentions; without his consent, the coup would have made no sense. Paul 1 certainly felt about the impending disaster, and a quick move to the not yet fully rebuilt Mikhailovsky Castle was the reason for this. On the façade of the castle, according to the frieze, there used to be an inscription: “THY HOUSE befits the holiness of the Lord in the length of days.”

Someone spread a rumor that the famous Blessed Ksenia in St. Petersburg predicted that the emperor would live in the castle for as many days as the letters in this inscription. She was not mistaken by much. Here he lived for forty days. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, the conspirators entered Paul’s bedchamber in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The dignity with which Paul behaved at first discouraged the conspirators, and then served as the last straw that overflowed the cup of hatred that had been accumulating for a long time. They were all drunk. Count Nikolai Zubov hit the emperor in the temple with a massive snuffbox and Paul I died from this.

The reign of Paul I - four years, four months and six days - was too short to leave a lasting mark on history. Nevertheless, Paul's idea that the task of noble politics was not the pursuit of special interests, but the firm implementation of balanced ethical principles, a political creed, as historians write, still seemed so sublime and natural to his successors that they adhered to it for more than half a century.

- Schilder N. Emperor Paul the First. M.: Algorithm, 1996.

- Obolensky G.L. Emperor Paul I. Smolensk, 1996

Walishevsky K. Collected works in five volumes, volume 5: “The son of the Great Catherine, Emperor Paul 1 (His life, reign and death). M.: "VEK", 1996.

- Chulkov G. Emperors. M.: Art, 1995.

- Klyuchevsky V.O. About Russian history M. Enlightenment, 1993.

- Eidelman N.Ya. The Edge of Centuries St. Petersburg, 1992.

- Yatsunsky V.K. Socio-economic history of Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. M., 1971.

Detailed solution paragraph §25 on history for 8th grade students, authors N.M. Arsentiev, A.A. Danilov, I.V. Kurukin. 2016

Questions and tasks for working with the text of a paragraph

1. List the main goals of Paul I’s foreign policy.

Fight against revolutionary France;

Confrontation with England.

2. What was the reason for the military clashes between Russia and France? Which of Russia's allies provided it with real military assistance at that time?

Napoleon captured Malta, which was under the patronage of Paul 1. None of the allies provided real assistance to Russia.

3. How could the nobles and the church evaluate Paul I’s taking under the protection of the Order of Malta?

This act of Paul 1 could be assessed as patronage of the Catholic Church.

4. What was the goal of the Russian troops in the Swiss campaign?

In connection with the planned landing of the 30,000-strong Anglo-Russian landing corps in Holland, the Austrian command decided to send all Austrian troops located in Switzerland (58 thousand people under the command of Archduke Charles) to join the Anglo-Russian corps in Holland. In return for the Austrian troops that left Switzerland, it was planned to transfer Russian troops there from Italy (about 21 thousand) and connect them with the 24 thousand Russian corps located in Switzerland under the command of Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov.

5. Do you agree with the opinion that the union of Russia and France was inevitable? Prove your position.

England refused to liberate Malta, captured from the French, Napoleon curtailed his revolutionary conquests and sought to restore the monarchy.

6. What were the economic and political goals of the Indian campaign for Russia?

Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its allies. The failure of a joint British invasion of the Netherlands marked the beginning of a rift, and the British occupation of Malta angered Paul I, who was proud of the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He hastily broke off diplomatic relations with London and entered into an alliance with Napoleon, who back in 1797 announced his intention to strike British India. The Russian Empire motivated its expansion to the south with the desire to stop the raids of local peoples on its possessions and to gain access to Central Asian goods, especially cotton.

7. Is there a relationship between the foreign policy of Paul I and the conspiracy against him?

The English government, trying to avoid war with Russia, subsidized the conspiracy against Paul through the envoy in St. Petersburg, Lord Whitworth.

Working with the map

1. Show on the map the routes of Russian troops in the Italian and Swiss campaigns. Find the most difficult places to pass.

Ursern Hole, St. Gotthard Pass

Suvorov's Swiss campaign was one of the largest military events of its time in the mountain theater of operations in terms of its scope and duration of action far from supply bases.

5 thousand kilometers

We think, compare, reflect

1. Why did the Western European Catholic knightly Order of Malta choose the Orthodox Russian Tsar Paul 1 as its Grand Master?

The reason for Paul 1's acceptance of the title of Grand Master (which was also a development of his mother's policy) was his deepest understanding of the high Service of the idea of ​​​​Orthodox Autocracy. Having headed the oldest knightly order in Europe, which united the flower of the entire European aristocracy, Paul 1 sought to show the world the ministry of the emperor, recognized since ancient times by Christianity, as the Ecumenical Basileus, and as the Keeper of the secret of lawlessness, as well as the “External Bishop of the Church,” uniting peoples to oppose apostasy. Ambrose, Archbishop of Kazan, in his speech about Emperor Paul said: “Having accepted the title of Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, you have revealed in your royal person the refuge and intercession common to all the faithful children of the Church.” Patronage of the Order was also due to strategic interests: having a military base on the island of Malta, Russia received access to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Emperor wanted to modify the Order of Malta into a kind of political party, the goals of which would be to implement the noble ideals of Christianity and serve one’s neighbor according to the precepts of the Savior. Several decades later, after his death, these ideas were partially realized in the creation of the International Red Cross. With such unusual measures, Emperor Paul 1 sought to strengthen, as he believed, the Orthodox Church and to bridge the gap between the Church and society that arose after Peter's Spiritual Regulations. The secularization of society was also opposed by the unity of the spiritual and state principles in the Order, where the nobles took knightly vows of service to the Church and the Sovereign.

2. Using documents, write a note for an online publication about a conspiracy against Paul 1.

About three hundred people participated in the preparation of the conspiracy. Its core consisted of Vice-Chancellor Count N.P. Panin, Governor-General of St. Petersburg P.A. Palen, as well as brothers Platon and Nikolai Zubov. Many in the country were dissatisfied with the order established by Paul. The main reasons that caused the conspiracy can be considered the following: dissatisfaction of the nobility with the infringement of noble liberties and privileges; repressions against the dissatisfied, exile to Siberia; dislike of the court nobility and guards officers, lack of loyal people on whom you can rely; despotism, excessive regulation, strict discipline not only in the army, but also in everyday life; inconsistent foreign policy, severance of relations with England. Assassination of Paul I The Emperor received news of a conspiracy being prepared against him. On March 8, he summoned the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Palen, who reassured the sovereign, saying that he was under reliable protection. After this, the conspirators decided not to hesitate. At midnight on March 11, they managed to penetrate (not without betrayal) into the Mikhailovsky Castle and get to the emperor’s bedroom. The conspirators wanted to force Paul to renounce the throne, but he did not agree and was killed as a result of the ensuing fight. One of the participants in the coup, Nikolai Zubov, struck him in the temple with a heavy snuff box. The emperor fell and was strangled by the scarf of one of the attackers. There is an opinion that Great Britain, relations with which by this time had deteriorated, could have been involved in the conspiracy. Another version is that the coup took place with the approval of his son Alexander, who made it a condition that his father’s life be spared. But fate decreed otherwise. The new Emperor Alexander I announced that his father had died of apoplexy. A new era has begun.

3. Some historians talk about Paul 1’s connections with the Freemasons. Using additional materials, write a conclusion in which you evaluate the reliability of this version. Make a list of arguments to support your position.

Placed by his mother at the complete disposal of the chief educator, Count Nikita Panin, Pavel found himself among prominent Russian masons from early childhood. The people with whom Paul most often met in the days of his childhood, in the days of his youth and later, whom he trusted, with whom he was friends, who expressed their sympathy for him, were all high-ranking Masons. It was Nikita Panin who recruited Pavel into membership in the Masonic fraternity. Nikita Panin's brother Peter Panin. Relatives of the counts Panins, princes A. B. Kurakin and N. V. Repnin. Prince Kurakin was at one time the Russian ambassador to France. In Paris, he was recruited into the ranks of the Martinist Order by Saint Martin himself. Returning to Russia, Kurakin recruited Novikov into the order. After I.P. Elagin, Kurakin became the head of Russian Freemasons. Prince N.V. Repnin, according to contemporaries, was devoted to the ideas of Freemasonry “to the point of stupidity.” Nikita Panin was helped in raising Pavel by the freemason T. I. Osterwald.

Fleet captain Sergei Ivanovich Pleshcheev, with whom Pavel became friends and whom he loved very much, was also a Freemason who joined the Masonic lodge during his stay in Italy. Prince Repnin brought Pavel together with Pleshcheev, one must think, not without secret intent. Russian Freemasons decided to make Pavel a Freemason and tried in every possible way to ensure that he became a member of the order. Beginning in 1769, a lively correspondence arose between Pavel and Panin regarding the essay “Journey to the Land of Ophir” written by the freemason Prince Shcherbatov. “Journey to the Land of Ophir” is the first plan drawn up in Russia for organizing a socialist, totalitarian state. In the life of the Ophirians, everything is under the careful, petty tutelage of the state authorities, in the person of the Sankrei - police officers. “Sankrei” care about “peace”, “safety”, “health”, etc.

It is interesting that in “Journey to the Country of Ophir we find a plan for the organization of military settlements created later by Alexander I. The army in Ophiria consists of soldiers who live in special villages. In each village there lives a company of soldiers. “Journey to the Country of Ophir” by Prince Shcherbatov is predecessor of the "Russian Truth" of the Decembrist Pestel. The structure of the totalitarian state, which is outlined in these writings, is surprisingly reminiscent of the socialist state created today by the Bolsheviks. The idea of ​​​​military settlements, created later by Alexander I, was undoubtedly inspired by the Masonic work of Prince Shcherbatov. Alexander I could not not be familiar with “Journey to the Land of Ophir” and have probably read it.

To win Paul over to their side, the Masons let him know that they want to see him on the throne, and not Catherine usurping his rights. In Vernadsky’s study “Russian Freemasonry during the reign of Catherine II,” we read the following: “The negative attitude of a significant part of the Freemasons towards Catherine and sympathy for Pavel Petrovich became quite clear at the end of the 1770s.

Paul's connections with the Freemasons, the Freemasons' affection for Paul, and the connections of Russian Freemasons with Swedish Freemasons, of course, became known to Catherine and caused her great concern. Probably wanting to break Paul's connections with the Freemasons, Catherine II insists that Paul undertake a trip to Europe. In the fall of 1781, Pavel and his wife, under the name of Count Severny, left for Europe. Abroad, Paul’s connections with the Freemasons continue. Among his companions are his close friends S.I. Pleshcheev and A.V. Kurakin, the future head of Russian Freemasons.

In his wife's family, Pavel finds himself in an atmosphere of passion for the ideas of the Martinists. The mother of Paul's wife met with Saint Martin, the head of the Martinist order, every word of Saint Martin was the highest commandment for her. In the spring of 1782, Paul participated in a meeting of members of the Masonic lodge in Vienna.

It is known that the head of the Russian Rosicrucians, Schwartz, wrote to a member of the Rosicrucian Order, Prince Karl of Hesse-Kassel, about his thoughts and

Paul's possible role in the order. “The original letter of the Duke of Hesse-Kassel written to Schwartz in 1782 proves their fraternal correspondence - from it one can see that Prince Kurakin was used as an instrument to bring the Grand Duke into brotherhood.”

When Pavel returned from Europe, his friend, the famous architect Bazhenov, a member of the Rosicrucian Order, came to him from Moscow, who probably tried to persuade Pavel to join Freemasonry.

Many years of cultivation finally bore fruit and in 1784 Pavel joined one of the Masonic lodges subordinate to I. Elagin. Paul was solemnly accepted as a member of the brotherhood of free masons by Senator I. Elagin. Pavel's chief teacher, Count. N.I.

Panin, to whom the Masons praised him for the fact that he: “Brought the royal heart into the temple of friendship.”

How did Paul himself feel about the Freemasons? By the nobility of his character. Pavel, surrounded by Freemasons since childhood, had no idea about the true secrets of the goals of world Freemasonry; he believed that Freemasons were virtuous people who wished good to people. But then Pavel apparently developed some suspicions. It is known that when Bazhenov came to him again one day, he asked him if the Freemasons had any secret goals. Bazhenov managed to convince Pavel that the Freemasons do not have any bad intentions, that their goal is high and noble - the brotherhood of all people living on earth. “God is with you,” Paul said then, “just live peacefully.” But when the Great French Revolution broke out and Paul became aware of the participation of the Freemasons in it, he sharply changed his attitude towards the Freemasons.

4. Based on additional materials, write an essay about one of the episodes related to the military activities of A.V. Suvorov or F.F. Ushakov in 1799.

In 1798, Russia joined the 2nd anti-French coalition (Great Britain, Austria, Turkey, the Kingdom of Naples). A united Russian-Austrian army was created to march into northern Italy, captured by the troops of the French Directory. Initially, it was planned to put Archduke Joseph at the head of the army. But at the insistence of England, Austria asked Paul I to appoint Suvorov as commander. The commander, summoned from exile, arrived in Vienna on March 14 (25), 1799, where Emperor Franz I awarded Suvorov the rank of Austrian field marshal. On April 4 (15), the commander arrived with the Russian troops in Verona, and the next day he moved with the troops to Valeggio. Already on April 8 (19), the allied Russian-Austrian troops of about 80 thousand people under the command of Suvorov began moving from Valeggio to the Adda River. Before the campaign, he made an appeal to the Italian people. The first clash between Suvorov's troops and the French on the Italian territory they captured was the capture of the fortress city of Brescia on April 10 (21) (Major General Prince Bagration distinguished himself in this battle). The capture of Brescia made it possible to begin a blockade of the enemy fortresses of Mantua and Pesquera (for which 20 thousand people were allocated) and to begin the movement of the main part of the army towards Milan, where parts of the French army retreated to protect it, which entrenched themselves on the opposite bank of the Adda River. On April 15 (26) the city of Lecco was taken, on April 16 (27) the main part of the battle on the Adda River began: Russian troops crossed the river and defeated the French army under the leadership of the famous commander, General Jean Victor Moreau. The French lost about 3 thousand killed and about 5 thousand captured. The final stage of the battle on the Adda River was the Battle of Verderio, which resulted in the surrender of the French division of General Serrurier. As a result of the battle, the French army retreated, and on April 17 (28) the allied forces entered Milan. On April 20 (May 1) they set out for the Po River. In this campaign, the fortresses of Peschiera, Tortona, and Pizigetone were taken, in each of which Suvorov left a garrison of Austrians, so his army was gradually reduced. At the beginning of May, Suvorov began moving towards Turin. On May 5 (16), the French detachment of General Moreau near Marengo attacked the Austrian division, but with the help of Bagration’s detachment it was driven back. French troops were forced to retreat, leaving the fortresses of Casale and Valenza without a fight and opening the road to Turin, which was taken without a fight (thanks to the support of local residents and the Piedmontese National Guard) on May 15 (26). As a result, almost all of northern Italy was cleared of French troops. Meanwhile, in mid-May, General MacDonald's army arrived in Florence and moved towards Genoa to join forces with Moreau. On June 6 (17), a battle began on the Trebbia River between the Russian-Austrian troops of Suvorov and the French army of Macdonald. It lasted three days and ended in the defeat of the French, who lost half of their army killed and captured. In July 1799, the fortresses of Alessandria and Mantua fell. After the fall of the last charter of the Sardinian king Charles Emmanuel, dated June 28 (July 9), 1799, the field marshal and commander-in-chief of the allied Austro-Russian army, Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, was elevated, by right of primogeniture, to the dignity of a prince, a royal relative (“cousin king") and grandee of the kingdom of Sardinia and was made grand marshal of Piedmont. By the highest rescript of Paul I of August 2 (13), 1799, he was allowed to accept the indicated titles and use them in Russia. On August 3 (14), the French occupied Novi. The Allied army also approached Novi, and on August 4 (15) the Battle of Novi began. During the 18-hour battle, the French army was completely defeated, losing 7 thousand people killed (including its commander Joubert), 4.5 thousand prisoners, 5 thousand wounded and 4 thousand deserters. The Battle of Novi was the last major battle of the Italian Campaign. After him, Emperor Paul I ordered that Suvorov be given the same honors that had previously been given only to the emperor. By a personal Highest decree of August 8 (19), 1799, Field Marshal General Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky was elevated, with his descendants, to the princely dignity of the Russian Empire with the title of Prince of Italy and ordered to be called henceforth Prince of Italy, Count Suvorov-Rymniksky.

5. There is an opinion that Catherine 2 at one time tried to prevent Paul from ascending the throne, because she knew well the views and character of her son and feared for his life (as it turned out, not in vain). Explain what ideas and character traits of Paul 1 contributed to his tragic death.

In 1776, Paul I married for the second time. The wife of the heir to the Russian throne was Sophia-Dorothe, who at baptism took the name Maria Feodorovna. Maria Feodorovna was related to the Prussian king. Apparently under the influence of his wife, he began to like many German customs. Paul I was a man of changeable character, and often made contradictory decisions. People quickly fell out of favor with him, and just as quickly became his favorites.

6. Why did a contemporary of the death of Paul 1 express the opinion that of the 36 million inhabitants of Russia, 33 million “had reason to bless the emperor”? Who were these 33 million? Give reasons for your answer.

The internal policy of Paul I caused discontent among the nobles, because... The emperor tried to alleviate the situation of the peasantry, who made up the majority of the empire's population.

We repeat and draw conclusions

3. List the most important, in your opinion, features of the reign of Paul 1.

The emperor's actions towards England are considered rash. The internal and internal and foreign policies of Paul 1 are assessed negatively. Its summary can be expressed in one word - short-sightedness. This is due to the war that almost broke out with England due to the interests of the Knights of Malta. Many note the unjustified risk of Asian trips.

4. What were the reasons for the conspiracy against Paul 1?

On the night of Monday 11 (23) March 1801 to 12 (24) March 1801, as a result of a conspiracy involving guards officers in the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle, Russian Emperor Paul I was killed. The reasons for the conspiracy were the dissatisfaction of the participants with the unpredictable policies pursued by Paul I (tough, the methods of management of Paul I reaching the point of cruelty, the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty he created, the dissatisfaction of the highest noble circles, deprived of their former freedom and privileges, the capital's guard officers and the instability of the political course), that is, the desire to replace the tsar with a more “compliant” one. Financing by Great Britain, dissatisfied with the severance of relations with Russia, and its alliance with Napoleon, is also suspected. The awareness of Tsarevich Alexander Pavlovich about the impending murder of his father is in question. The official version in the Russian Empire for more than a hundred years was death from illness due to natural causes: “from apoplexy” (stroke).

Domestic policy of Paul I. The domestic and foreign policy of Paul I (1796-1801), who ascended the throne after the death of Catherine II (1796), was distinguished by inconsistency and unpredictability. But this inconsistency did not in any way affect the foundations of the existing system - the preservation of autocracy and serfdom. On the contrary, they strengthened even more during his short reign. During Catherine's life, Pavel was in a certain opposition to her, hating his mother. His court in Gatchina was constantly contrasted with the St. Petersburg imperial court, which was distinguished by luxury and an idle high-society life. An almost ascetic military atmosphere reigned in the Gatchina courtyard; it rather resembled a military camp. Paul, a staunch supporter of Prussia and its military order, built his life according to the Prussian military model. Having ascended the throne, he tried to turn all of Russia into a kind of Gatchina camp. Reactionality was the dominant feature of his domestic political course. He hated the French Revolution and fought in Russia against revolutionary, any advanced social thought in all ways available to him. Even French clothing was prohibited, as was the use of foreign words reminiscent of the revolution. The import of foreign books and even sheet music into Russia is prohibited. Paul introduced the Prussian military system into the army, dressed the army and even the officials in Prussian clothes. Barracks order was established in the capital. At 8 o'clock. In the evening, when the emperor went to bed, all other residents had to turn off the lights. The monarch's quarrelsomeness and instability led to repression without guilt and rewards without merit. The army and, in particular, the guard were constantly engaged in parades, divorces, and drills in St. Petersburg. Social life almost ceased. This caused acute discontent among the nobility. Fearing the revolutionary “contagion”, fearing any opposition, Paul even limited the self-government of the nobility. But he did not encroach on the basis of the foundations - noble land ownership and serfdom. During the years of his reign they became even stronger. Pavel, according to him, saw 100 thousand free police chiefs in the landowners. He extended serfdom to the Black Sea region and Ciscaucasia. During the four years of his reign, he distributed over 500 thousand state peasants to the nobles (Catherine for 34 years - 850 thousand). The reign of Paul 1 began in an atmosphere of peasant unrest in the country, which covered 32 provinces. They were suppressed by military force. Paul himself was to blame for this, he ordered that the entire male population of the country, including serfs, be allowed to swear allegiance to him as emperor (previously they were not allowed to swear the oath). This gave rise to hope among the peasants for the abolition of serfdom. But when they did not wait for her, peasant unrest began. Thus, even in politics towards the peasantry, Paul turned out to be very contradictory.

Foreign policy of Paul I. The foreign policy of Paul I was also marked by contradictions. An ardent enemy of France, in 1798 he entered the war against it. In the spring of 1799, the Russian army under the command of Suvorov appeared in Northern Italy. Having won several brilliant victories, Suvorov liberated all of Northern Italy from the French. Austria, fearing the anti-Austrian liberation movement of the Italians, insists on the transfer of Russian troops to Switzerland. There Suvorov was supposed to continue the war with the French along with Austrian troops. He makes a battle crossing of unprecedented heroism through the Alps to Switzerland, but by that time the Austrians were defeated. Suvorov, breaking through the French barriers, winning victory after victory, leads the army out of the French encirclement. At the same time, the Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Ushakov is victoriously conducting combat operations at sea: it stormed the most powerful fortress on the island. Corfu, liberated Naples with fighting. Then the Russian sailors entered Rome. But in 1799 Russia stopped the war. The anti-French coalition collapsed. Napoleon made reconciliation with Paul I. Their negotiations ended with the development of a plan of joint action against England. In January 1801, Paul, with a sudden order, without a supply of forage, sent 40 regiments of Don Cossacks on a campaign against English possessions in India. The break with England caused discontent among the high-ranking nobility, which had trade relations with the English merchants. In the coup d'état of March 11, 1801, which resulted in the murder of Paul, the English ambassador to Russia was also substituted. But the main reason that pushed the conspirators to the coup was the acute dissatisfaction of the capital's nobility with Paul. Paul had no social support and was overthrown.

In preparing this work, materials from the site http://www.studentu.ru were used

Foreign Policy of Paul I.5

Trade activity under Paul I.13

Peasant reforms of Paul I.15

Industrial development.19

List of used literature.25

Paul I was born on September 20, 1754. His father is Peter III, mother Catherine II. As a boy, he was separated from his parents soon after birth by his reigning great-aunt Elizabeth, who regarded him as the rightful heir to the throne and took his upbringing under her direct supervision. Pavel grew up in an atmosphere of raw passions, intrigue, and humiliating quarrels, which influenced the development of his personality. Having lost his father as a result of a coup d'état, headed by his mother Catherine II, at the age of eight he was removed from serious studies and any participation in state affairs. Paul was also expelled from his mother’s entourage; he was constantly surrounded by spies* and was treated with suspicion by the court favorites**. This explains his temper and irritability, for which his contemporaries blamed him.

Pavel's childhood was spent in the care of a lonely and loving grandmother, without maternal affection and warmth. His mother remained an unfamiliar woman to him and over time became more and more distant. When the heir was six years old, he was given a wing of the Summer Palace, where he lived with his court and his teachers. Nikita Ivanovich Panin, one of the most famous statesmen of his time, was appointed Chief Chamberlain under him.

Paul I was taught mathematics, history, geography, languages, dancing, fencing, maritime affairs, and when he grew up, theology, physics, astronomy and political sciences. He is introduced early to educational ideas and history: at the age of ten or twelve, Pavel is already reading the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Helvetius, and D'Alembert. Poroshin talked with his student about the works of Montesquieu and Helvetius, forcing him to read them to enlighten the mind. He wrote the book “The State Mechanism” for the Grand Duke, in which he wanted to show the different parts by which the state moves.

Pavel studied easily, showing both sharpness of mind and good abilities; was distinguished by an extremely developed imagination, lack of perseverance and patience, and inconstancy. But, apparently, there was something in the crown prince that evoked the prophetic words of his junior teacher S. A. Poroshin: “With the best intentions, you will make people hate you.”

When Paul I was seven years old, Empress Elizabeth died. Subsequently, Pavel learned how Catherine made her victorious campaign at the head of the guard to Peterhof and how her confused husband, who had abdicated the throne, was taken to Ropsha. And Nikita Ivanovich Panin, to whom Pavel soon became accustomed, skillfully instilled in him some strange and restless thoughts about the empress. There were others who explained to the boy that after the death of Peter III, he, Paul, should have been emperor, and the wife of the suppressed sovereign could only be regent and ruler until he, Paul, came of age. Pavel remembered this very well. For thirty-four years he thought about this day and night, harboring in his heart a painful fear of that princess who took possession of the Russian throne, without at all doubting her right to autocratically rule a people of many millions.

September 20, 1772 was the day he came of age. Many were confident that Catherine would attract a legitimate heir to rule the country. But this, of course, did not happen. Catherine understood that with her death, if Paul ascended the throne, her entire state program would be destroyed in the very first days of his reign. And she decided to remove Paul from the throne. And he guessed about it.

Paul's character began to emerge from the time when he matured and began to realize his position at court: the heir to the throne, neglected by his mother, who was treated with disdain by his favorites, who was not entrusted with any state affairs.

In 1773, at the age of 19, Pavel married the daughter of a Protestant landgrave - Princess Augustine - Wilhelmina, who, after converting to Orthodoxy, received the name Natalya Alekseevna. On the eve of Pavel's wedding with his first wife. On the eve of Paul’s wedding with his first wife, Solm, the Prussian envoy in St. Petersburg, writes about the young Grand Duke Solm: “It’s easy for any girl to fall in love with him,” he said. “Although he is not tall, he is very handsome in face, of very regular build, his conversation and manners are pleasant.” , he is meek, extremely courteous, helpful and cheerful. Beneath the beautiful appearance lies a most excellent soul, the most honest and exalted, and at the same time the most pure and innocent, which knows evil only from the side that repels it, and in general is knowledgeable about evil only to the extent necessary to arm itself with the determination to avoid it and not approve of it. in others."? Unfortunately, Pavel did not live long with his first wife; she died 3 years later from childbirth.

In 1776, the Grand Duke married for the second time the seventeen-year-old Princess Sophia - Dorothea of ​​Württemberg - Mempelgard, who, after the necessary conversion to the Orthodox faith, received the name Maria Feodorovna, who bore him ten children: Alexander (heir to the throne), Constantine, Nicholas, Mikhail, Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Olga, Ekaterina, Anna. Pavel was a wonderful family man, as evidenced by the memoirs of his youngest son Nikolai, who says that his father “enjoyed watching us play on the carpet in his room.” Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, his youngest daughter, recalled “Father was so gentle and so kind to us that we loved to go to him. He said that he was removed from his older children, taken away from him as soon as they were born, but that he wanted to see the younger children near him in order to get to know them better.” And here’s what Maria Feodorovna wrote to her friend a few months after the wedding: “My dear husband is an angel. I love him to madness.”

An idealist, an internally decent person, but with an extremely difficult character and no experience or skills in government, Pavel ascended the Russian throne on November 6, 1796. While still an heir, Pavel Petrovich was thinking through a program of his future actions, but in practice he began to be guided rather by personal feelings and views, which led to an increase in the element of chance in politics, giving it an outwardly contradictory character.

Having become emperor, Paul cancels the most difficult recruitment and solemnly announces that “from now on, Russia will live in peace and tranquility, that now there is not the slightest need to think about expanding its borders, since it is already quite vast...”. Immediately upon his accession to the throne, Emperor Paul I announced that he was abandoning preparations for war with France.

“It is impossible to depict,” writes Bolotov, “what a pleasant effect this beneficent decree had throughout the entire state, and how many tears and sighs of gratitude were released from the eyes and hearts of many millions of inhabitants of Russia. The whole state and all the ends and borders of it were delighted with him and everywhere only the same wishes for all the best to the new sovereign were heard...”

On November 29, 1796, an amnesty was declared for captured Poles. The emperor ordered “to release all such people and release them to their former homes; and foreigners, if they wish, abroad. Our Senate has the right to immediately issue appropriate orders regarding the implementation of this, ordering where necessary that measures be taken for supervision from the provincial boards and other zemstvo authorities, so that these released remain calm and behave decently, without entering into any harmful relations, under the threat of the heaviest punishment"

Soon peace is concluded with Persia. In a letter to the Prussian king dated January 3, 1797, Paul wrote: “You can’t do much with the existing allies, and since the struggle they waged against France only contributed to the growth of the revolution and its resistance, the world can weaken it by strengthening peaceful anti-revolutionary elements in France itself, hitherto oppressed by the revolution.” The counter-revolutionary coup on July 27, 1794 leads to the fall of the Jacobin dictatorship in France. The revolution is on the wane. The brilliant victories of General Bonaparte over the Austrians in Italy lead to the emergence of a number of democratic republics under the auspices of France. Pavel sees in this the further spread of the “revolutionary infection” and advocates the convening of a European Congress to resolve territorial disputes and suppress revolutionary gains. He is even ready to recognize the French Republic “for the sake of calming Europe,” because otherwise “you will have to take up arms against your will.” However, neither Austria nor England supported him, and in 1798 a new coalition was created against France. Russia, in alliance with England, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of Naples, begins a war against France.

“To put a limit to the successes of French weapons and anarchic rules, to force France to enter its former borders and thereby restore lasting peace and political balance in Europe,” is how Pavel evaluates Russia’s participation in this coalition. Instructing General Rosenberg, appointed to command the Russian expeditionary force, Pavel wrote: “... To avert everything that in non-hostile lands can arouse hatred or reprehensible impressions about the troops (to avoid participation in food executions), to inspire that we did not come in any way to promote power-hungry intentions, but to protect general peace and security, for this purpose affectionate and friendly treatment of the residents. Restoration of thrones and altars. Protect troops from the “pernicious infection of the minds”, observe church rituals and holidays.”

On April 4, Suvorov arrived at the main headquarters of the allied army, located in the town of Valeggio in northern Italy. Already on April 10, military operations began with the capture of Brescia. The 58,000-strong French army acted against the 86,000-strong Allied army; in the north it was commanded by the former Minister of War Scherer, and in the south by the young and talented General MacDonald. Using the numerical superiority of the allies, Suvorov decided to push the enemy into the mountains beyond Genoa and capture Milan, and then defeat MacDonald. In the future, he planned to invade France through Savoy, and the troops of Archduke Charles, together with the Russian corps of Rimsky-Korsakov, were supposed to oust the French from Switzerland and rush to the Rhine. On April 15, a stubborn three-day battle with the French began on the Adda River. On this day, the decrepit Scherer was replaced by one of the best commanders in France, General Moreau.

In a bloody battle, success accompanied first one side and then the other. The energetic Moreau tries to gather together troops stretched over tens of kilometers, but he fails. Having lost three thousand killed and five thousand captured, the French rolled back to the south. The fate of Lombardy was decided - Suvorov called the Adda River the Rubicon on the way to Paris.

Having received news of this victory, Paul I summoned fifteen-year-old Major General Arkady Suvorov, appointed adjutant general, and told him: “Go and learn from him. I can’t give you a better example and put it in better hands.”

With a rapid Suvorov march from east to west, the allies threw back the enemy army and entered Milan. Not allowing the remnants of Moro's army to unite with MacDonald, Suvorov defeats him at Marengo and enters Turin. In a fierce battle near the Trebbia River, General Macdonald was also defeated.

Many years later, the famous marshal of France told the Russian ambassador in Paris: “I was young during the battle of Trebbia. This failure could have had a detrimental effect on my career; I was saved only by the fact that my winner was Suvorov.”

In two months the French lost all of Northern Italy. Congratulating Suvorov on this victory, Paul I wrote: “I congratulate you with your own words: “Glory to God, glory to you!”

On July 6, the famous General Joubert, who rose from private to general in four years, was appointed commander of the French troops. Not knowing about the capture of the Mantua fortress by the Austrians, Joubert unexpectedly met the entire allied army. It was not too late to turn back to the mountains, but then he would not have been Joubert: on August 4, at dawn, gun salvoes heralded the beginning of the fiercest and bloodiest battle of this campaign. Never before in his long service had Suvorov encountered such fierce enemy resistance.

After this battle, General Moreau said of Suvorov: “What can be said about a general who will die himself and lay down his army to the last soldier before retreating one step.”

It took Suvorov only four months to liberate Italy. The allies rejoiced: poems were read about him in London theaters, and his portraits were exhibited. Suvorov's hairstyles and pies appear; at dinners, following a toast to the king, they drink to his health.

And in Russia, the name of Suvorov does not leave the pages of newspapers, it becomes a legend. The delighted Pavel wrote to the commander: “I no longer know what to give you, you have put yourself above my rewards...”.

In France, they were anxiously awaiting the start of the invasion. Bet was made on how many days Suvorov would reach Paris. But the allies were primarily concerned with their own interests: the British propose to first take possession of Holland and Belgium, and the Austrians, in the hope of getting the latter, support them.

Paul I was forced to agree with the new plan of his allies.

This plan was as follows: the Austrians from Switzerland go to the Rhine, and Suvorov, uniting with Korsakov’s corps, invades France; The Anglo-Russian expeditionary force begins to operate in Holland, and the Austrians remain in Italy. Suvorov was against the upcoming regrouping of a huge mass of troops, but he had to obey.

On August 28, the Russian army begins its campaign. Taking advantage of this, General Moreau descends from the mountains to help the Tortona fortress besieged by the Austrians and occupies the town of Novi. Suvorov had to go back to help the allies and lose three precious days. Meanwhile, the Austrian Archduke Karl, without waiting for Suvorov, began to withdraw his troops from Switzerland, leaving Korsakov’s Russian corps alone with the French. Having learned about this, the indignant field marshal wrote to St. Petersburg about Thugut, the first minister of Austria: “Is this owl crazy or never had it. Massena will not wait for us, and will rush towards Korsakov... Although I’m not afraid of anything in the world, I will say that in danger from Massena’s superiority, my troops will not help my troops from here, and it’s too late.”

In Switzerland, against the 60,000-strong French army of General Massena, the 24,000-strong corps of Korsakov and the 20,000-strong corps of the Austrians of General Gotze remain. Suvorov rushes to Korsakov's rescue by the shortest and most difficult route - through the St. Gotthard Pass. But here, too, the Austrians failed their allies - the mules they promised did not turn up. “There are no mules, no horses, but there is Tugut, and mountains, and abysses,” Suvorov wrote bitterly to Pavel. Another five days pass in search of the mules. Only on September 12 the army begins to climb the pass. The Russian army moved slowly along the rocks and cliffs, step by step, overcoming the cold, fatigue and enemy resistance.

When St. Petersburg learned about the Archduke's departure from Switzerland, a scandal broke out, and only the fear of a separate peace between France and Austria stopped Paul from breaking with the allies. Understanding the seriousness of the situation and the difficulties facing the army, he gives Suvorov special powers. “I offer this, asking you to forgive me for this and entrusting it to you to choose what to do,” he writes to the field marshal.

Suvorov sends Rosenberg's corps around and, on the other hand, Bagration, and with the rest attacks the enemy, but to no avail: the French rise higher and higher. Already in the evening, during the third attack, Bagration helped, striking from above. The pass was taken, but at a high cost - about a thousand people were taken out of action. And more difficult trials awaited them.

On September 15, the army reached the town of Altdorf, but here it turned out that the St. Gotthard road ended further, and the harsh Rossstock mountain range stood in the way of the exhausted, naked and hungry army.

On September 16, early in the morning, the vanguard of Prince Bagration begins to climb Rosshtok. This unprecedented trek through loose, deep snow in thick fog lasted for sixty hours straight. The ascent was difficult, but the descent was more difficult. A sharp, gusty wind was blowing, people huddled in heaps to keep warm. We went down to the town of Muttental and here we learned terrible news - Korsakov’s corps was defeated on September 15th. The disaster, aggravated by Korsakov's arrogance, was complete: six thousand people died, many were captured. On the same day, General Soult defeated the Austrians.

Leaving Zurich, General Massena promised the captured Russian officers that Field Marshal Suvorov and Grand Duke Konstantin would soon be brought to them.

The exhausted Russian army found itself locked in Muttental - both exits to Schwyz and Glaris were blocked by the French. On September 18, Suvorov convened a military council. “We are surrounded by the betrayal of our ally,” he began his speech, “we are put in a difficult situation. Korsakov is defeated, the Austrians are scattered, and we are now alone against the enemy’s army of sixty thousand. Going back is a shame. That would mean retreating, and the Russians and I never retreated!” Suvorov carefully looked at the generals who were listening intently to him and continued: “We have no one to expect help from, our only hope is in God, in the greatest courage and selflessness of the troops led by you. Only this remains for us, for we are on the edge of an abyss. - He fell silent and exclaimed: - But we are Russian! Save, save the honor and property of Russia and its autocrat!” With this exclamation, the field marshal knelt down.

On September 19, at seven o'clock in the morning, the vanguard under the command of Prince Bagration set out for the town of Glarisa. Behind him with the main forces is General Derfelden, in the rearguard is General Rosenberg. They had to fight to overcome the Panike ridge, covered with snow and ice, and then descend into the Upper Rhine valley.

Bagration, having climbed one of the peaks, attacks the enemy; at this time, Massena strikes Rosenberg’s body, trying to cut him off and destroy him. The stubborn battle ended with a desperate bayonet attack. The French could not stand it and retreated. On the night of September 24, the last and most difficult campaign began.

Only on October 20 did St. Petersburg learn about the successful outcome of the campaign. “May the Lord God save you for saving the glory of the sovereign and the Russian army,” Rostopchin wrote to Suvorov, “everyone has been awarded, all non-commissioned officers have been promoted to officers.”

The Russian army receives orders to return to their homeland. When Rostopchin asked what the allies would think about this, the emperor replied: “When the official note comes about the demands of the Viennese court, the answer is that this is nonsense and nonsense.”

The coalition of states, each guided by its own interests, fell apart. Paul could not forgive his former allies for their betrayal and the premature withdrawal of Archduke Charles' troops from Switzerland. After the completion of Suvorov’s campaign, F. Rostopchin wrote: “France, England and Prussia will end the war with significant benefits, but Russia will remain nothing, having lost 23 thousand people solely in order to assure itself of the treachery of Pitt and Thugut, and Europe of the immortality of the prince Suvorov".

Entering the coalition, Paul I was carried away by the knightly goal of restoring the “shocked thrones.” But in reality, Italy, liberated from the French, was enslaved by Austria, and the island of Malta was captured by England. The treachery of the allies, in whose hands he was only a tool, deeply disappointed the emperor. And the restoration of strong power in France in the person of the first consul Bonaparte gave rise to a change in the course of Russian foreign policy.

Exhausted France needed peace and tranquility most of all. Realizing this, Bonaparte, with his characteristic energy, sets about searching for peace. Already on December 25, the first consul sent messages to England and Austria with a proposal to begin peace negotiations. This further raises his authority, and the Allies’ refusal of peace proposals causes a wave of indignation and patriotism. The people are eager to punish the enemies of peace, and Bonaparte begins preparations for war.

The desire to get closer to France, expressed in January, hung in the air - the ideas and traditions of cooperation only with the “legitimate” dynasty were still strong, and influential social circles led by Vice-Chancellor N.P. Panin, the most colorful figure of that time, contributed a lot to this .

The rapid defeat of Austria and the establishment of order and law in France itself contribute to a change in Paul's position. “He gets things done and you can do business with him,” he says of Bonaparte.

“After much hesitation,” writes Manfred, “Paul comes to the conclusion that Russia’s state strategic interests must be placed above the abstract principles of legitimism.” The two great powers begin to seek a rapprochement that quickly leads to an alliance.

Bonaparte hurries Foreign Minister Talleyrand in every possible way in search of ways leading to rapprochement with Russia. “We need to show Pavel signs of attention and we need him to know that we want to enter into negotiations with him,” he writes to Talleyrand. “Until now, the possibility of entering into direct negotiations with Russia has not yet been considered,” he replies. And on July 7, 1800, a message written by two of the smartest diplomats in Europe leaves for distant St. Petersburg. It is addressed to N.P. Panin, the most implacable enemy of republican France. Paris is well aware of this and hopes that such a step will become “evidence of the impartiality and strict correctness of the correspondents.”

On December 18, 1800, Paul I addressed a direct message to Bonaparte. “Mr. First Consul. Those to whom God has entrusted the power to govern the nations must think and care about their welfare,” this is how this message began. “The very fact of addressing Bonaparte as head of state and the form of the address were sensational. They meant recognition de facto and, to a large extent, de jure, of the power of someone who only yesterday had been branded a “usurper.” This was a complete violation of the principles of legitimism. Moreover, in conditions of a formally ongoing war, direct correspondence between the two heads of state meant the actual establishment of peaceful relations between both powers. Paul's first letter contained that famous phrase, which was then so often repeated: “I do not speak and do not want to quarrel either about the rights of man, or about the principles of the various governments established in each country. We will try to return to the world the peace and quiet that it so needs.”

The rapprochement between the two great powers proceeded at an accelerated pace. A new political situation is emerging in Europe: Russia and France are brought together not only by the absence of real contradictions and common interests in the broad sense, but also by specific practical tasks in relation to a common enemy - England.

Suddenly and quickly, everything changed in Europe: yesterday, France and Russia, still alone, now stood at the head of a powerful coalition of European states directed against England, which found itself in complete isolation. France and Russia are uniting in the fight against it; Sweden, Prussia, Denmark, Holland, Italy and Spain.

The treaty of alliance signed on December 4-6, 1800 between Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark actually meant a declaration of war on England. The British government gives the order to seize ships belonging to coalition countries. In response, Denmark occupies Hamburg and Prussia occupies Hanover. All exports to England are prohibited, and many ports in Europe are closed to it. The lack of bread threatens her with hunger.

In the upcoming campaign to Europe, it is prescribed: von Palen to be with the army in Brest-Litovsk, M.I. Kutuzov - near Vladimir-Volynsky, Saltykov - near Vitebsk. On December 31, an order was issued on measures to protect the Solovetsky Islands. The barbaric bombing of peaceful Copenhagen by the British caused a wave of indignation in Europe and Russia.

On January 12, 1801, the ataman of the Don Orlov army received an order “to advance to the Indus River through Bukharia and Khiva.” 30 thousand Cossacks with artillery cross the Volga and go deeper into the Kazakh steppes. “I forward all the cards I have. You will only reach Khiva and Amu Darya,” wrote Pavel I to Orlov. Until recently, it was believed that the trip to India was just another whim of the “mad” emperor. Meanwhile, this plan was sent to Bonaparte for approval and testing in Paris, and he cannot be suspected of either madness or projectism. The plan was based on joint actions of the Russian and French corps. At Paul's request, the famous general Massena was to command them.

Along the Danube, through the Black Sea, Taganrog, Tsaritsyn, the 35,000-strong French corps was supposed to connect with the 35,000-strong Russian army in Astrakhan.

The combined Russian-French forces were then to cross the Caspian Sea and land at Astrabad. The journey from France to Astrabad was expected to be completed in 80 days; another 50 days were required to enter the main regions of India through Herat and Kandahar. They planned to begin the campaign in May 1801 and, therefore, reach India in September. The seriousness of these plans is evidenced by the route along which the phalanxes of Alexander the Great once passed, and the alliance concluded with Persia.

Paul I is confident in the successful implementation of the Franco-Russian plan for the conquest of India, which was kept in deep secrecy. On February 2, 1801, the government of the almighty Pitt fell in England. Europe froze in anticipation of great events.

Suddenly news came from the distant banks of the Neva - Emperor Paul I was dead.

England was saved, and the history of Europe took a different path. It is impossible to predict how it would have developed without this tragedy, but one thing is clear - Europe would have been freed from devastating, bloody wars that claimed millions of human lives. By uniting, the two great powers would be able to provide her with a long and lasting peace!

Never before has Russia had such power and authority in international affairs. “The most brilliant appearance of Russia on the European stage belongs to this reign,” argued V. O. Klyuchevsky.

A. Kotzebue: “The consequences proved that he was more far-sighted than his contemporaries in the foreign policy course he pursued... Russia would inevitably have felt its beneficial consequences if cruel fate had not removed Paul I from the political scene. If he were still alive, Europe would not now be in a slave state. You can be sure of this without being a prophet: Paul’s word and weapons counted a lot on the scales of European politics.”

The first, published almost at the very beginning of the new reign, was the Military Regulations, which introduced various changes in the structure of the entire army. They concerned the transformation of the guard and the reorganization of the entire army, in particular the infantry and cavalry, for which, taking into account the experience of the Seven Years' War, new regulations were issued. The core of the army, infantry, cavalry and garrison units, consisted of almost 369,000 people, for the maintenance of which the state had to spend 24.1 million rubles. Before Paul’s accession to the throne, according to the characteristics of the scientist and writer A.T. Bolotov, famous for his memoirs, the guards officer service was often a “pure puppet comedy.” The officers standing guard dressed in dressing gowns; it also happened that the wife put on her husband’s uniform and served for him. Under Catherine II, people often did not serve in military service as much as they were registered in it. It happened that rich parents enrolled unborn children (among whom there could be girls) into the guard service. While the children were growing up, they were given ranks. It is known that Pavel hated lies in any of its manifestations and it is natural that he could not tolerate such a situation in the army. Then Pavel I makes a very original decision: He ordered the entire guard to appear for the royal inspection in St. Petersburg... For failure to appear, those who failed to appear were ordered to be fired. After such a “purge”, 1,541 fictitious officers were removed from the lists in only one horse guard. Trying to stop the luxury of the guards officers, the emperor introduced a new cheap uniform for them and forbade them to wear muffs and fur coats in winter. Most of the military were very dissatisfied with the new uniform, ugly and uncomfortable. However, only Suvorov dared to protest. When they sent him samples of braids and measurements for braids, he said: “Powder is not gunpowder, braids are not guns, a braid is not a cleaver, I am not a German, a natural hare!” For this act, Suvorov was dismissed from service without a uniform. (Paul had to regret this action, and already in March 1799 he would ask Suvorov to go with the army to Italy to help the allies; the Field Marshal, as a true patriot of his Motherland, without hesitation agreed.)

The idle life in the guard is over. Pavel “began the awakening of all the guards from their previous slumber, sleep and laziness. Everyone had to completely forget their former pampered way of life, accustom themselves to get up very early, be in uniform with the soldiers before dawn, be in the ranks every day.” (memoirs of A. T. Bolotov) Looking ahead, I would like to say that it was the officers who were most dissatisfied with the emperor and it was they who organized the conspiracy against him). Under Paul, the pampered guard had to experience the strictest discipline. According to some sources, severe punishment was imposed for the slightest offense. Once there was even a case when the emperor sent an entire regiment to Siberia for a bad parade, shouting to it: “The regiment is marching to Siberia!!” According to other sources, Paul I was a benevolent and generous person, inclined to forgive insults, ready to repent of his mistakes. Often the sovereign mourned his temper, but, unfortunately, did not have enough willpower to overcome himself. During his reign, officers were often sent straight from the parade to other regiments over long distances for minor oversights and mistakes in command. This happened often, and at that time all the officers used to carry their wallets with money in their bosoms, so as not to be left without a penny in case of sudden exile. Often, too, the emperor’s outbursts of anger ended with one laugh from Paul himself (this is how he tried to smooth out the sudden outburst.) But What is forgiven to ordinary people, they do not want to forgive to kings.

In general, I would like to say regarding the military reform that, of course, excessive severity may not have been justified, but in the army, discipline and order are most important - that is why it is strong. Given that the threat of the French Revolution was already growing in the west, the changes and reforms carried out by the Emperor in the army showed that he was right, as evidenced by the events of 1812.

Under Paul, trade matters were dealt with by the Commerce Collegium. The main subjects of activity were foreign and domestic trade, communications, and the tariff department. In these areas, if any changes occurred under Paul, they concerned the quantitative expansion of the department’s subjects, but not the qualitative one.

Paul's government, despite partial deviations, essentially continued the policy of Catherine II. How it looked at trade and what views it held can be seen from the following decrees: “From the very beginning of our reign, we focused our attention on trade, knowing that it is the root from where abundance and wealth grow.” In another order we read: “... we wanted to strengthen this important industry in the depths of our state with new means, to spread its employees.” Given this government view of trade, it is important to establish how practices developed aimed at “promoting trade.”

First of all, in the interests of trade, domestic industry was encouraged, which was supposed to fill the domestic market. For this purpose, the import of a number of foreign goods is prohibited: silk, paper, linen and hemp, steel, salt, etc. On the other hand, with the help of subsidies, privileges, and government orders, domestic manufacturers were encouraged to produce goods not only for the treasury, but also for free sale. This was the case, for example, in relation to cloth and mountain breeders. In order to make it easier for merchants to pay duties, a decree of August 14, 1798 ordered “in the event of a shortage of silver and gold coins, to accept gold and silver bars from merchants.” The provincial authorities were generally ordered to assist the merchants by all means.

A big blow to Russian foreign trade was dealt by the severance of relations with England. On October 23, 1800, the Prosecutor General and the Commerce Board were ordered to “impose sequestration on all English goods and ships located in Russian ports,” which was carried out at the same time. In connection with the confiscation of goods, the complex issue of settlements and credit transactions between English and Russian merchants arose. On this occasion, on November 22, 1800, the highest decree of the commercial board was issued: “The debts of the British owed to Russian merchants will be retained until settlement, and the English goods available in shops and stores will be prohibited for sale.” Then, on November 30, at the request of Russian merchants, English goods were allowed to be sold to pay debts, and liquidation offices were established in St. Petersburg, Riga and Arkhangelsk for mutual debt settlements.

The economic struggle between Russia and England, which began at the end of 1800, intensified every month, and Paul himself led this struggle most actively. Already on November 19, 1800, a general order was given to ban the import of English goods. It was much more difficult to resist the export of Russian raw materials to England. On December 15, the Highest Command was announced, “that it be strictly observed that no Russian products are exported by any means and under any pretext to the British.” However, it soon became clear that Russian materials were going to England through Prussia. Then came the ban on the export of Russian goods to Prussia. The most extreme measure in the Russian government’s fight against foreign trade was the general order of the Commerce Board on March 11, 1801 (on the last day of Paul’s life) that “no Russian goods should be released anywhere from Russian ports and land border customs houses and outposts without special Highest command." Naturally, this order could no longer be carried out. However, for the whole day the entire country became a closed economic zone, even if only on paper. It is obvious that the authorities caused considerable damage to Russian trade by quarreling with England, which bought 1/3 of the country's agricultural products. For example, the price of Berkovets hemp after the break with England fell in Ukraine from 32 to 9 rubles. The trade balance in those years was not in favor of Russia either. Even under Catherine, the balance of foreign trade in 1790 was: import 22.5 million rubles, export - 27.5 million rubles, when on the eve of the revolution France reached 4 times this figure, and England gave 24 with one export .9 million pounds sterling. More convincing evidence is the information of the English consul in Russia S. Sharpe about the fluctuations of Russian trade from 1796 to 1798.

Having broken the trade alliance with England, Russia resumed trade with France. However, a number of trade agreements could not significantly affect trade turnover due to the fact that the main trade routes in the North and West were in the hands of the British.

Much more significant were attempts to conquer the Asian market. To this end, a number of measures were taken to increase trade with Persia, Khiva, Bukhara, India and China. In 1798, it was allowed to export iron, copper, tin, bread, foreign gold and silver coins to Asia. The previous ban remained only on the export of military ammunition. Orders were issued to protect merchants trading in Central Asian countries. Before the break with England, there was no need for this trade, but already in September 1800, the Prosecutor General, by order of the emperor, turned to the merchants with a proposal to expand trade with Khiva, for which he promised government support. On December 29, 1800, the Highest Order was issued: “To make a provision to the Commerce Board on the expansion of trade with India, Bukhara and Khiva, from Astrakhan along the Caspian Sea and from Orenburg, and to draw up a plan for a new customs order for that region, a tariff and a charter for the proposed company; to evenly enter into the consideration of means for the establishment and expansion of trade along the Black Sea.” Interest in Asian trade waned after Paul's death, when relations with England were restored.

In the area of ​​foreign trade relations, one can highlight the creation of the first Russian-American company in 1798.

One of the main items of Russian trade was bread. When the harvest exceeded the quantity required for domestic consumption, the government opened ports and customs for the unhindered sale of grain. But as soon as a shortage of grain was noticed and prices for it rose within the country, export was prohibited both for individual places and for the entire state. Catherine II acted in this direction, and Paul did the same. During his reign there were repeated fluctuations in the grain trade. Only by the end of 1800 did the government, in full agreement with the merchants, come to the conclusion that it was possible, even with some restrictions on the grain market, to sell abroad the most expensive and most profitable grain product for sale - wheat, which was usually not used to feed the common population.

Trade was also concerned with the activities of the Commerce Board in organizing customs and developing tariffs. The Collegium developed issues related to customs duties. On October 14, 1797, she developed a general tariff that lasted throughout the reign of Paul.

Another important task of the Commerce Board, it should be recognized, is the work on establishing communication routes. Her duties included collecting information about land roads in Asia, but much more attention had to be paid to water communications. The government was considering measures necessary to strengthen merchant shipping. And along with the question of waterways of communication, the question of shipbuilding also arose. At the suggestion of the Commerce Board, this problem was solved by transferring part of the military frigates to the merchants.

Such is the activity of the Commerce Board during Pavlovsk times. It took place under a moderate protective and prohibitive system, which, in addition to the usual fluctuations, experienced a sharp change due to the break with England and forced the government to reconsider a number of issues related to trade. It is worthy of attention that both the government and the merchants, having almost broken trade relations with the West, not only took up the issue of strengthening and expanding their internal trade, but also turned their projects to the East and South, intending to increase trade relations with Asian countries. However, as already noted, there were much more disappointments in this industry than successes.

In this chapter it is necessary to mention another institution of Pavlovian times, which dealt with matters of internal trade.

The Chamber Collegium was restored by decree on February 10, 1797. It was entrusted with contracts for the supply of wine and taxes on drinking taxes, settlements under contracts and distilleries. The activities of the board were expressed, first of all, in concerns about the welfare of state-owned wineries, warehouses and shops. The board was also in charge of farming out wine sales. The latter was due to the fact that during Catherine’s time the farming system covered a significant number of provinces and required that “hunters” be called out every 4 years, and wine sales in this province were farmed out at auction. In 1798, the period of these farm-outs expired, and the chamber collegium had to deal with the holding of trades and the farming out of drinking water sales for the next four years (1799-1802). The auction, as Klochkov notes, was apparently successful, because many people received awards.

The Chamber Collegium was responsible for overseeing not only state-owned wineries, but also private wineries. Her duties included collecting information about wine and drinking income, as well as the fight against tavern in those provinces where drinking sales were farmed out or on faith. It is interesting to note that when information on the amount of wine sold by province was collected from the state chambers for 1795, it turned out that 6,379,609 buckets of wine were sold in 34 provinces with a population of about 11 million people paying taxes, i.e. . There was a little more than half a bucket for each. Such statistics can refute many statements regarding drunkenness in Rus'. And here the credit goes to the government, which skillfully regulated the sale of drinking products.

As many historians note, the reign of Catherine II was the time of the greatest flourishing of serfdom. Having started with a theoretical protest against serfdom in the drafts of “Nakaz,” Catherine ended with the statement that “a good landowner has no better fate for our peasants in the entire universe.”

When he was Tsarevich, Pavel more than once spoke about the plight of the Russian peasant and the need to improve his life. According to Paul, in order to eliminate the causes of popular discontent, it would be necessary to “remove unnecessary taxes from the people and stop orders from the land.”

And indeed, in the very first days of Pavlov’s reign, conscription duty was eased. By decree of November 10, 1796, the recruitment announced by Catherine was canceled (a similar cancellation occurred in 1800). The army from 500 thousand was reduced to 350 thousand people. November 12, 1796 at the Council of His Emperor. The village adopted a decree to replace the grain tax of 1794 “due to inconvenience in reception” with a moderate cash tax, “counting 15 kopecks. for a quadruple” and starting collection from the next 1797. Following this, the price of salt was reduced; forgiveness of arrears from the stifling tax for a huge amount of 7 million rubles, which amounted to 1/10 of the annual budget. A whole series of decrees was aimed at setting up bread stores for the famine years. However, the peasants, forced to carry part of the collected grain to these warehouses, were not sure that in case of famine they would find grain there. Therefore, they gave it away reluctantly, often concealing it. As a result, when a terrible famine occurred in the Arkhangelsk province in 1800, the shops were practically empty. In addition to legalization and measures aimed at the entire peasant population, it is worth noting some measures related to the main groups of the peasantry: 1 - appanage, 2 - state-owned, 3 - factory, 4 - landowners.

Appanage peasants appeared in the circle of the palace department thanks to the “institution of the imperial family” on April 5, 1797. The meaning of this legal provision boiled down to the following: 1 - it was necessary to provide the peasants with land and correctly distribute it among them; 2 - to improve the peasant economy with improved technology, the development of crafts, and the establishment of factories; 3 – organize training and serving duties on a new basis, keeping in mind the equal distribution of labor; 4 - establish and put in order rural administration.

When the separation of appanages was undertaken, it became clear that there was a shortage of land for many villages. The question was raised whether it was possible to dissociate lands from state-owned peasants and supply them to appanage peasants, or whether the lands should be acquired, as was immediately assumed, by an appanage department. By decree of March 21, 1800, appanage peasants were given an important right - to buy land from private owners, with the condition that the deed of sale be made in the name of the appanage department. The right to use land was granted to “the only person who purchased such land” in addition to the share that fell to him during the allocation of land for the entire population.

It is known that not only agriculture, but also work “on the side” was the occupation of appanage peasants. The latter was embarrassed by the passport system and the obligation to present a passport to the specific expedition. By decree of March 2, 1798, it was established to issue intermediate passports to appanage peasants, which not only greatly facilitated the peasants’ departure to work, but also their entry into the merchant class. In view of the fact that this was seen as “the agreement of public benefit with an increase in income,” a decree of October 22, 1798 ordered the dismissal of appanage villagers to the merchants “by right” for the payment of a redemption amount assigned by a secular verdict and approved by the department.

The same basic questions about land and self-government, but much more broadly posed, were interpreted in numerous decrees and government measures concerning peasants of the state department. During the 18th century, legislation developed the concept of land allotment for state-owned villagers of various denominations, which would be sufficient to feed a peasant and his family and give him the opportunity to pay taxes and serve state duties. Such an allotment was recognized as a 15-acre plot for each revision soul.

In order to actually implement the decrees on allocating land to the peasants, at the end of 1799, Paul, when sending out senators to inspect the provinces, prescribed in a special paragraph of the instruction: “take information” whether the peasants have enough land, “make a provision” to present this to the Senate and find out the question of relocating villagers from land-scarce areas to empty lands. The senators' reports revealed one sad circumstance: the treasury did not have the land fund necessary to provide the peasants with a 15-acre allotment, even though quitrent lands and forests were put into the distribution cycle. The way out of this situation was to reduce the allotment to 8 dessiatines and establish the following rules: 1 - to allocate land to peasants in 15 dessiatines each where there is enough of it; 2 - where there is not enough land, establish an 8-tithe norm for those who have less; 3 - in case of land shortage, those wishing to be given the opportunity to move to other territories.

Another important aspect of Pavlov’s measures regarding state-owned peasants should be the rationing of taxes. By Decree N18 in December 1797, the dues from “all villagers of government rank” were increased, but not to the same extent. In 1783, it was established as a uniform tax of 3 rubles; in 1797, all provinces were divided into IV classes. Depending on this, the villagers had to pay different rents “according to the nature of the land, the abundance in it and the methods for the inhabitants to work.” In the provinces of the 1st class. - quitrent, together with the previous one, amounted to 5 rubles, in II grade. - 4.5 rubles, in III grade. - 4 rubles, in IV grade. - 3.5 rub. A similar gradation continued in subsequent times.

The motives for increasing the collection, in addition to the need for new sources of income, were the following circumstances specified in the law of December 18, 1797: “the prices of things have risen incomparably... the villagers have spread their profits.” The wording, apparently, is quite vague, which is generally typical for many of Pavlov’s decrees. And yet, the main reason for raising the tax should be considered the poor financial position of the state (this problem will be discussed below in the chapter “Financial Policy”).

It should also be noted that the decree of October 21, 1797, which confirmed the right of state-owned peasants to enroll as merchants and philistines.

The number of factory peasants increased slightly under Paul. By a decree of March 16, 1798, “in order to avoid abuse and encourage industry for the sake of”, factory owners and factory owners from merchants were allowed to acquire peasants for their enterprises so that those purchased “would always be at the plants and factories without delay.” Although this law was in conflict with Paul’s intentions to resolve the fate of the assigned peasants, this action was caused partly by the abuses that occurred when merchants were prohibited from buying peasants for factories, and partly by the fact that industry required workers, which were extremely difficult to find by civilian means. . All this forced the government to move along the beaten path when creating new state-owned plants and factories, assigning peasants to them. It should be noted that Paul tried to ease the severity of such registration by issuing decrees to facilitate the work of assigned peasants. For example, in

The decree on the assignment to the earthenware factory stated that only the required number of workers, “entire families,” should be assigned, and after the taxes had been worked out, the money earned “in addition should be given to them (the peasants) from the income of the factory. The decree of March 16, 1798 ordered that when purchasing peasants for private factories, their number of “workable days should be spent half on factory work, and the other half on peasant work.”

However, these decisions did not touch the essence of the matter - the factory peasants remained in a difficult situation. An attempt to resolve their fate was the project of the director of the Berg College, M. F. Soimonov. This document proposed to supply factories and factories with “indispensable workers,” while the rest of the peasants were finally freed from factory work. In a personal decree on this matter we read: “We found with particular pleasure that all the means proposed by him (Simonov) are most consistent with Our intention to free the peasants from factory work... We command: 1 - to staff the factories with indispensable artisans, taking 58 people out of 1000 souls according to the calculation , fit for work; 2 - all others, in excess of the set, should be freed from factory work, classed as state peasants and others (November 9, 1800). It was under Paul that the assigned peasants were finally freed from hard compulsory labor.

In relation to this group of peasants, only a small number of decrees issued by Paul’s government can be identified. Among them: a decree of October 16, 1798 on not selling Little Russian peasants without land, on February 16, 1797 on not selling servants and without land peasants “by auction or at a similar auction for this sale”, on “collecting government debts from landowners” and private" (by decree of January 28, 1798 it was decided: "to evaluate them (peasants) by work and by the income that each of them through art, handicrafts and labors delivers to the owner, to take them to the treasury, receiving it as a percentage of the capital, which and counted as government debt"); on the transfer of peasants without fragmenting the family, dated January 19, 1800. That’s practically everything that the government did for the landowner peasants.

The manifesto of April 5, 1797, which became the first attempt at legislation to stand between the landowner and the peasant in relation to the regulation of labor, deserves a separate discussion.

The manifesto of April 5, 1797 established the norm of corvee at three days. The decree was announced on the day of the coronation and, one might assume, was a simple mercy to the peasants, but in terms of its significance it is assessed as one of the main transformations of the entire Pavlovian time. The manifesto contains two ideas: forcing peasants to work on Sundays and a three-day corvee. As for the first, this did not become new (even in the Code of Alexei Mikhailovich, Sunday work was prohibited). Of interest is the part of the manifesto about the three-day corvee. Before this, no law had ever been passed that regulated corvée. However, as Valishevsky notes, the legislator was not fully familiar with the many differences in the meaning and form of this duty in individual provinces. In Little Russia, landowners usually demanded only two days of corvee a week. It is clear that they were not slow to take advantage of the new law to increase their demands. On the contrary, in Great Russia, where corvee was almost daily, the landowners wanted to see in the same text only an indication, advice. And, indeed, the form used allowed for a variety of interpretations. There is no categorical order, but a wish was expressed: six days, equally divided, “with good management,” “will be sufficient to satisfy economic needs.” There is no doubt that Paul himself understood the manifesto as law, despite this, the Senate had a different opinion. In society, in general, a multifaceted understanding of the decree has developed.

No matter how you understand the manifesto, it is important to find out whether the three-day corvee rule was used in practice. Numerous evidence suggests that the decree was not respected. In the same 1797, the peasants submitted complaints to the emperor, in which they reported that they work for the landowner “every day”, were driven “to an extreme state by heavy various kinds of fees”, that the landowner “would force them into corvee from Monday, then until Sunday itself.” and will hold on”, etc. The same is evidenced by noble circles (Bezborodko, Radishchev, Malinovsky...).

If we summarize the results of Paul’s policy towards the peasantry, we can note that in this activity one cannot find a desire to directly raise the question of liberating the peasants from serfdom or radically improving the living conditions of the peasants. And yet the general benevolent attitude of the government towards the peasantry in general is clearly visible. Although Paul’s measures were not distinguished by restraint and systematicity (during his reign, Paul distributed 550 thousand souls and 5 million acres of land), at the same time, among them one can find a number of important measures that undoubtedly contributed to improving the lives of peasants. This should include the relief of many duties, land management policy, the organization of rural and volost administration, the resolution on “essential craftsmen,” etc. Undoubtedly, the manifesto on the three-day corvee played a major role in the liberation of the peasants. It can be said that for the peasants, Paul's reign marked the beginning of a new era: the growth of serfdom was put to an end, and the transition to the complete emancipation of the peasants gradually began, ending with the reform of 1861. And in this matter, the great merit of Emperor Paul I.

In characterizing the state of Russian industry, we will consider the activities of two boards that influenced the development of this sector of the economy.

The Manufactory Collegium was re-established by decree on November 19, 1796. Under Paul, no significant changes occurred in industry. The government maintained a moderate patronage system, and the College of Manufactures was entrusted with the responsibility of promoting the welfare and spread of the main forms of industry - handicrafts and factories. It should be noted that special attention was paid to cloth factories that supply their products to the treasury. This was due to the fact that the products of this industry went almost entirely to the needs of the army, to which Pavel himself was far from indifferent. Thus, by decree of January 15, 1798, the manufacturing board was ordered to give sums of money without interest to those wishing to establish factories for the production of soldier's cloth in the Orenburg, Astrakhan, Kiev, Podolsk and Volyn provinces. The duties of the college were to vigilantly ensure that the required amount of cloth was delivered to the treasury. When, at the beginning of 1800, it turned out that there was not enough cloth, a decree followed on March 5: “The missing amount of cloth must be redeemed at the expense of the estate of the director of the manufactory board...”

Some benefits were introduced for cloth suppliers who fulfilled their obligations. For example, they were allowed to sell their products both within the state and abroad. In general, during the reign of Paul, factory owners enjoyed some support from the government. Their privileges were strictly protected, and any harassment of breeders was punished. Thus, it is known that when the Voronezh police chief, contrary to the law, imposed a guard in the house of the cloth manufacturer Tulinov, Pavel, having learned about this, ordered: “the police chief should be brought to trial, and the Senate should order the authorities everywhere so that nowhere such burdens could be imposed on factory owners.”

Concerned about improving industry, the manufacturing board is taking measures to introduce machines in factories. On April 13, 1798, the report of the manufacturing board on the construction of a factory near St. Petersburg for processing cotton paper and wool using special machines received the highest approval.

Similar government actions aimed at mechanizing production led to the rapid growth of capitalist industry in the 19th century. New factories began to appear, both state-owned and private. In 1797, in the town of Zuevo, the famous manufacturer Savva Morozov, being a simple weaver and serf, founded a small manufacturing factory.

In addition to these activities, the government was interested in the development and improvement of new textile industries, for example, sericulture. In 1798, the chief director of the manufactory board, Prince. N. B. Yusupov was given instructions to collect “correct and sufficient information on sericulture and in general regarding manufactories, and to present the most reliable measures to improve and expand this important branch of the state economy.” The measures taken by Yusupov really contributed to the strengthening of this new branch of Russian industry.

In relation to the nationalization of industry, the decree of February 19, 1801 is curious. It prohibited all manufacturers and craftsmen in Russia from putting foreign brands and inscriptions on the things they produced. A procedure was introduced for each manufacturer to submit samples of their products to the manufacturing board. However, this decree, which introduced regulations that were restrictive for production and reminiscent of Peter’s orders, was not implemented.

Concerns about some industries were undoubtedly beneficial and the number of factories in these industries increased.

However, as Valishevsky notes, who generally tends to find only bad things in all of Paul’s actions, only from this reign did Russia begin to lag economically behind the states of Europe. The mentioned historian considers the city of Arzamas to be an example of the industrial decline of the country, which, as he assures, “was an industrial center of such importance that only Manchester or Birmingham could compare.” Still, I think it is a mistake to attribute all sins to one reign, especially such a short one. In my opinion, the reasons for Russia’s economic lag at the end of the 18th century must be sought in Peter’s reforms, which were not brought to their logical conclusion by Peter’s successors.

If we summarize the activities of the manufactory board, then it can be noted that although this activity was not too extensive and did not contain anything new, it was nevertheless aimed at partial improvements and improvements in Russian industry. The government tried to put the Russian manufacturer in an independent position from foreign industry and give it access to the Asian market.

The competence of the Berg College included control over all “mining and coinage matters.” In view of the decline of mining under Catherine II, the Berg College saw the goal of its activities as “bringing mining production to the possible perfection as one of the most important branches of internal welfare and foreign commerce.”

One can point to some private measures by which the Berg College tried to improve the situation of state-owned factories: from among the criminals fit for mining, a set of workers was recruited for the Nerchinsk factories; taking measures to sell the remaining iron from state-owned factories and selling it to everyone, according to the decree of February 10, 1799 “for 10 kopecks. per ruble below free prices.” In 1797, 655 thousand rubles were allocated for the needs of the Berg College to expand production and procure grain for assigned peasants.

More extensive measures were also taken. In this regard, the manifesto of November 9, 1800, which streamlined factory work, is important. General surveillance of private factories was also carried out. On November 3, 1797, private owners of copper factories were given new benefits: 1 - reduction of fees from factories; 2 - increase in payment for half of the smelted copper delivered by the manufacturer to the treasury by 1.5 rubles. per pood. However, this only applied to bona fide breeders. Subsequently, factory owners were allowed to buy peasants with land for their enterprises.

Due to this privileged position of breeders, the profits they receive from production have increased significantly. The capital used for the enterprise, according to the chief director of the Berg College, Soimonov, began to bring “from 70% to 100% or more profit.” In this situation, Soimonov considered it fair to increase fees from the owners of iron smelting plants, which was done.

The responsibilities of the Berg College also included the search for new deposits. The conditions for the exploitation of mining resources by previous factories, the discovery of new deposits, the streamlining of the mining industry, the management of the whole business by one central institution, which was the Berg College - all this gave positive results in the very first years of Pavlovsk's rule. In 1798, the treasury received profits of 500 thousand rubles. more than in 1796. The Berg College should also be credited with the fact that they looked at mining from a state point of view, which they ardently defended before the Tsar and the Senate when discussing the advantages of state and private exploitation of mining resources. Of all the departments that operated under Paul, perhaps this alone fully coped with the responsibilities assigned to him.

In the field of financial policy, Paul was of the opinion that state revenues belong to the state, and not to the sovereign personally. In Gatchina, Pavel independently developed the state budget. Income and expenses were balanced in the amount of 31.5 million rubles. But, according to the calculations of the financial department, just maintaining the army in peacetime in 1797 required a loan exceeding this amount. Thus, the total amount of upcoming expenses amounted to 80 million rubles, which was 20 million more than expected income. At the same time, over the past 13 years the state. the debt reached a colossal amount for that time of 126,196,556 rubles, and the huge amount of paper money in circulation exceeded 157 million. This money was lost during exchange from 32% to 39% of its value.

Pavel declared his intention to eliminate this heavy liability in a large part of it. He managed to secure only one external debt of 43,739,180 rubles, with the help of a wide operation in cooperation with the “House of Gope in Amsterdam”. Regarding banknotes, Paul stated that there was no need for them and that all banknotes would be paid for in silver coin. Which? Paul talked about recasting all the silverware of the Court. He will “eat on the tin” until the paper ruble rises to its nominal price. This did not happen. And at first, even despite the desire for savings, which in practice turned out to be mostly unfeasible, the true budget for 1797 reached a figure twice as large as that previously adopted by Paul - 63,673,194 rubles. Of this money, 20 million went to the army, and 50 million to the navy. Already in July 1797, the need arose to revise this budget. The distribution of state-owned lands that was taking place at that time took about 2 million rubles from the treasury. It was necessary to reduce the same amount of credit allocated to pay off government debts. Over the next years, Paul's budgets reached and even exceeded the level of Catherine's:

From the very first year, with the exception of appropriations for the army and navy, the expenses of the new reign differed very little from those established before.

In income items, large sums also continued to be delivered by taxes on peasants:

The foreign and domestic policies pursued by Paul caused great discontent in the country. There are 30 known attempts on his life. In an atmosphere of growing discontent, a group of nobles sought to remove, in their opinion, an unpredictable emperor. The apposition tried in every possible way to discredit the emperor in the eyes of society. Rumors about the emperor's premeditation were spreading everywhere. Petersburg resembled a disturbed beehive: everyone was talking about the emperor's actions - some were annoyed, others with fear or ridicule. When meeting the royal carriage, it was necessary (regardless of the rain or cold) to get out of the carriages and make deep curtsies. The emperor deliberately came up with such an inconvenient custom in order to put silk stockings, which all men wore, out of fashion. He was an enemy of luxury, and silk stockings cost three times more than a nine-pound kilo of flour.

Next order: In theaters it was possible to applaud only after the emperor began to applaud. In the book Mikhailovsky Castle we read. The fact that the emperor tried to force the capital's public to behave in an appropriate manner can more likely evoke sympathy rather than condemnation. The once untimely applause of the courtiers disturbed Paul himself, who often took part in court performances as a child. But the rumors grew and grew. An atmosphere of misunderstanding on the part of loved ones and hatred of those around him was created around the king. The idea of ​​a coup was already in the air. At the head of the conspiracy was Count Peter Alekseevich von der Palen, a master of brilliant intrigues, a man whom Paul trusted so much. The conspirators also initiated the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander, into their intentions; without his consent, the coup would have made no sense. Paul 1 certainly felt about the impending disaster, and a quick move to the not yet fully rebuilt Mikhailovsky Castle was the reason for this. On the façade of the castle, according to the frieze, there used to be an inscription: “THY HOUSE befits the holiness of the Lord in the length of days.”

Someone spread a rumor that the famous Blessed Ksenia in St. Petersburg predicted that the emperor would live in the castle for as many days as the letters in this inscription. She was not mistaken by much. Here he lived for forty days. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, the conspirators entered Paul’s bedchamber in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The dignity with which Paul behaved at first discouraged the conspirators, and then served as the last straw that overflowed the cup of hatred that had been accumulating for a long time. They were all drunk. Count Nikolai Zubov hit the emperor in the temple with a massive snuffbox and Paul I died from this.

The reign of Paul I - four years, four months and six days - was too short to leave a lasting mark on history. Nevertheless, Paul's idea that the task of noble politics was not the pursuit of special interests, but the firm implementation of balanced ethical principles, a political creed, as historians write, still seemed so sublime and natural to his successors that they adhered to it for more than half a century.

- Schilder N. Emperor Paul the First. M.: Algorithm, 1996.

- Obolensky G.L. Emperor Paul I. Smolensk, 1996

Walishevsky K. Collected works in five volumes, volume 5: “The son of the Great Catherine, Emperor Paul 1 (His life, reign and death). M.: "VEK", 1996.

- Chulkov G. Emperors. M.: Art, 1995.

- Klyuchevsky V.O. About Russian history M. Enlightenment, 1993.

- Eidelman N.Ya. The Edge of Centuries St. Petersburg, 1992.

- Yatsunsky V.K. Socio-economic history of Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. M., 1971.