[6] His grandmother was the one who presided over his marriage to the young princess. His lack of a surname (Mikhaylovich indicating simply “son of Mikhail”) was overcome by an imaginative uncle, who dubbed him Speransky, a Russified form of the Latin word for hope. In foreign policy, he changed Russia's position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance. 1845–94, czar of Russia (1881–94), son and successor of Alexander II Alexander II, 1818–81, czar of Russia (1855–81), son and successor of Nicholas I. A Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of the Sovereign dealt with all interdepartmental matters. Alexander is said to have disappeared from the remote Crimean outpost of Taganrog where he supposedly died only to reappear eleven … He wrote that Russia had become a "plaything for the insane" and that "absolute power disrupts everything". In April 1812 Russia and Sweden signed an agreement for mutual defence. In the same year, Speransky met an English girl whose widowed mother had come to Russia as a governess. The Grande Armée, made up of French and allied forces, was reduced to a fraction of its initial strength. On 31 March Talleyrand gave the key of the city to the tsar. Even so, visiting the tsarevich did not come without a bit of travail. "You have nothing to regret," he said sadly to the exultant chancellor, "but I have!". Russian Titles and Patronymics; The eldest of the ten children of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia and his second wife Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg (Empress Maria Feodorovna), Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia (Alexander Pavlovich) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 23, 1777. Following the crossing of the Berezina, Napoleon left the army and returned to Paris to protect his position as Emperor and to raise more forces to resist the advancing Russians. But Alexander was still determined "to persist in the system of disinterestedness in respect of all the states of Europe which he had thus far followed",[18] and he again allied himself with the Kingdom of Prussia. Prince A.B. It was, however, no case of sudden conversion. The young emperor was determined to reform the inefficient, highly centralised systems of government that Russia relied upon. Following an almost ten-year stalemate centred around what is now Dagestan, east Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern Armenia, with neither party being able to gain the clear upper hand, Russia eventually managed to turn the tide. He later told his friend Frederick William III that the marriage, a political match devised by his grandmother, Catherine the Great, regrettably proved to be a misfortune for him and his spouse. The meeting took place at Erfurt in October 1808 and resulted in a treaty that defined the common policy of the two Emperors. France's ally Prussia, soon followed by Austria, broke their imposed alliance with Napoleon[citation needed][d] and switched sides, triggering the War of the Sixth Coalition. [18], Metternich's opposition to this assertion of Russian power, putting the Austrian-led balance of power above the interests of Christendom, first opened Alexander's eyes to the true character of Austria's attitude towards his ideals. Some historians conclude his profile "coincides precisely with the schizophrenic prototype: a withdrawn, seclusive, rather shy, introvertive, unaggressive, and somewhat apathetic individual". The battle that followed was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 soldiers and resulting in 70,000 casualties. But Alexander was far more determined than ever to victoriously enter Paris whatever the cost, imposing his will upon Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, and the wavering monarchs. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. [28] In 1801, Alexander appointed Pavel Tsitsianov, a die-hard Russian imperialist of Georgian origin, as Russian commander in chief of the Caucasus. Although the French were victorious in the initial battles during the campaign in Germany, they were eventually defeated at the Battle of Leipzig in the autumn of 1813, which proved to be a decisive victory. He was highly reactionary and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II. The Russian court went into mourning for the last member of the House of Condé, and diplomatic relations with France were broken off. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, he imbibed the principles of Rousseau's gospel of humanity. Some of these khanates submitted without a fight, but the Ganja Khanate resisted, prompting an attack. On 7 September, the Grand Armée faced the Russian army at a small village called Borodino, 110 kilometres (70 mi) west of Moscow. Alexander I of Russia started his reign after the botched coup and assassination of his father in 1801. The campaign of Jena and the battle of Eylau followed; and Napoleon, though still intent on the Russian alliance, stirred up Poles, Turks and Persians to break the obstinacy of the Tsar. The interests of Europe as a whole were utterly forgotten. But Alexander's relations with Napoleon nonetheless suffered a change. After a series of successful offensives led by General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, including a decisive victory in the storming of Lankaran, Persia was forced to sue for peace. Following the battle, the Pro-French Confederation of the Rhine collapsed, thereby losing Napoleon's hold on territory east of the Rhine. Both periods produced some valuable administrative...…, Thus, Count Mikhail Speransky codified law, and Count Pavel Kiselev changed and improved the lot of the...…. He was, thus, powerful enough to secure Speransky’s release from his priestly status, which enabled him to enter government service. In 1819, however, he was promoted to be governor general of Siberia, where he effected significant administrative reforms. [18], He made some effort to reconcile the principles at conflict in his mind. As a priest’s son, he was sent at government expense to the Main Seminary newly founded in St. Petersburg. The boy soon distinguished himself by his ability to analyze problems and to express his thoughts with grace and clarity, but he already displayed an aloofness that emphasized his consciousness of his intellectual superiority yet cloaked his very real desire to feel the affection of those whom he respected, a quality that was to be a handicap in his later official career. His wife died a few months later as the emperor's body was transported to Saint Petersburg for the funeral. [citation needed], With the Russian army following up victory over Napoleon in 1812, the Sixth Coalition was formed with Russia, Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, and other nations. (1832–39). Alexander, then 23 years old, was in the palace at the moment of the assassination and his accession to the throne was announced by General Nicholas Zubov, one of the assassins. [18] It was not long before the first enthusiasm of Tilsit began to wane. By 7:00 a.m. the Russians attacked the Young Guard near Romainville in the centre of the French lines and after some time and hard fighting, pushed them back.