A Brief History
On March 23, 1801, some of the Russian nobility and military officers that had been fired expressed their discontent in the time honored tradition of killing the monarch!
Digging Deeper
Future Czar (or Tsar) Paul I grew up as the son of Catherine, Grand Duchess, and Peter, Grand Duke (and heir to the Russian throne).
Well, not really! Paul’s real father was likely one of Catherine’s lovers, a Sergei Saltykov. It seems there was something wrong with Peter (the future Czar Peter III) and advisers told Catherine (later Czarina Catherine the Great) to produce an heir from another source.
This family continued its dysfunctional ways as Catherine ruled Russia while paying little attention to Paul, whom she apparently considered unworthy of being heir to the throne. Catherine favored her grandson, Paul’s son, destined to become Czar Alexander I.
Part of the problem with Paul was his upbringing by his great aunt who seemed to have no idea how to raise a child, let alone prepare one for the throne. Aggravating the situation was a bout of typhus that apparently left Paul with a disfigured face.
While Catherine ruled Russia with dreams of conquest and power, Paul was a voice of dissent and counseled that the Russian army was best used purely to defend the country and not in foreign adventures. Being publicly critical of his mother’s policies did not endear him to Catherine, and when Paul had a son Catherine immediately presumed her grandson to be her heir rather than Paul.
In 1796, when Catherine died of a stroke, Paul became Czar and scrambled to find any paperwork Catherine may have left naming Alexander her heir. Paul also quickly declared official policy to govern succession to the throne by the first born male heir of the monarch. That policy continued until the end of the monarchy after 1917.
For the next 5 years, Paul ruled as Czar and alienated the nobility and the army, two groups it is unwise to alienate! Trying to force the army into stiff, ornate, and useless for battle uniforms instead of the new practical and comfortable style advocated prior to his ascension to the throne rankled soldiers, and his penchant for ordering soldiers that made mistakes during drill to be flogged did not help. He even ordered a regiment that had performed poorly on parade to march to Siberia as punishment! His opinion of the nobility as corrupt and lazy translated into attempts to make them more loyal and disciplined, but only drove more of a wedge between Paul and the nobility.
After initially opposing Napoleon’s France, Paul changed his mind to the displeasure of the generals and nobles. Perhaps most concerning was the plan of Paul and Napoleon to invade India. The two men envisaged joint operations of two infantry corps, one French and one Russian, each consisting of 35,000 men, plus artillery and a large contingent of Cossack cavalry. The French corps was to advance in May 1801 via the Danube River and the Black Sea through southern Russia before joining Russian forces to cross the Caspian Sea and land in Iran after a total journey of about eighty days. Paul and Napoleon estimated it would take another fifty days to reach India.
Thus, a plot was hatched to force the Czar to abdicate, or murder him if he refused. On the night of March 23, 1801, generals that had been fired burst into his bedroom and failed to get Paul to abdicate. One of the officers hit Paul with a sword and the others proceeded to choke and trample him to death! Trample? What an ignoble end to a Czar.
The Russian cavalry heading toward India had meanwhile reached as far as the Aral Sea when they received news of Paul’s death and therefore the end of their expedition.
Paul’s 23 year old son became Czar Alexander I, and the campaign to portray Paul as some sort of madman or mentally deficient person started, no doubt to justify the extreme action of assassination. Today, it is hard to say if Paul’s alleged craziness is just propaganda or was real.
Question for students (and subscribers): Which world leader(s) do you think deserves to be trampled? Also, what if Paul and Napoleon‘s army did reach India? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, see…
Rappoport, A. S. The Curse of the Romanovs, a Study of the Lives and the Reigns of Two Tsars: Paul I and Alexander I of Russia, 1754-1825 (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books, 2012.
The featured image in this article, the murder of Tsar Paul I of Russia, March 1801, a print from La France et les Français à Travers les Siècles, Volume IV, F Roy editor, A Challamel, Saint-Antoine, 1882-1884, is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.
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