Back Nikolaas I van Rusland Afrikaans 1ኛ የሩስያ ኒኮላስ Amharic Nicolau I de Rusia AN Nicholas I Russena Cāsere ANG نيكولاي الأول Arabic نيكولاى الاول ARZ Nicolás I de Rusia AST I Nikolay (Rusiya imperatoru) Azerbaijani بیرینجی نیکلای (روسیه) AZB Николай I Bashkir

Nicholas I of Russia

"Imperator Nikolai I" redirects here. For ships with this name, see Russian ship Imperator Nikolai I.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Pavlovich and the family name is Romanov.

Nicholas I
Portrait by Georg von Bothmann, 1855
Emperor of Russia
Reign1 December 1825 – 2 March 1855
Coronation3 September 1826
PredecessorAlexander I
SuccessorAlexander II
King of Poland
Reign1 December 1825 – 2 March 1855
Coronation24 May 1829
PredecessorAlexander I
SuccessorAlexander II
Born(1796-07-06)6 July 1796
Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire
Died2 March 1855(1855-03-02) (aged 58)
Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Burial
Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1817)​
Issue
Names
  • Nicholas Pavlovich Romanov
  • Russian: Никола́й Па́влович Рома́нов
HouseRomanov-Holstein-Gottorp
FatherPaul I of Russia
MotherSophie Dorothea of Württemberg
ReligionRussian Orthodox
SignatureNicholas I's signature

Nicholas I[pron 1] (6 July [O.S. 25 June] 1796 – 2 March [O.S. 18 February] 1855) was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I. Nicholas's thirty-year reign began with the failed Decembrist revolt. He is mainly remembered as a reactionary whose controversial reign was marked by geographical expansion, centralisation of administrative policies, and repression of dissent both in Russia and among its neighbors. Nicholas had a happy marriage that produced a large family; with all of their seven children surviving childhood.[1]

Nicholas's biographer Nicholas V. Riasanovsky said that he displayed determination, singleness of purpose, and an iron will, along with a powerful sense of duty and a dedication to very hard work. He saw himself as a soldier—a junior officer consumed by spit and polish. A handsome man, he was highly nervous and aggressive. Trained as a military engineer, he was a stickler for minute detail. In his public persona, stated Riasanovsky, "Nicholas I came to represent autocracy personified: infinitely majestic, determined and powerful, hard as stone, and relentless as fate."[2]

Nicholas I was instrumental in helping to create an independent Greek state and resumed the Russian conquest of the Caucasus by seizing Iğdır Province and the remainder of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan from Qajar Iran during the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828). He ended the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) successfully as well. He crushed the November Uprising in Poland in 1831 and decisively aided Austria during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Later on, however, he led Russia into the Crimean War (1853–1856), with disastrous results. Historians emphasize that his micromanagement of the armies hindered his generals, as did his misguided strategy. Several historians have concluded that "the reign of Nicholas I was a catastrophic failure in both domestic and foreign policy."[3] On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its geographical zenith, spanning over 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles), but had a desperate need for reform.


Cite error: There are <ref group=pron> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=pron}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cowles, Virginia. The Romanovs. Harper & Ross, 1971. ISBN 978-0-06-010908-0 p.164
  2. ^ Nicholas Riasanovsky, Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855 (1959). p. 3.
  3. ^ William C. Fuller, Jr., Strategy and Power in Russia 1600–1914 (1998) p. 243.

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