Russia in reign of Nicholas I

1.

{ Russia in reign of
Nicholas I

2.

Rreigned as: Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855. He was also the King of
Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He has become best known as a
reactionary whose controversial reign was marked by geographical expansion,
economic growth and massive industrialisation on the one hand, and
centralisation of administrative policies and repression of dissent in another.
Nicholas had a happy marriage that produced a large family; all of their seven
children survived childhood.

3.

His biographer Nicholas V. Riasanovsky says that Nicholas
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 totally
consumed by spit and polish. A handsome man, he was highly
nervous and aggressive. Trained as an engineer, he was a stickler
for minute detail. In his public persona, says Riasanovsky,
"Nicholas I came to represent autocracy personified: infinitely
majestic, determined and powerful, hard as stone, and relentless
as fate.

4.

From 1839, Tsar Nicholas also used a former Byzantine Catholic
priest named Joseph Semashko as his agent to force Orthodoxy
upon the Eastern Rite Catholics of Ukraine, Belarus, and
Lithuania. This caused Tsar Nicholas to be condemned by a
succession of Roman Pontiffs, the Marquis de Custine, Charles
Dickens,[14] and many Western governments. See also
Cantonists.

5.

Despite the repressions of this period, Russians outside official
control produced a flowering of literature and the arts. Through
the works of Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev
and numerous others, Russian literature gained international
stature and recognition. Ballet took root in Russia after its
importation from France, and classical music became firmly
established with the compositions of Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857).