Imperial Russia
Outline #11
Professor Knight

The Last Years of Alexander I and the Decembrists

I.  Constitutional Reforms
	Mikhail Speransky
	Constitution of 1809
	Aristocratic opposition
		Grand Duchess Catherine
		Nicholas Karamzin
	1812—Alexander fires Speransky, rejects constitution
	Kingdom of Poland (Granted Constitution 1815)
	Novosil’tsev draft constitution (1820)

II.  Alexander I after the Napoleonic Wars
	Religious Mysticism
		A. N. Golitsyn—Minister of Education
		Flagellants (Khlysty)
	Paradomania
		Loss of parade ground discipline after real war
		The Gauntlet
		Semenov Regiment revolts—1820
	Military Colonies
	Arakcheev (Alexander’s favorite)

III.  Russian Society after Napoleonic War
	Spread of Education
		New Universities:  Kazan, St. Petersburg, Derpt (Tartu)
		Seminaries, Ecclesiastical Academies (Clerical Education)
		Advancement in state service ties to education
	Romanticism
	Discovery of the People
	Impressions of Western Europe
		Russian Armies occupy France--1815-1818.
	Secret Societies

IV.  Succession Crisis
	Death of Alexander I—Nov. 1825 in Taganrog
	Brothers:  Constantine and Nicholas
	Uprising of Elite Regiments (The Decembrist Movement)