The future great writer and thinker A.I. Herzen was born in the troubled 1812. A six-month-old baby even fell into the hands of the French when they searched his family’s noble nest in Moscow. Tales of the war and the whole romantic era of Alexander rule made the child an enthusiastic dreamer whose only goal was the struggle for a better Russia. Having matured, he did not change his ideals.
Childhood and education
A.I. Herzen was born into the family of a wealthy nobleman Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev. It is interesting that his wealth was confirmed by his famous origin. One of the ancestors of the family was Andrei Kobyla, from whom the imperial Romanov dynasty also originated.
Her mother was of noble German descent, in addition, she was only 16 years old. For these reasons, the father did not register marriage with the girl, and the born son received an artificial name coined by Ivan Alekseevich. Herzen in German means the son of the heart.
This language generally played a big role in the life of a young man. Schiller became his favorite writer. So, for example, the play "The Robbers" was Herzen's handbook, and its main character, Karl Moor, was an ideal and an example for a young man. Also, the first serious literary experience of the future writer can be considered a review-reflection on Wallenstein, which was also authored by Schiller.
As a child, Herzen Alexander Ivanovich met with his associate Nikolai Ogarev. The children were dumbfounded by the news of the Decembrist uprising in 1825, after which they gave each other a promise to fight for the revolution.
Link
Utopian-minded young man entered Moscow University, where he fell into numerous circles of radical youth. In particular, they supported the events in France in 1830, when Charles X was overthrown as a result of the July Revolution .
In 1833, the student defended his dissertation on Copernicus and received a Ph.D., as well as a silver medal. It seemed that in front of him was a prosperous nobleman serving life. However, a year later, A. I. Herzen fell into disgrace and was sent into exile in the provincial Vyatka with the wording “for singing libelous verses”. In the barracks of Krutitsky Monastery, where he was kept for the duration of the investigation, the writer completed the story “The German Traveler”.
In Vyatka, Herzen joined the local office as a translator. The life of a small town of ten thousand seemed terribly boring to him after the Moscow impressions. Everything changed when in 1837 the deportee caught the eye of the heir to the throne, the future Alexander II. He procured the relief of the regime and transfer to Vladimir for Herzen. Then the writer met the poet Vasily Zhukovsky, who had just witnessed the death of Alexander Pushkin.
"Domestic Notes" and Westerners
Finally, in 1838, Herzen ended up in Vladimir, where he married Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina, and soon received the first-born Alexander. Then the writer managed to move to the capital, but he was again exiled to Novgorod for freethinking. But there he did not stay long, returning to Moscow. At this time, he worked in the journal "Domestic Notes". Also A.I. Herzen became one of the leaders of the Westerners movement, agitating for the movement of Russia along the European development path.
In 1845, the writer published the first chapters of his most famous work, “Who is to blame?” Then Herzen decided to emigrate from the country due to the fact that the authorities did not like his views, in particular on the peasant question. And although there was no persecution, he went to Europe, from where he never returned.
Europe
Very soon, in 1848, a general revolution began in Europe against the old authorities. Herzen Alexander Ivanovich took part in this movement, in particular in Roman processions. When the revolution began in France, the writer's family moved to Paris. After Herzen took part in a demonstration against the local authorities, campaigning for the return of the constitutional order, persecution of its participants began. The publicist fled to Switzerland. When the rebellion subsided, he returned to Nice.
In 1850, Russia issued a decree stating that Herzen fell under "eternal exile." The reason was his journalistic activity in many magazines, where he criticized the Nikolaev government. Despite the prohibition of printing in Russia, Herzen's books and articles were published in various European languages abroad.
In 1851, in a shipwreck, the writer's mother and his son Kolya tragically died. The following May, a wife and a newborn died during childbirth. The tragic events prompted him to begin his memoirs, which were published only in 1868 under the title "Past and Thoughts". Then London became the permanent residence that Alexander Herzen chose. "Past and Thoughts" eventually became a classic of its genre.
"Bell"
In 1853, the Free Russian Printing House appeared in London, the founder of which was Alexander Ivanovich Herzen. The great thinker wanted to create a journalistic publication whose focus would be on the political and social events of his native country.
Nicholas I soon died, and Russia lost the Crimean War, after which a request for change appeared in the homeland. By this time, for thirty years, no reforms had taken place in the country, and the reaction reigned in response to the Decembrist uprising. When a friend and colleague Ogarev moved to London, Herzen in 1857 created the newspaper "Bell", which became a real symbol of the era.
The publication appeared fresh materials of correspondents, as well as small literary publications. The thickness of the number was 8–10 sheets. At first, a censored version of the newspaper was published in Russia. It was read by Alexander II himself. However, after secret documents about the upcoming peasant reform were published in one of the issues in 1858, the Bell was banned. Nevertheless, the newspaper managed to get into the country illegally. The peak of success was 1861, when the Manifesto on the Liberation of Peasants was published in Russia.
Last years
After the writer supported the Polish uprising, interest in him was completely undermined. The Bell stopped printing in 1867. Switzerland has become the new home where Alexander Herzen moved. Briefly: the rest of his life turned into wanderings and quarrels with like-minded people.
In 1870, Alexander Herzen died of pneumonia. "Who's guilty?" and journalistic activities immortalized his name. In Soviet times, he was recognized as a symbol of the struggle for revolution against tsarist power. The writer was buried in Nice.