The brother of Emperor Alexander II - Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich - went down in history as one of the largest public figures in the period of the reforms of the 60s. XIX century, in its content and significance, called the Great. The title of the main liberal of Russia testifies to his role in those crucial events of Russian history.
Childhood and youth
The Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich (1827 - 1882) was the second son of Emperor Nicholas I and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna. Crowned parents decided that the service in the navy would be the path of their son, so his upbringing and education were focused on this. At four, he receives the rank of Admiral General, but due to his young age, full-fledged assumption of office was postponed until 1855.
Teachers of Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov noted his love for historical sciences. It was thanks to this passion that he, in his youth, made up his mind not only about the past, but also about the future of Russia. Thanks to extensive knowledge, Konstantin in 1845 headed the Russian Geographical Society, where he met many prominent public figures. In many ways, these contacts became the reason for the support that the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich Romanov rendered to supporters of reforms and transformations.
"Spring of the Peoples"
Constantine's coming of age coincided with the rise of the revolutionary movement in Europe. The year 1848 went down in history under the symbolic name "spring of peoples": the goals of the revolutionaries no longer concerned only changes in the form of government. Now they wanted to achieve independence from large empires like the Austro-Hungarian.
Emperor Nicholas, distinguished by his conservatism, immediately came to the aid of his colleagues in the royal trade. In 1849, Russian troops entered Hungary. The biography of Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov was replenished with military exploits. But during the campaign he realized how deplorable the Russian army is, and forever abandoned his childhood dreams of conquering Constantinople.
The beginning of political activity
Upon returning from Hungary, Emperor Nicholas attracted his son to participate in government. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich takes part in the revision of maritime legislation, and since 1850 is a member of the State Council. The leadership of the maritime department has long become the main occupation of Constantine. After his head, Prince Menshikov, was appointed ambassador to Turkey, Konstantin begins to manage the department. He tried to make positive changes to the fleet management system, but ran into the dull resistance of the Nikolaev bureaucracy.
After the defeat in the Crimean War, Russia was deprived of the right to maintain warships in the Black Sea. However, the Grand Duke found a way around this ban. He founded and headed the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade six months after the conclusion of the peace treaty. Soon, this organization was able to compete with foreign companies.
At the beginning of the reign of Alexander II
The successful leadership of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich naval department did not go unnoticed. The elder brother who came to power left all naval affairs under the jurisdiction of Konstantin, and also attracted him to the solution of the most important domestic political problems. In the administration of Alexander II, he was one of the first to openly prove the urgent need to abolish serfdom: from an economic point of view, they had long lost their profitability and became a brake on social development. Not without reason, Konstantin argued that the failure that befell Russia in the Crimean War was closely associated with the preservation of the outdated system of social relations.
The socio-political views of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich can be briefly described as close to moderate liberalism. Against the background of conservatism and retrograde, into which Russia plunged into the rule of his father, even such a position looked defiant. That is why the appointment of Konstantin as a member of the Secret Committee, which is preparing the draft peasant reform, caused discontent among aristocratic families.
Preparation for the liberation of the peasants
Constantine joined the work of the Secret Committee on May 31, 1857. This organization has existed for eight months, however, no specific decisions on the escalated issue have not been proposed, which caused Alexander's indignation. Konstantin immediately set to work, and on August 17 the fundamental principles of the future reform were adopted, which boiled down to the three-phase liberation of the peasants.
In addition to working in government organizations, Konstantin, being the head of the maritime department, had the opportunity to independently decide the fate of serfs who were under the Admiralty. Orders for their release were given by the prince in 1858 and 1860, that is, even before the adoption of the main law on reform. However, the vigorous actions of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich caused such strong dissatisfaction of the nobles that Alexander was forced to send his brother abroad with an insignificant order.
Adoption and implementation of reform
But having lost the opportunity to directly participate in the preparation of the reform, the Grand Duke did not cease to deal with the problem of the liberation of the peasants. He collected documents testifying to the viciousness of the serf system, studied various studies, and even met with the most prominent German specialist on the agrarian problem, Baron Haksthausen.
In September 1859, Konstantin returned to Russia. During his absence, the Secret Committee became a publicly operating body and was renamed the Main Committee on Peasant Affairs. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich was immediately appointed its chairman. Under his leadership, 45 meetings were held, at which the direction and main steps of the upcoming reform to abolish the serfdom were finally determined. At the same time, the Editorial Commissions began to act, which were entrusted with drawing up options for the final bill. The project they prepared, which envisaged the liberation of the peasants from the land, provoked fierce resistance from the landowners who were sitting on the Main Committee, but Konstantin managed to overcome their resistance.
On February 19, 1861 , the Manifesto on the Liberation of the Peasants was read. The reform, around which fierce struggle has been waged for so many years, has become a reality. Emperor Alexander called his brother the chief assistant in resolving the peasant question. With such a high assessment of the merits of the Grand Duke, it is not surprising that his next appointment was the chairmanship of the Main Committee on the structure of the rural population, which was engaged in the implementation of the main points of the reform.
Kingdom of Poland
The adoption and implementation of the great reforms coincided with the rise of anti-Russian protests and the independence movement in the Polish possessions of the Russian Empire. Alexander II hoped to resolve the accumulated contradictions by the policy of compromises, and it was for this purpose that on May 27, 1862 he appointed Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich as viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland. This appointment fell on one of the most acute periods in the history of Russian-Polish relations.
On June 20, Konstantin arrived in Warsaw, and the next day he was assassinated. Although the shot was fired at point blank range, the prince escaped with only a slight wound. However, this did not avert the new governor from the original intention to agree with the Poles. A number of their requirements were fulfilled: for the first time since 1830, Polish officials were allowed to be appointed to many important posts, the post office and the control of communication lines were removed from subordination to the imperial agencies, and the Polish language was used in the affairs of the current administration.
However, this did not prevent a massive uprising. The Grand Duke had to renew martial law, military courts began to operate. However, Konstantin could not find the strength in himself to apply stricter measures and asked for his resignation.
Judicial reform
The judicial system in the Russian Empire was extremely slow and did not correspond to the time. Understanding this, the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, as part of his naval department, took a number of steps to reform it. He introduced new rules for recording court proceedings, and also abolished a number of useless rituals. In accordance with the judicial reform carried out in Russia, at the insistence of the Grand Duke, the most striking processes associated with crimes in the Navy began to be covered in the press.
In July 1857, Konstantin established a committee to review the entire system of naval proceedings. According to the head of the maritime department, the previous judicial principles should be rejected in favor of modern methods of considering cases: publicity, adversarial process, participation in jury decisions. To obtain the necessary information, the Grand Duke sent his assistants abroad. The judicial innovations of Grand Duke Constantine in the maritime department essentially became a test of the viability of European traditions in Russia on the eve of the adoption of the draft imperial reform of the judiciary in 1864.
To the problem of representation
Unlike the other Romanovs, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich was not afraid of the word “Constitution”. The noble opposition to the government course prompted him to submit to Alexander II his draft introduction of elements of representation in the system of administration of power. The main point of the note of Konstantin Nikolaevich was the creation of a deliberative meeting, which would be elected from cities and zemstvos. However, by 1866, reactionary circles gradually gained the upper hand in the political struggle. Although Konstantin’s plan essentially only developed the provisions of existing laws, it saw an attempt on the prerogatives of the autocracy and an attempt to create a parliament. The project was rejected.
Alaska For Sale
The lands belonging to Russia in North America were burdensome for the empire. In addition, the economic recovery of the United States made us think that the entire American continent would soon become their sphere of influence, and therefore Alaska would be lost in any case. Therefore, thoughts began to arise about the need for its sale.
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich immediately established himself as one of the strongest supporters of the signing of such an agreement. He attended meetings on the development of the main provisions of the contract. Despite the doubts of the ruling circles, weakened economically after the US Civil War, about the appropriateness of acquiring Alaska, in 1867 the agreement was signed by both parties.
Russian society ambiguously evaluated this operation: in his opinion, the price of $ 7.2 million for such vast territories was clearly insufficient. To such attacks, Konstantin, like other supporters of the sale, replied that the maintenance of Alaska cost Russia a much larger amount.
Fall in popularity
Briefly, the biography of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich after the sale of Alaska and the coming to power of conservatives is a story of the gradual loss of its former influence. The emperor consults his brother less and less, knowing about his liberal views. The era of reforms was ending, it was time for their correction, which coincided with the emergence of terrorist revolutionary organizations that staged a real hunt for the emperor. Under these conditions, Konstantin had only to maneuver among numerous court groups.
Last years
The long life by the standards of the 19th century (1827 - 1892) of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, whose biography is filled with a struggle for making decisions that are significant for Russia, ended in complete unknown in the estate near Pavlovsky. The new emperor Alexander III (1881 - 1894) treated his uncle with emphasized hostility, believing that it was his liberal inclinations that in many ways led to a social explosion in the country and the rampant terrorism. Together with Konstantin, other prominent reformers from the time of the Great Reforms were pushed back from political decisions.
Family and Children
In 1848, Konstantin married a German princess who received the name of Alexandra Iosifovna in Orthodoxy. Six children were born from this marriage, of which the eldest daughter Olga, the wife of the Greek king George, and Constantine, a prominent Silver Age poet, became the most famous.
The fate of the children was another reason for disagreement with Alexander III. Due to the fact that the number of members of the Romanov dynasty increased significantly, the emperor decided to grant the title of Grand Duke only to his grandchildren. The descendants of Konstantin Nikolaevich became princes of imperial blood. The last man of the Konstantinovich family died in 1973.