Reforms, the reign of Paul 1 (1796-1801) earned controversy among historians. The reason lies in the confusion and contradictions in the psychological portrait of this emperor. By nature, a rather capable person who received a good education, Paul I, becoming an emperor, behaved like a capricious boy, which spontaneously freezes his mother’s ears. Indeed, he early lost his father (Peter III) and had reason to suspect his mother of involvement in his death. Relations with her mother also did not work out right away - her son was taken away from Catherine II immediately after birth, little Pavel hardly talked with his mother. Catherine herself did not love him and was afraid as a possible competitor on the throne.
As a result, Emperor Paul 1 made every effort to equip the state exactly the opposite with respect to what existed in Catherine’s times. He managed to eliminate some of the “excesses” allowed by the empress, but as a result he replaced them with his own, often even worse. The major reforms of Paul 1 will be brought to your attention in this article.
Grand design
Paul I clearly did not expect that his reign would last only 4 years (by the time he entered the throne, he was 42 - at that time a solid age, but you could still live and live). Therefore, he immediately took up many projects, and some of them turned out to be implemented.
The king attached the greatest importance to the strengthening of his own power and military power of the country (the concepts are not identical, but interconnected). Therefore, the military reform of Paul 1 was most actively implemented in life (we will talk about it briefly in the article), whose ideology was rooted in Prussian traditions (outdated by that time). But there were a lot of useful innovations: the requirements for officers changed, the rights of soldiers expanded, new types of troops appeared, the training of personnel in some areas (in particular, military doctors) improved.
First of all, the new law on inheritance of the throne, which abolished the practice established by Peter the Great of independent adoption by the monarch of the decision on the candidacy of the heir, should have contributed to strengthening the power. The number of noble privileges was also significantly reduced, and the bureaucratic hierarchy was strengthened. To improve governance, the rights of governors were expanded, the number of provinces was reduced, and the collegiums that had been abolished earlier were restored.
Pavel was panicky afraid of palace coups and revolutions and tried to fight “sedition” by introducing total censorship. Even musical scores were checked.
Moreover, if Catherine II was the "mother" of the nobility, Paul I tried to position himself as the "father of the people." He was offered some changes in the situation of peasants. True, the emperor understood the peasant "good" in an original way - for example, he believed that being a serf was much better than free.
The ideal of Paul was a state of absolute regulation and discipline (against the background of traditional Russian disorder, such an ideal looked much more attractive than you might think). He took this idea from the Germans (and did not see any contradiction in it, although the hated mother, Catherine, was a purebred German!).
Throne by law
The reform of the succession to Paul 1 was one of his first decisions after accession to the throne. The new law abolished the Peter's decree, according to which the ruling monarch was vested with the right to independently choose a successor. Now the eldest son had to inherit without fail; in the absence of such, the first brother or nephew of the monarch in the male line; a woman could be admitted to the throne only with the complete absence of male candidates.
It is clear that Paul thus wanted to avoid the situation in which he himself found himself - he believed that he should have immediately inherited from his father after his death, and not wait 34 years for his mother to rule. But fate sometimes likes to joke evil. After the death of Paul, the throne was transferred in strict accordance with this law to his eldest son Alexander (by the way, Catherine loved her grandson, and he got along well with his grandmother). That's just the rightful heir to this "gave the go-ahead" to strangle daddy ...
Against the liberties of the nobility
Reforms of the nobility of Paul 1 were aimed at curbing their willfulness. Companions of his mother (among them were cunning toads and embezzlers, but there were many very capable, well-deserved people) he severely persecuted, they were immediately removed from all power. But at the same time, all the Catherine’s innovations “on the liberties of the nobility” also “flew”.
Paul overturned a decree making military service optional. Long holidays were prohibited (the maximum could be 30 days a year). The nobles could not even go from military service to civilian at their own request - a minimum permission of the governor was required. It was forbidden to complain immediately to the emperor - only through the same governors.
And this is not all - the nobles were obliged to pay taxes, and in some cases they were allowed to apply corporal punishment to them!
Down with the noblemen
At the same time, some truly ugly manifestations of “liberties” were eliminated by the decisions of Paul I. Now the nobleman could not simply be registered in the service - it really had to be carried. From the regiments they discharged all the noble “young people” who were recorded in non-commissioned officers from birth (those who read “Captain’s daughter” know that Petrusha Grinev was enlisted in the Guards Regiment as a sergeant before his birth and by the beginning of the story had already “served his term” for officer rank is not an exaggeration). Some senators from the time of Catherine have never been to the Senate - Paul stopped this.
New subjects
At the same time, Pavel issued decrees, which contemporaries perceived as significant concessions to the peasantry. The forerunner of the coming peasant reform was considered the demand of the new tsar, so that the serfs would take him the oath (the landowner had done this before).
Further, in 1797, Paul issued a manifesto prohibiting corvée labor on Sundays and church holidays.
Among the notable domestic political decisions in favor of the peasants include the abolition of the grain tax (it was replaced by a fixed payment in cash) and corporal punishment for the elderly (though peasants over 70 did not come across so often). The ban on complaining about the cruelty of the landlords was also lifted, and restrictions were placed on the sale of peasants without land.
Strange "prosperity"
But the contradictory nature of Paul was very clearly manifested in the peasant question. The tsar has repeatedly stated that he considers the peasants to be the main estate in the state, but at the same time he is the estate ... actively gave the estates to others. It was Paul I who officially allowed the peasants to buy peasants (merchants acquired serfs for work in factories) and did not pay attention that this permission contradicts the decree banning the sale without land.
The tsar generally believed that the landowner peasants were better organized than the "ownerless" state ones. As a result, one of his first decrees (in December 1796), he extended serfdom to hitherto free lands of the Don and New Russia Troops. For 4 years of his reign, Paul made serfs 600 thousand state peasants. His mother managed to hand out 840 thousand, but for this she took 34 years, and then she is revered as a cruel serfwoman.
Some experts suggest that the decree of 1797 not only banned corvée on Sunday, but also limited its duration to 3 days a week. Nothing of the kind - it says only that 6 days is enough for the peasant to work both for the landowner and for himself.
There must be order
In addition to the peasant question, Paul was interested in the problem of effective governance and “state security” in domestic politics. As part of the administrative reform of Paul 1, the powers of the governors were increased (as discussed above) and at the same time the number of provinces was reduced (from 50 to 41). Paul I restored some of the collegiums previously abolished. Provincial noble assemblies lost part of their administrative powers (they passed to the governors). At the same time, the rights of self-government were restored in some regions of the empire (in particular, in Ukraine). It was not full autonomy, but still the possibilities of these regions in independently solving issues of their device have grown significantly.
The reforms of Paul 1’s domestic policy led to the fact that the bureaucracy became very strong (although he always said that he was fighting it). It was then that various departmental bureaucratic uniforms appeared.
Internal Reforms of Paul 1
Paul was very afraid of conspiracies and revolutions, and he considered the eradication of “sedition” to be the most important task of domestic politics. True, immediately after coming to power, he pardoned a number of “troublemakers” (including Radishchev and Kostyushko), but his mother was extremely spiteful - other “Volterians” took their place in custody very quickly.
It was Paul who had the honor of creating the institution of total censorship in the empire. In addition, the emperor was very sensitive to external manifestations of reverence and obedience. During his passage, everyone was obliged to bow (including noble ladies) and lay bare their heads. Sometimes Paul I showed condescension to violators of this rule (Pushkin did mention how the tsar scolded a nanny for him - they didn’t do anything to her, they just made him remove the cap from a tiny boy). But there is a known case of sending a decrepit noble old woman with rheumatism into exile - she could not bow properly ...
Prussian Charter
But most of all, Emperor Paul 1 was interested in military affairs, and here he had the most ambitious plans.
While still the heir to the throne, in his Gatchina castle, Paul trained his own guard, training it in the Prussian style. His ideal (like his father, by the way) was Frederick II of Prussia, and the Tsarevich was not embarrassed that the ideas of this (really outstanding) ruler at the time of his accession to the throne were somewhat outdated. It was the rules established in the Prussian army of the times of Frederick that he decided to take as a basis for reforming the Russian army.
Down with Potemkin and Suvorov!
Some modern historians believe that the military reform of Paul 1 made the Russian army organized, disciplined and efficient. Therefore, they say, she was able to then defeat Napoleon. This is obviously not the case. The commanders of the Catherine’s era — Suvorov, Rumyantsev, Potemkin — made the Russian army ready for battle, and the Russian soldiers under their command even beat the troops of the same Frederick perfectly. But this legacy Paul decisively threw back - he hated everyone whom his mother promoted.
The training of the soldiers was really carried out very diligently. But instead of Suvorov training in taking natural and artificial obstacles and bayonet fighting, many hours stepping on the parade ground began with ceremonial rifle tricks (something similar can now be seen when passing the Kremlin guard, but under the emperor Paul I the whole army was forced to do this).
The soldier was again dressed in corsets with tightened waists, uncomfortable tight boots and powdery wigs with letters. No one was interested in the fact that the narrow uniforms caused fainting from lack of air, and the need to bring the hairstyle with powder in proper form did not leave time to sleep. Wigs that had dried with a crust (they were powdered with flour and made a scab from dough) caused migraines and severe insanitary conditions.
There were other "inventions." For example, Emperor Paul 1 demanded that there be a hundred ... halberdiers in each regiment! De facto, this meant that a hundred unarmed appeared on the regiment.
However, many experienced officers and generals struggled with innovations in an explicit manner. So, during his Italian campaign, Suvorov defiantly “did not notice” that his soldiers simply threw away all unnecessary parts of their uniforms, and the halberdiers launched their “weapons” ... for firewood.
Not so bad
But you need to maintain objectivity - the reform of the army of Paul 1 had positive consequences. In particular, he created new types of troops - communications (courier service) and engineering units (Pioneer Regiment). A medical school was organized in the capital (now the Military Medical Academy). The emperor also took care of the preparation of military maps, creating a Depot of maps.
The soldiers began to be resettled in barracks, and not on billets in private apartments - this facilitated the position of the bourgeoisie, and contributed to an increase in discipline. The service life of recruits was set at exactly 25 years (and not indefinitely or until completely unusable). The soldier received the right to leave (28 days a year) and to a complaint about unlawful actions by his superiors.
The uniforms were now released from the treasury, and not bought by officers (as they would say now, the corruption scheme was suppressed). The officer became responsible for the life and provision of his soldiers (up to criminal prosecution). Technical re-equipment was carried out in the fleet, and some odious punishments were abolished (for example, pulling under the keel).
Finally, the uncomfortable uniform was supplemented by some amenities - Pavel was the first to introduce a winter uniform in the Russian army. Fur vests, thick raincoats, and overcoats appeared. On a guard’s winter, they were officially allowed to stand in sheepskin coats and felt boots (this rule is still valid), and all the necessary things were also provided by the treasury.
Officer discontent
It is known that among the conspirators who killed Emperor Paul I, there were many officers. They had both valid and unimportant reasons for discontent. The tsar was very inclined to find fault with the officers, especially in parades - to get directly from the parade into exile, as he stood, was commonplace.
But many officers were also annoyed by the monarch's exactingness - now they had to not “light” at social events, but to engage with soldiers. The officers were really strictly demanded for the situation in their units, not looking at nobility and merit. However, in the Pavlovian time, there were no ministers among the officers — the tsar ordered the dismissal of all non-noble officers and forbade him to continue to grant ranks to the non-noble estates.
As a result, the heir, Alexander, was very popular among the dissatisfied. Of course, he was aware that his father would be “persuaded” to free the throne anyway. Alexander I honestly paid the conspirators - announcing his accession, he first said: "Everything will be with me, as with my grandmother."
Emperor Paul 1 is not one of the great rulers who deserve great respect. He did not rule for long, and indeed his reign bore an obvious imprint of despotism. But this is no reason not to see the positive changes that this king brought to public life. They were, too, and yet the reforms of Paul 1 (briefly about them from the article) played a role in the further development of the country.