Alexander I : the Tsar who defeated Napoleon / Marie-Pierre Rey ; translated by Susan Emanuel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rey, Marie-Pierre, author.

Contributor:

Emanuel, Susan, translator.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Emperors--Russia--Biography.

Emperors.

Russia--History--Alexander I, 1801-1825.

Russia.

Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, 1777-1825.

Alexander.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viv, 439 pages)

Other Title:

Alexander the First

Place of Publication:

DeKalb, Illinois : Northern Illinois University Press, [2012]

Language Note:

In English and French.

Summary:

Alexander I was a ruler with high aspirations for the people of Russia. Cosseted as a young grand duke by Catherine the Great, he ascended to the throne in 1801 after the brutal assassination of his father. In this magisterial biography, Marie-Pierre Rey illuminates the complex forces that shaped Alexander's tumultuous reign and sheds brilliant new light on the handsome ruler known to his people as "the Sphinx." Despite an early and ambitious commitment to sweeping political reforms, Alexander saw his liberal aspirations overwhelmed by civil unrest in his own country and by costly confrontations with Napoleon, which culminated in the French invasion of Russia and the burning of Moscow in 1812. Eventually, Alexander turned back Napoleon's forces and entered Paris a victor two years later, but by then he had already grown weary of military glory. As the years passed, the tsar who defeated Napoleon would become increasingly preoccupied with his own spiritual salvation, an obsession that led him to pursue a rapprochement between the Orthodox and Roman churches. When in exile, Napoleon once remarked of his Russian rival: "He could go far. If I die here, he will be my true heir in Europe." It was not to be. Napoleon died on Saint Helena and Alexander succumbed to typhus four years later at the age of forty-eight. But in this richly nuanced portrait, Rey breathes new life into the tsar who stood at the center of the political chessboard of early nineteenth-century Europe, a key figure at the heart of diplomacy, war, and international intrigue during that region's most tumultuous years.

Contents:

The childhood and youth of an emperor, 1777 -1801

Monsieur Alexander and Catherine the Great

"The monarch-in-training"

A grand duke torn between greater and lesser courts

The tsarevich at Paul I's court: 1796 - 1801

The promising reign: a spirit of reform, 1801 - 1807

Reformist attempts

Reforming program: 1801 - 1805

On the international stage: 1801 - 1805

The Napoleonic wars, 1805 - 1815

From military fiascos to the Tilsit agreements: 1805 - 1807

The time of the French alliance: 1807 - 1812

Between domestic reforms and military preparations: 1807 - 1812

1812: the duel of the emperors

A European tsar: 1813 - 1815

An increasingly conservative reign, 1815 - 1825

Mystic exaltation, reformist aspiration, and conservative practice: 1815 - 1820

Russian diplomacy in the "European system": 1815 - 1825

Twilight: 1820 - 1825

By way of epilogue: the Feodor Kuzmich mystery.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-434) and index.

ISBN:

9781609090654

1609090659