Alexander I- the Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon
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49. Quoted by Tatischeff in Alexandre Ier et Napoléon, 137–38.
50. See the next chapter.
51. Both letters are reproduced in L. Czartoryski, Alexandre Ier, 127–35.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Caulaincourt, Mémoires; Caulaincourt’s meeting with Napoleon on June 5 appears on pages 1: 270–93.
58. Caulaincourt’s letter to Champagny, September 19, 1810, in Romanov, Relations diplomatiques, 5: 139.
59. Quoted by Paléologue in Alexandre Ier, 137.
60. Ibid., 125–26.
61. Sirotkin, Napoleon i Aleksandr I, 324.
62. Ibid., 325.
Notes to Chapter 10
1. Alexander I to his sister Catherine, June 27 (O.S.), 1810, quoted by Nicholas Mikhailovich in Alexander, Perepiska, 33.
2. Seton-Watson, Russian Empire, 97.
3. See chapter 6.
4. See Maikoff, “Rozenkampf,” 373.
5. Romanov, Tsar Alexandre I, 60.
6. The son of his sister.
7. For biographical details, see the anthology, M.M Speranskij, zhizn’, 16.
8. Or “departments.”
9. Speranskij, zhizn’, 19.
10. See Mironenko, Samoderzhavie i reformy, 29.
11. As shown in his sermons, written when he was a student at the St. Petersburg seminary. See Raeff, “Political Philosophy,” 3.
12. See Mironenko, Samoderzhavie i reformy, 29–30.
13. Raeff, “Political Philosophy,” 6–7.
14. Chin in Russian.
15. There were 14 ranks in the civil table. Personal (and not hereditary) nobility was granted by the state from the ninth rank.
16. Speranskij, zhizn’, 22.
17. Gubernjaja in Russian.
18. Okrug in Russian.
19. Volost’ in Russian.
20. Oblast’ in Russian.
21. Abolition of serfdom was not on Minister Speransky’s agenda.
22. Quoted by Vernadsky in Charte constitutionnelle, 18.
23. Quoted by Kappeler in La Russie, 96.
24. See Selovuori, Le pouvoir, 11.
25. See Tegner, Armfelt, 3: 294.
26. Kappeler, La Russie, 94.
27. Article 17 of the treaty, then called the Friedrichshamm treaty, signed on September 5 (O.S.), 1809. In Vneshnjaja Politika Rossii, I, 5: 218.
28. See the excellent biography by Josselson and Josselson, Général Hiver.
29. Mironenko, Samoderzhavie i reformy, 34.
30. Maria Feodorovna’s notes, December 27 (O.S.), 1809, in GARF, fd 663 (Maria Feodorovna fond); opis’ 1; delo 43.
31. Quoted in Arkhanguelski, Alexandre Ier, 165.
32. Ibid., 166–67.
33. See Jenkins, Arakcheev, 137.
34. See Richard Pipes’s study in Karamzin, Memoir.
35. McConnell, Tsar Alexander I, 72–73.
36. Speranskij, zhizn’, 23.
37. McConnell, Tsar Alexander I, 74.
38. A sect defending the ideas of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin.
39. He will become a Freemason in April 1818. See Serkov, Russkoe Masonstvo.
40. Illuminism was the Russian version of Martinism. Speransky’s letter to Alexander is quoted in Speranskij, zhizn’, 24.
41. See, for example, Sakharov, Aleksandr I, 132–35.
42. Speransky will eventually conduct this reform under Nicholas I.
43. Raeff, Comprendre l’Ancien Régime, 126.
44. The state council would have 42 members in 1825.
45. See the remarkable study by Mironenko in Samoderzhavie i reformy, 34–35.
46. Quoted in Alexander, Perepiska, 57.
47. Ibid.
48. Report by Barclay to Alexander, written between February 12 and 28 (O.S.), 1810, in Vneshnjaja Politika Rossii, I, 6: 379.
49. One verste was 1,067 meters, i.e., 66 miles.
50. Josselson and Josselson, Général Hiver,136.
51. Ibid., 138.
52. Letter from Count Lieven to Barclay de Tolly, December 2 (O.S.), 1810, in Vneshnjaja Politika Rossii, I, 6: 635–37.
53. Quoted in Cate, La campagne de Russie, 79.
54. Ibid., 78–82, for a detailed analysis of the roles of Chernyshev and Michel.
55. He will later become Alexander’s foreign minister.
56. Talleyrand to Alexander, September 15, 1810, in RGADA, fd 5, opis’ 1, delo 210.
57. Dispatch from Count Loewenhielm, April 5 (O.S.), 1812, quoted in Vandal, Napoléon et Alexandre Ier, 2: 441–42.
58. Of the 30 million rubles’ worth of merchandise exported in 1802 from St. Petersburg, England bought 17 million rubles’ worth and France less than a half million.
59. Sirotkin, Napoleon i Aleksandr I, 237.
60. Ibid., 241.
61. Ibid., 243.
62. Ibid., 249.
63. Quoted in L. Czartoryski, Alexandre Ier, 170.
64. Quoted by Arkhanguelski in Alexandre Ier, 194.
65. Quoted in Olivier, Alexandre Ier, 213.
66. Quoted in L. Czartoryski, Alexandre Ier, 173–74.
Notes to Chapter 11
1. See Troickij, Otechesvennaja vojna, 3.
2. Key books were still produced during those years, including those by E. Tarlé.
3. See the numerous books written in France by Jean Tulard and my own book L’effroyable tragédie, which takes into account both Russian and French perspectives. For the Russian side, see Dominic Lieven’s recent book, Russia against Napoleon, and in Russian Troickij, Otechesvennaja vojna, and Aleksandr I.
4. The word “duel” is frequently used by historians to describe the 1812 war.
5. Napoleon confessed several mistakes to Las Cases on St. Helena.
6. Quoted by Shilder in Imperator Aleksandr I, 3: 368.
7. Quoted by Cate, La campagne de Russie, 23.
8. Ibid., 62.
9. Ibid.
10. See Troickij, Rossija, 38.
11. Choiseul-Gouffier, Mémoires historiques, 75–77.
12. Later, 150,000 soldiers will cross the Niemen, so the total number of soldiers taking part in the Grande Armée will be about 600,000.
13. Troickij, Rossija, 37.
14. Napoléon Ier, Correspondance, 5: 535–36.
15. For more complete data, see Troickij, Rossija, 34.
16. Quoted by Josselson and Josselson in Général Hiver, 173.
17. Quoted by Tulard in Dictionnaire Napoléon, 356.
18. Troickij, Rossija, 37.
19. See D. Lieven’s brilliant article “Defeat of Napoleon.”
20. See Beauvois, “Les Français.”
21. Boudon, La France, 264.
22. Vilnius was called Vilna at that time.
23. Caulaincourt’s memoirs, quoted by Sokolov in “Campagne de Russie.”
24. Tulard in Dictionnaire Napoléon, 356.
25. The great theoretician and strategist. Disapproving of the evolution of French-Prussian relations, Clausewitz decided to join the Russian army in 1812.
26. Quoted by Sokolov in “Campagne de Russie.”
27. Quoted by Josselson and Josselson in Général Hiver, 181.
28. Quoted by Romanov in Le Tsar Alexandre Ier, 122–23.
29. Quoted by Sokolov in “Campagne de Russie.”
30. Ibid.
31. Boudon, La France, 262.
32. Meaning a peasant insurrection like the one led by Pugachev under the reign of Catherine II.
33. See Parsamov, Istorija Rossii, 198.
34. Quoted in Alexander, Perepiska, 82.
35. Langeron’s unedited memoirs, quoted in Tulard, Dictionnaire Napoléon, 1008.
36. See A. Martin, “Response,” 473.
37. Quoted by Sokolov in “Campagne de Russie.”
38. Quoted in Ségur, Comte Rostopchine, 207.
39. Paul Stroganov to his wife, September 13 (O.S.), 1812, quot
ed in Romanov, Le Tsar Alexandre Ier, 129.
40. Boudon, La France, 264.
41. By the Russian calendar.
42. Equivalent to 5 degrees F.
43. Extract from X. de Maistre, La correspondance, vol. 1.
44. J. de Maistre, Correspondance diplomatique, 246.
45. Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, Department of Manuscripts, fd n.152, opis’ 1, delo 209.
46. Posharsky was the prince who led the Russian troops during the Polish invasion in 1611–1612.
47. Palitsyn was an orthodox monk who took an active part in the struggle against the Poles.
48. Minine was the butcher of Nizhni-Novgorod who organized Pozharsky’s expedition against the Poles.
49. Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, Department of Manuscripts, fd n.152, opis’ 1, delo 209.
50. Choiseul-Gouffier, Mémoires historiques, 134.
51. Jacquerie: a peasant insurrection, after the common first name often given to poor peasant boys.
52. Alexander’s ukase, August 13 (O.S.), 1812, Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, Department of Manuscripts, fd n.152, opis’ 1, delo 209.
53. Parsamov, Istorija Rossii, 198.
54. Elizabeth to her mother, August 26 (O.S.), 1812, quoted by Nicholas Mikhailovich in Romanov, Imperatrica Elizaveta Alekseevna, 2: 542–43.
55. The assertion is ironic. The supposedly civilized nation is France.
56. Elizabeth to her mother, August 28 (O.S.), 1812, quoted by Nicholas Mikhailovich in Romanov, Imperatrica Elizaveta Alekseevna, 2: 543.
57. Catherine to Alexander, September 3 (O.S.), 1812, quoted by Nicholas Mikhailovich in Alexander, Perepiska, 83.
58. Alexander to Catherine, September 7 (O.S.), 1812, ibid., 84.
59. Catherine to Alexander, September 6 (O.S.), 1812, ibid., 83–84.
60. Alexander to Catherine, September 7 (O.S.), 1812, ibid., 86–93.
61. Conversations with Abbot Eylert, in Charakterzüge ans dem Leben Koenigs Friedrich-Wilhelms III, 2: 246–48, quoted in Schnitzler, Etudes sur l’empire, 1: 461–62.
62. “Alexandre I” in Serkov, Russkoje Masonstvo.
63. Conversations with Abbot Eylert, Schnitzler, Etudes sur l’empire, 1: op. cit., 461–62.
64. Russkij Arhiv no. 4 (1886), 87.
Notes to Chapter 12
1. Quoted in Troickij, Aleksandr I, 219.
2. Lincoln, Sunlight at Midnight, 110.
3. Kalisch=Kalisz (Poland).
4. This text was written in 1812 and published in 1821 in Douze années d’exil, quoted in Grève, Le Voyage en Russie, 809–10.
5. See D. Lieven, “Defeat of Napoleon.”
6. Alexander’s ukase, November 11 (23), 1812, published in Kazanskie Izvestija, no. 48 (November 30, 1812).
7. Quoted by Ratchinski, Napoléon et Alexandre Ier, 319.
8. Ibid.
9. Quoted in Alexandrana, 18.
10. Quoted in Renouvin, Histoire des relations internationales, 2: 244.
11. Paléologue, Alexandre Ier, 177.
12. Troickij, Rossija, 56.
13. Hartley, Alexander I, 123.
14. Slightly more than a third of the engaged troops died at Leipzig.
15. Notice that the tsar was still using the expression “Supreme Being” after his 1812 mystical revelation.
16. Paléologue, Alexandre Ier, 178–79.
17. Quoted by Choiseul-Gouffier in Mémoires historiques, 162–63.
18. The Battle of Valmy (a northern village in Champagne-Ardennes) was the first major victory by the army of France during the French Revolution. It took place on September 20, 1792. When Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris, Generals Kellermann and Dumouriez defeated them at Valmy and stopped their advance.
19. Quoted by Romanov in Imperator Alexandre Ier (1912 ed.), 2: 7.
20. Ibid., 1: 530.
21. Alexander I to Alexander Golitsyn, February 26 (O.S.), 1812, in GARF, fd 728, opis’ 1, delo 803.
22. Quoted in Romanov, Imperator Alexandre Ier (1912 ed.), 1: 531.
23. Ibid.
24. Quoted by Pingaud, L’Empereur Alexandre Ier, 15.
25. Choiseul-Gouffier, Mémoires historiques, 134–35.
26. Quoted in Alexandrana, 39–40.
27. Ibid., 40.
28. Choiseul-Gouffier, Mémoires historiques, 74–75.
29. Chateaubriand, Mémoires, 495.
30. Alexander’s use of the Corsican family name of Buonaparte is interesting, implying that for Alexander Napoléon was no longer emperor of the French—and not even French by nationality!
31. Quoted in Alexandrana, 47.
32. Quoted in Troyat, Alexandre Ier, 265.
33. Aleksandr Mikhailovskij-Danilevskij’s documentary sources and manuscript notes are preserved in the St. Petersburg Imperial Library, fd 488, where I consulted them.
34. This diary was partially published before 1917 and was republished in 2001. The years 1814–1815 were published as a book, see Mikhailovskij-Danilevskij, Memuary.
35. In the opinion of the Countess de Boigne!
36. Boigne, Mémoires, 1: 331.
37. Troyat, Alexander of Russia.
38. See Hantraye, Les Cosaques, 34.
39. Boigne, Mémoires, 324–25.
40. Hantraye, Les Cosaques, 225.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid., 226–27.
43. In 1815 the Catholic Easter day was the same as the Orthodox one.
44. Quoted H. Valloton in Le tsar Alexandre Ier, 225.
45. Alexandrana, 75.
46. Choiseul-Gouffier, Mémoires historiques, 176.
47. Alexandrana, 76.
48. Ibid., 85.
49. Mikhailovskij-Danilevskij, Memuary, 47.
50. Alexandrana, 58.
51. Quoted in Martens, Sobranie traktatov i konvencij, 14: 237.
52. Ibid., 261.
53. Chateaubriand, Mémoires, 495–96.
54. Boigne, Mémoires, 359.
55. He was Louis XVIII’s brother and will later become King Charles X.
56. Uvarov did not strangle Paul I, but he was among the small group of people who violently entered his room.
57. Boigne, Mémoires, 361–62.
58. Quoted by Paléologue, Alexandre Ier, 199.
59. According to Countess de Lieven (the wife of Count Lieven), Alexander’s ambassador in London. See Comtesse de Lieven, Mémoires, 226.
60. Ibid., 228.
61. Allen, Life of William Allen, 1: 197–98.
62. Quoted by Hartley in Alexander I, 126.
63. Ibid.
64. No precise dating is possible.
65. Notice that the tsar alludes to 1801, the date of his first flirtation with Maria, and not 1803, when their affair began. This is probably to reinforce the value of his sacrifice and the extent of his pain.
66. Alexander to Catherine, Summer 1814, GARF, fd 728, opis’ 1, delo 1336.
67. Alexander to Koshelev, 1817 (undated), GARF, fd 728, opis’ 1, delo 860.
68. See Sedouy, Congrès de Vienne, 160–61.
69. See, for example, Kissinger, Diplomatie, which begins with a detailed analysis of the Congress.
70. GARF, fd 728, opis’ 1, delo 972.
71. Quoted by Zawadski in Man of Honour, 252.
72. Renouvin, Histoire des relations internationales, 254.
73. This extract from his diary was published in Russkaja Starina (June 1899).
74. Mikhailovskij-Danilevskij, Memuary,186.
75. Hartley, Alexander I, 130.
76. See Romanov, Imperator Alexandre Ier (1912 ed.), 1: 115.
77. However, this generous behavior did not prevent Russian troops in 1813–1814 from large-scale requisitions of occupied Polish lands, which led to violence against the local population and to some cases of starvation. See Zawadski, Man of Honour, 227.
78. Ibid., 231–32.
79. Quoted by Troickij, Rossija, 58.
80. See Zawadski,
Man of Honour, 238–39.
81. Quoted by Waresquiel in Prince immobile, 485.
82. Quoted in M. Martin, Maria Feodorovna, 406–8.
83. The Plaine of Vertus is close to the small town of Aubervilliers.
84. Quoted in “Antonin Carême,” 22.
85. Count Molé’s memoirs, quoted by Grunwald in Trois siècles, 165.
86. Quoted by Ratchinski, Napoléon et Alexandre Ier, 346.
87. Moreover, Austria was given Illyria, Tyrol, Lombardia, and Venetia, thereby recovering her predominance in Italy.
88. Hartley, Alexander I, 133.
89. The expression is Castlereagh’s.
90. Quoted by Renouvin, Histoire des relations internationales, 370.
91. The full text of the Holy Alliance is reproduced in Vneshniaia Politika Rossii, I, 8: 502–4.
92. Madame de Krüdener’s first name.
93. Alexander to Catherine, May 22 (O.S.), 1815, quoted in Romanov, Imperatritsa Elizaveta Alekseevna, 194–95.
94. Boigne, Mémoires, 491.
95. A mistake, since Mme. de Krüdener was not a countess but a baroness.
96. Boigne, Mémoires, 491.
97. Quoted by Valloton, Le Tsar Alexandre Ier, 340.
98. Both texts, the initial draft written by Alexander and the final version as expurgated by the Austrians, are reproduced in Vneshniaia Politika Rossii, 8: 502–4.
Notes to Chapter 13
1. See his conversation with Mme. de Staël in December 1812 that she reported in Douze années d’exil, quoted by Grève in Voyage en Russie, 809–10.
2. Edling, Mémoires, 200–201.
3. Quoted by Shilder in Imperator Aleksandr I, 3: 394.
4. Alexander to P. V. Chichagov, March 21, 1806, quoted by Grimsted in Foreign Ministers, 28.
5. Arakcheev did not have any ministerial responsibilities.
6. This style was also called Classical-Romantic.
7. Schmidt, “Restoration of Moscow.”
8. They were the symbols of patriotic resistance to the Polish invaders in 1612.
9. Schmidt, “Restoration of Moscow.”
10. The Bolshoi Theater will open in 1825.
11. Quoted by Sokolov in “L’Eglise.”
12. Ratchinski, Napoléon et Alexandre Ier, 57.
13. Golitzyn to Alexander, July 18 (O.S.), 1820 or 1821, in GARF, fd 728, delo 1109.
14. On Moravian Brothers, see Minaudier, Histoire de l’Estonie, 131–35.
15. Ratchinski, Napoléon et Alexandre Ier, 56.
16. GARF, fd 728, delo 1303.