Alexander I Pavlovich (23 December 1777 - 9 November 1825; reigned 1801 - 1825) was the son of Paul I, Emperor of Russia. Alexander I was raised by his grandmother, Catherine II, who ascended the throne after his father was killed.

Perhaps these things (referring to the trend of democracy and freedom) are illusions and mistakes, but these are things I agreed with and believed in when I was young, and it is not up to me to punish them-Alexander I

Among the successive tsars of Russia, he was the most difficult to evaluate, and the turbulent times further highlighted the complexity of his thoughts. From a young age, he grew up in the gap between his grandmother Catherine and his father Paul. He maintained a balance between the two. He was favored by his grandmother and valued by his father, which initially demonstrated the ability of this "actor on the throne."

Alexander I

His contradictory personality is also reflected in his thinking. Alexander, who grew up in an environment where the palace of Tsarist Russia was the most stubborn bastion of absolutism in Europe, was deeply influenced by the republican and democratic liberal-minded teacher La Arp. Later, his iron hooves stepped into France, the stronghold of Enlightenment thought, in the war against Napoleon, which broadened his horizons. He once commented on the democratic and liberal ideology that was fundamentally opposed to his rule: "Perhaps these things are illusions and mistakes, but they are all things that I agreed with and believed in when I was young, and should not be punished by me."

In 1796, a generation of empress Catherine the Great died. She made a will on her deathbed, and her grandson Alexander directly succeeded her, but in the end Alexander's father Paul preempted the throne of the tsar. In fact, Alexander, who knew the inside story, did not express his opinion.

After Paul I ascended the throne, his surly and irascible character and his policy of uniting France against Britain aroused deep dissatisfaction among the aristocracy. He even agreed with Napoleon to go on an expedition to India, which resulted in the unnecessary sacrifice of a large number of officers and soldiers. In 1801, when Senate officials, Guards officers and soldiers launched a coup with British support, Paul I was strangled in his bedroom, and Alexander, who was terrified, became the new Tsar of Russia. In fact, Alexander knew about the coup plot in advance, and acquiesced in his succession to the throne after the coup. Although this change was in line with Russia's development interests and the wishes of the majority, Alexander was still deeply condemned by his conscience for a long time, which was a major reason for his complex character.

Since 1803, the wily courtier Arakcheyev began to seize power, and he has been one of the main decision-makers in the Alexander generation. Under Arakcheyev's advocacy, the biggest measure in Alexander's early internal affairs was the implementation of the military system, which was to implement the system of combining soldiers and farmers on state-owned land. It not only trained a large reserve army, but also made it self-sufficient without increasing the financial burden of the country.

When Alexander's throne was gradually heating up, it was when Napoleon's powerful shadow was gradually pushing against Russia's huge and bloated body. In 1804, Alexander established the decision to unite Britain against France. In 1805, he personally served as the commander-in-chief of the Russian-Austrian coalition army. In December, he first learned the power of Napoleon, a Corsican monster, in Osterlitz, Czech Republic, and escaped by night after heavy losses.

In 1806, Napoleon defeated Prussia with lightning speed and entered Poland. This seriously threatened the interests of tsarist Russia, and Alexander had to organize resistance again. In 1807, on the Polish battlefield, the Russian troops led by Bengnisen were losing ground and Alexander was forced to seek peace. Alexander and Napoleon held a one-on-one meeting on a raft in the center of the Niemen River. Alexander once again brought into full play his "actor" strengths. Finally, the two sides signed the Peace of Tilsit, which was actually an agreement for France and Russia to divide up Europe. The two countries formed an alliance to divide up Poland. Russia recognized Napoleon's vested interests in European countries, and France allowed Alexander to "act freely" in Sweden and the Balkans. Using this "Operation Freedom", Alexander revived the greedy nature of polar bears in the following years, invading Sweden in 1809 and seizing all of Finland and part of mainland Sweden. In 1811, he invaded Turkey again, captured eastern Moldova, and later annexed Georgia and Azerbaijan.

But soon, relations between Russia and Napoleon broke down, and another war was inevitable. The trigger was the Polish issue. Napoleon insisted on establishing a Duchy of Warsaw in Poland, but Russia would never give up the fat money it had already received. However, the root cause of the contradiction was that Russia's participation in Napoleon's "continental blockade system" against Britain seriously damaged the commercial interests of the domestic bourgeoisie. Under pressure, Alexander moved closer to Britain again, which angered Napoleon.

In June 1812, Napoleon 400,000 army crossed the Nemann River, approaching the heart of the polar bear. At first the Russian army was routed and almost unable to fight back, and Smolensk soon missed. Alexander was forced to re-employ the veteran Kutuzov. After a war with Napoleon in Borodino, Kutuzov decided to abandon Moscow and lure the enemy deep, so that the vast territory of Russia "sucked up the torrent of Napoleon like a sponge". After Napoleon occupied Moscow, he found that all he had was an empty city (this can be regarded as another form of "empty city plan"), surrounded by the Russian army, the supply lines in the rear were in danger of being cut off, and then the cold of the Russian winter was coming. Moreover, typhus broke out in Napoleon's army, and the "typhus general" was more lethal than any enemy general. After his attempt to negotiate peace with Alexander was rejected, Napoleon was forced to retreat, and he was repeatedly attacked by the Russian army along the way. In a state of embarrassment, Napoleon fled back to France alone in a buggy.

Alexander quickly organized the Sixth Anti-French Alliance with Russia, Britain, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland and other countries participating. In October 1813, the Battle of Leipzig (this battle was called the "War of Nations" because almost every nation in Europe was participated and indeed related to the fate of each nation), the coalition forces finally defeated the reorganized Napoleon army. As a "liberator", Alexander bravely set foot on the soil of France together with the King of Prussia and the Prime Minister of Austria. French Foreign Minister Talleyrand announced his surrender, Napoleon abdicated and was banished to the island of Elba.

After the war, representatives from European countries held a conference in Vienna to discuss issues of the new post-war order. Except for Turkey, every European country was represented. In fact, the four major countries, Russia, Britain, Prussia and Austria, played the main role. Alexander formed an alliance with the King of Prussia, advocating that Russia should occupy Poland alone and Prussia should receive Saxony as compensation. However, he was strongly opposed by Austria and Britain and almost went to war. At the same time, Napoleon miraculously returned to France and re-established the Napoleonic Empire. This finally prompted the political figures of various countries who were squandering in Vienna to unite and quickly sign the Final Act. Alexander got most of Poland's money as he wished. Soon Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and Alexander entered Paris with a second victory.

Under Alexander's initiative, the European countries formed the "Holy League", which had the embryonic form of the later League of Nations and the United Nations, but its role at that time was to coordinate the relations of the governments of various countries in order to jointly suppress the popular movements in each country. In 1820, this alliance "with justice, mercy, and peace as its purpose" played a role for the first time, organizing and suppressing the revolutions in Italy and Spain under Alexander's suggestion.

But at its peak, Alexander had undergone unexpected changes. After returning to St. Petersburg, Alexander seemed to have changed into a different person, his spirit and will had deteriorated sharply, he liked to be alone, and he became more and more reclusive.

Alexander is said to have had romantic affairs with many noble ladies in European countries, and it is even said that he had a fondness for sisters. However, he was only interested in "Platonic" spiritual love and never left a single descendant in his life. In 1825, it is recorded that Alexander died suddenly, but it is said that he actually only followed an empty door and later appeared as a monk Kuzmic. As mentioned earlier, the many incomprehensible aspects of Alexander's thoughts and actions left many mysteries in Russian history, making him known by later generations as the "Skophens who remained enigmatic until his death."

The era of Alexander I, through a series of wars, mainly with Napoleon, brought Russia's territory and sphere of influence to the heart of Europe on the basis of Peter I and Catherine II. When his iron hooves traveled all over Europe, there was no doubt that he was the hegemon of Europe at that time. The era of Alexander I was the peak of Tsarist Russia's international status. The new European order established by him as a major player through the Vienna Treaties and the "Holy Alliance" went through many changes in the political landscape of Europe in the mid-19th century until the Treaty of Verdun after the First World War was completely replaced. Mainly because of these, he is included in this list, ranked 87th.

Comments: Russia's huge strategic depth and Kutuzov's wise combat strategy were the two major subjective factors that made Alexander I able to defeat Napoleon. But more importantly, Napoleon's desperate invasion proved that he had lost his rationality as a politician. The years of war he brought made him eventually abandoned by the European people. Under such circumstances, as the final savior of the old order, Alexander I became the choice of history.