Russia’s New World Subjects NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division
	France Capitulates NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division
	Trophies of War NYPL, Spencer Collection
	Russia’s “Hordes” Take Paris NYPL, Spencer Collection
	Romantic English Views of the “Northern Venice” NYPL, General Research Division
	Romantic English Views of the “Northern Venice” NYPL, General Research Division
	Romantic English Views of the “Northern Venice” NYPL, General Research Division
	Russia’s Empire Piques the English Reader NYPL, General Research Division

In his first years in power, Alexander enjoyed a host of foreign policy victories that were made possible, in part, by his arranging the Tilsit Peace with Napoleon in 1807 and agreeing to divide Europe into French and Russian spheres of influence. The tsar used the opportunity to annex Georgia in the Caucasus, win wars with Persia, Turkey, and Sweden, and expand from Alaska into California on the North American continent.

But Napoleon, who had proved invincible on continental Europe, decided to absorb the Russian Empire into his own. He amassed a Grande Armée (Grand Army) of over 600,000 men, invaded Russia in June of 1812, and expected a quick and easy victory before summer’s end. The Russians used scorched earth tactics and guerilla warfare and only once openly faced the French, in the Battle of Borodino, which was indecisive. Napoleon’s army took Moscow, but the Russians had evacuated and burned their ancient capital, so the French walked into a ghost town and faced life-threatening shortages. As the snow began falling in mid-October, the Grand Army began its retreat with few supplies and still clad in summer uniforms; only some 50,000 managed to straggle across the border to return home. Russia’s great victory inspired the monumental novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), as well as the opera of the same name by Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), and the “1812 Overture,” by Petr Tchaikovsky’s (1840–1893).

Russia’s victory in 1812 also signaled the end of France’s long domination of the European continent. By 1814, with Alexander I at their head, the allied powers marched into Paris. After escaping from exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba and reorganizing his army, Napoleon met his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and was exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. Alexander, now called “the Blessed,” also took the lead at the Congress of Vienna. During the Napoleonic era, monarchs had lost their thrones, borders collapsed, and new states came into being. The meeting in Vienna aimed to redraw the map of Europe. Alexander also took the lead in establishing the Holy Alliance, whereby the European powers agreed to live in peace in the spirit of Christian brotherhood. Clearly, Russia had become a full partner in the European family of nations. Furthermore, the emperor seemed ready to put his earlier Enlightenment ideas into effect by encouraging constitutions in France and the newly created Kingdom of Poland; the 30,000 Russian soldiers garrisoned in Paris also absorbed these ideas and hoped for their implementation at home. However, a series of revolts in several European countries and in a military regiment at home pushed Alexander into a reactionary stance: religiosity and mysticism began to permeate statecraft; obscurantists took control of the educational system; and censorship impeded the cultural flowering that had been under way since the time of Empress Elizabeth I (r. 1740–61).

The achievements, rhythms, and problems that became evident in the reign of Alexander I summarized the complexities of Imperial Russia until the collapse of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. The state certainly maintained the great power status that the emperors had sought since the time of Peter the Great. Russian literature, art, dance, and scholarship would attain great distinction, despite episodes of severe censorship. Even in statecraft, periods of liberal reform and modernization would be followed by periods of stagnation or reaction. Monarchs would continually streamline and rationalize the executive, legislative, and judicial processes, but would remain unlimited in their power long after absolutism had become outmoded in the rest of Europe. The serfs were freed in 1861, but under unfair conditions that would soon dispel any gratitude on the part of the peasantry.

The lateness of Russia’s industrialization would undermine its status as a military power and keep the standard of living of the majority at a level far lower than that of the rest of Europe. These problems of backwardness would produce one of the most famous revolutionary movements and one of the most significant revolutions in all of history.