NICHOLAS I., more properly Nirsonai PAvLovrrcsr, emperor of Russia, was the third son of Paul I., and was b. at St. Petersburg, July 7, 1796. He was very carefully educated under the eye of his mother, a princess of Wrirtemberg, and subsequently devoted his attention to military studies and political economy, without, however, giving evidence of any natural capacity for these subjects. He visited England and other European countries in 1816. end in the same year made a tour through the Russian provinces. On July 13. 1817. he married Frederika-Louisa-Charlotte-Wilhelmina, the eldest daughter of Frederic William III. of Prussia, and lived in domestic retirement till the death of Alexander I. (Decembee 1825), when, owing to the resignation of his elder brother Constantine, he succeeded to- 1*i:throne of IN long-prepared military conspiracy broke out immediately after his which he suppressed with great vigor and cruelty. Capital punishment, which had been abolished by the empress Elizabeth, was revived, for the purpose of inflicting it upon the leaders of the insurrec tion. The rebels were Minted down with merciless energy, and in no ease, even after the rebellion ceased to be in the least degree dangerous, was their punishment commuted. Instead of pursuing the course upon which Alexander had entered—cultivating the mind of the nation, so as to base his government upon education and intelligence— Nicholas, after a brief ebullition of reformatory zeal, reverted to the ancient policy of the czars, absolute despotism, supported by mere military power. His first great meas. ure, the codification of Russian law, was commenced in 1827, and completed in 184G.
Soon after his accession, a war with Persia commenced, but it was concluded on Feb. 28, 1828, by the peace of Turkmaushai, which gave a considerable extent of territory to Russia. In the same year he entered upon a war with Turkey, in which victory, though at enormous cost, constantly attended his arms, and the peace of Adrianople (q. v.) obtained for Russia another increase of territory, the free navigation of the Danube, with the right of the free passage between the Black and Mediterranean seas. The political movements of 1830, in the west of Europe, were followed by a national rising of the Poles, which was suppressed after a desolating contest of nine months, in which the utmost efforts of the whole military resources of Russia were required. Nicholas punished the rebellion by converting the kingdom of Poland into a mere Russian province, and strove to extinguish the Polish nationality. This policy, however, was viewed with great dissatisfaction throughout Europe, and the vanquished Poles were everywhere regarded with general sympathy. Russia, by Nicholas's mode of government, became more and more separated from the fellowship the western nations. Intellectual
activity was, as far as possible, restrained to things merely practical, education limited to preparation for the public service, the press was placed under the strictest censorship, and every means used to bring the whole mind of the nation under official guidance. His Panslavism (q. v.) also prompted him to Russianize as much as possible all the inhab itants of the empire, and to convert Roman Catholics and Protestants to the Russian Greek Church, of which the Czar is the head. The independence of the mountaineers of the Caucasus was inconsistent with his schemes, and war was consequently waged against them with the greatest energy and perseverance, although with little success, and at the cost of immense sacrifices both of money and lives. The extension of British influence in Central Asia was also viewed by him with alarm, and was attempted to be counteracted by various means, amongst which was the expedition for the conquest of Khiva in 1839, which failed so signally (see ICtuvA). Between 1844-46, he viiited Eng land, Austria, and Italy. During the political storm of 1848-49 he abstained from inter ference, watching, however, for an opportunity of doing so with advantage to Russian interests. The opportunity was at last found in the request of the emperor of Austria for his assistance to quell the Hungarian insurrection. This good service rendered Austria, as he thought, a faithful and firm ally. He succeeded at the same time in drawing closer (he bonds of alliance between the Russian and Prussian monarchies, a proceeding fraught with the most mischievous consequences to the latter power. The re-establishment of the French empire still further tended to confirm these alliances, and led Nicholas to think that the time had at length come for carrying into effect the hereditary Russian scheme for the absorption of Turkey; but the unexpected opposition of Britain and France, and his own invincible repugnance to give up his long-planned scheme of conquest, brought on the Crimean war, during the course of which he died at St. Petersburg,. Mar. 2, 1855, of atrophy of the lungs; but his death was undoubtedly hastened by chagrin at the repeated defeats which his arms sustained, and by over anxiety, and the excessive labor he underwent to repair his losses. He was remarkable for temperance, frugality, and patriotism, but equally so for vanity and ostentation. He was fanatically beloved by his Russian subjects, and was at the same time regarded by them with feelings of awe, a tribute to his lofty stature and imperial deportment, which gave him the most intense pleasure. This extreme vanity seems, to some extent, to have affected his mind, and to have been partly the cause of his political blundering towards the close of his reign.