PAUL I., PETnovrrcu (175-1-1801). Emperor of Russia from 1796 to 1501. He was the son of Peter III. and the Great. He under went a vigorous training at the hands of his mother, and this served to harden and warp a nature wide], was by no means devoid of gener ous impulses. The memory of his father's vio lent death made him suspicious of all who sur rounded him. and as prince or emperor pre vented him from gathering, a party around him. During his mother's lifetime he was allowed no share in the government, and with the exception of a journey abroad (1781-82) passed his time in brooding idleness on his estates at Catehina. Catharine died November 17, 1796, while seri ously contemplating the exclusion of Paul from the succession to the throne in favor of his son Alexander. Paul's reign began with fair prom ise, but speedily degenerated into an oppressive despotism which weighed alike on the Court, the army, and the intellectual life of the nation. The system of police espionage was developed to a hitherto unparalleled degree, and swift pun ishment was visited on those unfortunate enough to arouse the slightest suspicion in the Em peror's diseased imagination. Reluctant at first to enter the struggle against France, he finally joined the Second European Coalition against the French Republic in 1798, and in 1799 the Russian armies under Suvaroff (q.v.) gained a series of notable victories over the French and drove them out of Northern Italy. Bonaparte's astute diplomacy, however, succeeded in breed ing dissension between the Russian Emperor and his allies. Paul's discontent was intensified by
the conduct of England in refusing him pos session of the island of Malta, to which as grand master of the Knights of Malta, an ofliee assumed in 1798, he laid claim. his opposition to England finally developed into open hostility, and led in 1800-01 to the formation of the Northern Maritime League by Russia, Sweden, and Denmark against Great Britain. At home, meanwhile, Paul's despotism had become un endurable, and a conspiracy was formed by some of the highest officials about the Court to bring about the Emperor's abdication in fa vor of his son Alexander. The leaders of the conspiracy were Count Pahlen, Count Panin, Prince Suboff, Genera] Bennigsen, and General Uvaroff. On the night of March 23, 1801, the Imperial palace was surrounded by the troops of Pahlen while the conspirators, some thirty in number. broke into Paul's chamber and at the sword's point demanded that he sign the act of abdication. No certain knowledge exists of what then occurred, but it would seem that the Emperor, erazed with fear, attempted resistance, that a scuffle ensued, and that in the struggle Paul was strangled with his own scarf. Of Paul's ten children, Alexander and Nicholas ruled over Russia. wn•hile Constantine was a prominent figure during the reign of the latter. Consult: Kobeko, Der Casarewitsch Paul, 96 (Berlin, 1886) ; Brenemann, Aims den Tagen Kaiser Pants (Leipzig. 1886).