One of the most powerful men in all Russian history - an adviser, confidant, and executive to three czars — is the subject of this fascinating biography, the first major study of Count Alexei Arakcheev. Draw ing upon all available documents, including extensive contemporary correspondence, Michael Jenkins has at once filled an historical need and created a vital portrait of a man whose role and influence on the Romanov dynasty arc comparable to Rasputin's.
Bom in 1769, the son of a poor provincial landowner, Arakcheev rose rapidly as an artillery officer under the command of the Prince Regent Paul. With Catherine's death, Paul moved quickly to secure his authority as Emperor; he installed his faithful protege as Commandant of St. Petersburg and granted him Gruzino, the large estate which in time Arakcheev developed into a model feudal community, an attraction for touring European nobility. But Arakcheev's greatest power came with the reign of Alexander, Paul's son and Arakcheev’s longtime devoted friend. Under Alexander, Arakcheev reorganized the military, had charge of political appointments, contributed to the strategy that defeated Napoleon, established and administered the despised military colonics, and, with the Emperor’s increasing involvement in European politics, was in effect running the internal affairs of Russia. Arakcheev’s pride in Gru/ino was shattered by the bloody murder of his mistress, and the punishment exacted on the peasants suspected of the deed was barbarically cruel. Hard, exacting, clever. Arakcheev retired from power in the early reign of Czar Nicholas; perhaps the most hated man in Russia, he died peacefully on Easter Sunday, 1834.
Название: Arakcheev, Grand Vizier of the Russian Empire
Автор: Michael Jenkins
Издательство: The Dial Press
Год издания: 1969
Формат: pdf в rar
Язык: English
Страниц: 307
Размер: 94.1 Мб
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