Why Paul 1 was killed becomes clear when studying the sources of data about this event. More precisely, this is clear after familiarization with the historical characteristics of the individuals who took the life of the emperor. The circumstances are known from the memoirs of contemporaries who communicated directly with participants in the conspiracy against the government. Only two documents created by the conspirators have survived, namely Bennigsen’s letter and Poltoratsky’s note.

Some information can also be gleaned from memoirists, but they are usually quite contradictory in detail. Modern historian Yu. A. Sorokin, who specializes in this period in the history of the Russian state, writes that authentic facts, separated from the fiction of eyewitnesses and simply contemporaries of this event, will probably never be reproduced.

The list of main sources from which you can find out where Paul 1 was killed, who and why, is quite meager for such an important historical event. Army Major General Nikolai Aleksandrovich Sablukov was in the Mikhailovsky Castle at the time of the murder, but was not directly among the conspirators. He wrote “Notes” in English, which were intended for an extremely narrow circle of readers. They came into print only in 1865, and were first published in Russian in 1902 by Erasmus Kasprovich.

Leontius Bennigsen (one of the conspirators) spoke about the coup and the campaign against Napoleon in a letter to Fock. His speeches were recorded by several other interlocutors. Plans for a palace coup are mentioned according to Bennigsen in the memoirs of his nephew, physician Grivet, notes by Langeron, Adam Czartoryski, August Kotzebue and some other personalities.

Lieutenant General Konstantin Poltoratsky (then governor of Yaroslavl) left notes describing the tragic events. Poltoratsky belonged to the third (lowest) group of conspiracy participants. During the assassination of Paul I, he stood guard. The lieutenant general claimed that he did not know the exact date of the crime, since his immediate superior forgot to warn him.

The Russian commander of the Napoleonic Wars, Alexander Langeron, arrived in the capital shortly after the coup d'état to gather information. His notes contain conversations with Palen, Prince Constantine. The final part contains the author's thoughts.

Why Paul 1 was killed was clear to his contemporaries, and especially to those who communicated with the participants in the conspiracy. Information about this tragic event can be gleaned from the following memoir sources:

• Daria Lieven, an agent of the Russian government in London (her mother-in-law was the teacher of the children of Paul I, and was in the Mikhailovsky Castle on the ill-fated night of March 11-12).
• Adam Czartoryski, a prince and friend of Alexander I, came to the capital after the coup.
• Writer Mikhail Fonvizin (he was 14 years old at the time of the murder) later conducted an entire study based on conversations with conspirators, whose names he does not name.
• Nikita Muravyov (8 years old at the time of the emperor's death) later compiled a detailed description of the events.
• Anonymous "Diary of a Contemporary".
• German playwright and novelist August Kotzebue, who was in the capital on the night of the murder (some sources mention that his son gave Alexander II a note about Paul’s death).
• Karl-Heinrich Geiking, who arrived shortly after the crime.

Why was Paul 1 killed? Prerequisites for committing a crime

Why was Paul 1 killed? In short, the main reason was his coronation itself. This sad outcome of the emperor’s life was influenced by his actions in domestic and foreign policy. In addition, among the possible reasons they name the madness of Paul I, because everyone was sure that if something was not done about it, the country would face a revolution. But here we need to talk about everything in order.

Why was Paul 1 killed? The reasons are briefly listed above, but now it’s worth considering some of them in more detail. The premises of the conspiracy can be identified as follows:

1. Methods of government that amount to cruelty. The plan to assassinate the Tsar was led to by instability of the political course, a climate of uncertainty and fear in the highest circles, and discontent among the nobles who were deprived of their privileges. Paul I threatened the dynasty, and this allowed the participants in the conspiracy to consider themselves remaining loyal to the Romanovs.
2. Emperor's madness. If we proceed from the data of modern psychiatry, then Paul I, of course, was a severe neurotic. The tsar had an unrestrained character, often suffered from depression and panic attacks, and did not know how to choose reliable favorites. His subjects also considered the emperor abnormal because of his objectively unpopular orders. For example, in 1800, Paul invited the head of the Catholic Church to move to Russia. Since 1799, the king was overwhelmed by suspicions about the infidelity of his wife and sons.
3. The fact of accession to the throne. Why was Paul 1 killed? The reasons lie in the very fact of the coronation of the king. Catherine II was preparing Alexander for the throne, so the coronation of Paul I served as a reason for dissatisfaction among a powerful circle of those close to the empress.
4. Deterioration of the king's relations with representatives of the nobility and the guard. There is a known case when staff captain Kirpichnikov received 1000 sticks for harsh statements about the Order of St. Anna (the order bore the name of the emperor’s beloved). Contemporaries believed that this fact played a significant moral role in the background to the murder of Paul.
5. Anti-English policy. The decision to withdraw from the anti-French coalition, made by Paul I at the very beginning of his reign, greatly interfered with the plans of the Austrians and the British. At the initial stage of the organization, the English ambassador in St. Petersburg was definitely involved in the impending coup, but Pavel expelled him long before the murder. Some historians suggest that England did take part in the conspiracy.
6. A rumor that the emperor plans to imprison his wife and children in the fortress in order to marry one of his favorites (either Madame Chevalier or Anna Gagarina), as well as a decree legitimizing Paul's future illegitimate children.
7. Politics in the army. Paul introduced Prussian rules in the army, which irritated almost the entire officer corps and nobility in St. Petersburg. Dissatisfaction with the innovations was so great that it overshadowed all the emperor’s previous successful military reforms. Only the Preobrazhensky regiment remained truly loyal to the tsarist power.

Why was Paul 1 killed (briefly)? He simply prevented the conspirators. Most likely, it is worth talking here not about one specific reason for the coup, but about several factors that influenced this event to the greatest extent.

The original plan of the conspirators

The main part of the conspiracy participants who believed in the need for change was formed in the summer of 1799. At first, the criminals planned to simply arrest Paul in order to force him to leave the throne and transfer the rule to his eldest son. Nikita Panin (ideological inspirer) and Peter Palen (technical leader) considered it necessary to introduce a Constitution, but the first spoke about the regency, and the second about the murder of Paul.

They started talking about the regency only against the backdrop of the fact that shortly before the planning of the coup in Great Britain over the crazy King George III, the regency of his son was officially established. In Denmark, under the unbalanced Christian VII, there was also in effect a regent who later became King Frederick VI.

True, many historians believe that the main organizers initially planned the physical elimination of the emperor, and not simply the arrest or establishment of the guardianship of his son over him. This “plan B” was most likely the development of Peter Palen. Even Nikita Panin was not aware of the expected bloody outcome. At the dinner before entering the king's chambers, the question of how to deal with the emperor after his arrest was discussed. Palen answered everything very evasively. Even then one could suspect that he was planning to assassinate the sovereign.

Guard of cavalry guards

Conspirators against the Emperor

There are very, very many of those who were initiated into criminal plans, but who killed Paul 1? The conspiracy (according to various estimates) included from 180 to 300 people, so it makes sense to name only the main ones. Historian Nathan Eidelman all of them were conditionally divided into three groups:

1. Initiators, ideological inspirers, the most dedicated persons. Subsequently, many of them took high positions under the new emperor. Each of these people tried to whitewash themselves, which is why there are so many theories and speculations around this murder.
2. Officers brought in later who were not directly involved in the development of the strategy. We were involved in recruitment and leadership at the next level of the hierarchy.
3. Middle and junior officers. The men were selected on the basis of their dissatisfaction with Paul's system. Some of them became direct perpetrators, while others were involved in the crime only indirectly. For a long time, historians believed that it was among these people that one should look for the one who killed Paul 1, the son of Catherine II. After all, the initiators sought to whitewash themselves at all costs; perhaps their words are true; ordinary officers became the perpetrators.

Nikita Panin was the ideological inspirer. It was he who came up with and planned everything, but did not directly participate in the crime. On the night of March 12 (the day Paul I was killed) he was in exile. Later, Alexander I returned the former vice-chancellor to the College of Foreign Affairs, but soon the young emperor and the count fell out. Panin was forced to return to the Dugino estate, where he spent the rest of his life.

Peter Palen was the king's support (it was already mentioned earlier that Paul was completely incapable of choosing reliable favorites). This man did not hide the fact that he participated in a conspiracy against the emperor; he spoke openly about this later in personal conversations. Under Alexander, he was removed from office because Maria Feodorovna (wife of Paul I) convinced her son of the danger of keeping such a person with him.

Leonty Bennigsen was extremely dissatisfied with Paul. Participation in the conspiracy did not affect his future career. The commander of the Izyum regiment even became a general a year after the coup, although he gained universal fame during the Napoleonic wars. It was Leontius Bennigsen who commanded the troops at the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau. This was the first big battle that the French failed to win. The military leader was showered with awards, became a Knight of the Order of St. George.

The first group included three Zubov brothers: Plato - the last favorite of Catherine II, Nikolai - it was he who owned the snuff box that was used to kill Paul 1, Valerian - his role in the plan is not entirely clear. He lost his leg, so he was not in St. Michael's Castle with the others. But it is believed that Valerian managed to recruit Alexander Argamakov, without whom the supporters of Panin and Palen would not have been able to penetrate the castle.

Place of death of Emperor Paul I

Where was Paul 1 killed? The king lost his life in the same place where he was born. The building of the Mikhailovsky Castle was erected on the site where the wooden Summer Palace of Catherine Petrovna stood. For many years, Mikhailovsky Castle remained Pavel's dream. The layout sketches and the general construction plan belonged to the emperor himself. The design process lasted almost twelve years. During these years, Paul I repeatedly turned to various examples of architecture that he saw while traveling abroad. The Emperor was killed just 39 days after moving to the Mikhailovsky Castle from the Winter Palace, where many coups took place.

Mikhailovsky Castle, engraving

And in which room was Pavel 1 killed? This tragic event took place in the emperor’s own bedchamber. The room where Paul 1 was killed was turned into the church of the apostles Peter and Paul at the behest of his grandson, Alexander II.

The room where Paul I was killed

Omens associated with murder

There is several evidence that Paul had a presentiment of his death. On the day of the assassination, the emperor approached the mirrors in the palace and noted that his face was reflected distorted. The courtiers did not attach any importance to this then. However, Prince Yusupov (the head of the palaces) fell out of favor. On the same day, Paul I talked with Mikhail Kutuzov. The conversation turned to death. The Emperor's farewell words to the Russian commander were:

To go to the next world is not to sew knapsacks.

The emperor's dinner always ended at half past ten, and at ten Pavel was already in bed. It was so customary that all those present went into another room and said goodbye to the king. On the ill-fated evening before the murder, Paul I went into the next room, but did not say goodbye to anyone, but only said that whatever happens, it cannot be avoided.

There is a mention of distorting mirrors and Mikhail Kutuzov in the notes of one of the memoirists. Thus, the author writes (according to the commander) that the emperor, looking at the mirror with a defect, laughed and said that he saw himself in the reflection with his neck to the side. This was an hour and a half before his violent death.

In addition, they say that some time before the murder, a holy fool (wandering nun) allegedly appeared in St. Petersburg, who predicted that the Tsar would live as long as the letters in the inscription above the gates of the new palace (the same Mikhailovsky Palace). It was a biblical aphorism:

The holiness of the Lord befits your house for a long time.

The phrase has forty-seven characters. Paul I was in his forty-seventh year when he was killed.

Chronology: March 11-12, 1801

It is known in what year Paul 1 was killed - it happened in 1801. What happened immediately before the death of the emperor? How did he spend the last day of his life? On March 11 (old style), Pavel got up between four and five in the morning and worked from five to nine. At nine he went to inspect the troops, and at ten he received the usual parade parade. Then Paul walked on horseback with Ivan Kutaisov, the emperor’s favorite, a Turk who was captured and given to the sovereign when he was still heir to the throne.

At one o'clock in the afternoon Paul had lunch with his associates. Meanwhile, Palen, one of the participants in the conspiracy, sent out invitations to his accomplices for dinner at his place. Then the emperor went to relieve the Preobrazhensky battalion, which was on guard at the Mikhailovsky Castle. One of the statesmen (Jacob de Sanglein) wrote in his memoirs that then Paul forced everyone to swear an oath not to enter into contact with the conspirators.

On the eleventh of March, the emperor allowed his sons, who were under arrest, to have dinner with him. At nine o'clock Pavel started dinner. Those invited were Konstantin and Alexander with their wives, Maria Pavlovna, State Lady Palen and her daughter, Kutuzov, Stroganov, Sheremetyev, Mukhnov, Yusupov, Naryshkin and several court ladies. An hour later, dinner began at Platon Zubov’s, which was attended by Nikolai (Plato’s brother), Bennigsen “and three other people privy to the secret.”

Before going to bed, the emperor spends about an hour with his favorite Gagarina. He went down to her along a secret staircase. At the same time, the conspirators are having dinner at Palen's. There were about 40-60 people in his house, all of them were “hot with champagne” (according to Bennigsen), which the owner himself did not drink. It was previously decided to imprison Paul in Shlisselburg, but Palen answered all questions about this in lengthy phrases.

Palen suggested that the conspirators split into two groups. The Zubov-Bennigsen group walked to the Nativity Gate of the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the other (under the leadership of Palen) headed to the main entrance. When approaching the second floor, the group is about ten to twelve people. At exactly midnight, the conspirators enter the palace. They are making too much noise, the troops are trying to raise the alarm.

Soon the killers approach the royal rooms. According to one version, the valet was tricked into opening the door. Alexander Argamakov (military commander), who could freely enter the palace, told him that it was already six o’clock, the valet’s watch had simply stopped. There is a version that a fire was reported. At that moment, Platon Zubov was seized with panic, he tried to hide, dragging others with him, but Bennigsen stopped him.

The Emperor, hearing a suspicious noise, first rushed to the door to Maria Feodorovna's rooms, but it was closed. Then he hid behind the curtain. He could have gone down to Gagarina and run, but, apparently, he was too scared to soberly assess the situation. At half past midnight on the twelfth of March, the conspirators managed to break into the emperor's bedroom. This was the room where Paul 1 was killed. The criminals were confused when they did not find the king in bed. Platon Zubov said in French that “the bird has flown away,” but Bennigsen felt the bed and said that “the nest is still warm,” that is, “the bird is not far.”

The room was searched. They found Paul and demanded that he write an abdication of the throne, but he refused. The king was informed that he was under arrest. The Emperor was killed between 0:45 and 1:45. How was Tsar Paul 1 killed? There are several versions here:

1. A dispute broke out between Nikolai Zubov and Pavel. Soon, some of the conspirators (who had drunk too much champagne) began to express impatience. The Emperor began to raise his voice in conversation, so that Nicholas, in a fit of anger, hit him in the left temple with a massive snuffbox. The beating began. An officer of the Izmailovsky regiment strangled the Tsar with a scarf.
2. According to Bennigsen's testimony, there was a crush, the screen fell on the lamp, so that the light went out. He went into the next room to bring some fire. In this short period of time, the sovereign was killed. All the contradictions arise from the words of Bennigsen, who tried to prove that he was not in the room at the time of the murder.
3. According to M. Fonvizin’s notes, the situation developed as follows. Bennigsen left the room. At this time, Nikolai Zubov was talking with the emperor. Pavel made several threats, so the enraged Zubov hit him with a snuff box. When Bennigsen was informed that the emperor had abdicated the throne, he gave him a scarf, which was used to strangle the king.

Why was Emperor Paul 1 killed? There are versions that it was an unintentional murder, but most historians are still inclined to believe that the conspirators acted according to a carefully developed plan.

Witnesses and persons who knew about the conspiracy

Who killed Paul 1? This was definitely known to those people who were in the emperor’s bedroom on the ill-fated night. None of the first group of conspirators stained themselves with murder (even Bennigsen, as well as Plato and Nikolai Zubov, previously left the Tsar’s bedroom). Although many historians say that this is a lie that they invented in order to whitewash themselves.

The list of those present in the bedroom varies depending on the source. It could be:

1. Bennigsen.
2. Platon and Nikolai Zubov.
3. Alexander Argamakov.
4. Vladimir Yashvil.
5. I. Tatarinov.
6. Evsey Gordanov.
7. Yakov Skaryatin.
8. Nikolai Borozdin and several other personalities.

The former English ambassador to the Russian Empire, Lord Whitworth, the Russian ambassador in London, Semyon Vorontsov, Tsarevich Alexander (according to Panin, the Tsarevich tacitly agreed to the overthrow of his father), and the official Dmitry Troshchinsky were aware of the conspiracy. The latter wrote the famous manifesto on the coronation of Alexander I. The young tsar renounced the policies of his father.

Who took the life of the emperor?

But who killed Paul 1, the son of Catherine 2? Opinions again differ among different sources. In addition, you need to pay attention to the specifics of the murder. It is known that first there was a blow with a snuff box, and then the emperor was strangled with an officer’s scarf. Most sources believe that the blow was struck by Platon Zubov. It would seem that it is clear who killed Paul 1. But the emperor died of suffocation. In addition, it is known that after being hit with a massive golden snuffbox, but before being strangled with a scarf, the king was thrown to the floor and began to be kicked.

Who killed Paul 1? Skaryatin, an officer of the Izmailovsky regiment, strangled his emperor with a scarf. This scarf belonged (according to different versions) either Skaryatin, or Paul I himself, or Bennigsen. So, the actual killers were Platon Zubov (pictured above) and Yakov Skaryatin. The first stabbed the Tsar in the temple with a gold snuff box that belonged to Nikolai Zubov, and the second strangled Paul I with a scarf. There is also a version that Vladimir Yashvil struck the first blow.

After the murder: reaction of subjects, burial

Alexander was informed about his father’s death by Nikolai Zubov or Palen and Bennigsen. Then they woke up Constantine, and Alexander sent his wife to Empress Maria Feodorovna. But the empress was told this terrible news by Charlotte Lieven, the teacher of the children of Paul I. Maria Feodorovna lost consciousness, but quickly recovered and even declared that she should now rule. Until five o'clock in the morning she did not submit to the new emperor.

The next morning, a manifesto was published, in which it was reported that the All-Russian Emperor had died the previous night from a stroke. St. Petersburg residents began to congratulate each other on such “happiness”; if you believe eyewitness accounts, then this really was “the resurrection of Russia to a new life.” Fonvizin, by the way, also speaks in his notes about the “day of the Holy Resurrection.” True, a large number of people still felt disgust at the events that took place.

The night after the murder, physician Villiers treated the emperor’s corpse to hide the traces of violent death. They wanted to show the body to the soldiers the next morning. It was necessary to prove that the king was really dead, so one should swear allegiance to the new emperor. But the blue and black spots on the dead man’s face could not be hidden. Some sources report that a court painter was even called in to apply makeup to the corpse. When Paul I lay in the coffin, his hat was pulled down over his forehead to cover his left eye and temple.

The funeral service and burial took place on March 23rd. It was accomplished by all members of the Synod, headed by Metropolitan Ambrose.

Ghost of Emperor Paul 1

There is a legend according to which the ghost of the murdered emperor was unable to leave the place of his death. The ghost was seen by soldiers of the capital's garrison and new inhabitants of the Mikhailovsky Palace, by random passers-by who noticed a luminous figure in the windows. This frightening image was very actively used by the cadets of the Nicholas School, who subsequently settled in the castle. It is quite possible that the ghost was invented by them to intimidate the younger ones.

N. Leskov’s story “Ghost in the Engineering Castle” attracted attention to the ghost. The purpose of creating the work was to draw attention to the hazing that reigned in the school.

So why did they kill Paul 1? In short, the conspirators wanted to install “their” king. They hoped that they would occupy prominent positions. Why Paul 1 was actually killed, probably even historians who have devoted more than one year of their life to this problem cannot say for sure. The fact is that there can be a huge variety of reasons (including personal ones), circumstances that influenced the outcome of events, accidents and opinions.

215 years ago, on March 24, 1801, Paul I was assassinated. The Emperor died as a result of a palace coup in the Mikhailovsky Castle in his own bedroom.

At half past one in the morning, a group of 12 officers burst into the emperor’s bedroom; as a result of the conflict that arose, he was beaten, hit in the temple with a heavy gold snuffbox and strangled with a scarf. The conspiracy was headed by his closest associates. The reasons were the dissatisfaction of the participants with the unpredictable policies pursued by Paul I, and, due to the fragility of their position, they could fall into disgrace at any moment. The conspirators decided to replace the king with a more “compliant” one. Financing by Great Britain, dissatisfied with the severance of relations with Russia, and its alliance with Napoleon, is also suspected.

On the territory of the Russian Empire, information about the violent death of Paul I was under censorship. The ban was lifted only in 1905. The official version for more than a hundred years was death from illness due to natural causes: “from apoplexy” (stroke). There was a joke that he died from an apoplectic blow to the temple with a snuff box.

It is curious that the Tsar died in the same place where he was born - the building of the Mikhailovsky Castle was erected on the site of the wooden Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, where on September 20 (October 1), 1754, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.

In 1852, a monument to Paul I was unveiled in Gatchina. During the solemn ceremony, Emperor Nicholas I burst into tears: “the covers were removed, but the rope remained around the neck of the statue and the sovereign’s son, seeing this, began to cry. Everyone was amazed by this accident.”

The Assassination of Emperor Paul I (French engraving, 1880s) Tombstone of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna in the Peter and Paul Cathedral Nightgown of Paul I and guards scarf (similar to the murder weapon) Golden snuffbox of N. Zubov from the collection of the State Hermitage (late 18th century, gold, leather, paper)

There are legends associated with the murder of Paul in the castle: they say that a few months before the death of the emperor, a holy fool (according to some versions - Ksenia of Petersburg) appeared in St. Petersburg, who predicted that he would live as many years as the letters in the inscription above the Resurrection Gate of the new palace . In the biblical aphorism “THE HOLY HOLY OF THE LORD IS SUIT FOR THY HOUSE” there are 47 symbols and it was precisely Paul’s forty-seventh year when he was killed.

Another, more famous legend says that the ghost of the emperor killed by the conspirators was unable to leave the place of his death. The ghost of the Tsar began to be seen by a platoon of soldiers of the capital's garrison transporting military property, new inhabitants of the palace - the school's breeding corporal Lyamin, and passers-by who noticed a luminous figure in the windows. The ghost became famous thanks to the entertaining but completely demystifying story of N.S. Leskov's "Ghost in the Engineering Castle", the purpose of which was to draw attention to the hazing that reigned in the school.

There is reason to believe that the emperor had a presentiment of his terrible death. On March 9 (old style) at night, Pavel wakes up from a painful sleep. He dreamed that he was wearing clothes that were too tight and were suffocating him. On March 10, after dinner, as another legend tells, Pavel approached a mirror that had an accidental flaw - it distorted the images. “Look, what a funny mirror,” the emperor smiled wryly, “I see myself in it with my neck to the side.” At about 10 pm on the night of the murder, Pavel went to his room. They say that he suddenly became thoughtful, turned pale, and instead of the usual farewell, he said: “What happens, cannot be avoided.”

And everyone knows the story about Paul’s meeting with the ghost of his great-grandfather, Peter I. Allegedly, it was then that the founder of St. Petersburg shook his head and sadly said, “Paul! Poor Pavel!”

In 2003, the film “Poor, Poor Pavel” was shot in Russia based on the play “Paul I” by Dmitry Merezhkovsky. The main roles were played by Viktor Sukhorukov and Oleg Yankovsky.

The assassination attempt on Paul I had been prepared for a long time. Many of his nobility subjects saw Paul's continued reign as a threat to their class interests and even their lives. He arrested, exiled, expelled from the army in large numbers, deprived of ranks and nobility. At the same time, he was guided by suspicions and whim. The army was dissatisfied with the sudden change in military laws, the tightening of discipline, continuous drills and shift parades. Among the conspirators were high-ranking courtiers, officials and military personnel. Their decisive actions began when it became known that Paul I intended to remove Alexander Pavlovich from succession to the throne. Namely, the conspirators were guided by him, as a kind, humane man, the beloved grandson of Catherine II. However, it remains unclear whether Alexander knew about the conspiracy.

Assassination of Emperor Paul I

Despite the good goals of establishing order, establishing justice, suppressing theft, etc., the reign of Paul I - his style, rough tricks, sudden unpredictable decisions and turns in politics - seemed unusually despotic and cruel. N. M. Karamzin, a contemporary of the events, well conveyed the feelings of that time:

Catherine's son could be strict and earn the gratitude of the fatherland, to the inexplicable surprise of the Russians, he began to reign in universal horror, not following any regulations except his own whim; considered us not subjects, but slaves; executed without guilt, rewarded without merit, took away the shame of execution, the beauty of reward, humiliated ranks and ribbons with wastefulness in them; he frivolously destroyed the fruits of state wisdom, hating the work of his mother in them... He taught heroes accustomed to victories to march... having, as a person, a natural inclination to do good, he fed on the bile of evil: every day he invented ways to frighten people and he himself was more afraid of everyone; I thought of building myself an impregnable palace and built a tomb.

Legends and rumors

How did Paul I die?

The story of the assassination of the emperor is surrounded by many rumors. The most common of them is the claim that the frightened emperor hid behind the fireplace screen, from where the conspirators pulled him out. Most likely this is a lie. The conspirators instantly burst into the emperor's bedroom, and Pavel jumped out of bed to meet them. It is known that a fierce quarrel ensued between him and the murderers; Paul I threatened them with punishment. It is unlikely that the cowardly hiding emperor could have behaved so decisively in front of the excited, drunk and armed conspirators.

It was one of the participants in the coup, Nikolai Zubov, irritated by the emperor’s threats, who hit Pavel in the temple with a snuffbox. The emperor fell, the rest of the conspirators attacked him and, after a long struggle, strangled him with an officer's scarf that belonged to one of the killers. Some of his contemporaries believed that as soon as Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was sleeping in her bedchamber in the other wing of the castle, learned about the death of her husband, she allegedly tried to seize power like Catherine II, but the conspirators locked her in the chambers of the palace until she recognized Emperor's son Alexander.

The society was in fear and confusion. Paul I lost his sense of reality, rushed from one extreme to another, became maniacally suspicious, removed people truly devoted to him from himself, but all this only contributed to the emergence of a conspiracy among the guards officers and court circles. This conspiracy led to a bloody outcome - the murder of the emperor on the night of March 11, 1801. Thanks to the betrayal of one of the security officers, a detachment of conspirators entered the strictly guarded Mikhailovsky Castle and went up to the emperor’s bedroom. The conspirators tricked their way in and killed the emperor. Despite the tragedy of the incident, society breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out as Paul wrote in his youth, condemning autocracy: “Despotism, absorbing everything, finally destroys the despot himself.”

The conspiracy against Paul 1 began to mature hardly from the first days of his reign. The conspirators justified their plan to remove the emperor by the fact that he found himself on the throne against the will of Empress Catherine, i.e. took the throne illegally and almost by force. In addition, they gossiped that his father was not Peter III at all, but Saltykov, the then favorite of the queen.

What is striking about the conspiracy against Paul is how cold-bloodedly and calculatingly the killers wove their network. Here, for the first time, weapons were tested that a hundred years later would be used against Nicholas II: lies, slander, inflaming passions, bringing the Emperor's orders to the point of absurdity, spreading jokes, discrediting, gossip, rumors about supposedly impending repressions and disgraces.

The faithful servant of the Sovereign, Prince Alexander Suvorov, who appeared in St. Petersburg in the aura of European glory, was terrible for the conspirators. His authority alone, his presence alone made the coup d'état being prepared by the conspirators impossible. The cunningly caused disfavor of Pavel 1 towards Suvorov was, therefore, only one of the links in the chain of conspiracy.

On the fateful evening of March 11, Emperor Paul was in a depressed mood. Sad news has just arrived from Vienna. There, his beloved daughter Alexandra, who became the wife of Archduke Joseph after an unsuccessful engagement to the Swedish king Gustav IU, died during childbirth. Added to this was the influence of bad damp weather (there was a thaw) and the memory of a recent incident.

Having finished his work day, before going to bed, Emperor Pavel Petrovich prayed for a long time on his knees in his bedchamber in front of the icon. However, it seemed that he had no intention of going to bed, otherwise why didn’t he take off his clothes? Apparently, an alarming premonition overcame his soul and was haunted by gloomy thoughts.

His prayer is fervent, destined to be a dying prayer for the Chalice. The soul is torn from the earthly shell for eternal merging with the Eternal God. The Anointed One asks for the good and happiness of the people entrusted to him, and for himself strength and help...

At the same time, the conspirators completed their plans. Weighed down by wine fumes after heavy drinking for courage, they go about their business. They suddenly scatter, frightened by the loud cawing of a flock of crows that suddenly took off from the roof of the Mikhailovsky Castle. And since then, according to the folk tale, every year at the hour of regicide, a flock of werewolf crows flies from God knows where - the black souls of the killers of Emperor Pavel Petrovich.

Having broken open the door, the regicides rushed into the room, but the emperor was not in it. The search began, but it ended unsuccessfully. The door to the empress's bedroom was also locked from the inside. The search continued for several minutes until General Bennigsen entered. He walked up to the fireplace, leaned against it, and at that time he saw the emperor standing in prayer behind the screen. The conspirators found Pavel behind a screen.

Alone against the drunken gang, Pavel stands unarmed, peering at his executioners in the twilight of the bedchamber. He fearlessly strokes the eyes of death. Prince Platon Zubov, acting as the speaker and chief leader of the conspiracy, addressed the emperor with a speech. Usually distinguished by great nervousness, Pavel this time, however, did not seem particularly agitated and, maintaining full dignity, asked what they all needed.

Platon Zubov replied that his “despotism” had become so difficult for the nation that they came to demand his abdication from the throne.

Emperor Paul, filled with a sincere desire to bring happiness to his people, to preserve the laws inviolably and to establish justice everywhere, entered into the argument, gesticulating strongly. The sovereign offered fierce resistance to the drunken murderers who brazenly walked through his chambers. He snatched his sword from its sheath with the words: “I will die as your emperor!” Rallymaster Count Nikolai Zubov, a man of enormous stature and extraordinary strength, being completely drunk, hit Pavel on the hand and said: “Why are you shouting like that?”

At this insult, the emperor indignantly pushed away Zubov’s left hand, to which the latter, clutching a massive golden snuffbox in his fist, struck the emperor’s left temple with his right hand. He fell unconscious on the floor. The enraged Zubov, swinging his hand, hits Pavel Petrovich with a heavy golden snuffbox, a gift from Catherine, at Pavel Petrovich’s temple, and he falls with a loud groan. All at once, like predators sensing blood, the regicides pounce on him. With a bulldog death grip, Palen grabs his throat with both hands. Thus, he entered into an unequal battle and suffered martyrdom for his feat of royal service.

This is how the most humane Sovereign perished, who wanted nothing but the good of Russia and the people. Approximately until the nine hundred years, i.e. centenary of the death of Emperor Paul the First in Russia, it was strictly forbidden to touch upon the circumstances of the regicide on March 11, 1801 in the press. Emperor Paul the First reigned for four years, four months and four days, and was killed in the forty-seventh year of his life.

With his ascetic life and martyrdom, Paul 1 seemed to atone for the previous sins of the dynasty. The Romanov family, which disappeared after Peter the Great, grew under Paul 1 and became one of the most prolific royal families in Europe. Everyone knows that abundant offspring are a sign of God’s blessing, especially for royal families. We can safely say that Paul 1 became the new ancestor of the Russian tsars. He forever stopped the struggle for the royal throne within the clan, issuing his famous “Law on Succession to the Throne,” which clearly defined who should take the throne after the monarch. In his descendants one can see true nobility, loftiness of spirit, devotion to the Orthodox faith and the ideals of serving the Fatherland, which was most clearly manifested in our last Sovereign Nicholas II.