Paul I Romanov, Emperor of Russia

PAUL I ROMANOV, Emperor of Russia. - B. 20 Sept. 1754, d. at St. Petersburg on 12 March 1801. Son of Peter III and Catherine II, he could never forgive his mother for the coup d'état of 1762 by which she had seized power through the assassination of Peter; he therefore fell into disfavor with the Tsarina, who practically relegated him to the estate of Gatchina, where he waited until 1796 for the moment to assume the crown in his turn.

Having ascended the throne, he made the total reversal of Catherine's policy a system of government: only the desire to oppose the progress of the French Revolution persuaded him not to break with Austria. An Austro-Russian army, under the command of Suvorov, descended into Italy in 1799 and defeated the French, restoring the old governments. A few months later P., a typical figure of an autocrat, suddenly overturned the line of his policy by drawing closer to France out of personal sympathy for Napoleon, and he negotiated the stipulation of a Franco-Russian alliance and of a League of Neutrals hostile to England. Such inconstancy and the exasperated absolutism of his government determined a profound resentment against the Emperor: on the night of 12 March 1801 a group of officers surprised him in his rooms and imposed abdication on him. His refusal cost him his life. A characteristic page of P.'s life is the protection he granted to the Order of Malta, although he was of "Orthodox" religion, after the Maltese Archipelago was occupied by France. Perhaps also for this reason he followed a policy of benevolence toward the Catholics of his Empire and of respect for the Roman Pontificate.

Renzo U. Montini