Soviet Union, the state vodka monopoly was abolished in May 1992.
Boris Yeltsin attempted to reinstate the monopoly in June 1993, but by that time floods of cheap vodka had been imported and many domestic factories had gone out of business. Although President Vladimir Putin issued an order in February 1996 acknowledging that Yeltsin’s attempt to reestablish the vodka monopoly in 1993 had failed, he has also tried to control and expand domestic production and sales of vodka. The tax code of January 1, 1999 imposed only a 5 percent excise tax on vodka in order to stimulate domestic consumption. By buying large numbers of shares in vodka distilleries, controlling their management, and attacking criminal elements in the business, Putin has attempted to reestablish state control over vodka. See also: ALCOHOLISM; TAXES; VODKA; WITTE, SERGEI YULIEVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Christian, David. (1990). “Living Water”: Vodka and Russian Society on the Eve of Emancipation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Herlihy, Patricia. (2002). The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia. New York: Oxford University Press. LeDonne, John. (1976). “Indirect Taxes in Catherine’s Russia II. The Liquor Monopoly.” Jahrb?cher f?r Geschichte Osteuropas 24(2): 175-207. Pechenuk, Volodimir. (1980). “Temperance and Revenue Raising: The Goals of the Russian State Liquor Monopoly, 1894-1914.” New England Slavonic Journal 1: 35 -48.. Sherwell, Arthur. (1915). The Russian Vodka Monopoly. London: White, Stephen. (1996). Russia Goes Dry: Alcohol, State, and Society. New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1777-1825), emperor of Russia from 1801-1825, son of Emperor Paul I and Maria Fyodorovna, grandson of Empress Catherine the Great.
When Alexander was a few months old, Catherine removed him from the care of his parents and brought him to her court, where she closely oversaw his education and upbringing. Together with his brother Konstantin Pavlovich, born in 1779, Alexander grew up amid the French cultural influences, numerous sexual intrigues, and enlightened political ideas of Catherine’s court. Catherine placed General Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov in charge of Alexander’s education when he was six years old. Alexander’s religious education was entrusted to Andrei Samborsky, a Russian Orthodox priest who had lived in England, dressed like an Englishman, and scandalized Russian conservatives with his progressive ways. The most influential of Alexander’s tutors was Frederick Cesar LaHarpe, a prominent Swiss of republican principles who knew nothing of Russia. Alexander learned French, history, and political theory from LaHarpe. Through LaHarpe Alexander became acquainted with liberal political ideas of republican government, reform, and enlightened monarchy.
In sharp contrast to the formative influences on Alexander emanating from his grandmother’s court were the influences of Gatchina, the court of Alexander’s parents. Alexander and Konstantin regularly visited their parents and eight younger siblings at Gatchina, where militarism and Prussian influence were dominant. Clothing and hair styles differed between the two courts, as did the entire tone of life. While Catherine’s court was dominated by endless social extravaganzas and discussion of ideas, Paul’s court focused on the minutiae of military drills and parade ground performance.
31
Tsar Alexander I. © MICHAEL NICHOLSON/CORBIS The atmosphere of Gatchina was set by Paul’s sudden bursts of rage and by a coarse barracks mentality.
Alexander’s early life was made more complicated by the fact that Catherine, the present empress, and Paul, the future emperor, hated each other. Alexander was required to pass between these two courts and laugh at the insults which each of these powerful personages hurled at the other, while always remaining mindful of the fact that one presently held his fate in her hands and the other would determine his fate in the future. This complex situation may have contributed to Alexander’s internal contradictions, indecisiveness, and dissimulation as an adult. warm relationship for the rest of their lives. Their relationship endured Alexander’s long-term liaison with his mistress, Maria Naryshkina, his flirtations with a number of noblewomen throughout Europe, and rumors of an affair between Alexander’s wife, Elizabeth, and his close friend and advisor, Adam Czartoryski. Czartoryski was reputed to be the father of the daughter born in 1799 to Elizabeth. Alexander and Elizabeth had no children who survived infancy.
THE REIGN AND DEATH OF PAUL
In November 1796, a few weeks before Alexander’s nineteenth birthday, Empress Catherine died. There is some evidence that Catherine intended to bypass her son Paul and name Alexander as her heir. However, no such official proclamation was made during Catherine’s lifetime, and Paul became the new emperor of Russia. Paul almost immediately began alienating the major power groups within Russia. He alienated liberal-minded Russians by imposing censorship and closing private printing presses. He alienated the military by switching to Prussian-style uniforms, bypassing respected commanders, and issuing arbitrary commands. He alienated merchants and gentry by disrupting trade with Britain and thus hurting the Russian economy. Finally, he alienated the nobility by arbitrarily disgracing prominent noblemen and by ordering part of the Russian army to march to India. Not surprisingly, by March 1801 a plot had been hatched to remove Paul from the throne. The chief conspirators were Count Peter Pahlen, who was governor-general of St. Petersburg, General Leonty Bennigsen, and Pla-ton Zubov-Empress Catherine’s last lover-along with his two brothers, Nicholas and Valerian. Alexander was aware of the conspiracy but believed, or told himself that he believed, that Paul would be forced to abdicate but would not be killed. Paul was killed in the scuffle of the takeover. On March 12, 1801, Alexander, accompanied by a burden of remorse and guilt for patricide that accompanied him for the rest of his life, became Emperor Alexander I.
ALEXANDER’S MARRIED LIFE
When Alexander was fifteen, Catherine arranged a marriage for him with fourteen-year-old Princess Louisa of Baden (the future Empress Elizabeth) who took the name Elizabeth Alexeyevna when she converted to Russian Orthodoxy prior to the marriage. Although Alexander’s youth prevented him from developing a passionate attachment to his wife, they became confidants and maintained a lukeREFORM ATTEMPTS Alexander’s reign began with a burst of reforms and the hope for a substantial overhaul of Russian government and society. Alexander revoked the sentences of about twelve thousand people sentenced to prison or exile by Emperor Paul; he eased restrictions on foreign travel, reopened private printing houses, and lessened censorship. Four of
Alexander’s most liberal friends formed a Secret Committee to help the young emperor plan sweeping reforms for Russia. The committee consisted of Prince Adam Czartoryski, Count Paul Stroganov, Count Victor Kochubei, and Nikolai Novosiltsev. During the first few years of his reign, Alexander improved the status of the Senate, reorganized the government into eight departments, and established new universities at Dorpat, Kazan, Kharkov, and Vilna. He also increased funding for secondary schools. Alexander did not, however, end serfdom or grant Russia a constitution. This series of reforms was brought to an end by Russian involvement in the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1807, following the Treaty of Tilsit, Mikhail Speransky became Alexander’s assistant, and emphasis was again placed on reform. With Speran-sky’s guidance, Alexander created an advisory Council of State. Speransky was also responsible for an elementary school reform law, a law requiring applicants for the higher ranks of state service to take a written examination, and reforms in taxation. In addition, Speransky created a proposal for reorganizing local government and for creating a national legislative assembly. Speransky’s reforms aroused a storm of criticism from Russian conservatives, especially members of the imperial family. Alexander dismissed Speransky in 1812 just prior to resuming the war against Napoleon. In his place Alexander chose Alexei Arakcheyev, an advisor with a much different outlook, to assist him for the remainder of his reign.
NAPOLEONIC WARS
The most momentous event of Alexander’s reign was Russia’s involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. Alexander began his reign by proclaiming Russian neutrality in the European conflict. However, during 1804 Russian
