War and Peace · primary
Alexander I
historical · male
Emperor of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars.
Appearances
- First: Book FIFTEEN · Chapter XI · ¶ 12
- Latest: Book SECOND EPILOGUE · Chapter V · ¶ 13
Relationships
Friendship · Count Bennigsen
“Count Bennigsen, being a landowner in the Vílna province, offered his country house for the fete”
Conflict · Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov
“everyone knew of the imperial dissatisfaction with him.”
Romantic attraction · Nicholas Rostov
“Seeing that smile, Rostóv involuntarily smiled himself and felt a still stronger flow of love for his sovereign.”
Military command · Prince Dolgorúkov
“instead of the Sovereign, Prince Dolgorúkov, the victor at Wischau, was sent with Savary to negotiate with Napoleon”
Mentor (Emperor) · Balashëv
“the Emperor, having sent for Balashëv and read him his letter to Napoleon, ordered him to take it and hand it personally to the French Emperor.”
Military command · Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov
“Alexander I was as necessary for the movement of the peoples from east to west and for the refixing of national frontiers as Kutúzov had been for the salvation and glory of Russia.”
Student · Balashëv
“the Emperor, having sent for Balashëv and read him his letter to Napoleon, ordered him to take it and hand it personally to the French Emperor.”
Quotations
“Alexander I was as necessary for the movement of the peoples from east to west”
“from Alexander and Napoleon to Madame de Staël”
“the chief culprit was Alexander I”
“who does not throw his little stone at Alexander”
“He behaved admirably at the beginning of his reign”
“an historic character like Alexander I”
“the activity of Alexander or of Napoleon cannot be called useful or harmful”
“Still greater coherence and inevitability is seen in the life of Alexander I, the man who stood at the head of the countermovement from east to west.”
“Alexander I—the pacifier of Europe, the man who from his early years had striven only for his people’s welfare, the originator of the liberal innovations in his fatherland—now that he seemed to possess the utmost power and therefore to have the possibility of bringing about the welfare of his peoples—at the time when Napoleon in exile was drawing up childish and mendacious plans of how he would have made mankind happy had he retained power—Alexander I, having fulfilled his mission and feeling the hand of God upon him, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of that supposed power, turns away from it, and gives it into the hands of contemptible men whom he despises, saying only:”
“Alexander I gives a command and the French submit to the Bourbons.”