Alexey Andreevich Arakcheev

Sunken grey eyes • Short brown hairArakcheev was tall, thin and muscular. • Had a long, thin neck, on which one could study the anatomy of veins and muscles. • Stooped, head thick and ugly, always tilted to the side. • Complexion is unclean, cheeks are sunken, nose is wide and angular, nostrils are flared, mouth is large, forehead * • Eyes - sunken, grey. • Facial expression was a “strange mixture of intelligence and anger” Height 176 cm

Arakcheev had a difficult character. From childhood he was sullen and uncommunicative, and remained so throughout his life. Some of Arakcheev's character traits: • Strictness and cruelty. Arakcheev was a strict and even somewhat cruel person, executive and careful, did not allow mistakes in the conduct of business. • Intolerance of negligence and laziness. While showing severity towards the negligent, Arakcheev did not spare himself. • Complete immersion in work. This trait made Arakcheev dry and callous, he lost friends and loved ones. • Self-love and confidence in his actions. These qualities gave rise to rancor and vindictiveness in Arakcheev. At the same time, Arakcheev was distinguished by his honesty, incorruptibility, desire to delve into the very essence of the matter entrusted to him, and concern for his subordinates. Arakcheev always sincerely cared for ordinary soldiers and often softened the punishments imposed on them by their immediate superiors. The emperor had boundless trust in him.

Arakcheev gained the trust of Alexander I when he was still young, and later became a personal friend of the tsar. The emperor valued Arakcheev's pedantry, discipline, and organizational skills. Thanks to these qualities, for almost ten years - from 1815 to 1825 - Arakcheev was the second person in the state after the emperor. The Emperor entrusted Arakcheev with two projects that were important to him: • A project to free peasants from serfdom. In order not to disturb society, work on the project had to be carried out in conditions of strict secrecy. Arakcheev had to understand this issue and prepare a project. • Establishment of military settlements. Arakcheev initially objected to this idea, proposing to reduce the term of military service to eight years. However, as soon as Alexander made the final decision on military settlements, Arakcheev consistently implemented it. With the accession of Nicholas I, Arakcheev was dismissed. He lived on the Gruzino estate, where he actively engaged in farming, a peasant loan bank, and opened a hospital. • The future count’s first mentor was a village clerk, who taught him to read and write and the basics of the exact sciences. • In 1783, Arakcheev entered the Noble Artillery and Engineering Cadet Corps as a cadet. • In 1787 he received his first officer rank of lieutenant and remained with the corps as a tutor and teacher of mathematics and artillery.

Military career Some stages of the military career of Alexey Andreevich Arakcheev: • In 1790, he began giving lessons in artillery and fortification to the sons of Count N. I. Saltykov, who recommended him to the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich. • Pavel Petrovich appointed Arakcheev commandant of his residence in Gatchina, and then chief of the heir’s ground forces. • In 1796 he was appointed commandant of St. Petersburg (until 1797), promoted to major general. • In October 1799, “for making a false report” when reporting to Paul I, he was dismissed and sent to Gruzino. • In 1802, Emperor Alexander I again called Arakcheev into service. • Initiated the formation of an artillery committee to consider scientific and technical issues. • In 1803–1811 he prepared and carried out artillery reform. • At the beginning of the war, he was the manager of the chancellery of Alexander I and was the inspector general of all infantry and artillery until 1819. • Member of the State Council, senator, member of the Cabinet of Ministers. • He became the creator of military settlements, created for them a special economy, administration, laws, a network of educational institutions and hospitals where free medical care was provided. Alexey Andreevich Arakcheev was a military and statesman of the Russian Empire, a general of artillery, and one of the most important confidants of Emperors Paul I and Alexander I. Activity: • Reformer of Russian artillery. • Minister of War (1808–1810). • Chief of the Imperial Chancellery (since 1812). • Chief of military settlements (since 1817). • The first owner of the palace and park complex in Gruzin (not preserved).

• In 1792, at the request of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Paul I), Arakcheev was sent to Gatchina and soon, for his diligence and success in artillery service, was appointed commander of the Gatchina artillery team. • In 1803–1811, Arakcheev prepared and implemented a reform of the Russian artillery, as a result of which it became an independent branch of the military.

• In 1808, Arakcheev was appointed Minister of War of Russia. He immediately began to restore order in office work and create a clear structure for commanding troops, reformed the military medical and engineering services, and took personal control of the expenditure of financial resources. • In 1810, Arakcheev was appointed a member of the State Council, a senator, and remained a member of the Committee of Ministers. • With the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Arakcheev became the manager of the chancery of Emperor Alexander I. During the war, he was in charge of recruiting troops and replenishing artillery parks, organizing militias, etc. • In 1815, Arakcheev was appointed the sole rapporteur to the emperor on the affairs of the Committee of Ministers and the State Council. From that time on, Alexander I ruled the country through Arakcheev, who regularly reported to the emperor. • Arakcheev stood at the origins of the creation of military settlements. He created for them their own special militarized economy, a special administrative system, a set of necessary regulations, which recorded all the rights and obligations of military settlers, a network of educational institutions and hospitals, where free medical care was provided • On the orders of Alexander I, in 1818 Arakcheev developed one of the projects for the liberation of the peasants: it envisaged the purchase by the treasury of the landowners’ estates along with the peasants and the granting of personal freedom to the peasants (not implemented) He was declared a "villain," a "poisonous snake," a "furious tyrant of his native land," and an "oppressor of all of Russia." Many people did not like Arakcheev because of his strict discipline of his subordinates, his desire for comprehensive regulation, and the creation of military settlements. However, there are also positive reviews. For example, A. I. Herzen noted that Arakcheev was distinguished by “inhuman devotion, mechanical efficiency, and the precision of a chronometer.” Even Arakcheev’s ill-wishers noted that he was an intelligent, active, and pedantic person. • Military service. Arakcheev made a significant contribution to the organization of military administration.

• Military service. Arakcheev made a significant contribution to the organization of military administration. Under his leadership, the recruitment and training of combat personnel improved, recruitment depots were created, divisional organization of the army was introduced, and examinations in artillery began to be held. • Creation of military settlements. Arakcheev tried to arrange them according to the Georgian model - with schools, hospitals and strict order. According to his idea, the settlers were to receive money for their service and over time buy themselves out of serfdom. historian. • Prosperity of his estate. Arakcheev made his estate Gruzino, perhaps, the most ideal in all of Russia. Drunkenness was prohibited there, children of serfs were taught to read and write, and there was free medical care for the peasants with mandatory vaccinations against smallpox. • Interest in technical innovations. Arakcheev installed steam sawmills, built mechanical laundries, and launched the first tugboat in Russia on Lake Ilmen. drilling and the use of corporal punishment against offending soldiers. By Arakcheev’s own admission, he wielded his stick and fists so diligently that, in his words, “he turned the most clumsy and slow into the dexterous, and the lazy and incompetent learned their lessons.” But it is known that in 1796, when Emperor Paul I urgently summoned Arakcheev to St. Petersburg, he did not take any personal belongings with him. Touched by such devotion, the newly-minted emperor gave him a nightshirt, which Alexei Andreevich kept all his life as a sacred relic. Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev and Paul I had warm relations. Paul fell in love with Arakcheev from the very beginning, even when he served with him in Gatchina in the "amusement" troops. Arakcheev was impressed by the emperor's love of drill and his zeal in using corporal punishment against guilty soldiers. For his zeal, Arakcheev was brought closer to Pavel Petrovich and received the title of count with the personal motto "Devoted without flattery." After Paul's accession to the throne, Arakcheev's career took off: he received

After Paul's accession to the throne, Arakcheev's career took off: he received the rank of major general and was appointed commandant of St. Petersburg. However, the favor of Paul I was fickle, and the drill that had recently delighted the emperor became the reason that Arakcheev fell into disfavor and was dismissed. military and statesman of the Russian Empire, general of artillery (1807), one of the most important confidants of Emperors Paul I and Alexander I. Born: September 23, 1769, Udomlya district, Vyshnevolotsky district, Russian Empire Died: April 21, 1834 (age 64), village Gruzino, Novgorod district, Novgorod province, Russian Empire Parents: Andrey Andreevich Arakcheev, Elizaveta Andreevna Rank: graph

Born 1769 1779 10 years 1789 20 years 1799 30 years 1809 40 years 1819 50 years 1829 60 years He died in 1834 at the age of 64.

Secretly in love with Emperor Alexander I

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