Nicholas I: Personality and Epoch. Russian Historiography of the Late 20<sup>th</sup> – Early 21<sup>st</sup> Century

Abstract

The article discusses methodological approaches and historiographical principles of modern Russian research on the personality and rule of Nicholas I. It analyzes the main directions of the Russian historiography of the late 20th – early 21st century concerning the Nicholas reign – the continuity and distinctive features of government reformism, state ideology and political control, military, social and economic policy, the peasant question. The authors pay much attention to scientific and biographical works about Nicholas I and the statesmen of his era. The article identifies a number of the most controversial problems of the reign – the missed transformative opportunities, the Crimean War, the illness and death of Nicholas I. The article concludes by arguing that modern historiography is characterized by a rejection of the rough and simplified division and even opposition of the first, second and third quarters of the 19th century. In most of the works carried out on the basis of various research methods, the Nicholas reign is assessed as an important stage of Russian modernization, the time when the administrative transformations of Alexander I were completed and the socio-economic and political grounds for Great Reforms were prepared.