The Political and Social Environment

Abstract

A full account of the most important formative influences on Pestel requires a closer examination of Pestel’s relationship with his parents, his attitude to religion, to Freemasonry, and of his ideological formation and the development of his political convictions. Pestel’s perception of the negative features of life in Russia resulted from a complex of circumstances in his own upbringing, education and family background, some of which have already been referred to. These particular circumstances combined in Pestel to lend an especially sharp focus to his assessment of the social and political environment in the Russia of his day.