Pavel Kiselyov
Encyclopedia
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
– , Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) is generally regarded as the most brilliant Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n reformer during Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
's generally conservative reign.
Early military career
Kiselyov first distinguished himself during the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, serving as Count Miloradovich's aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
in the Battle of Borodino
Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
, marching with the Russian army all the way to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and gaining promotion to Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
's aide-de-camp at the close of the campaign.
Five years later, Kiselyov was appointed Chief of Staff of the Second Army, stationed in Tulchyn
Tulchyn
Tulchin , Latin Tulcinum, ) is a small city in the Vinnytsya Oblast of western Ukraine, former Podolia. It is the administrative center of the Tulchynsky Raion , and was the chief centre of the Southern Society of the Decembrists, Pavel Pestel was located there during planning of the rebellion...
, Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
. It was there that he first tried to implement his reforms, including the mitigation and condemnation of corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
, which aroused the animosity of the powerful War Minister
Heads of military of Imperial Russia
-College of War:The Russian College of War was created in the course of Government reform of Peter I 11 December 1717.-Presidents:* Prince Alexander Menshikov 1717–24* Prince Anikita Repnin 1724–26* Prince Mikhail Golitsin 1728–30...
, Count Arakcheyev. Pavel Pestel
Pavel Pestel
Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Pestel was a Russian revolutionary and ideologue of the Decembrists.In 1805-1809, Pavel Pestel studied in Dresden. In 1810-1811, he was a student at the Page Corps, from which he would graduate in the rank of praporshchik. Pestel was then sent to the Lithuanian Regiment of...
and other Decembrists
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising took place in Imperial Russia on 14 December , 1825. Russian army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Constantine removed himself from the line of succession...
who formed the southern revolutionary league served under Kiselyov and were supported by him, although the extent to which their collusion was encouraged by Kiselyov's liberalism has been disputed.
Administration of the Danubian Principalities
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
Kiselyov was appointed to command the Russian occupying troops in Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
and Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, and appointed Plenipotentiary President of the Divans in Wallachia and Moldavia (de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
governor) on October 19, 1829 (he was in Zimnicea
Zimnicea
Zimnicea is a town in Teleorman county, Romania , a port on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov.-Geography:...
at the time). He remained the most powerful man in the Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
until 1834, when Mahmud II
Mahmud II
Mahmud II was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. He was born in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, the son of Sultan Abdulhamid I...
, the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Sultan
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
, appointed new hospodar
Hospodar
Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".The rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia were styled hospodars in Slavic writings from the 15th century to 1866. Hospodar was used in addition to the title voivod...
s, Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II or Alexandru D. Ghica , a member of the Ghica family, was Prince of Wallachia from April 1834 to 7 October 1842 and later caimacam from July 1856 to October 1858....
in Wallachia and Mihail Sturdza
Mihail Sturdza
Mihail Sturdza was a prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. A man of liberal education, he established the Mihaileana Academy, a kind of university, in Iaşi. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the...
in Moldavia.
Under his administration, the two states got their first constitutions, the Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
("Organic Statute", French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Règlement organique, Russian: Oрганический регламент, Organichesky reglament), introduced in Wallachia in 1831 and in Moldavia in 1832, which remained valid until the 1859 union of the principalities
United Principalities
The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, also known as the Romanian Principalities, was the official name of Romania following the 1859 election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince or domnitor of both territories...
, with a short intermission in Wallachia during the 1848 Revolution. The Statute, despite its shortcomings, had a beneficent effect on the economy and politics of the Principalities. He was also responsible for the creation of one of the most important arteries in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Şoseaua Kiseleff
Soseaua Kiseleff
Şoseaua Kiseleff is a major road in Bucharest that runs as a northward continuation of Calea Victoriei. The road was created in 1832 by Pavel Kiselyov, the commander of the Russian occupation troops in Wallachia and Moldavia...
(Kiseleff Road), a northward continuation of Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei is a major avenue in central Bucharest. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei, where Şoseaua Kiseleff continues north....
(then known as Podul Mogoşoaiei).
Emancipation projects
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in 1835, Kiselyov was admitted to the State Council of Imperial Russia
State Council of Imperial Russia
The State Council was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia.-18th century:Early Tsars' Councils were small and dealt primarily with the external politics....
and to the secret committees deliberating on effective ways to emancipate the serfs. The same year, Kiselyov submitted to the tsar a comprehensive programme for reforms, which scared conservative landowners so much that the monarch had it laid to rest. It is believed that the programme was based on Kiselyov's own memorandum, which he had first prepared as early as 1816.
Two years later, Kiselyov was appointed Imperial Minister of State Properties, a key post which he filled with great efficiency for 18 years. In 1839, Kiselyov became a count and reformed the administration of state-owned peasants. He also instituted a system of schools for peasant children, popularly known as the Kiselyov Schools. The minister could not persevere with other reform plans, as the ascendancy of reactionary forces lasted until Nicholas's death in 1855. Nicholas's successor, Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, dispatched Kiselyov to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the capacity of Minister Plenipotentiary to deal with the effects of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
.
Kiselyov was married to Countess Sofia
Zofia Kisielew
Zofia Potocka - daughter of Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki and Zofia Clavone.In 1821 she married general Pavel Kiseleff. They had one son Włodzimierz ....
, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki's daughter, but their only son died in infancy. As a result, the old courtier spent much time with his nephews and heirs from the Milyutin family. Although he hoped to see Nicholas Milyutin
Nikolay Milyutin
Nikolay Alexeyevich Milyutin was a Russian statesman remembered as the chief architect of the great liberal reforms undertaken during Alexander II's reign, including the emancipation of the serfs and the establishment of zemstvo.-Early life:Nikolay Milyutin was born in Moscow, Russia on June 6,...
presiding over the emancipation reform that followed, his aspirations in this regard were only partially rewarded. His other nephew, Dmitry Milyutin
Dmitry Milyutin
Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin was Minister of War and the last Field Marshal of Imperial Russia...
, was responsible for the sweeping reforms of the Russian military in the 1870s. Kiselyov remained in the diplomatic service until 1862, when failing health compelled him to lay down his offices. He never returned to Russia and died in Paris ten years later.