Nicholas I, Russian High Society, and the Wooden Tsar

Nicholas I: The Wooden Tsar

Nicholas I has gone down in history as "the wooden tsar" for a number of reasons. On a purely superficial level, the name supports the solid features he displayed as tsar — "his physical beauty and his majestic bearing," as Nicholas V. Riasanovsky notes in his assessment of Nicholas I (Cracraft 268). Nicholas, like so many wooden churches and cathedrals in Russia, stood as the "Christian conscience of Russia" — a notion of embodiment passed from one ideological generation to the next. Yet Nicholas, as Emperor of Russia, displayed rather little of the humanity needed for a truly paternal position such as Emperor. Instead, he was soldierly and stolid in demeanor, concerned primarily with adherence to minute details. His will was inflexible, and he had an extreme singleness of purpose that caused him to overlook a variety of issues deserving of attention.

Although orthodox in his religion, the bureaucracy under Nicholas I was extraordinarily corrupt, and Nicholas appeared insensible of this. For these reasons — his inflexible will, his bearing, and his insensibility to human problems, as he was entirely consumed by reactionary politics — Nicholas has been called "the wooden tsar."

Russian High Society and Its Disconnection from Reality

The portrayal of high society by the Marquis de Custine and in Karolina Pavlova's Double Life reveals a world at once connected to all the intrigues and inner workings of the upper echelons of Russian society, yet at the same time disconnected from reality — the reality of the everyday Russian, and the nature of the wars, administrations, and actions going on in Russia that were adding to the empire's disasters. Of course, high society knew the stories and the latest gossip. This was a world reflected in the works of Tolstoy, such as War and Peace, and in the poems of Pushkin.

Pushkin was in fact banished by Alexander I, the predecessor of Nicholas I, for writing "revolutionary" works that highlighted social issues of the time — issues Nicholas would inherit upon taking the throne. That Pushkin was given the low court rank of kammerjunker by Tsar Nicholas I, so that his beautiful wife could attend the court balls, only reinforces the character of Russian high society at this time: superfluous, superficial, and elegant, but lacking soul. Not only Pushkin, but Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Gogol as well would note this lack — and one of Gogol's most famous works would appropriately be titled Dead Souls.

The Marquis de Custine and the Split Consciousness

The world depicted by the Marquis de Custine carries much the same sensibility. Yet there is also a recognition among society members of the split consciousness that Dostoevsky would later depict with vivid resonance. As the Marquis notes, "the Russia of the spirit and faith" was being squandered by an influx — or infestation — of Western modernity and empty materialism (123). "So many Russians cried out" because of the "failure to recognize the intensity of the unhappiness in other echelons of Russian society," the Marquis observes, speaking of the divide between the haves and have-nots and the problems that arose as a consequence of the squandering and corruption of the ruling elites.

Conclusion: A Society Coming Apart at the Seams

Nicholas I represented high society — noble and regal in bearing, yet hiding something festering underneath — a longing for more, a need for something spiritual. This longing was both physical and spiritual, as Nicholas' wars of imperial expansion and Pavlova's heroine in Double Life both indicate, along with Pushkin's poems of fear and dread for what might happen were Russia to lose its mind and soul. Yet high society was not without its propriety and grace — though these qualities at the same time served to reinforce a state that was coming apart at the seams.

Works Cited

Cracraft, James. Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia. D.C. Heath, 1994.