Nicholas I was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I. Nicholas's reign began with the failed Decembrist revolt. He is mainly remembered in history as a reactionary whose controversial reign was marked by geographical expansion, centralisation of administrative policies, and repression of dissent. Nicholas had a happy marriage that produced a large family; all of their seven children survived childhood.
Portrait by Franz Krüger, c. 1832
Portrait of Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich (c. 1808), by anonymous painter after Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, located in the Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg
Nicholas I "Family Ruble" (1836) depicting the Tsar on the obverse and his family on the reverse: Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (center) surrounded by Alexander II as Tsarevich, Maria, Olga, Nicholas, Michael, Konstantin, and Alexandra
Nicholas I with Alexander II in Bogdan Willewalde's studio in Saint Petersburg in 1854, oil on canvas, State Russian Museum
The emperor and autocrat of all Russia, also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917.
Last to Reign Nicholas II 1 November 1894 – 15 March 1917
Regalia of the Emperor
Image: Peter I by Kneller
Image: Catherine I of Russia
