Reforms of Paul I (briefly). Domestic policy of Paul I (briefly) Goals of the reign of Paul 1

From birth (October 1, 1754), he was removed from his parents and raised under the control of the reigning aunt Elizaveta Petrovna. At the age of eight, Pavel witnessed his mother’s involvement in his father’s death. Catherine did not love her son and removed him from government affairs by all means.

Even after Paul reached adulthood, the empress continued to retain power. In 1773, she married Paul to the Orthodox princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, Natalya Alekseevna, who died in 1776 during childbirth.

In September of the same year, Paul remarried the Princess of Württemberg, in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna. Catherine II took away two sons, Alexander and Konstantin, from the couple, just as Elizaveta Petrovna once did to her, taking Paul away from her.

Because The law on succession to the throne, adopted by Peter I, allowed the appointment of an heir at his own discretion; the empress intended to transfer the throne to her grandson Alexander. And in order to push Paul even further, Catherine II gave him an estate in Gatchina, where he moved with his wife and small courtyard in 1783.

Pavel was well educated, intelligent and developed, was a man of honor, decent and romantic. But his mother’s neglect of his rights, unceremonious interference in his family life, and her constant control developed deep resentment and embitterment in Pavel; he turned into a suspicious, bilious, nervous and unbalanced person.

On November 6, 1796, Catherine II died, and the throne was taken by 42-year-old Paul I. On the day of coronation, he issued a new law on succession to the throne. The thought that power came to him too late forced him to rush into everything, without thinking through the measures he was taking.

The main characteristic of the reign of Paul I can be called the destruction of everything that was done by his mother. The main goal of his laws, decrees, orders, and prohibitions is the sharp absolutization of autocracy in the country. Press censorship was introduced, private printing houses were closed, and the import of books from abroad was prohibited.

At the very beginning of the reign of Paul I, a military-police regime was introduced in the country, Prussian order was introduced in the army, and the entire life of subjects was regulated.

Paul I carried out a military reform, introducing the Prussian system of training troops, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the strictest discipline.

Many privileges granted by Catherine II to the nobility were abolished. Compulsory military service, taxation, restrictions on rights, restoration of punishment for nobles - the emperor’s requirements for the noble class.

But during the reign of Emperor Paul I, peasants received some concessions and rights. On Sundays and holidays, peasants were freed from work, a 3-day corvee was established, recruitment and grain taxes were abolished.

A feature of the reign of Paul I was the emphasis on his contrast with his mother, which also affected foreign policy. He promised to maintain peaceful relations with all states and not to interfere in the affairs of the West.

In 1797, Paul I took under his protection the knightly order of St. John, miraculously preserved in Malta since the Crusades, and assumed the title of Grand Master of the order, which caused discontent among the Russian clergy. But the capture of Malta by Napoleon in 1798 pushed Russia to enter into an anti-French coalition with Austria and England. In 1800, there was a rupture in Russian-English relations and a rapprochement between Paul I and Napoleon.

In 1801, Paul I was killed in Mikhailovsky Castle by supporters of his son Alexander.

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Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education Irkutsk State University International Institute of Economics and Linguistics

Essayon the topic of:

"The era of Paul's reignI»

Completed by: A.I. Tynyanskaya

group 11133

Checked by: A.V. Vasilenko

Irkutsk, 2014

1. Biography of Paul I

2. Domestic policy

3. Foreign policy

4. Order of Malta

5. Unfulfilled plans and death

Used Books

1. Biography of Paul I

Paul I was the son of Peter III and Catherine II. Born September 20, 1754. From an early age he was taught to read and write and various sciences. The future Emperor studied history, mathematics, foreign languages and geography. According to the recollections of his teachers, Pavel was a man of lively mind, beautifully gifted by nature. His childhood was difficult; he lost his father early. Moreover, he lost it, as he himself believed, through the fault of his mother. Pavel loved Peter Fedorovich very much, and could not forgive his mother for his death.

At the age of 17, Catherine II married her son to Princess Wilhelmina, who was named Natalya Alekseevna at baptism. During childbirth, Natalya died. In 1776, Paul I married for the second time. The wife of the heir to the Russian throne was Sophia-Dorothe, who at baptism took the name Maria Feodorovna. Maria Feodorovna was related to the Prussian king. Apparently under the influence of his wife, he began to like many German customs.

Meanwhile, relations between Pavel Petrovich and Catherine II became increasingly cool. After the wedding, Catherine II gave the couple Gatchina. In fact, this was a real exile, an attempt to remove the heir from the court. Here in Gatchina, Paul I has his own army; they send him half a company of sailors, an infantry battalion, and a cuirassier regiment. Pavel Petrovich devotes a lot of time to his soldiers. Organizes various exercises and shows. In 1777, his son was born, named Alexander. The boy was immediately taken from his parents, and his upbringing was carried out by people appointed by the empress herself. Pavel and Maria could visit their son only on special days. Pavel tried to participate in the political life of the country, but his mother suppressed any of his undertakings and initiatives.

After the death of Catherine II, Paul I was crowned king. Pavel Petrovich ascended the throne without having great skills in public administration. When he became monarch, he was already 42 years old. He was already an accomplished, bright and extraordinary person.

His very first act on the Russian throne was the coronation of Peter III. The father's ashes were removed from the grave, the coronation ceremony was held, and the subsequent reburial of Peter III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, next to Catherine II.

2. Domestic policy

Paul IPetrovich ascended the throne in 1796, after the death of his mother. During the years of his reign (from 1796-1801), Emperor Paul was able to make many important changes in the life of the country; his reign was characterized by significant events and achievements.

Domestic policy:

The very first goal of Paul I after ascending the throne was to end political repression. Despite their political convictions, all the most famous political prisoners of that time were released from prison - Nikolai Novikov, Alexander Radishchev, Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Persecution for political opinions has stopped. Thus, Novikov continued his criticism of serfdom, and Radishchev was included in the commission for preparing reforms.

Within a short time, favoritism and wastefulness were eradicated by Paul I. Instead, strict order and the requirement to comply with the law were introduced in all spheres of life, from the imperial palace to the ordinary soldier.

On the day of his coronation, Paul I publicly read the adopted new succession law, which drew a line under a century of palace coups and female rule in Russia. From now on, women were actually excluded from inheriting the Russian throne.

Paul I also held military reform, introducing the Prussian system of training troops, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the strictest discipline. This reform became one of the most large-scale transformations of the new emperor. First of all, new regulations were adopted for the infantry, cavalry and sailors (November 1796), which significantly expanded the responsibilities and reduced the powers and privileges of the officers. From now on, they were personally responsible for the life and health of the soldiers, could not use them for work on their own estates, and were obliged to provide them with 28 days of leave every year. Soldiers received the right to complain about abuse and arbitrariness on the part of officers.

The service life of soldiers was limited to 25 years; those who served their due time or could not continue to serve due to health conditions received a pension with maintenance in disabled companies or mobile garrisons.

Many privileges granted by Catherine II to the nobility were abolished. As I already said, this was compulsory military service, as well as taxation, restrictions on rights, restoration of punishment for nobles - the emperor’s requirements for the noble class.

3. Foreign policy

emperor politics paul of malta

Regarding Paul's foreign policyI, then it has changed dramatically:

For the first time in history, Russia began to participate on a large scale in pan-European affairs;

Russia entered and became one of the main participants in the pan-European coalition against revolutionary (and then Napoleonic) France;

Paul I began a timely war against Napoleon;

Russian troops made successful campaigns in Europe far beyond Russia - Italy, Switzerland and Austria; The Russian fleet won brilliant victories in the Mediterranean.

The purpose of Russia's sudden entry into the international arena was to counter revolutionary France and the growing strength of Napoleon.

The largest military operations of Russia in Europe under Paul I were:

The march of the Russian army under the command of Alexander Suvorov to Italy in 1799, the defeat of the French army in the Battle of Adda, the entry of the Russian army into Rome;

Successful assault by the Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov of the previously impregnable French fortress on the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea (between Italy and Greece) February 18 - 20, 1799; the capture of a fortress defended by 650 guns;

The heroic transition of the Russian army of A. Suvorov from Italy to Switzerland through the Alps and the Devil's Bridge, impassable for the army, September 21 - October 8, 1799, as a result of which the Russian army unexpectedly went to the rear of the French and, uniting with the army of Rimsky-Korsakov, inflicted defeat.

The radical changes in domestic and foreign policy initiated by Paul I were abruptly interrupted by the coup of March 12, 1801 and the assassination of Paul I:

The process of restoring order and establishing the rule of law in the country was stopped;

Timely wars against Napoleon on its territory have ceased.

4. Order of Malta

A special role in Paul's politics was played by relations with the Order of Malta. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which appeared in the 11th century, was associated with Palestine for a long time. Under the pressure of the Turks, the Johannites were forced to leave Palestine, settling first in Cyprus and then on the island of Rhodes. However, the struggle with the Turks, which lasted for centuries, forced them to leave this refuge in 1523. After seven years of wandering, the Johannites received Malta as a gift from the Spanish King Charles V. This rocky island became an impregnable fortress of the Order, which became known as the Order of Malta. By the Convention of January 4, 1797, the Order was allowed to have a Grand Priory in Russia. In 1798, Paul's manifesto "On the Establishment of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem" appeared. The new monastic order consisted of two priories - Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox with 98 commanderies. There is an assumption that Paul thereby wanted to unite the two churches - Catholic and Orthodox.

On June 12, 1798, Malta was taken by the French without a fight. The knights suspected Grand Master Gompesh of treason and deprived him of his rank. In the autumn of the same year, Paul I was elected to this post, and willingly accepted the signs of the new rank. Before Paul, the image of a knightly union was drawn, in which, in contrast to the ideas of the French Revolution, the principles of the order would flourish - strict Christian piety, unconditional obedience to elders. According to Paul, the Order of Malta, which had fought so long and successfully against the enemies of Christianity, should now gather all the “best” forces in Europe and serve as a powerful bulwark against the revolutionary movement. The residence of the Order was moved to St. Petersburg. A fleet was being equipped in Kronstadt to expel the French from Malta, but in 1800 the island was occupied by the British, and Paul soon died. In 1817 it was announced that the Order no longer existed in Russia.

5. Unfulfilled plans and death

Paul loved Pavlovsk and Gatchina, where he lived while awaiting the throne. Having ascended the throne, he began to build a new residence - Mikhailovsky Castle, designed by the Italian Vincenzo Brenna, who became the main court architect. Everything in the castle was adapted to protect the emperor. Canals, drawbridges, secret passages, it seemed, were supposed to make Paul's life long. In January 1801, construction of the new residence was completed. But many of Paul I’s plans remained unfulfilled. It was in the Mikhailovsky Palace that Pavel Petrovich was killed on the evening of March 11 (23), 1801. Having lost his sense of reality, he became maniacally suspicious, removed loyal people from himself, and himself provoked dissatisfied people in the guard and high society into a conspiracy. The conspiracy included Argamakov, Vice-Chancellor P.P. Panin, favorite of Catherine P.A. Zubov, Governor General of St. Petersburg von Palen, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N.I. Depreradovich, Kavalergardsky - F.P. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P.A. Talyzin. Thanks to treason, a group of conspirators entered the Mikhailovsky Castle, went up to the emperor’s bedroom, where, according to one version, he was killed Nikolay Zubov(Suvorov's son-in-law, Platon Zubov's older brother), who hit him in the temple with a massive gold snuffbox. According to another version, Paul was strangled with a scarf or crushed by a group of conspirators who attacked the emperor. "Have mercy! Air, air! What have I done wrong to you?"- these were his last words.

The question of whether Alexander Pavlovich knew about the conspiracy against his father remained unclear for a long time. According to the memoirs of Prince A. Czartoryski, the idea of a conspiracy arose almost in the first days of Paul’s reign, but the coup became possible only after it became known about the consent of Alexander, who signed a secret manifesto in which he pledged not to prosecute the conspirators after his accession to the throne. And most likely, Alexander himself understood perfectly well that without murder, a palace coup would be impossible, since Paul I would not voluntarily abdicate. The reign of Paul I lasted only four years, four months and four days. His funeral took place on March 23 (April 4), 1801 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Maria Feodorovna devoted the rest of her life to her family and perpetuating the memory of her husband. In Pavlovsk, almost on the edge of the park, in the middle of the forest, above a ravine, the Mausoleum of the benefactor-spouse was erected according to the design of Thomas de Thomon. Like an ancient temple, it is majestic and silent, all nature around seems to be mourning along with a porphyry-bearing widow sculptured from marble, crying over the ashes of her husband.

Results

So, Paul was interested not only in strengthening his personal power, but also in strengthening the entire power. For him, reforming the state using Catherine’s methods was completely unacceptable. The emperor perceived his mother's liberalism as something dangerous. Naturally, Pavel did not want a repetition of Pugachevism, and he considered Catherine’s policies to be the cause and prerequisite for the destructive uprising.

The reign of Paul the First became a great test for many residents of the country. Attempts to tighten order in the army by introducing new military discipline and to regulate all aspects of the lives of his subjects did not add to the emperor’s popularity, and it is not surprising that his reign ended relatively quickly with death at the hands of the conspirators. Eyewitnesses claim that the news of the death of the sovereign was greeted not with grief, but with jubilation.

Assessments of the descendants and immediate successors regarding the reign of Paul I were, as a rule, sharply negative; he was often called a tyrant and tyrant. However, already in the last century, there were attempts to draw the main attention to his heightened sense of justice, which allegedly pushed him to take appropriate actions.

Used Books

1. http://funeral-spb.narod.ru/necropols/ppk/tombs/pavel1/pavel1.html

2. http://historykratko.com/gody-pravleniya-pavla-1

3. http://www.abc-people.com/typework/history/hist-n-4.htm

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Fears and claims of childhood and youth

Paul recognized himself as an emperor all the time while his mother illegally ruled, who killed his father, Emperor Peter Fedorovich, and usurped the throne. The murder occurred in the summer of 1762. And Empress Catherine died in 1796. That is, a huge period of time passed during which the grown, mature Pavel Petrovich, a well-trained, very cultured and subtle person, understood that every day he could be killed by his own mother. This was reality, since Empress Catherine was a cruel ruler. She killed another contender for the throne, Ivan Antonovich, in the Shlisserburg fortress. And Paul did not exclude this for himself. Second: he saw how his mother ignored his father’s memory in every possible way, that she literally despised Pyotr Fedorovich. When the murdered sovereign was to be buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Empress Catherine did not even come to say goodbye to her husband. This is a personal moment. Third: Pavel Petrovich knew very well that the Empress had written a will in which she ordered the throne to be transferred not to him, but to his eldest son Alexander, born in 1777.

Catherine took Alexander and Konstantin, the two eldest children, from him and raised her herself, believing that her son could not teach them anything good.

Hatred for his mother was a feeling that permeated his entire life.

On the other hand, he saw what was happening at his mother's court. It was a bacchanalia. Yes, the empress issued laws, organized city government, and gave liberties to the nobility, but the immorality that was happening at her court was horrifying. And not only in terms of personal relationships, but also in relation to embezzlement and theft, which flourished. Catherine thought only about expanding the country's borders. Pavel Petrovich saw all this. He was terribly worried and dreamed, if God would allow him to become a sovereign, to correct these shortcomings of governance. The reign of Paul 1, as he expected, would be wonderful.

Death of Catherine

And when his mother, Empress Catherine, died, Pavel Petrovich first took Tsarskoye Selo, occupied it and burned his mother’s will in the fireplace with the transfer of the throne to Alexander. The second thing he does is order the solemn reburial of his father Peter III along with his mother Catherine the Great. And Catherine, who killed her husband, at the behest of her son, lay with him on the same deathbed. They were buried together. This is how the reign of Paul 1 begins.

Burden of Power

After this, he issues a decree on succession to the throne, which was in force until the abdication of Nicholas II (and which he violated with his abdication). Prior to this, this act of succession to the throne, which was published on April 5, 1797, had always been respected. In it, in contrast to the chaotic 18th century, when the tsar accepted the throne as his property and passed it on to whomever he wanted, a strict principle was introduced that the tsar could not transfer the throne to anyone at all. It is inherited automatically. Everything was outlined very clearly, and there was no doubt about who could rule the Russian Empire. And what was most important: at the moment when the coronation took place, the king had to take an oath before the altar, an oath on the cross, that he would sacredly observe the act of coronation. He was no longer an absolute monarch from that moment on. This was another great deed of Pavel Petrovich. This is how the reign of Paul 1 continues.

If you look at the entire 18th century, it is a complete chaos of murders and unrest, and the 19th century is a period of very stable Russian statehood. There were also regicides, but they were not a struggle for the throne, but came from outside.

Acts

The reign of Paul 1 is fanatical absolutism. Pavel Petrovich himself was a deeply religious person, but he perceived absolutism as a form given by God, which proceeded from the fact that God appoints one person as a “watchmaker” and manager of the “clockwork mechanism” that is the state. Putting things in order, Pavel 1 made the years of ruling the country like a “clockwork”. His “debugging”, his management, his “factory” must be managed by himself. Therefore his will is absolute. Paul 1 was absolutely sure of this. And, trying to restore order, he introduced a huge number of laws.

Paul's 1st years of reign were vigorously active, and he even marked every day with the introduction of a new state decree. And this, of course, brought chaos to public administration, because it is impossible to implement so many laws. He was in charge of everything. He issued a law on succession to the throne and at the same time about how long trousers should be worn, he passed a law that nannies should walk with the children entrusted to them at least such and such a time in the winter and such and such a time in the summer, he forbade dancing the waltz and speaking individual words. This is to briefly characterize the reign of Paul 1.

That is, he believed that people could not do anything at all if he did not tell them so. But if he says it, then everyone will do it. It is no coincidence that they always remember the words of Pavel, which he told Prince Repnin, that “in Russia a person means something when he speaks to me, and only as long as he speaks to me.”

Internal Affairs

However, everything was not so simple. Neither in Russia nor in any other country will strange and illogical laws be enforced. The country's big problems were the situation with serfdom and noble liberties. They are clearly connected to each other. The results of the reign of Paul 1 did not fundamentally change anything. The fact is that Peter III himself, Paul’s father, in February 1762 issued a decree on the liberties of the nobility. It must be recalled that, starting with the tax of Alexei Mikhailovich in the 17th century, all classes of the Russian state had to serve, and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself called himself the same tax collector as any of his peasants. Only he has a royal tax, a nobleman has a military tax, a priest has a spiritual tax, and a peasant has a peasant tax. But everyone pulls the tax, everyone is workers of the same state. This was a 17th century idea. With this idea, Peter I inherited the state, and Peter III, under pressure from the nobility, signed a decree on the freedom of the nobility. This decree meant that the nobles could no longer serve. But the peasants, who were given to them as payment in kind for their labor to the sovereign, and their lands remained the property of the nobles, who did not serve the state and the tsar. The lands and the very personality of the peasant were and remained the property of the nobleman. Catherine passed a number of decrees that expanded the rights of nobles over their serfs. The results of the reign of Paul 1 show that the state has not yet moved away from the schemes of the 17th century.

Foreign policy

Since 1798, Paul sought to deal with the ideas of the French Revolution and the expansion of the “usurper.” Together with a coalition of European states, military operations were carried out in Italy, Switzerland, in the Ionian and Mediterranean seas. But treacherous actions within the coalition led to a rapprochement between Russia and France. And this meant a break with England, a major buyer of grain and bread, which caused discontent among the nobles. During the reign of Paul 1 this turned out to be imprudent.

Asian treks

To reduce English possessions, Paul I and Napoleon planned a joint campaign in India. And Paul sent the Don Army to conquer Bukhara and Khiva. After the death of Paul I, the army was withdrawn from there.

Reduction of noble liberties

Pavel Petrovich, being a supporter of absolutism, did not at all want the nobles to be independent of him. During the reign of Paul 1, internal policy towards the nobility became tougher. He changes and limits the laws on the liberties of the nobility, in particular, he introduces corporal punishment for nobles for criminal offenses and at the same time limits their rights to peasants. Not in the sense that he abolishes serfdom. He loved serfdom very much, believing that it brought order, certainty, and correct relations between elders and younger ones. But peasants are people too. This means that he issues a decree that they should be free from working for the master on Sundays and holidays, and the rest of the week should be divided equally between the master and the needs of the peasants themselves. Three days the peasants work for themselves, three days for the master. No one has ever followed this law.

Fear of violent death is the eternal nightmare of the Romanovs

Meanwhile, life unfolded very hard for him. Having suffered in his young years, he began to suspect that they wanted to do with him the same as with his unfortunate father. He began to suspect his second wife, Maria Fedorovna, that she wanted, like Catherine, to remove him from the throne.

Emperor Pavel Petrovich ends all relations with her and converges with the Lopukhin family. But in any case, he now listens to his barber Kutaisov and the Lopukhins and completely alienates his family from himself. Alexander I, in his father’s last years, said that he “felt like he was under an ax,” and that now some terrible fate awaited him. Because of this, a conspiracy was woven. People were unhappy that Pavel Petrovich practically abolished all the laws of his mother and limited the rights of the nobility. The nobles and aristocrats agree with Alexander Pavlovich, the eldest son, that if he does not mind, then Paul I should be forced to step down from the throne and go into exile. Then Alexander I will take his father’s throne according to the law of succession to the throne, introduced by Paul himself. Alexander, apparently, did not refuse.

The last act of the tragedy

What happened on March 11, 1801 at the Engineering Castle in St. Petersburg did not at all coincide with these preliminary proposals. For some reason, some say because the conspirators were drunk, others say that Paul resisted. He was killed that night in the Engineers' Castle, which he built with all precautions, expecting that there would be an attempt on his life. The further he went, the more he manically expected a violent death, tried to prevent it, but could not.

This is the reign of Paul 1 (summary). His life can hardly be called happy.

During the reign of Paul 1, domestic and foreign policy was assessed by contemporaries very negatively, negatively. Indeed, there was a lot in her that was spontaneous and thoughtless. But this grew out of the character traits that his mother instilled in him, and out of fear for his life.

There are many people in the world who call for something and then tear their hair out when it happens.

As soon as he ascended the throne, Paul 1 changed the order of succession to the throne in Russia, which had been in effect without changes since the time of Peter the Great. Paul 1 changed the position that the future monarch is determined by the will of the incumbent. From now on, only representatives of the ruling dynasty in the male line in order of seniority had rights to the throne. Thus began the internal policy of Emperor Paul 1.

The next stage of Paul 1’s actions within the country was the search for associates and winning the love and respect of most of the people. To achieve these goals, Paul 1 almost completely removed from power all the officials who served Empress Catherine. New officials loyal to Emperor Paul were appointed to the vacant positions. The domestic policy of Paul 1 continued to soften the living conditions of the peasants. First of all, the emperor repealed the law that prohibited peasants from complaining about the landowners. After this, all types of corporal punishment for peasants were abolished, all arrears from peasants were canceled, the amount of which at the time Pavle 1 came to power exceeded 7 million rubles. In addition, Paul 1 reduced corvee throughout the country. If earlier corvee (free work of peasants on the landowner's fields) was 6 days a week, now it should not exceed 3 days a week. The imperial decree also prohibited the involvement of peasants in corvee work on weekends, as well as on religious holidays.

The main events of the emperor's policy

The internal policy of Paul 1 continued with the solution of the food issue in the country. The country had extremely high prices for all types of food. To solve this problem, Paul 1 issued a decree according to which everyone was obliged to trade at reduced prices for food obtained from state reserves.

The new emperor tried to instill fear and respect for his person in everyone. As a result, mass repressions began in the country. At the same time, the emperor did not look at the rank or origin of the accused. Paul 1 was not interested in violations either; sometimes nobles who simply violated their dress code were exiled and deprived of all titles and privileges. Paul 1 liked to repeat that there are practically no noble people in his country, and those with whom the emperor deigns to speak are considered noble, and exactly as long as the emperor speaks to him. The domestic policy of Paul 1 was extremely cruel for the country's elite. The secret chancellery, which dealt with such cases, met almost without interruption. In total, during the reign of Emperor Paul 1, 721 cases were processed through the Secret Chancellery, which amounted to almost 180 cases per year. For example, during the reign of Empress Catherine 2, the secret chancellery met on average 25 times a year, investigating 1 case per convocation.

Controversy in domestic politics

The problem of studying the era of Paul 1 is that this emperor brought almost any undertaking to the point of insanity, when ideas were simultaneously implemented that were radically different from each other and which led to contradictions. That is why today they say that Paul’s internal policy was very contradictory and there were a lot of dark spots in it. For example:

Attitude towards revolutionaries. Pavel 1 tried to show his loyalty to the revolutionaries, as a result of which he returned Radishchev, Kosciuszko, Novikov and others from exile. At the same time, he evilly persecutes everyone who has anything to do with the French Revolution.
Politics in the army. The Emperor prohibits the admission of minors into the guard. This is an absolute plus, but at the same time the same emperor is reforming the army in the Prussian manner (the Prussian army has never been distinguished for its strength and skill).
Peasant question. One of the main initiatives of the emperor's domestic policy was the decree on three-day corvee, which significantly limited the powers of serf owners. On the other hand, the emperor issues a decree and literally showers all landowners with new lands.
Public administration. A law on succession to the throne is adopted (it had long been outdated and needed reform), but Paul simultaneously eliminated many colleges, which led to chaos within the country.

The domestic policy of Paul 1 also affected reforms in the army. True, they were not widespread and affected, first of all, the relationship between a soldier and an officer. Paul 1 prohibited cruel punishment of soldiers by officers. For violating this prohibition, the punishments for officers were the most severe and were no different from the punishments for soldiers who allowed themselves to insult an officer.

In whose interests did Paul 1 rule?

Paul 1 pursued internal policies to strengthen his power, and also tried to ease the role of the common man. The emperor's internal policy was carried out in the interests of ordinary categories of the population. Naturally, this displeased the major nobles, who regularly plotted against their emperor. As a result, the internal policy of Paul 1 became one of the components of a future conspiracy against the emperor. A conspiracy that cost Pavel 1 his life.