Interpretation of the image of Paul I in the writings of historians of the second half of the 19th - beginning of the 21st centuries

The article is devoted to the analysis of historical literature about Russian Emperor Paul I. Particular attention is paid to how the image of the monarch was modified during the second half of the 19th - beginning of the 21st centuries. It can not be said that the list of works on Paul I is great; nevertheless, pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern Russian historians were studying the era of his reign. The interest of historical science in the personality and activity of the Russian emperor is due to the fact that the monarch is a rather controversial and ambiguous figure, which is indicated by his state activity, personal qualities and, moreover, his tragic death as a result of a conspiracy, due to which a comprehensive study of the period of Paul I's reign throughout the century was limited. The contingent of historians in this work is determined in accordance with the chronology: studies of pre-revolutionary (N. Schilder, E. Shumigorsky, K. Valishevsky), Soviet (M. Pokrovsky, N. Eidelman) and modern Russian (Yu. Sorokin, A. Bokhanov) researchers. Using the same historical sources published at the turn of the 20th century, historians interpret the image of the emperor differently, apparently based on a selective analysis of the works of memoir literature available to them. It must also be said that the image of the emperor presented by historians was influenced by the era in which their historical work was created - often the dominant ideology and general scientific tendencies made their own corrections. In this regard, it should be noted that historians come to different conclusions, and the image of the emperor developed from contradictory in pre-revolutionary works, unambiguously negative in the early Soviet period to positive in the works of modern Russian researchers. In their works historians present the most important, in their opinion, moments, describing both the personal qualities of the emperor, which undoubtedly influenced his state activity, and also characterizing the policy Paul I pursued. The analysis of historical literature in the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the 21st centuries, carried out in the article, makes it possible to state that the image of Emperor Paul I has changed markedly over the centuries. Using primarily memoir literature, pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern Russian historians compiled various historical portraits of the monarch: in some, Paul I was incapable of governing the state, in others he was a far-sighted politician who set strategic goals for Russia. Such an evolution of the image of Pavel I is a reflection of the changes taking place and taking place in the public consciousness, enabling further "completion" of the image of the monarch.

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