CHAPTER XIII


THE MILITARY DESPOTISM OF NICHOLAS I.

1. MILITARY SERVICE AS A MEANS OF DE-JUDAIZATION

The era of Nicholas I. was typically inaugurated by the bloody
suppression of the Decembrists and their constitutional demands, [1]
proving as it subsequently did one continuous triumph of military
despotism over the liberal movements of the age. As for the emancipation
of the Jews, it was entirely unthinkable in an empire which had become
Europe's bulwark against the inroads of revolutionary or even moderately
liberal tendencies. The new despotic regime, overflowing with aggressive
energy, was bound to create, after its likeness, a novel method of
dealing with the Jewish problem. Such a method was contrived by the iron
will of the Russian autocrat.

[Footnote 1: See Vol. I, p. 410, n. 1.]

Nicholas I., who was originally intended for a military career, was
placed on the Russian throne by a whim of fate.[1] Prior to his
accession, Nicholas had shown no interest in the Jewish problem. The
Jewish masses had flitted across his vision but once--in 1816--when,
still a young man, he traveled through Russia for his education. The
impression produced upon him by this strange people is recorded by the