Editing Nicholas I of Russia (section)

===Early reign===
Nicholas completely lacked his brother's spiritual and intellectual breadth; he saw his role simply as that of a paternal [[Tsarist autocracy|autocrat]] ruling his people by whatever means necessary.<ref>W. Bruce Lincoln, ''The Romanovs'' (The Dial Press: New York, 1981) p. 411.</ref> Nicholas I began his reign on 14 December 1825 (old style),<ref>Edward Crankshaw, ''The Shadow of the Winter Palace'' (Viking Press: New York, 1976) p. 13.</ref> which fell on a Monday; Russian superstition held that Mondays were unlucky days.<ref name="W. Bruce Lincoln p. 409">W. Bruce Lincoln, ''The Romanovs'', p. 409.</ref> This particular Monday dawned very cold, with temperatures of −8 degrees Celsius.<ref name=" W. Bruce Lincoln p. 409"/> This was regarded by the Russian people as a bad omen for the coming reign.

The accession of Nicholas I was marred by a demonstration of 3000 young [[Officer (armed forces)|army officer]]s and other liberal-minded citizens. This demonstration was an attempt to force the government to accept a constitution and a representative form of government. Nicholas ordered the [[Imperial Russian Army]] to smash the demonstration. The "uprising" was quickly put down and became known as the [[Decembrist revolt]]. Having experienced the trauma of the Decembrist revolt on the first day of his reign, Nicholas I was determined to restrain Russian society. The [[Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|Third Section]] of the [[His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|Imperial Chancellery]] ran a huge network of spies and informers with the help of [[Separate Corps of Gendarmes|Gendarmes]]. The government exercised [[Censorship in Russia|censorship]] and other forms of control over education, publishing, and all manifestations of public life.

Nicholas appointed [[Alexander Benckendorff]] to head this Chancellery. Benckendorff employed 300 gendarmes and 16 staff in his office. He began collecting informers and intercepting mail. Soon, the saying that "it was impossible to sneeze in one's house before it is reported to the emperor" became Benckendorff's creed.<ref>Montefiore, p. 493</ref>