Editing Paul I of Russia (section)

==Assassination==
[[File:Spb 06-2017 img21 StMichael Castle.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Saint Michael's Castle|St. Michael's Castle]] in Saint Petersburg, where Emperor Paul was murdered mere weeks after the opening festivities]]

Paul's premonitions of [[assassination]] were well-founded. His attempts to force the nobility to adopt a code of [[chivalry]] alienated many of his trusted advisors. The Emperor also discovered outrageous machinations and [[corruption]] in the Russian [[treasury]]. 

A [[List of conspiracies (political)|conspiracy]] was organized, some months before it was executed, by Counts [[Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen]], [[Nikita Petrovich Panin]], and [[José de Ribas|Admiral de Ribas]], with the alleged support of the [[List of ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia|British ambassador in Saint Petersburg]], Charles Whitworth.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Newton|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4-dAwAAQBAJ|title=Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610692861|volume=1|location=Santa Barbara, California|page=411|chapter=Paul I of Russia (1754-1801)|quote=The plot's mastermind was Count Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov ....  Count Zubov hatched the conspiracy with Count Peter Alekseyevich Pahlen ....  Allegedly financed by Zubov's sister, Olga Zherebetsova, with funds procured from her lover—Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth, Britain's envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary at St. Petersburg under Catherine—the conspirators recruited others.|author-link1=Michael Newton (author)|access-date=2019-05-27}}</ref>

The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of {{OldStyleDate|{{nowrap|23 March}}|1801|11 March}}, a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of [[Saint Michael's Castle]]. The assassins included General [[Levin August, Count von Bennigsen]], a [[Hanover]]ian in the Russian service; and General [[Vladimir Mikhailovich Yashvil]], a Georgian. They charged into Paul's bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner.<ref>Radzinsky, Edvard. ''Alexander II: The last great tsar'' Freepress, 2005. pp. 16–17.</ref> The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his [[abdication]]. Paul offered some resistance, and [[Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov|Nikolay Zubov]] struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death. Paul's successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had "given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination".<ref>''A History of Russia'' by George Vernadsky, Yale University Press.</ref> Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, "Time to grow up! Go and rule!" Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, [[Sir James Wylie, 1st Baronet|James Wylie]], declared [[apoplexy]] the official cause of death.<ref>Marbot, Jean. (Oliver C. Colt, trans.) ''The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot'', Volume 2, [http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2401/pg2401-images.html Chapter 3 "The intrigues of Count Czernicheff"]</ref><ref>Hutchison, Robert. "A Medical Adventurer. Biographical Note on Sir James Wylie, Bart., M.D., 1758 to 1854." ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine'', 06/1928; 21(8):1406.</ref>