Editing Nicholas I of Russia (section)

=== Europe ===
[[File:Nicholas I of Russia by Alexander Schwabe (1843, GIM) detail 01.jpg|thumb|Nicholas I in an equestrian portrait]]
In foreign policy, Nicholas I acted as the protector of ruling legitimism and as guardian against revolution. It has often been noted that such policies were linked with the [[Klemens von Metternich|Metternich counter-revolutionary system]] through the Austrian ambassador Count [[Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont]].<ref>''[[Why Nations Fail]]'', Acemoglu, Daron; Robinson, James p. 224. {{ISBN|978-0-307-71921-8}}</ref> Nicholas's offers to suppress revolution on the European continent, trying to follow the pattern set by his eldest brother, Alexander I, earned him the label of "gendarme of Europe".<ref>Hosking (1997), p. 32</ref>

Immediately on his succession Nicholas began to limit the liberties that existed under the [[constitutional monarchy]] in [[Congress Poland]]. Nicholas was outraged when he learned of the [[Belgian Revolution|Belgian revolt against the Dutch in 1830]] and ordered the [[Imperial Russian Army]] to mobilize. Nicholas then petitioned the Prussian ambassador for Russian troops to be granted transit rights in order to march across Europe and restore Dutch hegemony over Belgium.<ref>Rendall, Matthew "Defensive Realism and the Concert of Europe" pp. 523–540 from ''Review of International Studies'', Volume 32, Issue #3 July 2006 p. 534.</ref> But at the same time, a [[cholera]] epidemic was decimating Russian troops and the revolt in Poland tied down Russian soldiers which might have been deployed against the Belgians.<ref name="Rendall pages 523-540">Rendall, Matthew "Defensive Realism and the Concert of Europe" pages 523–540 from ''Review of International Studies'', Volume 32, Issue # 3 July 2006 p. 535.</ref> It seems likely that Nicholas's hawkish stance was not a sincere prelude towards invasion of the Low Countries, but rather an attempt to apply pressure on the other European powers. Nicholas made it clear he would only act if Prussia and Britain also participated as he feared that a Russian invasion of Belgium would cause a war with France.<ref name="Rendall pages 523-540"/> Even before the Poles rose up, Nicholas had cancelled his plans for invading Belgium as it became clear that neither Britain nor Prussia would join in while the French openly threatened war if Nicholas should march.<ref>Rendall, Matthew "Defensive Realism and the Concert of Europe" pp. 523–540 from ''Review of International Studies'', Volume 32, Issue #3 July 2006 pp. 535–536.</ref> In 1815, Nicholas arrived in France, where he stayed with the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe, who soon become one of his best friends, with the grand duke being impressed with duke's personal warmth, intelligence, manners and grace.<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 page 255.</ref> For Nicholas the worst sort of characters were nobility who supported liberalism, and when the duc d'Orleans become the king of the French as [[Louis Philippe I]] in the July revolution of 1830, Nicholas took this as a personal betrayal, believing his friend had gone over as he saw it to the dark side of revolution and liberalism.<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 page 256.</ref> Nicholas hated Louis-Philippe, the self-styled ''Le roi citoyen'' ("the Citizen King") as a renegade nobleman and a "usurper", and his foreign policy starting in 1830 was primarily [[Anti-French sentiment|anti-French]], based upon reviving the coalition that had existed during the Napoleonic era of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Britain, to isolate France.<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 pages 256–257.</ref> Nicholas detested Louis-Philippe to the point that he refused to use his name, referring to him merely as "the usurper".<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 page 257.</ref> Britain was unwilling to join the anti-French coalition, but Nicholas was successful in cementing existing close ties with Austria and Prussia and the three imperial states regularly held joint military reviews during this time.<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 pages 255–256</ref> For much of the 1830s, a sort of "cold war" existed between the liberal "western bloc" of France and Britain vs. the reactionary "eastern bloc" of Austria, Prussia and Russia.<ref>Riasanovsky, Nicholas ''Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia, 1825–1855'', Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959 pages 255–256.</ref>

After the [[November Uprising]] broke out, in 1831 the [[Sejm of Congress Poland|Polish parliament]] deposed Nicholas as king of Poland in response to his repeated curtailment of its constitutional rights. Nicholas reacted by sending Russian troops into Poland and brutally crushed the rebellion. Nicholas then proceeded to abrogate the [[Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish constitution]] in virtual entirety and reduced Poland to the status of a province called [[Vistula Land]]. Soon after, Nicholas embarked on a policy of repressing Polish culture beginning with suppressing the [[Catholic Church in Poland|Polish Catholic Church]].<ref>An introduction to Russian history</ref> In the 1840s, Nicholas reduced 64,000 Polish nobles to commoner status.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Auty|first1=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxREnBcMFcEC&q=partitions+of+Poland+absolute+monarchies&pg=PA180|title=Companion to Russian Studies: Volume 1: An Introduction to Russian History|last2=Obolensky|first2=Dimitri|date=7 July 1980|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780521280389|page=180|access-date=7 July 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1848, when a [[Revolutions of 1848|series of revolutions]] convulsed Europe, Nicholas was at the forefront of reactionism. In 1849, he helped the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]] to suppress the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|revolution in Hungary]], and he also urged [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] not to adopt a liberal constitution.<ref>W. B. Lincoln, "Russia and the European Revolutions of 1848" ''History Today'' (Jan 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 1, pp 53–59 online.</ref><ref>Ian W. Roberts, ''Nicholas I and the Russian Intervention in Hungary'' (1991).</ref>