For many years Russia was ruled by emperors, called tsars or czars (the
word is taken from Caesar, which was the name of several great rulers in
ancient Rome). The czar was supposed to be an absolute ruler, whom
everyone had to obey. Actually, the noblemen did not hesitate to kill or
replace the czars if they were not pleased, and most of the cruel acts
charged to the czars were actually done by the noblemen.
For many years Russia was ruled by emperors, called tsars or czars (the word is taken from Caesar, which was the name of several great rulers in ancient Rome). The czar was supposed to be an absolute ruler, whom everyone had to obey. Actually, the noblemen did not hesitate to kill or replace the czars if they were not pleased, and most of the cruel acts charged to the czars were actually done by the noblemen.
Some of the czars were quite nice men. Two of these were named Alexander. The first one, Alexander I, was czar from 1801 to 1825. During his time, the French emperor Napoleon was fighting wars all over Europe and Alexander took part in several of these. Alexander was born in 1777, so he was a young man of 24 when he became czar, and he liked the ideas of democracy, even though there was nothing democratic about the Russian government. He was a very handsome and pleasant young man, and both the nobles and the people of Russia loved and admired him. For a few years he fought against Napoleon; then in 1807, he made friends with Napoleon and was his ally in war. But Napoleon became too powerful and Alexander I began to fear him. In 1812, Napoleon went to war against Russia. The story of this war is told in the article about NAPOLEON. Napoleon beat Russia but lost the war.
