История России XIX столетия. том IV

Chetvërtyĭ tom posvi͡ashchën seredine i zavershenii͡u t͡sarstvovanii͡a imperatora Nikolai͡a I. Shag za shagom Nikolaĭ Pavlovich otkazyvaetsi͡a ot osushchestvlenii͡a proektov reform, kotorye zaveshchal emu Aleksandr I dli͡a perekhoda ot absoli͡utizma k konstitut͡sionnomu predstavitelʹnomu pravlenii͡u. Nesmotri͡a na bumazhnui͡u aktivnostʹ mnogochislennykh sekretnykh komitetov, krepostnoe rabstvo ne bylo ni otmeneno, ni dazhe sushchestvenno ogranicheno. Gimnazicheskoe i universitetskoe obrazovanie stanovitsi͡a prerogativoĭ vysshikh sosloviĭ, da i dli͡a nikh zhëstko ogranichivaetsi͡a vsë bolee svirepei͡ushcheĭ t͡senzuroĭ i prekrashcheniem mezhdunarodnykh kulʹturnykh kontaktov. Bi͡urokratii͡a, lishënnai͡a kontroli͡a so storony obshchestva, utopaet v korrupt͡sii i ne sposobna napravitʹ Rossii͡u po puti bystrogo khozi͡aĭstvennogo razvitii͡a, promyshlennoĭ revoli͡ut͡sii, za kotoroĭ Nikolaevskai͡a imperii͡a sovershenno ne pospevaet. No T͡Sarʹ, ostavai͡asʹ uverennym v voennom mogushchestve "ego strany", idët na novye vneshnepoliticheskie avanti͡ury, shchedro trati͡a na nikh krovʹ russkikh soldat i narodnye denʹgi. Ėto dolgoe t͡sarstvovanie zavershaetsi͡a nikomu ne nuzhnoĭ Krymskoĭ voĭnoĭ i pozornym porazheniem v neĭ.

The fourth volume is dedicated to the middle and end of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I. Step by step, Nikolai Pavlovich refuses to implement the reform projects that Alexander I bequeathed to him for the transition from absolutism to constitutional representative government. Despite the paper activity of numerous secret committees, serfdom was neither abolished nor even significantly limited. Gymnasium and university education is becoming the prerogative of the upper classes, and even for them it is severely limited by increasingly rampant censorship and the cessation of international cultural contacts. The bureaucracy, deprived of control by society, is drowned in corruption and is unable to guide Russia along the path of rapid economic development and the industrial revolution, which the Nikolaev Empire is completely unable to keep up with. But the Tsar, remaining confident in the military might of "his country," goes on new foreign policy adventures, lavishing on them the blood of Russian soldiers and people's money. This long reign ends with the unnecessary Crimean War and the shameful defeat in it.