ABSTRACT
The seeds of the intellectual and political dissent that was eventually to turn into revolt and carry away Russian autocracy in 1917 are to be found in the second half of the eighteenth century. The sense of optimism at the beginning of the century is explained partly by the fact that Alexander I who gave signs in the early years of his reign of being receptive to the opinions of others and of wishing to dispense with tyrannical methods of government. The sense of national unity in the early part of the nineteenth century is explained by the country's preoccupation with the war against Napoleon and in particular by the effort required to repel the invasion of 1812 and by pride in the success of that effort. In the years after the victory over Napoleon a mystical conservatism came to the fore in Alexander and supplanted the apparent liberal leanings of the earlier part of his reign.
