Nicholas I, emperor and autocrat of all the Russias
This present study, among other things, redresses the balance to some extent in Nicholas's favor. Certainly it is not intended as an apology for Russia's firm, sometimes cruel, Emperor. It is, however, an effort to view Nicholas as his contemporaries saw him and, given the distance of some 150 years since his accession, to place him and his policies in a more balanced historical perspective. - Preface.