Alexander's Constitution

In November 1815 Tsar Alexander I granted the Kingdom of Poland, then under Russian control, a constitution.

Twenty years earlier, Poland had been partitioned among Russia, Prussia, and Austria, but now the constitution gave it a small measure of autonomy and the right to convene its own parliament, the Sejm.

The news of Poland’s constitution was extremely upsetting to a group of young imperial officers; it prompted them to begin forming secret anti-government societies and, in 1825, stage the Decembrist Revolt – an attempt to overthrow the monarchy and introduce a constitution.

One might have expected the young conspirators to be ecstatic that the tsar had brought the Poles closer to their liberal ideas. Instead, they were embittered – why the Poles, but not Russia?

Why indeed? Probably Alexander was more afraid of his own subjects than he was of the Poles and feared that they might misinterpret the gesture. This tragic misunderstanding between the tsar and his most enlightened and liberal subjects cost Russia dearly.

Russia had to wait nearly a century before it would get anything like a constitution of its own.