1801 Assassination of Paul the First

215 years ago, on March 24, 1801, Emperor Paul I was killed in St. Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Castle. He became a victim of a palace coup in favor of his son Alexander. The coup was led by the governor-general of St. Petersburg and the head of the secret police, Pyotr Palen, Pavel's closest confidant. The conspiracy also included the commanders of the regiments stationed in St. Petersburg. The reason for the conspiracy was both the unpredictability of the behavior of the emperor, when any of those close to him could be disgraced even tomorrow, and the alliance concluded by Paul with France, which interfered with trade with England, on which the well-being of the nobility and merchants depended.

How exactly Pavel was killed - strangled with an officer's scarf or died from a blow to the temple with a snuffbox - it is impossible to say exactly. Those of the conspirators who left memoirs claimed that at the time of the murder they left the emperor’s bedroom and did not see the regicide itself. According to the official version, Pavel died of "apoplexy" (stroke).