KONSTANTIN NIKOLAYEVICH

(1827–1892), political and naval figure, second son of Tsar Nicholas I, brother of Tsar Alexander II, and an advocate of liberal reform.

Because Konstantin Nikolayevich was not the tsarevich, his designation as a general admiral at the age of four marked him early for a career in the Imperial Russian Navy. In 1853 he actually began to discharge the functions of his rank, and between 1855 and 1881 he simultaneously headed the Naval Ministry and served as commander–in–chief of Russian naval forces. A reformer of broad vision and originality, he bore responsibility for modernizing the navy, overseeing the transition from sail to steam. After 1845 he was also honorary president of the Imperial Russian Geographic Society, from whose membership sprang a number of future Russian reformers. Characteristically, the grand duke viewed his own naval bailiwick as an engine of change, in contemporary parlance "a ministry of progress," engaged in training personnel for service in other branches of government. His reform–minded protégés were known as the konstantinovtsy.

An opponent of serfdom and government censorship, Konstantin Nikolayevich spurned his father's legacy to advocate openness, reform, and the cause of liberal bureaucrats such as Nikolai Milyutin and Alexander Golovnin. The grand duke believed that peasants should receive title to their own private holdings. In 1857, to speed deliberations over serf emancipation, Tsar Alexander II appointed him president of the Secret Committee on the peasant question. Following emancipation in 1861, Konstantin Nikolayevich served for two decades as president of the Main Committee on Peasant Affairs, which oversaw implementation of peasant–related reform legislation.

Meanwhile, as a counter to growing Polish opposition to Russian rule, the grand duke in March 1862 also received appointment to Warsaw as viceroy and commander–in–chief. He was removed

in August 1863, after his liberal "policy of pacification" had failed to forestall open rebellion. Nevertheless, throughout the 1860s and 1870s he remained a staunch advocate of his brother's Great Reforms, supporting them from various influential governmental positions, including presidency of the State Council between 1865 and 1881. In general, the grand duke also backed the military policies of war minister Dmitry Milyutin, while resisting the reactionary policies of Dmitry Tolstoy, the minister of education. In 1866 Konstantin Nikolayevich unsuccessfully sponsored moderate legislation that would have introduced into the State Council representatives from both zemstvo and noble assemblies. During the last years of his brother's reign, he sided with the liberal policies of Mikhail Loris–Melikov, Minister of the Interior. Upon the accession of Tsar Alexander III in 1881, the grand duke left state service.

A cultivated man, Konstantin Nikolayevich read widely, maintained diverse interests, and played the cello. He was accepted in intellectual circles and maintained honorary membership in a number of learned societies. He left important memoirs and an impressive correspondence, much of which has been published.

See also: alexander ii; great reforms; military, imperial; military reforms; peasantry

bibliography

Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1990). The Great Reforms: Autocracy, Bureaucracy, and the Politics of Change in Imperial Russia. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.

Larissa Zakharova