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Historical person

Alexander I of Russia

1777–1825

Alexander I ruled Russia from 1801 to 1825 and was one of the central monarchs of the Napoleonic era. His reign began with cautious reform but became dominated by war with France, the invasion of Russia in 1812 and the coalition campaigns that ended with the occupation of Paris.

Alexander played a major role at the Congress of Vienna and promoted the Holy Alliance, although his later government became increasingly conservative and suspicious of political opposition. Alexander I of Russia was born in Saint Petersburg and died in Taganrog.

Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace places Alexander I within the real political and military world surrounding Austerlitz, the 1812 invasion and Russia’s resistance to Napoleon. C. S. Forester’s Commodore Hornblower brings Hornblower into diplomatic contact with Tsar Alexander as Britain tries to draw Russia and Sweden more firmly against France. Richard Woodman’s Baltic Mission and Julian Stockwin’s Thunderer show British naval operations shaped by Russia’s position in the Napoleonic struggle, while Adam Zamoyski’s 1812 reconstructs the invasion, the loss of Moscow and the collapse of Napoleon’s army that transformed Alexander from threatened monarch into one of the rulers who would determine the European settlement.

Periods

Periods linked to Alexander I of Russia

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Alexander I of Russia (5 series)

Thomas Kydd in Order

by Julian Stockwin 27 books 4.2(24,001)

The Thomas Kydd series follows a Guildford wig-maker pressed into the Royal Navy in 1793 and traces his rise from inexperienced landsman to admiral. Across twenty-seven novels, Kydd learns the work of the lower deck, crosses to the quarterdeck and commands increasingly important ships during the French Revolutionary…

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Kirov Trilogy in Order

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 3 books 4.2(935)

The Kirov Trilogy follows three generations connected with the fictional Kirov family against the splendour and violence of Imperial Russia. Beginning in 1803, the sequence moves from the Napoleonic invasion through the Crimean War to the First World War and the Russian Revolution, linking English heroines with a…

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Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery in Order

by C. S. Harris 21 books 4.3(208,269)

The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries follow Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a former cavalry officer and intelligence agent who investigates murders in Regency Britain. Beginning in 1811, his cases carry him from royal palaces and Mayfair drawing rooms to prisons, docks, rookeries and country villages, where violent crimes…

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Nathaniel Drinkwater in Order

by Richard Woodman 14 books 4.4(2,498)

The Nathaniel Drinkwater series follows a Royal Navy officer from his first service during the American Revolutionary War to a final mission in early Victorian Britain. Drinkwater rises from vulnerable midshipman to experienced captain while operating across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, Arctic, Pacific and China seas. The fourteen…

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Hornblower Saga in Order

by C. S. Forester 12 books 4.3(138,286)

The Horatio Hornblower novels follow a Royal Navy officer from his first service as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars to senior command after the defeat of Napoleon. The books combine shipboard life, naval combat, intelligence work, diplomacy and the practical burdens of command with Hornblower’s private…

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Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Alexander I of Russia (1 book)

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Alexander I of Russia (5 books)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.