Alexander I

(born Dec. 23, 1777, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Dec. 1, 1825, Taganrog) Tsar of Russia (1801–25).

He became tsar in 1801 after the assassination of his father, Paul I. He and his advisers corrected many of the injustices of the preceding reign but failed to carry out the abolition of serfdom. During the Napoleonic Wars he alternately fought and befriended Napoleon and helped form the coalition that finally defeated him. Alexander also participated in the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and formed the Holy Alliance (1815). After his sudden death in 1825, a legend sprang up that he had simply “departed” to a Siberian retreat.