T. V. Andreeva. Return: M. M. Speransky in 1821–1824 (according to the diary of a reformer) // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 3, 2022, pp. 201–220

The report at the international scientific conference “The Great Reformer of Russia: to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839)”. St. Petersburg, September 22-23, 2022

Annotation:
The article is devoted to the diary of M. M. Speransky, which refers to the period of the reformer’s arrival from Siberia to St. Petersburg and is a valuable source of information not only about the complex process of his return to big politics, but also about the most important domestic and foreign policy problems of the last period of the reign of Alexander I. The diary uniquely covers the preparation and implementation of the Siberian reform of 1822, the work of the first Siberian Committee, government activities to improve and systematize Russian legislation, M. M. Speransky’s participation in the development of a reform program in estate, imperial policy, and credit and financial policy. This document gives an idea of the circumstances and objectives of the creation of the Asian, Tariff, Commercial and Financial Committees, decision-making mechanisms related to the Greek Revolt and the second Spanish Revolution (1820–1823), their discussion and correlation depending on the socio-political situation in Russia and Europe. Diary of the greatest statesman of the 19th century allows you to expand and, possibly, to some extent change the ideas that have developed in historiography, both about the role and place of M. M. Speransky in public life in the early 1820s, and about the activities of the administrative apparatus of that time.

Keywords:
Russian Empire, Alexander I, M. M. Speransky, Higher bureaucracy, diary.

Author:
Andreeva, Tatiana Vasilievna — Doctor in History, Leading Researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Institute of History.

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