PAUL I

Catherine the Great's second son succeeded his mother in 1796. His father and brother's murder together with his mother's neglect had exerted a baneful influence on his character and his earliest measures were the exile of the murderers and the pardon of Polish prisoners, but he soon revealed his violent temper and lack of capacity, irritating his subjects by vexatious regulations. He suddenly declared for the allies against France and sent an army of 56,000 men under Suvorov into Italy. He sent a second army to co-operate with the Austrians, retired from the Alliance, quarrelled with England and entered into a close alliance with Napoleon. After his convention with Sweden and Denmark, England send a fleet into the Baltic under Nelson to dissolve the coalition (1801). His own officers compelled Paul to abdicate, and he was strangled.