Alexander Pavlovich Romanov, also known as Tsar Alexander I of All the Russias, was born in Sankt Petersburg in 1777 and died in Taganrog in 1825.

He was the favourite grand son of Empress Catherine the Great, but he didn’t succeed her to the Throne. After his father’s death (Paul I), he became Tsar of All the Russias in 1801. He was proclaimed King of Poland in 1815 and he was also the first Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania.

He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars. In the first part of his reign, he introduced liberal reforms, but during the second part of his reign, he became more arbitrary.

He died in 1825 in suspicious circumstances, and his brother succeeded him to the Throne as Nicolas I.

I choose him because he defended his country with braveness and intelligence against Napoleon’s invasion (later called Great Patriotic War by Russians), then, during Napoleon’s retreat; he allied Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, and some other countries and he finally marched into Paris, ending the Napoleonic period. His exploits in war inspirited Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812, Tolstoy’s War and Peace and some other Russian productions.