Nicholas I as the Superpower Creator: Socio-Cultural Prerequisites

In the article the author examines the main substantive aspects of the reign of Nicholas I, which at that time determined the status of the Russian Empire as a superpower, including the emergence of destructive tendencies in it. The socio-cultural prerequisites for the creation of a superpower during the reign of Nicholas I are analyzed: military-political, economic, educational and ideological, as well as the reason for the creation of ideological myths about the “Nicholas era”. The reasons for the appearance of Russophobic intelligentsia specifically in that era are shown. The author concludes that in the “big time” of History, the era of Nicholas I is not only the “golden age” of Russian culture, which coincides chronologically with it, but also the «golden age” of Russian civilization and Russian statehood.