Nicholas I, who mounted the throne after defeating the Decembrist uprising, suppressed the Polish insurrection of 1830-1831 and assisted Austria in suppressing the Hungarian insurrection of 1848-1849; he was a resolute reactionary and considered himself the principal guardian of "order" not only in Russia but the entire world as well. Under his rule, any freethinking was persecuted, all aspects of life were subject to centralized bureaucratic regulations. A complex absolutist bureaucratic system was created, while corruption and arbitrariness flourished locally. Serfdom was proclaimed as eternal.
The 3rd Department of His Imperial Majesty's Office, with the Gendarme Corps subordinated to it, was responsible for keeping order in the Empire. Count Alexander Benkendorf was the Director of the 3rd Department and the chief of gendarmes. Leonty Dubbelt served as Chief of Staff for the Gendarme Corps.
The army played an unprecedented role in all branches of government. More than one half of the Russian provinces had military governors. The military command was appointed to the highest positions, as far up as the High Procurator of the Holy Synod. The well-known triad "orthodoxy, autocracy, populism" (i.e. official nationalism) became the regime's ideology.
Government reaction could not stop the rapid development of Russian culture, however. The literature of this epoch is noted for the rise of such classic writers as Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, and the early works of Turgenev, and Dostoyevsky. Glinka was the first national composer to achieve renown. The literary critic Vissarion Belinsky made an outstanding contribution to the success of Russian journalism.
Public attention was focused on the lively polemic between the Westernizers (who advocated European liberalism, constitutional order, and development of the economy and education on Western European models) and Slavophiles (who advocated Russia's unique mission and path of development, i.e. unity of the monarchy and the people, consolidation of Orthodoxy and preservation of peasants' communities).
Jewish topics were not much explored in the Russian literature of that period. The positions of Russian writers varied from traditional anti-semitism to a humane attitude towards Jews.
The country's economy continued to grow despite all obstacles. Although Russia lagged behind other European countries in building railroads, two lines were constructed linking St. Petersburg first with Tsarskoye Selo and then with Moscow. The foundations for new industrial development were being laid, but Russia was technically, economically and socially unable to keep pace with the advanced nations of Europe.
The seemingly eternal repressive regime of Nicholas I collapsed during the Crimean war (1853-1856) against Turkey, England and France. Russia's defeat in the war was mainly due to its social and technical backwardness (a nearly complete absence of railroads, steamships, rifled weapons etc.), second-rate military leadership, and the sluggishness and corruption of the bureaucracy. The necessity of thorough reforms became obvious even to the upper strata of Russian society.