The French Liberalism of King Louis-Philippe d’Orléans and the Russian Conservatism of Emperor Nicholas I: Antagonism or Commonality?*

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of Russian conservatism during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I and French Orleanism – moderate liberalism during the reign of King Louis-Philippe of Orleans. The article notes that in historical memory and historiography there are persistent ideas about the opposition of both these two systems and the two monarchs, and Nicholas I and Louis-Philippe themselves would never have agreed with their commonality. However, the comparative analysis allows us to conclude that there are many points of contact between the, at first glance, absolutely opposite autocratic Russia of Nicholas I and the liberal July Monarchy of Louis Philippe. This is the idea of compromise, respect for traditions, the priority of the monarchical form of government, the inseparable connection of freedom with order and the responsibility of a person for his actions, the priority of the evolutionary development of society, the idea of the natural inequality of people, the need for a social hierarchy and a negative attitude towards the ideas of majority power, a cautious attitude towards projects for reforming society and an orientation towards moderate and carefully prepared reforms, the role of religion in the life of society, especially in the public education system. Nicholas’s Russia is analyzed as an example of moderate conservatism, and the July Monarchy as an example of moderate liberalism, a liberal-conservative synthesis. The article concludes that there is much more in common than difference between true conservatism and properly understood liberalism.