At the outset of his reign the Jews, like other Russian circles, hoped that the new czar would change the extreme reactionary and antisemitic policy of his father *Alexander III. His reign was marked by a violent struggle against the revolutionary movement, the war against Japan (1904), which was followed by the first Russian Revolution (1905–06), and Russia's participation (1914–17) in World War I, which culminated in the Revolution of the spring of 1917 and the removal of Nicholas II from the throne. In the memory of the Jewish people, the reign of Nicholas I is regarded, especially because of the Cantonists decree, as one of the darkest periods in the history of the Jews in czarist Russia.
Of the hundreds of anti-Jewish laws which were passed during his reign, the most important for the Jews were the Jewish statutes of 18 (which officially abolished the Jewish communities and introduced the status of * kazyonny ravvin). This project was interrupted by the death of Nicholas I, which also resulted in the abolition of the special conscription of Jews and in other alleviations. Severe repressive measures were to be adopted against the "non-useful" – principally the intensification of conscription.
Toward the close of Nicholas' reign the "classification" ( razbor) of the Jews into "useful" (merchants, craftsmen, agricultural workers) and "non-useful" persons was proposed. At the end of the 1840s, the Jews were forbidden to wear their traditional garb. During the 1840s the government set out to develop the network of Jewish government schools, particularly the rabbinical seminaries of Vilna and Zhitomir, which offered a general education in addition to a Jewish education in the spirit of the *Haskalah. Under the influence of the maskilim, a severe censorship was imposed on Jewish books, their publication being authorized at two presses only, in *Vilna and *Zhitomir. The government of Nicholas I supported the maskilim in their struggle against Orthodoxy. On the other hand, the government encouraged renewed agricultural settlement of the Jews in southern Russia and around their townlets, exempting the settlers from military service. There was also a suggestion that they be expelled from within 50 versts of the border. The area of the Pale of *Settlement was reduced and the Jews were expelled from *Kiev, *Sevastopol, and *Nikolayev. This was accompanied by the seizure of Jewish children, who were to be educated in the schools for soldiers' children in the spirit of the Christian religion (see *Cantonists). The first, which left its imprint on the whole of his Jewish policy, was the introduction of compulsory military service for the Jews (1827). To achieve this, he adopted many measures. Nicholas I regarded the Jews as a harmful alien group whose unity should be destroyed so that it would become completely assimilated within the Russian people. His reign was marked by a general reaction, the persecution of liberal elements in the country, and the oppression of religious and national minorities. NICHOLAS IĬzar of Russia from 1825 to 1855. Nicholas was the name of two Russian czars.
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