There are many wars in the history of Russia that it won, but did not benefit from this. Well, for example, the Winter War with Finland, which gave a small increase in territory, but also an additional enemy in the Great Patriotic War, led to the blockade of Leningrad. Or a campaign in Afghanistan. But there was also the Crimean War lost by Russia. After her, finally, the long-awaited changes in life came - the abolition of serfdom, the appearance of a completely modern court, some kind of local self-government. And what would happen if Nicholas I won this war? That's what the book is about.