The manual contains specific historical material, as it is usually set out in textbooks, and at the same time gives a historiographic description of the 19th century, provides information on various points of view on the most important problems of Russian history; historical and psychological portraits of Russian autocrats are given. The book, like a guidebook, will help the reader navigate among extensive educational and scientific historical literature, identify, compare and compare different views of authors on the same events, phenomena, personalities, and lead the reader to develop his own position.