The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of , a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of Saint Michael's Castle. The assassins included General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service; and General Vladimir Mikhailovich Yashvil, a Georgian. They charged into Paul's bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner.Radzinsky, Edvard. Alexander II: The last great tsar Freepress, 2005. pp. 16–17. The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and Nikolay Zubov struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death. Paul's successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had "given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination".A History of Russia by George Vernadsky, Yale University Press. Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, "Time to grow up! Go and rule!" Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause of death.Marbot, Jean. (Oliver C. Colt, trans.) The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot, Volume 2, Chapter 3 "The intrigues of Count Czernicheff"Hutchison, Robert. "A Medical Adventurer. Biographical Note on Sir James Wylie, Bart., M.D., 1758 to 1854." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 06/1928; 21(8):1406.
The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of , a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of Saint Michael's Castle. The assassins included General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service; and General Vladimir Mikhailovich Yashvil, a Georgian. They charged into Paul's bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner.Radzinsky, Edvard. Alexander II: The last great tsar Freepress, 2005. pp. 16–17. The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and Nikolay Zubov struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death. Paul's successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had "given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination".A History of Russia by George Vernadsky, Yale University Press. Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, "Time to grow up! Go and rule!" Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause o,f death.Marbot, Jean. (Oliver C. Colt, trans.) The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot, Volume 2, Chapter 3 "The intrigues of Count Czernicheff"Hutchison, Robert. "A Medical Adventurer. Biographical Note on Sir James Wylie, Bart., M.D., 1758 to 1854." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 06/1928; 21(8):1406.