 Tsar Nicholas I aimed to destroy Jewish life, and his reign is remembered as one of the most painful episodes for European Jewry.In 1825, Tsar Nicholas ordered the conscription of all Jewish males into the Russian imperial military beginning at age 12.In Jewish diasporal communities hailing from the Russian Empire, the 19th century is often recalled as a time where Jews were forced to the front lines of the army and used as "cannon fodder".