Lecture Notes: The Rule of Alexander II

Background

• Title: Alexander II, also known as "Alexander the Liberator"
• Relation: Eldest son of Nicholas I
• Education: Well-educated, reform-oriented
• Initial Action: Signed the Treaty of Paris in 1856, ending the Crimean War

Emancipation of the Serfs

• Main Achievement: Liberated serfs, earning the title "Tsar-Liberator"
• Opposition: Faced resistance from nobility
• Famous Quote: "It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below."
• Key Event:
  • 1861: Issued the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing all privately-owned serfs
  • 1866: Freed all state-owned serfs
• Impact: Affected around forty million people; required redemption payments to landowners

Other Reforms

• Judicial System: Modernized
• Censorship: Reduced
• Infrastructure: Initiated construction of railroad networks
• Local Governance: Introduced Zemstvos (1864), though their impact was limited

Assassination

• Cause of Discontent: Slow improvement in living conditions
• Radical Movements: Increase in assassination attempts
• Event: Assassinated in 1881 by Narodnaya Volya
• Secret Project: Work on a constitution with Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov
• Legacy Site: The Church on the Savior on Spilled Blood in Saint Petersburg, built in his memory