ALEXANDER II

ALEXANDER II (1818–1881; ruled 1855–1881), emperor of Russia.

Alexander II came to the Russian throne on the death of his father, Nicholas I (r. 1825–1855), in the middle of the Crimean War (1853–1856). Born on 29 April (17 April, old style) 1818, he was the oldest of seven children and had been brought up in the military tradition that was central to the life of both his father and grandfather, Paul I (r. 1796–1801). The immediate problem that faced the new emperor was Russia's poor performance in the Crimean War: British and French forces were inflicting a heavy defeat on Russia, made all the more humiliating because the war was taking place on Russian territory. The peace terms in the Treaty of Paris of 1856 represented a significant setback for Russia, but were not as harsh as they could have been. The new emperor's success in ending the war provided Alexander II with the springboard to introduce the most far-reaching set of reforms that Russia had experienced since Peter the Great's reign 150 years earlier.

Alexander II and his advisers were very aware of the symbolic impact of military defeat on Russia as a whole. During Nicholas I's reign, Russia had been seen as the preeminent European military power, and the outcome of the Crimean War forced a reevaluation of the foundations upon which Russian power had been built. Between 1861 and 1874, Alexander II implemented a set of reforms that reshaped Russian society. The most important reform was the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, which changed the legal status of the majority of the Russian population. The abolition of serfdom had important implications for other areas of policy as it established the freed peasantry as full members of Russian society. Local government was fundamentally reformed by the introduction in 1864 of zemstvos, elected local councils in the countryside, and this was followed in 1870 by the establishment of elected urban councils. The legal system underwent a fundamental overhaul in 1864 with the introduction of trial by jury, the establishment of an independent judiciary, and the creation of a court system with clear lines of appeal. Education also underwent reform: the secondary school curriculum was broadened to allow greater study of scientific subjects, and greater autonomy was given to universities. In 1874 a major military reform introduced a system of conscription aimed at creating a more professional army, and this was accompanied by improvements to military education.

The emperor personally supported these reforms, but Alexander II's enthusiasm for reform waned during the second half of his reign. An assassination attempt in 1866 shook him, and he began to have doubts about the wisdom of making reform because it appeared to have provoked opposition to the tsarist regime, rather than ensuring universal support for the emperor and his government. The number of revolutionaries that emerged during Alexander II's reign was small, but they had a disproportionate influence. Opposition was intensified by the government's treatment of non-Russian nationalities in the growing empire. During Alexander II's reign, Russia expanded its empire in central Asia, bringing significant numbers of Muslims into the Russian state. In 1863 a rebellion in the Polish provinces of the empire was put down with great force by the Russian regime, and in Ukraine action was taken to stem the growth of separatist tendencies. In Europe, Russia recovered its confidence in the aftermath of the Crimean War, and the waning power of the Ottoman Empire encouraged Alexander II to test Russia's strength in the Balkans. After claims of Turkish ill-treatment of the Serbs and Bulgars, Russia declared war on Turkey in 1877, setting off the last of the Russo-Turkish Wars. Russia was victorious and at San Stefano imposed a peace treaty on Turkey that was extremely favorable to Russia. The other European powers objected strongly to this growth in Russian power, and at the 1878 Congress of Berlin subjected Russia to a diplomatic humiliation by putting a check on Russia's expansionist plans.

Alexander II's last years were a time of turmoil. His wife, the empress Maria, died in 1880; six weeks later the emperor married his long-time companion, Catherine Dolgorukova. The international reversals after the Russo-Turkish War were matched by renewed discontent at home and a series of assassination attempts on the emperor's life. Alexander II was persuaded that further reform was the best way to stem opposition and to restore social cohesion to the empire. Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov, the minister of the interior, persuaded Alexander that he should introduce a consultative national assembly to advise the emperor on legislation. On 13 March (1 March, O.S.) 1881, the very day that the emperor was to sign this decree into law, he was driving through St. Petersburg when a terrorist threw a bomb at his carriage. Alexander II was critically injured and died a few hours later in the Winter Palace with his family around him.

See alsoAlexander III; Crimean War; Great Reforms (Russia); Russia; Russo-Turkish War; Serfs, Emancipation of.

bibliography

Eklof, Ben, John Bushnell, and Larissa Zakharova, eds. Russia's Great Reforms, 1855–1881.Bloomington, Ind., 1994.

Zakharova, Larissa G. "Emperor Alexander II, 1855–1881." In The Emperors and Empresses of Russia, edited by Donald J. Raleigh, 294–333. Armonk, N.Y., 1996.

Peter Waldron