Alexander II Romanov was born on 29 April 1818 in St Petersburg.
He was the son of Nicholas I Romanov and Frederica Louisa, daughter of King William III of
Prussia. The future ruler's teacher
ruler was the poet V. Zhukovsky, but his father was his tutor, who introduced him (like all his
subjects) to
His education was completed by a journey across Europe (1838), during which he met
Maximilian Wilhelmine of Prussia.
Maximiliana Wilhelmina, Princess of Hessen-Darmstad, whom he married in 1841.
Until 1861, peasants in Tsarist Russia were slaves. Enslaved, they had to work for the
nobility.
They had no rights and could not legislate about themselves in any way. This changed only
with the
Tsar Alexander II, who, through his Enfranchisement Reform, gave the peasants their
freedom.
After the Crimean War, Alexander II decided to introduce extensive social and
economic reforms. The most important of these was the enfranchisement reform in the
countryside, which, after many years of preparation
came into force, through the issuing of the Tsar's reform manifesto in February 1861,
together with the accompanying
laws. According to these, landowners no longer had the right to dispose of peasants, punish
them or
resettle them. Peasants, on the other hand, were allowed to acquire land for their own use
and were given land allotments for part of the nominal
their value and in long-term instalments.
Practically, the full implementation of the agrarian reform took several years, benefiting the
state and the landowners
landowners, who received money. The peasants received land, but were burdened, in
addition to tax payments
but also with long-term, high-interest repayments. Revolutionary-democratic and
liberal circles in Russia criticised this reform for being half-hearted and for passing the costs
on to the countryside; in various
gubernias there were peasant protests. These were met with harsh repression, arrests, trials
and
sent to the penal servitude.
At the same time as the agrarian reform, in the 1860s reforms were introduced in Russia
reforms in the civil and military judiciary, the military, education of all types, state finances
state finances. Of great importance was the introduction of self-governing bodies in the
gubernias and districts in the
form of so-called land offices (1864). They were to be concerned with raising the technical
level of agriculture,
They were to be responsible for improving the technical level of agriculture, the development
of education, welfare, hospitality, local trade and industry, as well as the construction of local
roads and bridges.
local roads and bridges. Self-governing municipal prides were also introduced in 1870. In
1863, a
limited autonomy for universities, and a year later a major judicial reform was carried out.
Defendants
gained the right to a defence, lawyers and sworn judges began to operate in Russia. Judges
became independent and
immovable and trials were now open to the public. Corporal punishment was no longer
practised on convicts (except for those sent to the
(with the exception of those sent to the penal servitude). In 1874, a military reform prepared
by General Dmitry Milutin came into force.
All subjects of the empire, regardless of their condition, were subject to equal military
service. The time
The length of service was reduced to six years (previously it had lasted more than a dozen,
even up to 25). For those with higher
education were further reduced.
These reforms lacked any guarantee of permanence (the principle that the emperor's will is
law remained unchanged),
while changes in freedom were accompanied by persecution (e.g. the liquidation of the
Uniate diocese of Chełm and the ukaz
Ems).
On 13 March 1881, Alexander II was killed in a bomb attack carried out by an activist of the
Narodnaya Volya organisation, a Pole.
Narodnaya Volya, a Pole, Ignacy Hryniewiecki. The Emperor's death thwarted plans to
introduce an important
social and political reform, limiting self-rule[14]. It provoked extreme reactions both in
Russia,
as well as internationally. Some expressed outrage and horror at the thought of the
assassins, while others rejoiced that Providence had
saved Russia from terror and other even greater misfortunes[15]. The throne after Alexander
II was succeeded by his son
Alexander (1881-1894), who returned to a policy of despotism, rolling back some of his
father's democratic reforms.
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