Alexander II And The Westernization Of Nineteenth Century Russia

Alexander II, at the age of thirty-six, succeeded to power in 1855, after his father Nicholas I passed. As Alexander grew up, he studied and demonstrated a sense of intelligence and humanity. Despite his father and his quite domineering attitude under which Alexander was put, he managed to develop his own opinions and feelings toward what type of government he would provide for his people. Alexander came to power not only during the Crimean War and its aftermath, which ended in loss, but during a time which Russia was declining in its position in the world. This loss exposed to the rest of world the weakness that existed in Russia as well as how behind the times they were as a country. The need for reform and modernization was now absolutely necessary as Alexander came to power. Where to begin with these reforms was an important question that he had to answer. There was a necessity for the modernization of communication, technology, and the feudalism system existing in Russia were only of few of the reforms that would become Alexander’s focus. Because of the events that had been building up since the reign of Alexander I’s, Alexander II choose to move forward with focusing on Russia’s feudal system. With that, Alexander II mobilized the westernization of nineteenth century Russia through the liberation from serfdom.

The Russia system of serfdom that operated dated back to 1649, basing its operation of the relationship between lord and serf on the land one owned. This system was proof of the backwardness of the country and needed to be remedied. If one were to believe that the emancipation of the serfs stemmed only from the ideas of Alexander II as he aimed for modernization, it would be incorrect. Since the reign of Peter I, mod...

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... time. It also established a system of redemption payments in which the government paid the landowners for the land in advance while the peasants paid annual sums to the government. The lands would no actually go to the individual peasants but to a peasant commune. One last provision was the creation of a type of self-government for the peasants, demonstrating that although the peasants were no longer ruled by serfdom. Yet, the administration they would be under continued to be separate from the other social classes in Russia.

The impact that The Emancipation would have on the country did not stop with the serfs, but spread to the other members of Russia and the future of the country. The first group impacted was the serfs, as the new law would change many aspects of their lives ranging from their living arrangements, economic stability, and political practices.