Alexander II was the Tsar Liberator who, despite unflattering characterization by his contemporaries, undertook one of the biggest reforms in Russian history: the liberation of the serfs. Yet despite such a necessary and seemingly humanitarian reform, his life was abruptly finished by a successful terrorist attack following no fewer than ten unsuccessful ones. The main challenge Alexander II faced in his projects towards modernization of Russia was a compromise between advancing his state thorough improving the lives of his subjects, without falling prey to the demand for further reforms he would be unable to satisfy. Westwood, revisiting Russian History in 1981 phrased the problem as follows: “how to advance the education of the state by educating the people, without educating the people to questions the state? ”. After the crippling defeat in the Crimean War, Alexander II knew that Russia could not be allowed to lag behind the Western world any longer if it was to maintain its independence. The reform of the state had been advisable for a long time, but for Alexander III it was necessary. He knew that before any real changes could be achieved, the main problem had to be solved: the problem of serfdom. However many limits and imperfections his edict of Emancipation carried with it, most importantly it allowed for further modernizing reforms in the legal, government, education and military spheres. The need to abolish serfdom was a persistent and, according to Mosse writing in 1958, biggest problem in Russian society since the reign of Peter the Great. All the problems of Russian Empire stemmed from serfdom and would automatically be solved with its removal . To begin with, it was a natural step the development of Russian soci... ... middle of paper ... ...- An Alternative View”. History Review. 1999. Graham, Stephen. “Tsar of freedom: the life and reign of Alexander II”. New Haven, Yale University press, 1935. Lynch, Michael. “The Emancipation of the Russian Serfs, 1861: A Charter of Freedom or an Act of Betrayal?” History Review. 2003. Mazour, Anatole G. “Russia, Tsarist and Communist”. Princeton, N.J., Van Nostrand. 1962. Mosse, Werner E., “Alexander II and the modernization of Russia”. London, English Universities Press ltd. 1958. Radzinsky, Edward. “Alexander II : the last great tsar”. New York: Free Press, 2005. Sack, Arkady J., “The Birth of the Russian Democracy”. New York city, Russian information bureau. 1918. Wallace, Donald M., “Russia”. London, New York [etc.] Cassell and Company, Limited, 1905. Westwood, J. N., “Endurance and Endeavour: Russian history, 1812-1980”. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 1981.
Moss, W., 2014. A History of Russia Volume 2: Since 1855. 1st ed. London, England: Anthem Press London, pp.112-113.
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
7) Vernadsky, George. A History of Russia: Fourth Edition, Completely Revised. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954.
While most of Europe had develop strong central governments and weakened the power of the nobles, Russia had lagged behind the times and still had serfs as late as 1861. The economic development that followed the emancipation of peasants in the rest of Europe created strong industrial and tax bases in those nations. Russian monarchs had attempted some level of reforms to address this inequality for almost a century before, and were indeed on their way to “economic maturity” (32) on par with the rest of Europe. But they overextended themselves and the crushing defeats of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the First World War in 1917 lost them the necessary support from their subjects and created “high prices and scarcity” which were by far “the most obvious factors in the general tension”
Problems Associated with The Reign of Alexander II (1855-81) The Russian Government faced many problems during the reign of Alexander II, who had tried to solve many of the problems in society. There is a difference of opinion as to how effective Alexander II was in dealing with Russia’s problems. Russia was on the verge of a mass serf rebellion when Alexander II came into power. The serfs thought that landowners had too much control over their lives and that they were basically slaves.
Whitelaw, Nancy. Catherine the Great and the Enlightenment in Russia. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds Pub., 2005.
Q8. After a hard loss during the Crimean War, the previous Czar Nicholas I position was taken over by his son Alexander II. This brought new change and hope to the people of Russia. Russians were hoping for change at the time, and that is exactly what the driven new Czar had brought to the table. Alexander II came along with the idea of modernization and social change for Russia. In order to do this, Alexander II created his reforms which he thought would be Russia's best interest in order to compete with other nations powers.
While reform did create an emancipated peasantry, it also created a false sense of hope for the freed serfs, as they would soon become conscious of. Tsar Alexander freed the serfs with the Emancipation Reform of 1861, a seemingly progressive decision at the time. At this time, as seen in a chart labeled ‘Provinces of European
Lawrence, John. A History of Russia: A Brilliant Chronicles of Russian History from its Ancient Beginning to the Present Day. New York: Penguin Books, 1993.
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
penal system and terminating police denunciation. As a self proclaimed enlightened monarch Catherine also worked to incorporate modern enlightenment into Russian education. By educating the younger portion of society on modern ideas she was setting her adopted country up for success in the future. With an enlightened and modern view, Russians in the future world would have been able to understand dominate because of the education and the legacy left by Catherine the Great. This is just another reason why Catherine the great was a political mastermind, her ability to understand the future was a powerful asset and helped her country even after Catherine’s death. Through reforming these systems her leadership displays values of equality, and democracy,
Fitzpatrick, Sheila, and Yuri Slezkine. "N.I. Slavnikova Et Al. "Speeches by Stakhanovites"" In the Shadow of Revolution: Life Stories of Russian Women from 1917 to the Second World War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000. 331-41. Print.
8Sites Richard, ‘The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, 1900-1945’, in Michael Howard and William Roger Louis, The Oxford history of the twentieth century, New York, 1998, p. 117-27.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., and Mark D. Steinberg. A History of Russia. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford, 2005. Print.
After their defeat in the Crimean war (1853-1856), Russia’s leaders realized they were falling behind much of Europe in terms of modernisation and industrialisation. Alexander II took control of the empire and made the first steps towards radically improving the country’s infrastructure. Transcontinental railways were built and the government strengthened Russia’s economy by promoting industrialisation with the construction of factory complexes throughout...