On a cold spring day on March 1 (13), 1881, on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg, a bomb explosion thrown by Ignaty Grinevitsky, a member of the Narodnaya Volya militant terrorist organization, put an end to the reign of Alexander II, the emperor who went down in Russian history with the title of Liberator. According to the calculations of the revolutionaries, his murder was supposed to stir up Russia and become a signal for a general uprising, but contrary to expectations, the people were still silent, immersed in their eternal sleep.
Birth of the Future Emperor
The future autocrat Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov - heir to the throne of the largest country in the world - was born on April 17 (28), 1818 in the Nikolaevsky Palace of the Moscow Kremlin, where his parents - Tsarevich Nikolai Pavlovich and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia) - arrived to celebrate Easter.
His birth, marked by a gun salute, was an important state event,because, due to the absence of his older brothers, from the first days he received the status of a future autocrat. An interesting detail: after the death of Peter I in 1725, Alexander II was the only Russian emperor born in Moscow.
Years of youth and study
According to tradition, the heir to the throne was educated at home under the guidance of the best teachers of that time, among whom was the famous poet Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, who, in addition to teaching the Russian language, was entrusted with the overall management of education. In addition to general education disciplines, the curriculum also included military sciences, foreign languages (English, German and French), drawing, fencing, dancing and a number of other subjects.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in his youth, the future All-Russian Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich was distinguished by perseverance and outstanding abilities in science. Many considered his dominant feature to be the extraordinary amorousness that accompanied him until the end of his life. It is known, for example, that in 1839, having visited London, he unexpectedly for all kindled feelings for the then very young Queen Victoria. It is curious that later, occupying the thrones of the two largest world powers, they experienced extreme hostility towards each other.
Maturation period
Alexander began his state activity in 1834, when, having taken the oath on the occasion of his coming of age, he was introduced by his royal father, Sovereign Nicholas I, into the main government institution - the Senate, anda little later - the Holy Synod and the State Council.
Three years later he made a long journey through Russia. Having visited 29 provinces located in its European part, the future Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich visited Western Siberia and Transcaucasia. In 1838 he went abroad, where he paid visits to the heads of all the leading European powers. In this two-year voyage, Alexander Nikolayevich was accompanied by the adjutant of the sovereign - Infantry General Count A. V. Patkul, who was strictly punished to ensure that the heir did not exceed certain limits in his heartfelt hobbies.
Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov built his military career exactly as it befitted the future emperor. He updated the shoulder straps of a major general in 1836, and after 8 years he became a full general. During the Crimean War (1853 - 1856), when the St. Petersburg province was under martial law, he was the commander of all the capital's troops. In addition, he was a member of the General Staff, was the chieftain of the Cossack forces, and also led a number of elite regiments.
Leading a great but ruined empire
The Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich ascended the Russian throne on the day of the death of his father, Tsar Nicholas I, who passed away on February 18 (March 2), 1855. At the same time, the royal manifesto saw the light, in which the heir to the throne before God and the fatherland vowed to have as his only goal the well-being and prosperity of the people of the country entrusted to him, which was a very difficult task, since Russia was in an extremely difficultposition.
The result of the lost Crimean War and the mediocre foreign policy pursued was the complete international isolation of Russia. Expenditures on armaments and the conduct of hostilities extremely depleted the treasury, which did not receive proper replenishment due to the disorder of the financial system of the state. The peasant question and the problems connected with Poland demanded an immediate solution, threatening, in case of delay, an inevitable social explosion.
The first important step of the new Emperor of Russia Alexander Nikolayevich was made in March 1856. It was the conclusion of the Paris Peace, although signed on conditions unfavorable for Russia, it put an end to the disastrous and meaningless Crimean War. Immediately after that, he visited Warsaw and Berlin, where he met with King Friedrich Wilhelm. The result was a breakthrough in the foreign policy blockade and the beginning of very constructive negotiations.
In the socio-political life of the country, the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich was also marked by the beginning of the long-awaited "thaw". It seemed to many at the time that the path to building a democratic society was opening before Russia.
The beginning of the reforms of Alexander II Nikolaevich
The years of the reign of the emperor, who earned the honorary title of Liberator and was killed by representatives of the very people whose freedom he constantly cared for, were marked by unprecedented reforms. The most significant among them were nine.
In 1857, the emperor abolished the extremely painful andan inefficient system of military settlements, in which the soldier's service was combined with industrial labor. Introduced in 1810 by his uncle, Emperor Alexander I, it had a detrimental effect on the combat capability of the Russian army.
The most important transformation in the life of Russia, which brought unfading glory to the emperor, was the abolition of serfdom, without which further movement along the path of progress was unthinkable. However, this event, which was announced by the Manifesto of February 19 (March 3), 1861, received extremely ambiguous assessments from representatives of various sectors of society. The progressive intelligentsia, warmly welcoming the reform, meanwhile noted its significant shortcomings and pointed out that the peasants, released to freedom without land, were deprived of their means of subsistence.
Representatives of the nobility, most of whom were feudal landowners, met the reform with hostility, as it deprived them of cheap labor and thereby cut their incomes. The peasants themselves reacted differently to the freedom granted to them. It is known that she frightened many, and they did not want to leave their "master-breadwinner." Others, on the contrary, hastened to take advantage of the opportunities.
Innovations in finance and higher education
Following the peasant reform, a number of important changes in the country's financial life followed, which began in 1863. Their necessity was a consequence of the abolition of serfdom, which became the impetus for the developmentnew for those times capitalist forms of economy, to support which this third reform of Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich was aimed at. Its goal was to modernize the entire financial system of the Russian state.
Further, a deep reform was carried out in the field of higher education. On June 18, 1863, a legal act was adopted, which was the new and most liberal university charter in the entire history of pre-revolutionary Russia. It regulated all issues related to the educational process and, what is very important, clearly defined the rights of students and teaching staff.
Judicial reform and creation of zemstvos
Among the great liberal reforms carried out during the reign of Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich, two normative acts that were issued in 1664 should be included.
The first of them related to the organization of local self-government and was called the "Zemstvo reform", since it provided for the creation of locally elected bodies of power, called "zemstvos".
The second document paved the way for a comprehensive reform in the field of judiciary, building it on the European model. From now on, it became open, public, with the introduction of an adversarial process, in which both parties got the opportunity to provide and refute evidence. In addition, a completely new institution of jurors was established for those times.
City government and secondary education reforms
Further your reformistAlexander II continued his activities, making significant changes in the area of urban self-government. In June 1870, he signed a document called "City Regulations", on the basis of which the townspeople received the right to create three levels of their local self-government: an electoral assembly, a thought and a council.
The same document regulated in detail all issues related to the elections to city dumas, the main feature of which was the absence of class division between deputies. Among the requirements were only compliance with the age and property qualifications, as well as the absence of tax arrears and the presence of Russian citizenship.
A year later, the sovereign carried out the “Reform of Secondary Education”, thanks to which people from the lower classes began to be admitted to the educational institutions of the country. In addition, the previously existing general education course was replenished with classical disciplines, such as Greek and Latin, mathematics, history, philosophy, rhetoric, etc. At the same time, institutions of a new type appeared. These included zemstvo and parochial schools, folk and commercial schools, as well as women's courses.
Another military reform
And, finally, the list of the most striking deeds of Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov ends with the Reform of the Armed Forces of 1874. It provided for the replacement of the previously existing recruitment set with universal military service. If in the first case from each territorial-administrative unit (volost, county, orprovince) only a certain number of persons of the appropriate age were involved in military service, now the entire male population of the country became liable for military service.
This document, aimed at increasing the defense capability of Russia, could be conditionally divided into two parts: organizational and technological. The first determined the procedure for attracting to military service all those who, according to their data, met the requirements. The second part regulated the equipping of the army with new military equipment and small arms systems that met the technical requirements of that time.
Result of reforms
The implementation of all the transformations described above served to solve long-standing economic and socio-political problems. The reforms cleared the way for building the rule of law and strengthening civil society. These innovations also played an important role in the development of capitalism in Russia.
It should be noted, however, that under the influence of the conservative part of the government, some reforms (zemstvo, judicial) had to be partially limited by the end of the reign of Emperor Alexander, and the counter-reforms subsequently carried out by his son Emperor Alexander III largely affected other good undertakings.
Suppression of the Polish uprising
In resolving the so-called Polish question, the tsar was forced to resort to extreme measures. When in February 1863 significant territories of the Kingdom of Poland, Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania weregripped by an uprising, on his orders the rebels were pacified with incredible cruelty: in addition to those killed in battle, 129 people were executed, 800 were sent to hard labor, and about 500 were deported to other regions of the empire. Such measures provoked a protest among the liberal part of society and became one of the reasons for the creation of a secret and overt opposition.
The sovereign's family life
The personal life of the emperor was very difficult and received an extremely ambiguous assessment from his contemporaries. In 1841, he married the princess of the Hessian house, Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Marina, who adopted the name of Maria Alexandrovna in Orthodoxy. They were united by tender feelings, and 8 children became the fruit of their life together, the eldest of whom, Nikolai, was preparing to inherit the royal throne from his father. However, on April 12 (24), 1865, he died. Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich and Maria Alexandrovna, having experienced a heavy loss, began to prepare for the accession to the throne of the next heir in seniority - the future Emperor Alexander III.
However, in 1866, the life of the august couple was disrupted by the young favorite of the sovereign, a pupil of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, Ekaterina Dolgorukova, who subsequently gave birth to 4 children, who invaded her. Favoritism has been a common occurrence at court in all ages, but in this case, the sovereign violated the unspoken rules of etiquette, setting aside chambers for his mistress and her children directly in the Winter Palace and openly leading a life for two families.
This caused widespread condemnation andturned many prominent dignitaries against him. After the death of Maria Alexandrovna in June 1880 from tuberculosis, Alexander II married Ekaterina Dolgorukova, not even considering it necessary to observe the annual mourning prescribed in such cases. With such a breach of decorum, he further exacerbated the general dislike for him.
Death on the Catherine Canal
Despite the many progressive reforms of the sovereign, which were described above, both individual aggressive individuals and members of the underground terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya repeatedly attempted to assassinate him. The first attempt on Alexander II was made in 1866, and then over the next 15 years there were six more. The last, which happened on March 1 (13), 1881, on the embankment of the Catherine Canal, became fatal, interrupting the life of the reformer tsar, who earned the title of Liberator by his deeds. In memory of Alexander II, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was erected at the site of his death, popularly referred to as the “Savior on the Blood.”
What happened next? The Russian throne was inherited by Alexander III. However, this is a completely different story.
