history 440: alexander ii, “tsar liberator”
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History 440: Alexander II, “Tsar Liberator”. Alexander II, r. 1855-1881. Born April 1818 Eldest son of Nicholas I Tutor: Vasily Zhukovsky founder of Russian Romanticism Kindness, warmth, humane Toured Europe and 20 provinces Potential not anticipated. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
History 440: Alexander II, “Tsar Liberator”
Alexander II, r. 1855-1881• Born April 1818• Eldest son of Nicholas I• Tutor: Vasily Zhukovsky:
founder of Russian Romanticism
• Kindness, warmth, humane• Toured Europe and 20
provinces• Potential not anticipated.• Adhered to no particular set
of ideas, neither a radical or a reactionary
Coronation26 August/7 September 1856
• Ended the war, then celebration.
• Count von Moltke’s account: ritual, riches, ceremony.
• “Behind the troops stood the bearded populace, with heads uncovered, close together, but without crowding.”
• Queen mother• Church’s role
Causes of the Great Reforms• Crimean War, 1853-1856– Humiliating defeat on “Russian” soil– Defeat greatly undermined Romanovs’ legitimacy.– Exposed army’s problems, especially recruitment
“non-system” and poor quality of soldiers.– technological inadequacies:
• Railroad• telegraph (dispatches took 7.5 days to Piter)
• Symptoms of a larger, key problem: serfdom• Emergence of “enlightened” bureaucracy• Earlier reform attempts
Emancipation of serfs, 1861• 1857: Polish nobles of Lithuania
complained.• 1858: Alexander called for
committees to “improve the condition of peasants.”
• Two proposals: with or without land
• 3 March 1861: Emancipation Manifesto– 23 million serfs emancipated– Got the worse half of the land– Had to pay for it over 49 years– Strengthened and empowered the
village commune “mir” or “obshchina” – in charge of land redistribution.
1861 manifesto proclaimed• Bezdna uprising, April
1861: • Kazan province• 5000 peasants• Up to 91 killed• 350 wounded
• Black Repartition (Chornyi peredel)
Other Great Reforms1864: Judicial reform• New penal code• Simplified and liberalized
court system:– Equality before the law– Public hearings– Trial by jury– Professional legal advocate
for all parties
• Abolished death penalty
Other Great Reforms1864: Local Government reform• Zemstvo: local self-government,
five curia:– large landed proprietors– small landowners, clergy in
their capacity of landed proprietors
– wealthier townsmen– less wealthy urban classes;– delegates of the peasants,
elected by the volosts• Not democracy (nobles were 74%
of members, but 1.3% of population)
• But greater representation.
Other Great Reforms1874: Military reform:• universal military
conscription• army reserve• military district system• building of strategic
railways• Better military
education of officer corps