The future ruler of Russia was born on April 17, 1818 in Moscow. He became the first and only heir to the throne born in the mother see since 1725. There, on May 5, the baby was baptized in the Cathedral of the Chudov Monastery.

The boy got good home education. One of his mentors was the poet V. A. Zhukovsky. He told the crowned parents that he would prepare his pupil not to be a rude martinet, but a wise and enlightened monarch, so that he would see in Russia not a parade ground and a barracks, but a great nation.

The poet’s words turned out to be not empty bravado. Both he and other educators did a lot to ensure that the heir to the throne became truly educated, culturally and progressively thinking person. From the age of 16, the young man began to take part in the administration of the empire. His father introduced him to the Senate, then to the Holy Governing Synod and other highest government bodies. The young man also completed military service, and very successfully. During the Crimean War (1853-1856) he commanded the troops stationed in the capital and held the rank of general.

The reign of Alexander II (1855-1881)

Domestic policy

Emperor Alexander II, who ascended the throne, inherited a difficult inheritance. A lot of foreign policy and domestic policy issues have accumulated. The financial situation of the country was extremely difficult due to the Crimean War. The state, in fact, found itself isolated, pitting itself against the strongest countries in Europe. Therefore, the first step of the new emperor was the conclusion of the Paris Peace, signed on March 18, 1856.

The signing was attended by Russia on the one hand and allied states on the Crimean War on the other. These are France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. The peace conditions for the Russian Empire turned out to be quite mild. She returned the previously occupied territories to Turkey, and in return received Kerch, Balaklava, Kamysh and Sevastopol. Thus, the foreign policy blockade was broken.

On August 26, 1856, the coronation took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In this regard, the highest manifesto was issued. He granted benefits to certain categories of subjects, suspended recruitment for 3 years and abolished military settlements since 1857, which were widely practiced during the reign of Nicholas I.

But the most important thing in the activities of the new emperor was abolition of serfdom. A manifesto about this was announced on February 19, 1861. At that time, there were 23 million serfs out of 62 million people inhabiting the Russian Empire. This reform was not perfect, but it destroyed the existing social order and became a catalyst for other reforms that affected the court, finance, army, and education.

The merit of Emperor Alexander II is that he found the strength to suppress the resistance of opponents of the changes, which were many nobles and officials. In general public opinion the empire sided with the sovereign. And the court flatterers called him Tsar-Liberator. This nickname has taken root among the people.

A discussion of the constitutional structure began in the country. But the question was not about a constitutional monarchy, but only about some limitation of absolute royal power. It was planned to expand the State Council and create a General Commission, which would include representatives of zemstvos. As for the Parliament, they did not intend to create it.

The emperor planned to sign the papers, which were the first step towards a constitution. He announced this on March 1, 1881 during breakfast with Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. And literally a couple of hours later the sovereign was killed by terrorists. The Russian Empire was once again unlucky.

At the end of January 1863, an uprising began in Poland. At the end of April 1864 it was suppressed. 128 instigators were executed, 800 were sent to hard labor. But these speeches accelerated peasant reform in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.

Foreign policy

Emperor Alexander II conducted foreign policy taking into account the further expansion of the borders of the Russian Empire. The defeat in the Crimean War showed the backwardness and weakness of weapons in the land army and navy. Therefore, a new foreign policy concept was created, which was inextricably linked with technological reforms in the field of weapons. All these issues were supervised by Chancellor A. M. Gorchakov. He was considered an experienced and efficient diplomat and significantly increased the prestige of Russia.

In 1877-1878, the Russian Empire fought with Turkey. As a result of this military campaign, Bulgaria was liberated. She became independent state. Vast territories were annexed in Central Asia. The empire also included the North Caucasus, Bessarabia, and the Far East. As a result of all this, the country has become one of the largest in the world.

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to America (for more details, see the article Who Sold Alaska to America). Subsequently, this caused a lot of controversy, especially since the price was relatively low. In 1875, the Kuril Islands were transferred to Japan in exchange for Sakhalin Island. In these matters, Alexander II was guided by the fact that Alaska and the Kuril Islands are remote, unprofitable lands that are difficult to manage. At the same time, some politicians criticized the emperor for annexing Central Asia and the Caucasus. The conquest of these lands cost Russia great human sacrifices and material costs.

The personal life of Emperor Alexander II was complex and confusing. In 1841 he married Princess Maximiliana Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse (1824-1880) of the Hessian dynasty. The bride converted to Orthodoxy in December 1840 and became Maria Alexandrovna, and on April 16, 1841 the wedding took place. The couple have been married for almost 40 years. The wife gave birth to 8 children, but the crowned husband was not distinguished by fidelity. He regularly took on mistresses (favorites).

Alexander II with his wife Maria Alexandrovna

Her husband's infidelities and childbirth undermined the empress's health. She was often sick, and died in the summer of 1880 from tuberculosis. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Less than a year had passed after the death of his wife, and the sovereign entered into an organic marriage with his longtime favorite Ekaterina Dolgoruka (1847-1922). The relationship with her began in 1866, when the girl was 19 years old. In 1972, she gave birth to a son from the emperor, named George. Then three more children were born.

It should be noted that Emperor Alexander II loved Dolgorukaya very much and was very attached to her. By a special decree, he bestowed the surname Yuryevsky and the titles of His Serene Highness on the children born from her. As for the environment, it disapproved of the organic marriage with Dolgoruka. The hostility was so strong that after the death of the sovereign, the newly-made wife and their children emigrated from the country and settled in Nice. There Catherine died in 1922.

The years of Alexander II's reign were marked by several attempts on his life (read more in the article Attempts on Alexander II). In 1879, the Narodnaya Volya members sentenced the emperor to death. However, fate protected the sovereign for a long time, and the assassination attempts were thwarted. It should be noted here that the Russian Tsar was not known for cowardice and, despite the danger, appeared in public places either alone or with a small retinue.

But on March 1, 1881, the autocrat’s luck changed. The terrorists carried out their murder plan. The assassination attempt was carried out on the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg. The body of the sovereign was mutilated by the bomb thrown. On the same day, Emperor Alexander II died, having taken communion. He was buried on March 7 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral next to his first wife Maria Alexandrovna. Alexander III ascended the Russian throne.

Leonid Druzhnikov

Date of publication or update 11/01/2017

From the Romanov dynasty.

He was awarded a special epithet in Russian historiography - Liberator.

Alexander II Nikolaevich- the eldest son of the imperial couple Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III.

Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov was born on April 29 (17), 1818 in Moscow.

His father, Nikolai Pavlovich, was a Grand Duke at the time of his son’s birth, and in 1825 became Emperor. From an early age, his father began to prepare Alexander for the throne, and considered it a duty to “reign.” The mother of the great reformer, Alexandra Feodorovna, was a German who converted to Orthodoxy.

Alexander Nikolaevich received an education corresponding to his origin. His main mentor was the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky. He managed to raise Alexander II Nikolaevich an enlightened person, a reformer, not deprived of artistic taste.

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth, Alexander II was very impressionable and amorous. During a trip to London in 1839, he fell in love with the young Queen Victoria, who later became for him the most hated ruler in Europe.

In 1834, 16-year-old Alexander became a senator. And in 1835 a member Holy Synod.

In 1836, the heir to the throne received the military rank of major general.

In 1837, Alexander Nikolaevich went on his first trip to Russia. Visited about 30 provinces, reached Western Siberia. And in a letter to his father he wrote that he was ready to “strive for the work for which God destined me.”

The years 1838–1839 were marked by travels around Europe.

On April 28, 1841, he married Princess Maximiliana Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt, who received the name Maria Alexandrovna in Orthodoxy.

In 1841 Alexander became a member of the State Council.

In 1842, the heir to the throne entered the Cabinet of Ministers.

In 1844, Alexander Nikolaevich received the rank of full general. For some time he even commanded the guards infantry.

In 1849, Alexander II Nikolaevich received control military educational institutions and Secret Committees for Peasant Affairs.

In 1853, at the beginning of the Crimean War, Alexander Nikolaevich commanded all the troops of the city.

March 3 (February 19), 1855 Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov became emperor. Having accepted the throne, Alexander accepted the problems his father had left behind. In Russia at this time it was not resolved peasant question, the Crimean War was in full swing, in which Russia suffered constant setbacks. The new Emperor Alexander had to carry out forced reforms.

On March 30, 1856, Emperor Alexander concluded the Peace of Paris, thereby ending the Crimean War. However, the conditions for Russia turned out to be unfavorable, it became vulnerable from the sea, it was forbidden to have naval forces in the Black Sea.

In August 1856, on the day of his coronation, the new Emperor Alexander declared an amnesty for the Decembrists, and also suspended recruitment for 3 years.

In 1857, Alexander II intended to free the peasants, “without waiting for them to free themselves.” He established a Secret Committee to deal with this issue. The result was the Manifesto for the Liberation of the Peasantry from Serfdom and the Regulations on Peasants Emerging from Serfdom, published on March 3 (February 19), 1861, according to which peasants received personal freedom and the right to freely dispose of their property.

Among other reforms carried out by Alexander II, there was the reorganization of educational and legal systems, the actual abolition of censorship, the abolition corporal punishment, creation of zemstvos. With him the following were carried out:

Zemstvo reform on January 1, 1864, according to which issues of local economy, primary education, medical and veterinary services were entrusted to elected institutions - district and provincial zemstvo councils.

The city reform of 1870 replaced the previously existing class-based city administrations with city councils elected on the basis of property qualifications.

The judicial charter of 1864 introduced a unified system judicial institutions, based on the formal equality of all social groups before the law.

In the course of military reforms, a systematic reorganization of the army was begun, new military districts were created, a relatively harmonious system of local military command was created, the reform of the military ministry itself was ensured, and operational control of troops and their mobilization was carried out. By the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. the entire Russian army was armed with the latest breech-loading rifles.

During educational reforms 1860s A network of public schools was created. Together with classical gymnasiums, real gymnasiums (schools) were created, in which the main emphasis was on teaching natural sciences and mathematics. The Charter of 1863 issued for the highest educational institutions introduced partial autonomy of universities. In 1869, the first higher women's courses in Russia with a general education program were opened in Moscow.

Alexander II Nikolaevich confidently and successfully led the traditional imperial policy. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance into Central Asia was successfully completed (in 1865-1881 it became part of Russia most of Turkestan). After long resistance, Alexander decided to fight a war with Turkey in 1877-1878, which Russia won.

On April 4, 1866, the first attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander took place. The nobleman Dmitry Karakozov shot at him, but missed.

In 1866, 47-year-old Emperor Alexander II entered into an extramarital affair with a 17-year-old maid of honor, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgoruka. Their relationship lasted for many years, until Alexander’s death.

In 1867, Alexander, trying to improve relations with France, negotiated with Napoleon III.

On May 25, 1867, the second attempt occurred. In Paris, Pole Anton Berezovsky shoots at the carriage where Alexander II, his children and Napoleon III were. One of the French guard officers saved the rulers.

In 1867, Alaska (Russian America) and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the United States for $7.2 million in gold. The feasibility of acquiring Alaska by the United States of America became obvious 30 years later, when gold was discovered in the Klondike and the famous “gold rush” began. A declaration of the Soviet government in 1917 announced that it did not recognize the agreements concluded by Tsarist Russia, thus Alaska should belong to Russia. The sale agreement was carried out with violations, so there are still disputes about the ownership of Alaska by Russia.

In 1872, Alexander joined the Union of Three Emperors (Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary).

During the reign of Alexander II, a revolutionary movement developed in Russia. Students unite in various unions and circles, often sharply radical, and for some reason they saw the guarantee of the liberation of Russia only on the condition of the physical destruction of the Tsar.

On August 26, 1879, the executive committee of the People's Will movement decided to kill Alexander II Nikolaevich. This was followed by 2 more assassination attempts: on November 19, 1879, an imperial train was blown up near Moscow, but again Alexander was saved by chance. On February 5, 1880, an explosion occurred in the Winter Palace.

In July 1880, after the death of his first wife, Alexander II secretly married Dolgoruka in the church of Tsarskoe Selo. The marriage was morganatic, that is, unequal in gender. Neither Catherine nor her children received any class privileges or rights of succession from the emperor. Alexander granted them the title of His Serene Highness Princes of Yuryevsky.

On March 1, 1881, Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded as a result of another assassination attempt by Narodnaya Volya member I.I. Grinevitsky, who threw the bomb. The emperor died the same day from blood loss.

Alexander II Nikolaevich went down in history as a reformer and liberator.

Was married twice:

First marriage (1841) with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximiliana-Wilhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Children from first marriage:

Alexandra (1842-1849)

Nicholas (1843-1865), raised as heir to the throne, died of pneumonia in Nice

(1845-1894) - Emperor of Russia in 1881-1894.

Vladimir (1847-1909)

Alexey (1850-1908)

Maria (1853-1920), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Great Britain and Germany

Sergei (1857-1905)

Pavel (1860-1919)

The second, morganatic, marriage to his long-time (since 1866) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who received the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.

Children from this marriage:

Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913), married to Countess von Tsarnekau

Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1873-1925), married to Georg-Nikolai von Merenberg (1871-1948), son of Natalia Pushkina.

Boris Alexandrovich (1876-1876), posthumously legitimized with the surname “Yuryevsky”

Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and then to Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky.

Many monuments have been unveiled to Alexander the Second.

Biography

Alexander II Nikolaevich (April 17, 1818, Moscow - March 1, 1881, St. Petersburg) - Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland (1855-1881) from the Romanov dynasty. The eldest son of first the grand ducal, and since 1825, the imperial couple Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna.

He entered Russian history as a conductor of large-scale reforms. He was awarded a special epithet in Russian pre-revolutionary and Bulgarian historiography - Liberator (in connection with the abolition of serfdom according to the manifesto of February 19, 1861 and the victory in Russian-Turkish War(1877-1878) respectively). Died as a result terrorist attack, organized by the secret organization "People's Will".

Childhood, education and upbringing

Born on April 17 (29), 1818 at 11 o’clock in the morning in the Bishop’s House of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, where all imperial family arrived in early April for fasting and celebrating Easter. Since Nikolai Pavlovich’s older brothers had no sons, the baby was already perceived as a potential heir to the throne. On the occasion of his birth, a 201-gun salvo was fired in Moscow. On May 5, Charlotte Lieven brought the baby into the Cathedral of the Chudov Monastery, where Moscow Archbishop Augustine performed the sacraments of baptism and confirmation on the baby, in honor of which Maria Feodorovna gave a gala dinner. Alexander- the only native of Moscow who has been at the head of Russia since 1725.

He received a home education under the personal supervision of his parent, who paid special attention to the issue of raising an heir. His “mentor” (with the responsibility of leading the entire process of upbringing and education and the assignment to draw up a “teaching plan”) and teacher of the Russian language was V. A. Zhukovsky, a teacher of the Law of God and Sacred History - the enlightened theologian Archpriest Gerasim Pavsky (until 1835), military instructor - Captain K. K. Merder, as well as M. M. Speransky (legislation), K. I. Arsenyev (statistics and history), E. F. Kankrin (finance), F. I. Brunov (foreign policy), Academician E. D. Collins (arithmetic), C. B. Trinius (natural history).

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. So, during a trip to London in 1839, he had a fleeting crush on the young Queen Victoria (later, as monarchs, they experienced mutual hostility and enmity).

Beginning of government activities

Upon reaching adulthood on May 5, 1834 (the day he took the oath), the heir-cresarevich was introduced by his father into the main state institutions empire: in 1834 to the Senate, in 1835 included in the Holy Governing Synod, from 1841 member of the State Council, in 1842 - the Committee of Ministers.

In 1837 Alexander committed big Adventure throughout Russia and visited 29 provinces of the European part, Transcaucasia and Western Siberia, and in 1838-1839 he visited Europe. On these travels he was accompanied by his fellow pupils and adjutants of the sovereign A.V. Patkul and, in part, I.M. Vielgorsky.

The future emperor's military service was quite successful. In 1836 he already became a major general, and from 1844 a full general, commanding the guards infantry. Since 1849, Alexander was the head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees on Peasant Affairs in 1846 and 1848. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, with the declaration of martial law in the St. Petersburg province, he commanded all the troops of the capital.

The Tsarevich had the rank of adjutant general, was part of the General Staff of His Imperial Majesty, and was the ataman of all Cossack troops; was a member of a number of elite regiments, including the Cavalry Guards, Life Guards Horse, Cuirassier, Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Izmailovsky. He was Chancellor of Alexander University, Doctor of Laws of Oxford University, honorary member Imperial Academy Sciences, St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy, Society for the Encouragement of Artists, St. Petersburg University.

Reign of Alexander II

The country faced a number of complex domestic and foreign policy issues (peasant, eastern, Polish and others); finances were extremely upset by the unsuccessful Crimean War, during which Russia found itself in complete international isolation.

According to the journal of the State Council for February 19, 1855, in his first speech to the members of the Council, the new emperor said, in particular: “My unforgettable Parent loved Russia and all his life he constantly thought about its benefits alone. In His constant and daily labors with Me, He told Me: “I want to take for myself everything that is unpleasant and everything that is difficult, just to hand over to You a Russia that is well-ordered, happy and calm.” Providence judged otherwise, and the late Emperor, in last hours of his life, told me: “I hand over My command to You, but, unfortunately, not in the order I wanted, leaving You with a lot of work and worries.”

The first of the important steps was the conclusion of the Paris Peace in March 1856 - on conditions that were not the worst in the current situation (in England there were strong sentiments to continue the war until the complete defeat and dismemberment of the Russian Empire).

In the spring of 1856, he visited Helsingfors (Grand Duchy of Finland), where he spoke at the university and the Senate, then Warsaw, where he called on the local nobility to “give up dreams” (French pas de rêveries), and Berlin, where he had a very important meeting with the Prussian king Frederick William IV (his mother’s brother), with whom he secretly sealed a “dual alliance,” thus breaking the foreign policy blockade of Russia.

A “thaw” has set in in the socio-political life of the country. On the occasion of the coronation, which took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin on August 26, 1856 (the ceremony was led by Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov); the emperor sat on the throne of Tsar Ivan III of Ivory), the Highest Manifesto granted benefits and concessions to a number of categories of subjects, in particular, the Decembrists, Petrashevites, and participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831; recruitment was suspended for 3 years; in 1857, military settlements were liquidated.

Great reforms

The reign of Alexander II was marked by reforms of an unprecedented scale, which were called “great reforms” in pre-revolutionary literature. The main ones are the following:

Liquidation of military settlements (1857)
Abolition of serfdom (1861)
Financial reform (1863)
Reform of higher education (1863)
Zemstvo and Judicial reforms (1864)
City government reform (1870)
Reform of secondary education (1871)
Military reform (1874)

These transformations solved a number of long-standing socio-economic problems, cleared the way for the development of capitalism in Russia, and expanded the borders civil society and the rule of law, but were not completed.

By the end of the reign of Alexander II, under the influence of conservatives, some reforms (judicial, zemstvo) were limited. The counter-reforms launched by his successor Alexander III also affected the provisions of the peasant reform and the reform of city government.

National politics

New Polish national liberation uprising on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine flared up on January 22, 1863. In addition to the Poles, there were many Belarusians and Lithuanians among the rebels. By May 1864, the uprising was suppressed by Russian troops. 128 people were executed for their involvement in the uprising; 12,500 were sent to other areas (some of them subsequently raised the Circum-Baikal Uprising of 1866), 800 were sent to hard labor.

The uprising accelerated the implementation of peasant reform in the regions affected by it, and on more favorable terms for the peasants than in the rest of Russia. The authorities have taken measures to develop primary school in Lithuania and Belarus, hoping that the education of the peasantry in the Russian Orthodox spirit would entail a political and cultural reorientation of the population. Measures were also taken to Russify Poland. In order to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church on the public life of Poland after the uprising, the tsarist government decided to convert the Ukrainians of the Kholm region belonging to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Orthodoxy. Sometimes these actions met with resistance. Residents of the village of Pratulin refused. On January 24, 1874, believers gathered near the parish church to prevent the transfer of the temple to management Orthodox Church. After this, a detachment of soldiers opened fire on the people. 13 people died and were canonized by the Catholic Church as Pratulin martyrs.

At the height of the January Uprising, the emperor approved the secret Valuevsky circular on the suspension of the printing of religious, educational and intended for elementary reading literature in Ukrainian. The censorship allowed “only such works in this language that belong to the field of fine literature” to pass through. In 1876, the Emsky Decree was followed, aimed at limiting the use and teaching Ukrainian language in the Russian Empire.

Under Alexander II, significant changes took place regarding the Jewish Pale of Settlement. Through a series of decrees issued between 1859 and 1880, a significant portion of Jews received the right to freely settle throughout Russia. As A.I. Solzhenitsyn writes, the right of free settlement was given to merchants, artisans, doctors, lawyers, university graduates, their families and service personnel, as well as, for example, “persons of the liberal professions.” And in 1880, by decree of the Minister of Internal Affairs, it was allowed to allow those Jews who settled illegally to live outside the Pale of Settlement.

Autocracy reform

At the end of the reign of Alexander II, a project was drawn up to create two bodies under the tsar - the expansion of the already existing State Council (which included mainly large nobles and officials) and the creation of a “General Commission” (congress) with the possible participation of representatives from zemstvos, but mainly formed “by appointment" of the government. This was not about a constitutional monarchy, in which the supreme body is a democratically elected parliament (which did not exist and was not planned in Russia), but about the possible limitation of autocratic power in favor of bodies with limited representation (although it was assumed that at the first stage they would be purely advisory ). The authors of this “constitutional project” were the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov, who received emergency powers at the end of the reign of Alexander II, as well as the Minister of Finance Abaza and the Minister of War Milyutin. Alexander II, shortly before his death, approved this plan, but they did not have time to discuss it at the Council of Ministers, and a discussion was scheduled for March 4, 1881, with subsequent entry into force (which did not take place due to the assassination of the Tsar).

The discussion of this project of reform of the autocracy took place already under Alexander III, on March 8, 1881. Although the overwhelming majority of ministers were in favor, Alexander III accepted the point of view of Count Stroganov (“power will pass from the hands of the autocratic monarch... into the hands of various scoundrels who think... only about their personal gain”) and K. P. Pobedonostsev (“you need to think not about the establishment of a new talking shop, ... but about business”) . Final decision was enshrined in a special Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy, the draft of which was prepared by Pobedonostsev.

Economic development of the country

From the beginning of the 1860s, an economic crisis began in the country, which a number of economic historians associate with Alexander II’s refusal of industrial protectionism and the transition to liberal policies in foreign trade(at the same time, the historian P. Bayrokh sees one of the reasons for the transition to this policy in the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War). The liberal policy in foreign trade continued after the introduction of the new customs tariff in 1868. Thus, it was calculated that, compared to 1841, import duties in 1868 decreased on average by more than 10 times, and for some types of imports - even by 20-40 times.

Evidence of slow industrial growth during this period can be seen in the production of pig iron, the increase of which was only slightly faster than population growth and noticeably lagged behind that of other countries. Contrary to the goals declared by the peasant reform of 1861, the country's agricultural productivity did not increase until the 1880s , despite the rapid progress in other countries (USA, Western Europe), and the situation in this most important sector of the Russian economy was also only getting worse.

The only industry that grew rapidly was railway transport: the railway network in the country was growing rapidly, which also stimulated its own locomotive and car building. However, the development of railways was accompanied by many abuses and a deterioration in the financial situation of the state. Thus, the state guaranteed the newly created private railway companies full coverage of their expenses and also the maintenance of a guaranteed rate of profit through subsidies. The result was huge budgetary expenses for maintaining private companies.

Foreign policy

During the reign of Alexander II, Russia returned to the policy of all-round expansion of the Russian Empire, previously characteristic of the reign of Catherine II. During this period, Central Asia, the North Caucasus, the Far East, Bessarabia, and Batumi were annexed to Russia. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance into Central Asia ended successfully (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). In 1871, thanks to A. M. Gorchakov, Russia restored its rights in the Black Sea, having achieved the lifting of the ban on keeping its fleet there. In connection with the war in 1877, a major uprising occurred in Chechnya and Dagestan, which was brutally suppressed.

After long resistance, the emperor decided to go to war with Ottoman Empire 1877-1878. Following the war, he accepted the rank of Field Marshal (April 30, 1878).

The meaning of annexing some new territories, especially Central Asia, was unclear to some Russian society. Thus, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the behavior of generals and officials who used the Central Asian war for personal enrichment, and M. N. Pokrovsky pointed out the meaninglessness of the conquest of Central Asia for Russia. Meanwhile, this conquest resulted in great human losses and material costs.

In 1876-1877, Alexander II took a personal part in concluding a secret agreement with Austria in connection with the Russian-Turkish war, the consequence of which, according to some historians and diplomats of the second half of the 19th century, was the Berlin Treaty (1878), which was included in domestic historiography as “defective” with regard to the self-determination of the Balkan peoples (substantially curtailing the Bulgarian state and transferring Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria). Criticism from contemporaries and historians was aroused by examples of the unsuccessful “behavior” of the emperor and his brothers (grand dukes) at the theater of war.

In 1867, Alaska (Russian America) was sold to the United States for $7 million (see sale of Alaska). In addition, he concluded the St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which he transferred all the Kuril Islands to Japan in exchange for Sakhalin.

Both Alaska and the Kuril Islands were remote overseas possessions, unprofitable from an economic point of view. Moreover, they were difficult to defend. The concession ensured the neutrality of the United States for twenty years and Japanese Empire in relation to Russia’s actions in the Far East and made it possible to free up the necessary forces to secure more habitable territories.

In 1858, Russia concluded the Aigun Treaty with China, and in 1860, the Beijing Treaty, under which it received vast territories of Transbaikalia, Khabarovsk Territory, a significant part of Manchuria, including Primorye (“Ussuri Territory”).

In 1859, representatives of Russia founded the Palestine Committee, which was later transformed into the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IPOS), and in 1861 the Russian Spiritual Mission in Japan arose. For expansion missionary activity On June 29, 1872, the department of the Aleutian diocese was transferred to San Francisco (California) and the diocese began to extend its care to all of North America.

Refused the annexation and Russian colonization of the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea, to which Alexander II was urged by the famous Russian traveler and explorer N. N. Miklouho-Maclay. Alexander II's indecision this issue Australia and Germany took advantage, soon dividing between themselves the “ownerless” territories of New Guinea and the adjacent islands.

Historian P. A. Zayonchkovsky believed that the government of Alexander II pursued a “Germanophile policy” that did not meet the interests of the country, which was facilitated by the position of the monarch himself: “Revering before his uncle, the Prussian king, and later the German Emperor Wilhelm I, he in every possible way contributed to the formation of a single militaristic Germany." During Franco-Prussian War 1870, “St. George’s crosses were generously distributed to German officers, and insignia of the order to soldiers, as if they were fighting for the interests of Russia.”

Results of the Greek plebiscite

In 1862, after the overthrow in Greece as a result of the uprising reigning king Otto I (of the Wittelsbach family), the Greeks held a plebiscite at the end of the year to choose a new monarch. There were no ballots with candidates, so any Greek citizen could propose his candidacy or type of government in the country. The results were published in February 1863.

Among those whom the Greeks entered was Alexander II, he took third place and received less than 1 percent of the votes. True, it should be recognized that representatives of the Russian, British and French reigning houses could not occupy the Greek throne according to the London Conference of 1832.

Growing public discontent

Unlike the previous reign, which was almost unmarked social protests, the era of Alexander II was characterized by growing public discontent. Along with the sharp increase in the number peasant uprisings(see above), many protest groups appeared among the intelligentsia and workers. In the 1860s, the following arose: S. Nechaev’s group, Zaichnevsky’s circle, Olshevsky’s circle, Ishutin’s circle, the Earth and Freedom organization, a group of officers and students (Ivanitsky and others) preparing a peasant uprising. During the same period, the first revolutionaries appeared (Pyotr Tkachev, Sergei Nechaev), who propagated the ideology of terrorism as a method of fighting power. In 1866, the first attempt was made to assassinate Alexander II, who was shot by D. Karakozov.

In the 1870s these trends intensified significantly. This period includes such protest groups and movements as the circle of Kursk Jacobins, the circle of Chaikovites, the Perovskaya circle, the Dolgushin circle, the Lavrov and Bakunin groups, the circles of Dyakov, Siryakov, Semyanovsky, the South Russian Union of Workers, the Kiev Commune, the Northern Workers' Union, the new organization Earth and Freedom and a number of others. Most of these circles and groups until the end of the 1870s. engaged in anti-government propaganda and agitation only from the late 1870s. a clear shift towards terrorist acts begins. In 1873-1874 2-3 thousand people, mainly from among the intelligentsia, went to countryside under the guise ordinary people for the purpose of promoting revolutionary ideas (the so-called “going to the people”).

After suppression Polish uprising 1863-1864 and the attempt on his life by D.V. Karakozov on April 4, 1866, Alexander II made concessions to the protective course, expressed in the appointment of Dmitry Tolstoy, Fyodor Trepov, Pyotr Shuvalov to the highest government posts, which led to tougher measures in the field of internal politicians.

Increasing repression by police authorities, especially in relation to “going to the people” (the trial of the 193 populists), caused public outrage and marked the beginning of terrorist activity, which subsequently became widespread. Thus, the assassination attempt by Vera Zasulich in 1878 on the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov was undertaken in response to the mistreatment of prisoners in the trial of 193. Despite the irrefutable evidence that the assassination attempt had been committed, the jury acquitted her, she was given a standing ovation in the courtroom, and on the street she was greeted by an enthusiastic demonstration of a large crowd of people gathered at the courthouse.

Over the following years, assassination attempts were carried out:
1878: against the Kyiv prosecutor Kotlyarevsky, against the gendarme officer Geiking in Kyiv, against the chief of gendarmes Mezentsev in St. Petersburg;
1879: against the Kharkov governor Prince Kropotkin, against the police agent Reinstein in Moscow, against the chief of gendarmes Drenteln in St. Petersburg
February 1880: an attempt was made on the life of the “dictator” Loris-Melikov.
1878-1881: a series of assassination attempts took place on Alexander II.

By the end of his reign, protest sentiments spread among different strata of society, including the intelligentsia, part of the nobility and the army. A new upsurge of peasant uprisings began in the countryside, and a mass strike movement began in the factories. The head of government, P. A. Valuev, giving a general description of the mood in the country, wrote in 1879: “In general, some vague displeasure is manifesting itself in all segments of the population. Everyone is complaining about something and seems to want and expect change.”

The public applauded the terrorists, the number of terrorist organizations themselves grew - for example, the People's Will, which sentenced the Tsar to death, had hundreds of active members. Hero of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. and the war in Central Asia, the commander-in-chief of the Turkestan army, General Mikhail Skobelev, at the end of Alexander’s reign, showed sharp dissatisfaction with his policies and even, according to the testimony of A. Koni and P. Kropotkin, expressed his intention to arrest royal family. These and other facts gave rise to the version that Skobelev was preparing a military coup to overthrow the Romanovs.

According to historian P. A. Zayonchkovsky, the growth of protest sentiments and the explosion of terrorist activity caused “fear and confusion” in government circles. As one of his contemporaries, A. Planson, wrote, “Only during an armed uprising that has already flared up can there be such a panic as took hold of everyone in Russia at the end of the 70s and in the 80s. Throughout Russia, everyone fell silent in clubs, in hotels, on the streets and in bazaars... And both in the provinces and in St. Petersburg, everyone was waiting for something unknown, but terrible, no one was sure of the future.”

As historians point out, against the backdrop of growing political and social instability, the government took more and more emergency measures: first, military courts were introduced, then, in April 1879, temporary governors-general were appointed in a number of cities, and finally, in February 1880 The “dictatorship” of Loris-Melikov was introduced (who was given emergency powers), which remained until the end of the reign of Alexander II - first in the form of the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Commission, then in the form of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the de facto head of government.

The emperor himself was on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the last years of his life. The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers P. A. Valuev wrote in his diary on June 3, 1879: “The Emperor looks tired and he himself spoke of nervous irritation, which he is trying to hide. Crowned half-ruin. In an era where strength is needed, obviously one cannot count on it.”

Death and burial. Society's reaction

March 1 (13), 1881, at 3 hours 35 minutes in the afternoon, died in the Winter Palace as a result of a fatal wound received on the embankment of the Catherine Canal (St. Petersburg) at about 2 hours 25 minutes in the afternoon on the same day - from a bomb explosion (the second in the course of the assassination attempt ), thrown at his feet by Narodnaya Volya member Ignatius Grinevitsky; died on the day when he intended to approve the constitutional draft of M. T. Loris-Melikov. The assassination attempt occurred when the emperor was returning after a military divorce in the Mikhailovsky Manege, from “tea” (second breakfast) in the Mikhailovsky Palace with Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna; The tea was also attended by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, who left a little later, having heard the explosion, and arrived shortly after the second explosion, giving orders and commands at the scene. The day before, February 28 (Saturday of the first week of Great Lent), the emperor, in the Small Church of the Winter Palace, together with some other family members, received the Holy Mysteries.

On March 4, his body was transferred to the Court Cathedral of the Winter Palace; On March 7, it was solemnly transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The funeral service on March 15 was led by Metropolitan Isidore (Nikolsky) of St. Petersburg, co-served by other members of the Holy Synod and a host of clergy.

The death of the “Liberator”, killed by the Narodnaya Volya on behalf of the “liberated”, seemed to many to be the symbolic end of his reign, which led, from the point of view of the conservative part of society, to rampant “nihilism”; Particular indignation was caused by the conciliatory policy of Count Loris-Melikov, who was viewed as a puppet in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya. Politicians The right wing (including Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Evgeny Feoktistov and Konstantin Leontyev) even said with more or less directness that the emperor died “on time”: had he reigned for another year or two, the catastrophe of Russia (the collapse of the autocracy) would have become inevitable.

Not long before, K.P. Pobedonostsev, appointed chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, wrote to the new emperor on the very day of the death of Alexander II: “God ordered us to survive this terrible day. It was as if God's punishment had fallen on unfortunate Russia. I would like to hide my face, go underground, so as not to see, not to feel, not to experience. God, have mercy on us. "

The rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archpriest John Yanyshev, on March 2, 1881, before the funeral service in St. Isaac's Cathedral, said in his speech: “The Emperor not only died, but was also killed in His own capital... the martyr’s crown for His sacred Head was woven on Russian soil, among His subjects... This is what makes our grief unbearable, the illness of the Russian and Christian heart incurable, our immeasurable misfortune our eternal shame!

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, former at a young age at the bedside of the dying emperor and whose father was in the Mikhailovsky Palace on the day of the assassination attempt, in his emigrant memoirs he wrote about his feelings in the days following: “At night, sitting on our beds, we continued to discuss the catastrophe of last Sunday and asked each other what would happen further? The image of the late Sovereign, bending over the body of a wounded Cossack and not thinking about the possibility of a second assassination attempt, did not leave us. We understood that something incommensurably greater than our loving uncle and courageous monarch had gone with him irrevocably into the past. Idyllic Russia with the Tsar-Father and his loyal people ceased to exist on March 1, 1881. We understood that Russian Tsar will never again be able to treat his subjects with boundless trust. He will not be able to forget the regicide and surrender completely state affairs. Romantic traditions the past and the idealistic understanding of the Russian autocracy in the spirit of the Slavophiles - all this will be buried, along with the murdered emperor, in the crypt Peter and Paul Fortress. The explosion of last Sunday dealt a mortal blow to the old principles, and no one could deny that the future not only of the Russian Empire, but of the entire world, now depended on the outcome of the inevitable struggle between the new Russian Tsar and the elements of denial and destruction.”

The editorial article of the Special Supplement to the right-wing conservative newspaper “Rus” on March 4 read: “The Tsar was killed!... The Russian Tsar, in his own Russia, in his capital, was brutally, barbarously, in front of everyone - by the Russian hand... Shame, shame our country! Let the burning pain of shame and grief penetrate our land from end to end, and let every soul tremble in it with horror, sorrow, and the anger of indignation! That rabble, which so impudently, so brazenly oppresses the soul of the entire Russian people with crimes, is not the offspring of our simple people themselves, nor of their antiquity, nor even of the truly enlightened newness, but the offspring dark sides Petersburg period of our history, apostasy from the Russian people, betrayal of its traditions, principles and ideals.”

At an emergency meeting of the Moscow City Duma, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “An unheard-of and terrifying event occurred: the Russian Tsar, liberator of peoples, fell victim to a gang of villains among a people of many millions, selflessly devoted to him. Several people, the product of darkness and sedition, dared to encroach with a sacrilegious hand on the centuries-old tradition of the great land, to tarnish its history, the banner of which is the Russian Tsar. The Russian people shuddered with indignation and anger at the news of the terrible event.”

In issue No. 65 (March 8, 1881) of the official newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti, a “hot and frank article” was published that caused “a stir in the St. Petersburg press.” The article, in particular, said: “Petersburg, located on the outskirts of the state, is teeming with foreign elements. Both foreigners, eager for the disintegration of Russia, and leaders of our outskirts have built their nest here. [St. Petersburg] is full of our bureaucracy, which has long lost the feeling of the people’s pulse. That’s why in St. Petersburg you can meet so many people, apparently Russians, but who reason as enemies of their homeland, as traitors to their people.”

An anti-monarchist representative of the left wing of the Cadets, V.P. Obninsky, in his work “The Last Autocrat” (1912 or later), wrote about the regicide: “This act deeply shook up society and the people. The murdered sovereign had too outstanding services for his death to pass without a reflex on the part of the population. And such a reflex could only be a desire for a reaction.”

At the same time, the executive committee of Narodnaya Volya, a few days after March 1, published a letter which, along with a statement of “execution of the sentence” to the tsar, contained an “ultimatum” to the new tsar, Alexander III: “If the government’s policy does not change , revolution will be inevitable. The government must express the will of the people, but it is a usurper gang.” A similar statement, which became known to the public, was made by the arrested leader of Narodnaya Volya, A.I. Zhelyabov, during interrogation on March 2. Despite the arrest and execution of all the leaders of Narodnaya Volya, terrorist acts continued in the first 2-3 years of the reign of Alexander III.

On these same days in early March, the newspapers Strana and Golos were given a “warning” by the government for editorials “explaining the heinous crime last days system of reaction and as placing responsibility for the misfortune that befell Russia on those of the tsarist advisers who led the measures of reaction.” In the following days, on the initiative of Loris-Melikov, the newspapers Molva, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, Poryadok and Smolensky Vestnik, which published “harmful” articles from the government’s point of view, were closed.

In his memoirs, the Azerbaijani satirist and educator Jalil Mammadkulizade, who was a schoolboy at the time of the death of Alexander II, described the reaction of the local population to the assassination of the emperor as follows:
We were sent home. The market and shops were closed. The people were gathered into the mosque, and a forced funeral service was held there. Molla climbed onto the minber and began to describe the virtues and merits of the murdered padishah in such a way that in the end he himself burst into tears and brought tears to the worshipers. Then the marsia (English) Russian was read, and grief for the murdered padishah merged with grief for the imam - the great martyr, and the mosque was filled with heartbreaking cries.

N. Lavrov "Russian Emperor Alexander II"

“He did not want to seem better than he was, and was often better than he seemed” (V.O. Klyuchevsky).

All-Russian Emperor, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov - the first son of Nicholas I from his marriage to Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III, was born in the Kremlin, baptized in the Chudov Monastery and at baptism awarded the highest Russian order Andrew the First-Called.

Upbringing

His birth is a long-awaited event in royal family, because Nikolai's older brothers had no sons. In this regard, he was raised as the future heir to the throne.

According to tradition, he was immediately appointed chief of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment. At the age of 7 he was promoted to cornet, and at the age of 11 he already commanded a company. Alexander liked both military service and war games, but as the heir to the throne, he was constantly instilled with the idea of ​​his special purpose - “to live for others.”

His systematic home education began at the age of 6. His father chose his mentors himself. The poet V.A. was appointed teacher. Zhukovsky, who compiled the “Teaching Plan” for 12 years. The basis of this plan was comprehensive education combined with morality. Zhukovsky was also a teacher of the Russian language. The teacher of the Law of God and Sacred History was Archpriest G. Pavsky, the military instructor was Captain K. Merder, a simple officer awarded for bravery at Austerlitz. He was an intelligent and noble man who worked in cadet school and had experience working with children. Legislation was taught by M.M. Speransky, statistics and history - K.I. Arsenyev, economics – E.F. Kankrin, foreign policy - F.I. Brunnov, arithmetic - Academician Collins, natural history - K.B. Trinius, famous German and Russian botanist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

F. Kruger "Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich"

As a result, the prince received a good education, was fluent in French, German and English languages, from childhood he was distinguished by his responsiveness and impressionability, alertness of mind, good manners and sociability.

But at the same time, the teachers noted that he was hot-tempered and unrestrained; gives in to difficulties, not having a strong will, unlike his father. K. Merder noted that sometimes he acted not out of inner need, but out of vanity or the desire to please his father and receive praise.

Nicholas I personally supervised his son’s education, organized exams twice a year and attended them himself. From the age of 16, he began to involve Alexander in state affairs: the prince was supposed to participate in meetings of the Senate, then he was introduced to the Synod, and in 1836 he was promoted to major general and was included in the tsar’s retinue.

The process of education of the crown prince ended with travels around Russia (May-December 1837) and abroad (May 1838 - June 1839). Before his trip to Russia, Nicholas I prepared a special “instruction” for his son, which said: “Your first duty will be to see everything with the indispensable goal of becoming thoroughly familiar with the state over which sooner or later you are destined to reign. Therefore, your attention should be equally directed to everything... in order to gain an understanding of the present state of affairs.”

Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich

During this trip, Alexander visited 28 provinces, seeing with his own eyes the ugliness of Russian reality. He was the first of the Romanov family to visit Siberia, where he met with the Decembrists, as a result of which he addressed his father in several letters “for the forgiveness of some unfortunates” and achieved a mitigation of their fate. On the journey, the Tsarevich was accompanied by Adjutant General Kavelin, the poet Zhukovsky, teacher of history and geography of Russia Arsenyev, physician Enokhin and young officers.

Later he even visited the Caucasus, where he distinguished himself in battle during an attack by highlanders, for which he was awarded the order St. George 4th degree.

Before leaving abroad, Nicholas I admonished his son: “Many things will seduce you, but upon closer examination you will be convinced that not everything deserves imitation; ... we must always preserve our nationality, our imprint, and woe to us if we fall behind it; in it is our strength, our salvation, our uniqueness.”

During his trip abroad, Alexander visited countries Central Europe, Scandinavia, Italy and England. In Germany, he met his future wife, Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt, with whom they married two years later.

I. Makarov "Empress Maria Alexandrovna"

Maria Alexandrovna loved music and was well versed in it, and knew the latest European literature well. The breadth of her interests and spiritual qualities amazed many with whom she happened to meet. “With her intelligence, she surpasses not only other women, but also most men. This is an unprecedented combination of intelligence with purely feminine charm and... a charming character,” wrote the poet A.K. Tolstoy. In Russia, Maria Alexandrovna soon became known for her widespread charity - Mariinsky hospitals, gymnasiums and orphanages were in her field of vision and spread, earning high praise from her contemporaries.

In 1841, Nicholas I appointed the heir to the State Council, which was actually the beginning of his state activities.

And since 1842, Alexander already performed the duties of the emperor during his absence in the capital. At this stage of his activity, he shared the conservative views of his father: in 1848 he supported preventive measures to tighten censorship in connection with revolutionary events in Europe, concerning the protection of educational institutions from the “revolutionary infection”.

Beginning of the reign

Monogram of Alexander II

The sudden death of Nicholas I, accelerated by the tragic events of the Crimean War, naturally led Alexander to the throne. Russia was faced with a number of acute problems that Nicholas I could not solve: the peasant problem, the eastern, Polish and other problems, state financial problems upset by the Crimean War, the international isolation of Russia, etc. Nicholas in the last hours of his life said to his son: “I surrender my command to you, but, unfortunately, not in the order you wanted, leaving you with a lot of work and worries.”

Alexander's first decisive step was the conclusion of the Paris Peace in 1856 with conditions that were not the worst for Russia. He then visited Finland and Poland, where he called on the local nobility to “give up their dreams,” which strengthened his position as a decisive emperor. In Germany, he secured a “dual alliance” with the Prussian king (his mother’s brother) Frederick William IV, thereby weakening the foreign policy blockade of Russia.

But, having begun his reign with effective support for the conservative views of his father, under the pressure of circumstances he was forced to switch to a policy of reform.

N. Lavrov "Portrait of Emperor Alexander II"

Alexander's reformsII

In December 1855, the Supreme Censorship Committee was closed and the free issuance of foreign passports was allowed. By Coronation Day (August 1856), an amnesty was declared for political prisoners, and police supervision was weakened.

But Alexander understood that serfdom hampered the development of the state, and this was the basis for returning again to the peasant issue, which was the main one at that moment. Speaking to the nobles in March 1856, he said: “There are rumors that I want to announce the liberation of serfdom. This is not fair... But I won’t tell you that I am completely against it. We live in such an age that in time this must happen... It is much better for it to happen from above than from below.”

In 1857, to consider this issue, a Secret Committee was formed of the emperor's proxies, which began developing regulations in individual regions, in order to then unite them for all of Russia into the “Regulations” on the abolition of serfdom. Commission members N. Milyutin, Y. Rostovtsev and others tried to prepare compromise solutions, but constant pressure the influence of the nobility on power led to the fact that the project defended primarily the interests of the landowners. On February 19, 1861, the Manifesto for the Liberation of the Peasants was signed, and thus the conditions for capitalist production were created (23 million landowner peasants received personal freedom, civil rights), but many points of the “Regulations” limited peasants to economic and legal dependence on the rural community controlled by the authorities. In relation to the landowner, the peasants remained “temporarily obligated” until the debt was paid (within 49 years) for the allocated land plots and had to carry out the previous duties - corvée, quitrent. The landowners received the best plots and huge redemption sums.

But, despite the limitations of the peasant reform, Alexander II went down in history as the Tsar-Liberator.

January 1, 1864 was held Zemstvo reform. Issues of local economy, collection of taxes, approval of the budget, primary education, medical and veterinary services were entrusted to elected institutions - district and provincial zemstvo councils. The election of representatives was of two degrees, but with a predominance of the nobility. They were elected for a term of 4 years.

V. Timm "Coronation"

Zemstvos dealt with issues of local government. At the same time, in everything that concerned the interests of the peasants, the zemstvos were guided by the interests of the landowners who controlled their activities. That is, self-government was simply a fiction, and elected positions were filled at the direction of the landowner. Local zemstvo institutions were subordinate to the tsarist administration (primarily governors). The zemstvo consisted of: zemstvo provincial assemblies (legislative power), zemstvo councils (executive power).

City government reform. Ensured the participation of various segments of the population in local government, but at the same time, the autocracy still remained both the highest legislative and executive body, which nullified these reforms, since the lack of sufficient material resources increased the dependence of local government on the government.

Judicial reform of 1864 was a major step in the history of Russia towards the development of civilized norms of legality, they were based on the principles of modern law:

• independence of the court from the administration;
• irremovability of judges;
• publicity;
• competitiveness (in criminal courts, the institution of jurors elected from the population was introduced; for legal assistance to the population, the institution of sworn attorneys was introduced).

But as soon as the new courts demonstrated their work in a new capacity, the authorities immediately began to subordinate them to the regime. For example, legal proceedings in political cases were carried out not by juries, but by military courts; special courts were retained for peasants, clergy, etc.

Military reform. Taking into account the lessons of the Crimean War, serious changes were carried out in the army in 1861-1874. The conditions of soldier's service were eased and the combat training, the system of military control was streamlined: Russia was divided into 15 military districts. In 1874, the Charter on universal military service was approved, replacing conscription.

In addition to these reforms, transformations affected the sphere of finance, education, means mass media, church. They received the name “great” and contributed to the strengthening of the country’s economy and the formation of the rule of law.

Historians note, however, that all the reforms of Alexander II were carried out not because of his convictions, but because of the necessity he recognized, so his contemporaries felt their instability and incompleteness. In connection with this, a conflict began to grow between him and the thinking part of society, who feared that everything that had been done “risks being lost if Alexander II remains on the throne, that Russia is in danger of returning to all the horrors of the Nikolaev region,” as P. Kropotkin wrote.

Since the mid-60s, contemporaries have noted fatigue and some apathy in the emperor’s behavior, which led to weakening transformative activities. This is due both to misfortunes and troubles in the family, and to multiple (7 in total) attempts by “grateful” subjects on the life of the emperor. In 1865, his eldest son Nicholas, heir to the throne, died of a serious illness in Nice. His death undermined the empress's health, which was already weak. Doctors’ recommendations to abstain “from marital relations” strengthened the long-standing alienation in the family: in a short time, Alexander changed several mistresses until he met 18-year-old E. Dolgorukaya. This connection also led to disapproval from society.

Attempts on Alexander's lifeII

On April 4, 1886, the first attempt on the life of the emperor occurred. The shooter was D. Karakozov, who was part of secret society“Hell”, adjacent to “Earth and Freedom”, when Alexander II was heading to his carriage, leaving the gate Summer Garden. The bullet flew past the emperor - the shooter was pushed by the peasant O. Komissarov.

On May 25, 1879, during a visit to the World Exhibition in Paris, Pole A. Berezovsky shot at him. The bullet hit the horse.

On April 2, 1879, a member of the “Narodnaya Volya” A. Solovyov fired 5 shots at the gates of the Winter Palace, but the emperor remained unharmed - the shooter missed.

On November 18 and 19, 1879, members of the “People's Will” A. Zhelyabov, A. Yakimova, S. Perovskaya and L. Hartmann unsuccessfully tried to blow up the royal train traveling from Crimea to St. Petersburg.

On February 5, 1880, Narodnaya Volya member S. Khalturin prepared an explosion in the Winter Palace, the guard soldiers on the first floor were killed, but none of the royal family, who were on the third floor, were injured.

The assassination attempt occurred when the emperor was returning from a military divorce at the Mikhailovsky Manege. When the first bomb exploded, he was not injured and could have left the embankment of the Catherine Canal, where the assassination attempt took place, but he got out of the carriage to the wounded - and at that time Grinevitsky threw the second bomb, from which he himself died and the emperor was mortally wounded.

Alexander II with his wife. Photo by Levitsky

Result of the reign

Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator. During his reign

• Serfdom was abolished;
• universal conscription was introduced;
• zemstvos were established;
• judicial reform was carried out;
• censorship is limited;
• a number of other reforms were carried out;
• the empire expanded significantly due to the conquest and inclusion of Central Asian possessions, North Caucasus, Far East and other territories.

But M. Paleolog writes: “At times he was overcome by severe melancholy, reaching the point of deep despair. Power no longer interested him; everything he tried to accomplish ended in failure. None of the other monarchs wished more happiness for their people: he abolished slavery, abolished corporal punishment, and carried out wise and liberal reforms in all areas of government. Unlike other kings, he never sought bloody laurels of glory. How much effort did he spend to avoid the Turkish war... And after its end, he prevented a new military clash... What did he receive as a reward for all this? From all over Russia, he received reports from governors that the people, deceived in their aspirations, blamed the tsar for everything. And police reports reported an alarming increase in revolutionary ferment.”

Alexander II found the only consolation and meaning of life in his love for E. Dolgoruky - “a person who thought about his happiness and surrounded him with signs of passionate adoration.” On July 6, 1880, a month and a half after the death of the Emperor's wife Maria Alexandrovna, they entered into a morganatic marriage. E. Dolgorukaya received the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya. This marriage also increased discord in the royal family and at court. There is even a version that Alexander II intended to carry out the planned transformations and abdicate the throne in favor of his son Alexander and go with a new family to live in Nice.

Thus, “the first of March tragically stopped both state reforms and the emperor’s romantic dreams of personal happiness... He had the courage and wisdom to abolish serfdom and begin to build a rule of law state, but at the same time he remained virtually a prisoner of the system, the foundation of which he began to abolish with his reforms,” - writes L. Zakharova.

Emperor Alexander II with children. Photo from 1860

Children of Alexander II from his first marriage:

• Alexandra (1842-1849);
• Nicholas (1843-1865);
• Alexander III (1845-1894);
• Vladimir (1847-1909);
• Alexey (1850-1908);
• Maria (1853-1920);
• Sergei (1857-1905);
• Pavel (1860-1919).

From marriage with Princess Dolgoruka (legalized after the wedding):

• His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913);
• Your Serene Highness Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1873-1925);
• Boris (1876-1876), posthumously legitimized with the surname “Yuryevsky”;
• Your Serene Highness Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959).
  • In addition to the children from Ekaterina Dolgoruky, he had several other illegitimate children.

At the insistence of Alexander III, Dolgorukaya-Yuryevskaya soon left St. Petersburg with her children, born before marriage. She died in Nice in 1922.

In memory of martyrdom Emperor Alexander II built a temple on the site of his murder.

The temple was erected by order of Emperor Alexander III in 1883-1907 according to the joint project of the architect Alfred Parland and Archimandrite Ignatius (Malyshev). The temple is made in the “Russian style” and is somewhat reminiscent of Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral. It took 24 years to build. On August 6, 1907, on the day of Transfiguration, the cathedral was consecrated as the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

Romanov
Years of life: April 17 (29), 1818, Moscow - March 1 (13), 1881, St. Petersburg
Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland 1855-1881.

From the Romanov dynasty.

He was awarded a special epithet in Russian historiography - Liberator.

He is the eldest son of the imperial couple Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III.

Biography of Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov

His father, Nikolai Pavlovich, was a Grand Duke at the time of his son’s birth, and in 1825 became Emperor. From an early age, his father began to prepare him for the throne, and considered “reigning” to be his duty. The mother of the great reformer, Alexandra Feodorovna, was a German who converted to Orthodoxy.

He received an education corresponding to his origin. His main mentor was the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky. He managed to raise the future king as an enlightened man, a reformer, and not lacking in artistic taste.

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. During a trip to London in 1839, he fell in love with the young Queen Victoria, who later became for him the most hated ruler in Europe.

In 1834, a 16-year-old boy became a senator. And in 1835 a member
Holy Synod.

In 1836, the heir to the throne received the military rank of major general.

In 1837 he went on his first trip to Russia. I visited about 30 provinces and reached Western Siberia. And in a letter to his father he wrote that he was ready to “strive for the work for which God destined me.”

The years 1838–1839 were marked by travels around Europe.

On April 28, 1841, he married Princess Maximiliana Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt, who received the name Maria Alexandrovna in Orthodoxy.

In 1841 he became a member of the State Council.

In 1842, the heir to the throne entered the Cabinet of Ministers.

In 1844 he received the rank of full general. For some time he even commanded the guards infantry.

In 1849, he received military educational institutions and the Secret Committees for Peasant Affairs under his jurisdiction.

In 1853, at the beginning of the Crimean War, he commanded all the troops of the city.

Emperor Alexander 2

March 3 (February 19), 1855 became emperor. Having accepted the throne, he accepted the problems his father had left behind. In Russia at that time, the peasant question was not resolved, the Crimean War was in full swing, in which Russia suffered constant setbacks. The new ruler had to carry out forced reforms.

March 30, 1856 Emperor Alexander II concluded the Peace of Paris, thereby ending the Crimean War. However, the conditions turned out to be unfavorable for Russia; it became vulnerable from the sea, and it was prohibited from having naval forces in the Black Sea.

In August 1856, on the day of coronation, the new emperor declared an amnesty for the Decembrists, and also suspended recruitment for 3 years.

Reforms of Alexander 2

In 1857, the Tsar intends to free the peasants, “without waiting for them to free themselves.” He established a Secret Committee to deal with this issue. The result was the Manifesto for the Liberation of the Peasantry from Serfdom and the Regulations on Peasants Emerging from Serfdom, published on March 3 (February 19), 1861, according to which peasants received personal freedom and the right to freely dispose of their property.

Among other reforms carried out by the tsar was the reorganization of educational and legal systems, the virtual abolition of censorship, the abolition of corporal punishment, and the creation of zemstvos. With him the following were carried out:

• Zemstvo reform on January 1, 1864, according to which issues of local economy, primary education, medical and veterinary services were entrusted to elected institutions - district and provincial zemstvo councils.
• The city reform of 1870 replaced the previously existing class-based city administrations with city councils elected on the basis of property qualifications.
• The Judicial Charter of 1864 introduced a unified system of judicial institutions, based on the formal equality of all social groups before the law.

In the course of military reforms, a systematic reorganization of the army was begun, new military districts were created, a relatively harmonious system of local military command was created, the reform of the military ministry itself was ensured, and operational control of troops and their mobilization was carried out. By the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. the entire Russian army was armed with the latest breech-loading rifles.

During the educational reforms of the 1860s. A network of public schools was created. Together with classical gymnasiums, real gymnasiums (schools) were created, in which the main emphasis was on teaching natural sciences and mathematics. The published Charter of 1863 for higher educational institutions introduced partial autonomy of universities. In 1869, the first higher women's courses in Russia with a general education program were opened in Moscow.

Imperial policy of Alexander 2

He confidently and successfully pursued traditional imperial policy. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance into Central Asia was successfully completed (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). After long resistance, he decided to fight a war with Turkey in 1877-1878, which Russia won.

On April 4, 1866, the first attempt on the life of the emperor took place. Nobleman Dmitry Karakozov shot at him, but missed.

In 1866, 47-year-old Emperor Alexander II entered into an extramarital affair with a 17-year-old maid of honor, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgoruka. Their relationship lasted for many years, until the death of the emperor.

In 1867, the tsar, trying to improve relations with France, held negotiations with Napoleon III.

On May 25, 1867, the second attempt occurred. In Paris, Pole Anton Berezovsky shoots at the carriage where the Tsar, his children and Napoleon III were. One of the French guard officers saved the rulers.

In 1867, Alaska (Russian America) and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the United States for $7.2 million in gold. The feasibility of acquiring Alaska by the United States of America became obvious 30 years later, when gold was discovered in the Klondike and the famous “gold rush” began. A declaration of the Soviet government in 1917 announced that it did not recognize the agreements concluded by Tsarist Russia, thus Alaska should belong to Russia. The sale agreement was carried out with violations, so there are still disputes about the ownership of Alaska by Russia.

In 1872, Alexander joined the Union of Three Emperors (Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary).

Years of reign of Alexander 2

During his reign, a revolutionary movement developed in Russia. Students unite in various unions and circles, often sharply radical, and for some reason they saw the guarantee of the liberation of Russia only on the condition of the physical destruction of the Tsar.

On August 26, 1879, the executive committee of the People's Will movement decided to assassinate the Russian Tsar. This was followed by 2 more assassination attempts: on November 19, 1879, the imperial train was blown up near Moscow, but again the emperor was saved by chance. On February 5, 1880, an explosion occurred in the Winter Palace.

In July 1880, after the death of his first wife, he secretly married Dolgoruka in the church of Tsarskoe Selo. The marriage was morganatic, that is, unequal in gender. Neither Catherine nor her children received any class privileges or rights of succession from the emperor. They were granted the title of Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky.

On March 1, 1881, the emperor was mortally wounded as a result of another assassination attempt by Narodnaya Volya member I.I. Grinevitsky, who threw a bomb, and died the same day from blood loss.

Alexander II Nikolaevich went down in history as a reformer and liberator.

Was married twice:
First marriage (1841) with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximiliana-Wilhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Children from first marriage:
Alexandra (1842-1849)
Nicholas (1843-1865), raised as heir to the throne, died of pneumonia in Nice
Alexander III (1845-1894) - Emperor of Russia in 1881-1894.
Vladimir (1847-1909)
Alexey (1850-1908)
Maria (1853-1920), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Great Britain and Germany
Sergei (1857-1905)
Pavel (1860-1919)
The second, morganatic, marriage to his long-time (since 1866) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who received the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.
Children from this marriage:
Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913), married to Countess von Tsarnekau
Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1873-1925), married to Georg-Nikolai von Merenberg (1871-1948), son of Natalia Pushkina.
Boris Alexandrovich (1876-1876), posthumously legitimized with the surname “Yuryevsky”
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and then to Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky.

Many monuments have been erected to him. In Moscow in 2005 at an open The inscription on the monument reads: “Emperor Alexander II. He abolished serfdom in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery. Conducted military and judicial reforms. He introduced a system of local self-government, city councils and zemstvo councils. Completed many years Caucasian war. Released Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. Died on March 1 (13), 1881 as a result of a terrorist attack.” A monument was also erected in St. Petersburg made of gray-green jasper. In the capital of Finland, Helsinki, a monument to Alexander II was erected in 1894 for strengthening the foundations of Finnish culture and recognition Finnish language state

In Bulgaria he is known as the Tsar Liberator. The grateful Bulgarian people for the liberation of Bulgaria erected many monuments to him and named streets and institutions throughout the country in his honor. And in modern times in Bulgaria, during the liturgy in Orthodox churches, Alexander II and all Russian soldiers who died on the battlefield for the liberation of Bulgaria in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 are remembered.