Alexander 2 the Liberator - quite often you can hear this addition at the mention of the Russian emperor. How did the king get this nickname? The article will tell about the life history of Alexander 2 the Liberator, the reforms carried out by him, and interesting facts.
Life story: birth and baptism
The biography of Alexander 2 the Liberator begins on April 17, 1818. He was born in one of the palaces of the Moscow Kremlin, where the imperial family came to celebrate Easter. Alexander was the eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I. Due to the fact that the brothers of Nicholas I did not have sons, Alexander II, already after birth, was perceived as a potential heir to the throne.
In honor of the birth of the heir to the throne in Moscow, a salute was fired in 201 volleys from cannons. In early May, Alexander was baptized and chrismated in the cathedral of the Chudov Monastery. On this occasion, the empress hosted a gala dinner.
Upbringing
The future emperor was educated at home, under the direct supervision of his father, who was very serious about the upbringing and education of his son. The first persons assigned to Alexander at different times were: Adjutant General P. P. Ushakov, H. A. Liven, Colonel K. K. Mederer.
The main mentor of the future tsar and teacher of the Russian language was the great Russian poet, scientist, court adviser V. A. Zhukovsky. He also supervised the entire process of training and education of Alexander 2 the Liberator, compiling and correcting the curriculum.
Education
The heir to the throne studied foreign languages - French, English and German. Trained in fencing fine arts, military and other sciences, including:
- The law of God, teachers - archpriests Bazhanov V. B., Pavsky G. P.
- Legislation - State Secretary Speransky M. M.
- History and statistics - academician Arseniev K.I.
- Finance - Economist and Minister of Finance Kankrin E.F.
- Foreign policy - diplomat Brunnov F.I.
- Physics and Mathematics - Academician E. D. Collins
- Natural History - Academician Trinius K. B.
- Chemistry and Technology - Academician Gess G.I.
As noted in numerous testimonies, Alexander 2 the Liberator was very impressionable and amorous. Once, during his stay in London in 1839, he had a sympathy, and then a love for Princess Victoria. Interesting fact that, having become monarchs, they experienced hostility and enmity, which was mutual.
Beginning of state activity
The day of the 16th birthday of Alexander fell on Holy Week, in connection with which the celebrations on the occasion of coming of age, as well as taking the oath, were postponed until the Resurrection of Christ. On April 22, 1834, in the large church of the Winter Palace, the Tsarevich took the oath.
After that, Emperor Nicholas I introduced him to the Senate, which was the main state institution of the empire, and a year later - to the Holy Governing Synod. Alexander 2 the Liberator in 1841 becomes a member of the State Council, and a year later - the Committee of Ministers.
Journey through Russia and Europe
In 1837, the future emperor begins his long journey through Russia, visiting 29 provinces in Transcaucasia, the European part of the state and Western Siberia. It is worth noting that he became the first sovereign to visit Siberia. On trips, he was accompanied by V. A. Zhukovsky, as well as adjutants A. V. Patkul and I. M. Vielgorsky.
An interesting fact: in Tobolsk, the Tsarevich saw several exiled Decembrists, after which he petitioned his father for their pardon and release. At the end of his travels in Russia, Alexander sets out on a journey through Europe for one year.
The beginning of the reign
The reign of Alexander 2 the Liberator lasted from 1855 to 1881. However, before ascending the throne, he served in the military. The emperor in 1836 was already a major general, and 8 years later - a general. Under his command was the guards infantry. In 1849, he became the head of military educational institutions. From 1853 to 1856, during the Crimean War, he commanded all the capital's troops.
Nicholas I died on February 18, 1855, on the same day the history of Alexander 2 as emperor began. It was a very difficult period for the state, as it faced a number of difficult foreign and domestic political problems and issues: the Crimean War depleted the treasury, problems with Poland and the Balkans, the peasant question, and virtually complete international isolation.
First state decisions
The first, one of the most important steps taken by Alexander II was the conclusion of the so-called Peace of Paris, carried out in March 1856 on conditions that were not the worst in the current situation. So, for example, England had intentions to continue the war until the utter defeat and division Russian Empire, which Alexander II managed to avoid.
Then he went to Berlin, where he met with his mother's brother, King Friedrich Wilhelm 4 of Prussia, with whom he managed to secretly conclude a "dual alliance", thereby breaking through the foreign policy isolation of the Russian Empire.
On August 26, 1856, the coronation of Alexander II took place in the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral. On this occasion, he issued a manifesto that granted indulgences and benefits to many categories of subjects, for example, the Decembrists, participants in the Polish uprising, and Petrashevites. Military settlements were also liquidated and recruiting fees were suspended for three years.
Peasant reform
Why is Alexander 2 called the Liberator? First of all - thanks to its reforms, one of which is the "Peasant", also known as the abolition of serfdom in 1861. were as follows:
- Peasants ceased to be considered slaves and became "temporarily liable".
- They received complete civil and legal freedom (“free rural inhabitants”), as well as the right to own land.
- Peasant houses and buildings, movable and other property were recognized as the property of the peasant.
- The peasants were given the opportunity to choose self-government. Economic (lower) - rural society, administrative (higher) - volost.
- The landowners retained ownership of all their lands, but they were obliged to provide the peasants with a field allotment, a house adjoining plot (“estate residence”). The size of the allotment was regulated by law.
- For the use of field plots, peasants were required to serve a corvée or pay dues, and also did not have the right to give up land for 49 years.
- Rural societies had the right to buy out estates, as well as a field allotment. After the ransom, the peasants had no obligations to the landowners and were called "peasant-owner".
- The state provided the landowners on preferential terms with a financial guarantee upon receipt of the redemption payment, after which the peasant paid the redemption payment to the state.
It is thanks, first of all, to this revolutionary reform that Emperor Alexander 2 was named the Liberator. He also carried out a number of unprecedented transformations, which later received the name of great ones.
Other reforms of Alexander 2. Table
The main transformations of the tsar-liberator include: financial, military, judicial and zemstvo, educational, reform of city government.
The table of reforms of Alexander 2 is presented below.
| Name | ||
| Liquidation (disbandment) of military settlements | The abolition of settlements and the release of the military from agricultural labor |
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| Finance reform | Modernization of the financial system of the state and bringing it into line with the new capitalist type |
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| Reformation higher education | Systematization of higher educational institutions |
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| Judicial reform | A set of measures to change and improve the judicial system |
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| Zemstvo reform | Creation of a zemstvo institution of the self-government system |
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| Reform of city and settlement self-government | Transfer of powers to cities and towns with the possibility of self-government |
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| Secondary education reform | Establishing the order of education |
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| Military reform | Reformation of troops, formation new system combat reserve, reinforcement of the army |
It can be argued that the historical portrait of Alexander 2 the Liberator shows the emperor as a great and competent reformer. However, it should also be noted that, for example, the abolition of serfdom created many problems for the peasants themselves. Nevertheless, the transformations implemented by the emperor solved a number of acute social and economic problems in the state.
Assassination attempts
A total of 8 assassination attempts were made on Emperor Alexander II.
In April 1866, D.V. Karakozov shot at him, but the bullet flew over his head due to the fact that the shooter was pushed by Osip Komissarov (a peasant) who was nearby.
In May 1867, A. Berezovsky, an emigrant from Poland, shot, but the bullet hit the horse.
In April 1879, A. K. Solovyov fired 5 times, 4 shots in the direction of Alexander II. The shooter was captured and later executed.
In November 1879, an attempt was made to blow up the emperor's train in the Moscow region. However, by chance, Alexander II took another train.
In February 1880, S. N. Khalturin exploded on the first floor of the Winter Palace. The emperor, by coincidence, arrived at the palace later, so he was not injured. The explosion killed 11 guards.
On the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg, during a walk, the Narodnaya Volya member I. Grinevitsky threw a bomb at the feet of the emperor. From his wounds, Alexander 2 the Liberator died in the Winter Palace. An interesting fact is that it was on this day that the sovereign had to approve a new constitutional project created by M.T. Loris-Melikov. Alexander II was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Board results
Emperor Alexander II left a significant mark on the life of the state. He entered the annals of history as a liberator and reformer. The emperor abolished serfdom, introduced universal military service, and carried out judicial, educational and military reforms. Under his rule, censorship was limited and a number of rights and freedoms were given.
During the reign of Alexander II, the Russian Empire significantly increased its territories. For example, the Far East and the North Caucasus were annexed during his reign. Under him there was a real flowering of Russian literature, the fame of which spread throughout the world.
However, the economic condition of the state deteriorated. The industry was in a depressed state, there was a massive famine in the villages. The external debt of the empire reached six billion rubles, which at that rate was a very impressive amount. There was a split in the society, the most acute contradictions of a social nature were noted.
Other negative results of his reign include the results of the Berlin Congress, which was unprofitable for the empire, as well as high expenses in Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, a huge number of peasant uprisings in 1861-1863 (more than 1 thousand); large-scale uprisings of nationalists in the Polish kingdom, in the North-West of the Empire.
Conclusion
It is easy to evaluate the reforms after many years and criticize the actions of the emperor. However, it is necessary to follow the realities of that time in order to understand the whole picture of what is happening as a whole. Today one can hear many negative assessments of the results of the emperor's activities. But do not forget about the positive achievements that occurred during his reign.
In general, Alexander 2 did a lot for the development and prosperity of the state, although some reforms were not fully implemented. The Emperor deservedly entered the history of Russia as the Liberator. In gratitude, the descendants erected a monument to Tsar Alexander 2 the Liberator in Moscow. Also, monuments were erected in St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don. It should be noted that the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, which is located in St. Petersburg, was built on the site of the death of the emperor.
Alexander was the eldest son of the first grand-ducal, and since 1825 the imperial couple of Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna (daughter of the Prussian monarch Frederick William III). Alexander Nikolaevich received a good education. His mentor, who led the process of upbringing and education, and the teacher of the Russian language was V. A. Zhukovsky, the teacher of the Law of God was the theologian, Archpriest G. Pavsky, the teacher of history and statistics was K. I. Arseniev, the teacher of legislation was M. M. Speransky, finance - E. F. Kankrin, foreign policy - F. I. Brunov, military instructor rum - Captain K. K. Merder and other prominent teachers.
The personality of the future emperor was formed under the influence of his father, who wanted to see a military heir, and at the same time the poet Zhukovsky, who sought to educate an enlightened monarch, a legislator-monarch who carried out reasonable reforms in Russia. Both of these tendencies left a deep imprint on the character of Alexander Nikolaevich.
Having led Russia in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. There was a heavy Crimean War, Russia was internationally isolated. The country faced difficult domestic political issues: the Caucasian war continued, the peasant question was not resolved, etc. Alexander Nikolayevich was forced to become a reformer tsar. In March 1856, the Peace of Paris was concluded. In the same year, Alexander II secretly concluded a "dual alliance" with Prussia, breaking through the diplomatic isolation of Russia. At the same time, Alexander Nikolayevich made some indulgences in domestic policy: recruiting was suspended for 3 years; benefits were received by the Decembrists, Petrashevists, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. In 1857, military settlements were abolished. A kind of "thaw" began in the socio-political life of Russia.
Alexander headed for the abolition of serfdom and in 1861 pushed through this decision. Moreover, a milder version of the reform was adopted - it was initially proposed to carry out the “Ostsee version”, with the landless liberation of the peasants. With the support of the emperor, zemstvo and judicial reforms (1864), city reform (1870), military reforms (60-70s), and education reform were carried out. In general, Alexander carried out liberal reforms. Thus, the position of the Jews was alleviated, corporal punishment was abolished, censorship was eased, etc.
During the reign of Alexander Nikolayevich, Russia won decisive victories in the Caucasian War and completed it. The North Caucasus was pacified. The advance of the empire into Central Asia was successfully completed: in 1865-1881. Most of Turkestan became part of Russia. In 1870, Russia, taking advantage of the victory of Prussia over France, was able to mark the article of the Paris Treaty on the neutralization of the Black Sea. Russia won the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Although St. Petersburg, under pressure from the West, had to give up part of the conquests. The Russian Empire returned the southern part of Bessarabia, lost after the Crimean War, and received the Kars region. True, Alexander's government made a strategic mistake - in 1867 the United States sold Alaska, which seriously worsened Russia's position in the Asia-Pacific region.
After the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. and the attempt by D.V. Karakozov on the life of the emperor in April 1866, Alexander II began to listen more to the supporters of the protective course. Grodno, Minsk and Vilna governor-general was appointed "guardian" M. N. Muravyov, he carried out a series of reforms aimed at Russification, restoring the positions of Orthodoxy in the region. The conservatives D. A. Tolstoy, F. F. Trepov, P. A. Shuvalov were appointed to the highest government posts. Many supporters of reforms, with a few exceptions, such as Minister of War Milyutin and Minister of the Interior Loris-Melikov, were removed from power. On the whole, however, the course of reforms was continued, but more cautiously and sluggishly.
At the end of his reign, a project was developed to expand the functions of the State Council and establish a "General Commission" (congress), where it was supposed to introduce representatives from the zemstvos. As a result, autocracy could be limited in favor of bodies with limited representation. The authors of this idea were the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov, the Minister of Finance A. A. Abaza. The emperor shortly before his death approved the project, but they did not have time to discuss it at the council of ministers.
The reforms led to the destabilization of the internal political situation in Russia. The revolutionary underground, represented by the Narodnaya Volya, strengthened its position and headed for the elimination of the tsar. According to the conspirators, the death of the emperor was supposed to cause a revolutionary wave in Russia. On April 4, 1866, Karakozov tried to shoot the tsar, who was walking in the Summer Garden. It should be noted that the security of the head of the Russian state was then organized extremely poorly. On May 25, 1867, in Paris, Alexander was shot by a Polish emigrant, Berezovsky.
Dining room of the Winter Palace after the assassination attempt on Alexander II. 1879
Despite all these "calls", only on February 12, 1880, the Supreme Administrative Commission was established to protect state order and fight the revolutionary underground. But it was headed by the liberal-minded Count Loris-Melikov. The result of such a careless attitude to the mortal danger and the activities of the then "fifth column" was obvious and sad.
On the last day of his reign, Alexander Nikolaevich felt tired and lonely. The reforms caused a number of negative processes in the empire. Failures in domestic politics were supplemented by family troubles. After the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, he married Princess E. Yuryevskaya. However, the heir to the throne refused to recognize her. There was tension between father and son.
On Sunday, March 1 (13), in the morning, the sovereign received the Minister of the Interior, Loris-Melikov. He approved his constitutional draft and scheduled a meeting of the Council of Ministers for March 4. I must say that most ministers approved of this plan. When this meeting took place on March 8, already under the chairmanship of Alexander III, the majority of ministers spoke in favor, only Stroganov and Pobedonostsev were against (Alexander III accepted their point of view).
Loris-Melikov asked the tsar not to go to the disengagement of troops that day. Such requests in recent times repeated regularly, the emperor almost stopped visiting the troops. Alexander was indignant: “I would not want my people to consider me a coward!” The Minister of the Interior did not back down and turned to Princess Yuryevskaya, knowing how much Alexander was subject to female influence. She managed to persuade her husband. Divorce trip was cancelled. But Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna appeared at the palace. Her youngest son, the nephew of the sovereign, was to appear before him for the first time at that divorce. Alexander makes a fatal decision.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Alexander Nikolaevich returned to the palace. The imperial carriage was accompanied by Cossacks and the police chief's sleigh. When we left for the Catherine Canal, the carriage shook and was enveloped in smoke. It was N. Rysakov who threw the explosive device. The coachman wanted to leave, but Alexander ordered to stop. Getting out of the carriage, he saw that several Cossacks and passers-by had been injured. Rysakov tried to escape, but was captured. He fought off the onslaught of the crowd, when the king approached and said: "What have you done, crazy?" And also asked his name and rank. Rysakov called himself a tradesman. The chief of police ran up and asked if the sovereign was wounded. “Thank God, no,” Alexander said. Rysakov heard this and angrily said: “Is it still glory to God?” No one understood the hidden meaning of these words.
Alexander Nikolayevich bent over the wounded boy, who had calmed down, crossed him and went to the carriage. Suddenly there was another explosion. It was I. Grinevitsky who threw a second bomb under the sovereign's feet. Both the assassin and the emperor were mortally wounded and died on the same day. The emperor actually lost his legs. “To the palace… To die there…” he whispered in a barely audible voice. About an hour later, at 3:35 pm, Alexander II died in the Winter Palace.
Alexander II Nikolaevich was largely responsible for his own death. No wonder Pobedonostsev said that only pure autocracy can resist the revolution. Alexander shook the Nikolaev empire. Fortunately for Russia, the reins of power after his death were intercepted by the strong hand of Alexander III, who was able to freeze the decay of the empire. At the same time, his reign left a good memory. At the beginning of the 20th century, when Russian peasants were asked which of the historical figures they remember, they also named the Tsar-Liberator.
The Russian Emperor Alexander II was born on April 29 (17 according to the old style) in 1818 in Moscow. The eldest son of the Emperor and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After his father's accession to the throne in 1825, he was proclaimed heir to the throne.
He received an excellent education at home. His mentors were lawyer Mikhail Speransky, poet Vasily Zhukovsky, financier Yegor Kankrin and other outstanding minds of that time.
He inherited the throne on March 3 (February 18, according to the old style), 1855, at the end of an unsuccessful year for Russia, which he managed to complete with minimal losses for the empire. He was married to the kingdom in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on September 8 (August 26, according to the old style), 1856.
On the occasion of the coronation, Alexander II announced an amnesty for the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.
The transformations of Alexander II affected all spheres of activity of Russian society, forming the economic and political contours of post-reform Russia.
On December 3, 1855, the Supreme Censorship Committee was closed by imperial decree and the discussion of state affairs became open.
In 1856, a secret committee was organized "to discuss measures to arrange the life of the landlord peasants."
On March 3 (February 19, according to the old style), 1861, the emperor signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the Regulations on peasants who emerged from serfdom, for which he was called the "tsar-liberator". The transformation of the peasants into a free labor force contributed to the capitalization of agriculture and the growth of factory production.
In 1864, by issuing the Judicial Statutes, Alexander II separated the judiciary from the executive, legislative and administrative powers, ensuring its complete independence. The process became public and competitive. The police, financial, university and all secular and spiritual education system generally. By 1864, the beginning of the creation of all-estate zemstvo institutions, which were entrusted with the management of economic and other public issues in the field, also dates back. In 1870, on the basis of the City Regulations, city dumas and councils appeared.
As a result of reforms in the field of education, self-government became the basis for the activities of universities, and secondary education for women was developed. Three Universities were founded - in Novorossiysk, Warsaw and Tomsk. Innovations in the press significantly limited the role of censorship and contributed to the development of the mass media.
By 1874, the army was re-equipped in Russia, a system of military districts was created, the Ministry of War was reorganized, the officer training system was reformed, general military service was introduced, the term of military service was reduced (from 25 to 15 years, including service in the reserve), corporal punishment was abolished .
The emperor also established the State Bank.
The internal and external wars of Emperor Alexander II were victorious - the uprising that broke out in 1863 in Poland was suppressed, the Caucasian War ended (1864). According to the Aigun and Beijing treaties with the Chinese Empire, Russia annexed the Amur and Ussuri regions in 1858-1860. In 1867-1873, the territory of Russia increased due to the conquest of the Turkestan Territory and the Ferghana Valley and the voluntary entry into the vassal rights of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khiva Khanate. At the same time, in 1867, overseas possessions - Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were ceded to the United States, with which good relations were established. In 1877 Russia declared war Ottoman Empire. Turkey suffered a defeat that predetermined the state independence of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro.
© Infographic
© Infographic
The reforms of 1861-1874 created the prerequisites for a more dynamic development of Russia, increased the participation of the most active part of society in the life of the country. The reverse side of the transformations was the aggravation of social contradictions and the growth of the revolutionary movement.
Six attempts were made on the life of Alexander II, the seventh was the cause of his death. The first was the shot of the nobleman Dmitry Karakozov in the Summer Garden on April 17 (4 according to the old style), 1866. By a lucky chance, the emperor was saved by the peasant Osip Komissarov. In 1867, during a visit to Paris, the leader of the Polish liberation movement, Anton Berezovsky, attempted on the emperor. In 1879, the populist revolutionary Alexander Solovyov tried to shoot the emperor with several revolver shots, but missed. The underground terrorist organization "Narodnaya Volya" purposefully and systematically prepared regicide. The terrorists blew up the tsarist train near Aleksandrovsk and Moscow, and then in the Winter Palace itself.
The explosion in the Winter Palace forced the authorities to take extraordinary measures. To fight the revolutionaries, the Supreme Administrative Commission was formed, headed by the then popular and authoritative General Mikhail Loris-Melikov, who actually received dictatorial powers. He took harsh measures to combat the revolutionary terrorist movement, while at the same time pursuing a policy of bringing the government closer to the "well-intentioned" circles of Russian society. So, under him in 1880, the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was abolished. Police functions were concentrated in the Police Department, formed within the Ministry of the Interior.
On March 14 (Old Style 1), 1881, as a result of a new attack by the Narodnaya Volya, Alexander II was mortally wounded on the Catherine Canal (now the Griboedov Canal) in St. Petersburg. The explosion of the first bomb thrown by Nikolai Rysakov damaged the royal carriage, wounded several guards and passers-by, but Alexander II survived. Then another thrower, Ignatius Grinevitsky, came close to the tsar and threw a bomb at his feet. Alexander II died a few hours later in the Winter Palace and was buried in the family tomb of the Romanov dynasty in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. On the site of the death of Alexander II in 1907, the Church of the Savior on Blood was erected.
In the first marriage, Emperor Alexander II was with Empress Maria Alexandrovna (nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt). The emperor entered into a second (morganatic) marriage with Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova, granted the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, shortly before her death.
The eldest son of Alexander II and heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in Nice of tuberculosis in 1865, and the throne was inherited by the emperor's second son, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (Alexander III).
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
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Nicholas (before 1865), after Alexander III |
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Orthodoxy |
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Peter and Paul Cathedral |
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Romanovs |
Nicholas I |
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Charlotte of Prussia (Alexandra Feodorovna) |
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1) Maria Alexandrovna |
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From the 1st marriage sons: Nicholas, Alexander III, Vladimir, Alexei, Sergei and Pavel daughters: Alexandra and Maria from the 2nd marriage sons: St. book. Georgy Aleksandrovich Yuryevsky and Boris daughters: Olga and Ekaterina |
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Reign of Alexander II
Grand Title
Beginning of the reign
background
Judicial reform
Military reform
Organizational reforms
Education reform
Other reforms
autocracy reform
Economic development of the country
The problem of corruption
Foreign policy
Assassination attempts and murder
History of unsuccessful attempts
The results of the reign
St. Petersburg
Bulgaria
General-Toshevo
Helsinki
Czestochowa
Monuments of Opekushin's work
Interesting Facts
Movie incarnations
(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. The eldest son, first of the grand-ducal, and since 1825 of the imperial couple, Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna.
He went down in Russian history as a conductor of large-scale reforms. Honored with a special epithet in Russian pre-revolutionary historiography - Liberator(in connection with the abolition of serfdom according to the manifesto of February 19, 1861). He died as a result of a terrorist act organized by the People's Will party.
Childhood, education and upbringing
Born on April 17, 1818, on Bright Wednesday, at 11 o'clock in the morning in the Bishop's House of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, where the entire imperial family, excluding the uncle of the newborn Alexander I, who was on an inspection tour of southern Russia, arrived in early April for fasting and meeting Easter ; in Moscow, a salute was given in 201 cannon volleys. On May 5, the sacraments of baptism and chrismation were performed on the baby in the church of the Chudov Monastery by Archbishop Augustine of Moscow, in honor of which Maria Feodorovna gave a gala dinner.
He was educated at home under the personal supervision of his parent, who paid special attention to the education of the heir. His "mentor" (with the responsibility of leading the entire process of upbringing and education and the assignment to draw up a "plan of teaching") and a teacher of the Russian language was V. A. Zhukovsky, a teacher of the Law of God and Sacred History - an enlightened theologian, Archpriest Gerasim Pavsky (until 1835), a military instructor - captain K. K. Merder, as well as: M. M. Speransky (legislation), K. I. Arseniev (statistics and history), E. F. Kankrin (finances), F. I. Brunov (foreign policy) , Academician Collins (arithmetic), K. B. Trinius (natural history).
According to numerous testimonies, adolescence 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 state activity
Upon reaching the age of majority on April 22, 1834 (the day he took the oath), the heir-tsarevich was introduced by his father to the main state institutions empire: in 1834 to the Senate, in 1835 he was introduced to the Holy Governing Synod, from 1841 a member of the State Council, in 1842 - to the Committee of Ministers.
In 1837, Alexander made a long trip across Russia and visited 29 provinces of the European part, Transcaucasia and Western Siberia, and in 1838-1839 he visited Europe.
The military service of the future emperor was quite successful. In 1836, he already became a major general, from 1844 a full general, commanded 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 announcement of the St. Petersburg province under martial law, he commanded all the troops of the capital.
Reign of Alexander II
Grand Title
By God's hastening mercy, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kyiv, Vladimir, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonis, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke Smolensky, Lithuanian, Volynsky, Podolsky and Finnish, Prince of Estlyandsky, Liflyandsky, Courland and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Bialystok, Korelsky, Tversky, Yugorsky, Permsky, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and all Northern countries, Sovereign and Sovereign of Iversky, Kartalinsky, Georgian and Kabardian lands and Armenian regions, Cherkasy and Highland Princes and other hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsen and Oldenburg, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Beginning of the reign
Having ascended the throne on the day of his father’s death on February 18, 1855, Alexander II issued a manifesto that read: “Before the face of God invisibly co-present with US, we accept the sacred object to always have the welfare of OUR Fatherland as a single goal. Yes, guided, patronized by the Providence who called US to this great service, let us establish Russia at the highest level of power and glory, may the constant desires and views of OUR August predecessors PETER, CATHERINE, ALEXANDER Blessed and Unforgettable OUR Parent be fulfilled through US. "
Signed on the original by His Imperial Majesty's own hand ALEXANDER
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 her only benefit. In His constant and daily labors with Me, He told Me: “I want to take for Myself everything that is unpleasant and difficult, if only to give You Russia arranged, happy and calm.” Providence judged otherwise, and the late Sovereign, in the last hours of his life, said to me: “I hand over to you my command, but, unfortunately, not in the order I wished, leaving you a lot of work and worries.”
The first of the important steps was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in March 1856 - on conditions that were not the worst in the current situation (in England, the mood was strong to continue the war until the complete defeat and dismemberment of the Russian Empire).
In the spring of 1856 he visited Helsingfors (the Grand Duchy of Finland), where he spoke at the university and the Senate, then Warsaw, where he called on the local nobility to “leave dreams” (fr. pas de réveries), and Berlin, where he had a very important meeting for him with the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV (his mother's brother), with whom he secretly sealed a "dual alliance", thus breaking through the foreign policy blockade of Russia.
A “thaw” began 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 rite was led by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov); the emperor sat on the throne of Tsar Ivan III of Ivory), supreme manifesto privileges and indulgences were granted to a number of categories of subjects, in particular, the Decembrists, Petrashevists, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831; recruiting was suspended for 3 years; in 1857 military settlements were liquidated.
Abolition of serfdom (1861)
background
The first steps towards the abolition of serfdom in Russia were made by Emperor Alexander I in 1803 by issuing the Decree on free cultivators, which spelled out the legal status of peasants set free.
In the Baltic (Ostsee) provinces of the Russian Empire (Estland, Courland, Livonia), serfdom was abolished as early as 1816-1819.
According to historians who specifically studied this issue, the percentage of serfs in the entire adult male population of the empire reached its maximum by the end of the reign of Peter I (55%), during the subsequent period of the 18th century. was about 50% and increased again by the beginning of the 19th century, reaching 57-58% in 1811-1817. For the first time, a significant reduction in this proportion occurred under Nicholas I, by the end of whose reign, according to various estimates, it had decreased to 35-45%. So, according to the results of the 10th revision (1857), the share of serfs in the entire population of the empire fell to 37%. According to the 1857-1859 census, 23.1 million people (of both sexes) out of 62.5 million people who inhabited the Russian Empire were in serfdom. Of the 65 provinces and regions that existed in the Russian Empire in 1858, in the three above-mentioned Baltic provinces, in the Earth Black Sea Troops, in the Primorsky region, the Semipalatinsk region and the region of the Siberian Kirghiz, in the Derbent province (with the Caspian region) and the Erivan province, there were no serfs at all; in 4 more administrative units (Arkhangelsk and Shemakha provinces, Transbaikal and Yakutsk regions) there were no serfs either, with the exception of a few dozen courtyard people (servants). In the remaining 52 provinces and regions, the proportion of serfs in the population ranged from 1.17% (Bessarabian region) to 69.07% (Smolensk province).
During the reign of Nicholas I, about a dozen different commissions were created to resolve the issue of the abolition of serfdom, but all of them turned out to be ineffective due to the opposition of the nobility. Nevertheless, during this period there was a significant transformation of this institution (see the article Nicholas I) and the number of serfs was sharply reduced, which facilitated the task of the final elimination of serfdom. By the 1850s there was a situation where it could happen without the consent of the landowners. As the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky pointed out, by 1850 more than 2/3 of the noble estates and 2/3 of the serf souls were pledged to secure loans taken from the state. Therefore, the liberation of the peasants could take place without a single state act. To do this, it was enough for the state to introduce a procedure for the forced purchase of mortgaged estates - with the payment to the landowners of only a small difference between the value of the estate and the accumulated arrears on the overdue loan. As a result of such a redemption, most of the estates would pass to the state, and the serfs would automatically move into the category of state (that is, actually free) peasants. It was precisely such a plan that P.D. Kiselev, who was responsible for managing state property in the government of Nicholas I, hatched.
However, these plans caused strong discontent of the nobility. In addition, peasant uprisings intensified in the 1850s. Therefore, the new government, formed by Alexander II, decided to speed up the solution of the peasant issue. As the tsar himself said in 1856 at a reception with the marshal of the Moscow nobility: “It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until it begins to be abolished by itself from below.”
As historians point out, in contrast to the commissions of Nicholas I, where neutral persons or experts on the agrarian question prevailed (including Kiselev, Bibikov, etc.), now the preparation of the peasant question was entrusted to large landowners-feudal lords (including the newly appointed ministers of Lansky , Panin and Muravyov), which largely predetermined the results of the agrarian reform.
The government's program was outlined in a rescript from Emperor Alexander II on November 20 (December 2), 1857, to Vilna Governor-General V. I. Nazimov. It provided for: the destruction of the personal dependence of the peasants while maintaining all the land in the ownership of the landowners; providing peasants with a certain amount of land, for which they will be required to pay dues or serve corvee, and over time - the right to buy out peasant estates (a residential building and outbuildings). In 1858, provincial committees were formed to prepare peasant reforms, within which a struggle began for measures and forms of concessions between liberal and reactionary landowners. The fear of an all-Russian peasant revolt forced the government to change the government program of peasant reform, the drafts of which were repeatedly changed in connection with the rise or fall of the peasant movement, as well as under the influence and with the participation of a number of public figures (for example, A. M. Unkovsky).
In December 1858, a new peasant reform program was adopted: giving the peasants the opportunity to buy out land allotments and creating peasant public administration bodies. In March 1859, editorial commissions were created to consider the drafts of provincial committees and develop a peasant reform. The project, drawn up by the Editorial Commissions at the end of 1859, differed from that proposed by the provincial committees by an increase in land allotments and a decrease in duties. This caused dissatisfaction among the local nobility, and in 1860 the allotments were somewhat reduced and duties increased. This direction in changing the project was preserved both when it was considered in the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs at the end of 1860, and when it was discussed in the State Council at the beginning of 1861.
The main provisions of the peasant reform
February 19 (March 3), 1861 in St. Petersburg, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts.
Main act - " General position about the peasants who came out of serfdom "- contained the main conditions of the peasant reform:
- Peasants ceased to be considered serfs and began to be considered "temporarily liable".
- The landowners retained ownership of all the lands that belonged to them, but they were obliged to provide the peasants with “estate estates” and a field allotment for use.
- For the use of allotment land, the peasants had to serve a corvée or pay dues and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years.
- The size of the field allotment and duties had to be fixed in charter letters of 1861, which were drawn up by the landlords for each estate and verified by peace mediators.
- The peasants were given the right to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the field plot, before this they were called temporarily liable peasants, those who took advantage of this right were called "redemption" peasants before the full redemption. Until the end of the reign of Alexander II, according to V. Klyuchevsky, more than 80% of former serfs fell into this category.
- The structure, rights and obligations of the bodies of peasant public administration (village and volost) and the volost court were also determined.
Historians who lived in the era of Alexander II and studied the peasant question commented on the main provisions of these laws as follows. As M.N. Pokrovsky pointed out, the entire reform for the majority of the peasants came down to the fact that they ceased to be officially called “serfs”, but began to be called “obliged”; formally, they began to be considered free, but nothing changed in their position: in particular, the landowners continued, as before, to use corporal punishment against peasants. “To be declared a free man by the tsar,” the historian wrote, “and at the same time continue to go to corvée or pay dues: this was a blatant contradiction that caught the eye. The “obliged” peasants firmly believed that this will was not real ... ". The same opinion was shared, for example, by the historian N.A. Rozhkov, one of the most authoritative experts on the agrarian issue. pre-revolutionary Russia, as well as a number of other authors who wrote about the peasant question.
There is an opinion that the laws of February 19, 1861, which meant the legal abolition of serfdom (in legal terms of the second half of the 19th century) did not abolish it as a socio-economic institution (although they created the conditions for this to happen over the next decades ). This corresponds to the conclusions of a number of historians that "serfdom" was not abolished in one year and that the process of its liquidation dragged on for decades. In addition to M.N. Pokrovsky, N.A. Rozhkov came to this conclusion, calling the reform of 1861 “serfdom” and pointing to the preservation of serfdom in subsequent decades. The modern historian B.N. Mironov also writes about the gradual weakening of serfdom over several decades after 1861.
Four "Local Regulations" determined the size of land plots and duties for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. From the land that was in the use of the peasants before February 19, 1861, cuts could be made if the per capita allotments of the peasants exceeded top size, established for a given area, or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the entire land of the estate.
Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landlords, as well as upon receipt of a donation. If the peasants had plots of less than the lowest size in use, the landowner was obliged either to cut the missing land, or to reduce duties. For the highest shower allotment, a quitrent was set from 8 to 12 rubles. per year or corvee - 40 male and 30 female working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties decreased, but not proportionally. The rest of the "Local provisions" basically repeated the "Great Russian", but taking into account the specifics of their regions. Peculiarities of the Peasant Reform for certain categories peasants and specific areas were determined by the “Additional Rules” - “On the arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small landowners, and on the allowance for these owners”, “On people assigned to private mining plants of the department of the Ministry of Finance”, “On peasants and workers serving work under Perm private mining plants and salt mines", "About peasants serving work in landlord factories", "About peasants and yard people in the Land of the Don Army", "About peasants and yard people in the Stavropol province", "About peasants and yard people in Siberia", "About the people who came out of serfdom in the Bessarabian region".
The “Regulations on the arrangement of courtyard people” provided for their release without land, but for 2 years they remained completely dependent on the landowner.
The “Regulations on Redemption” determined the procedure for the redemption of land by peasants from landlords, the organization of the redemption operation, the rights and obligations of peasant owners. The redemption of the field plot depended on an agreement with the landowner, who could oblige the peasants to redeem the land at their request. The price of land was determined by quitrent, capitalized from 6% per annum. In the event of a ransom under a voluntary agreement, the peasants had to make an additional payment to the landowner. The landlord received the main amount from the state, to which the peasants had to repay it for 49 years annually in redemption payments.
According to N. Rozhkov and D. Blum, in the non-chernozem zone of Russia, where the bulk of serfs lived, the redemption value of land was on average 2.2 times higher than its market value. Therefore, in fact, the price of redemption, set in accordance with the reform of 1861, included not only the redemption of land, but also the redemption of the peasant himself with his family - just as earlier serfs could redeem their freedom from the landowner for money by agreement with the latter. Such a conclusion is drawn, in particular, by D. Blum, as well as by the historian B.N. Mironov, who writes that the peasants "redeemed not only the land ... but also their freedom." Thus, the conditions for the liberation of the peasants in Russia were much worse than in the Baltic states, where they were liberated under Alexander I without land, but also without the need to pay a ransom for themselves.
Accordingly, under the terms of the reform, the peasants could not refuse to buy out land, which M.N. Pokrovsky calls “compulsory ownership”. And “so that the owner does not run away from it,” the historian writes, “which, according to the circumstances of the case, could well have been expected,” the “released” had to be placed in such legal conditions that are very reminiscent of the state, if not of a prisoner, then of a minor or imbecile, who is under care."
Another result of the reform of 1861 was the emergence of the so-called. segments - parts of the land, averaging about 20%, which were previously under the control of the peasants, but now they are under the control of the landowners and not subject to redemption. As N.A. Rozhkov pointed out, the division of the land was specially carried out by the landlords in such a way that “the peasants turned out to be cut off by the landowner’s land from a watering hole, forest, high road, church, sometimes from their arable land and meadows ... [as a result] they were forced to rent the landowner’s land at any cost, under any conditions. “Having cut off from the peasants, according to the Regulations of February 19, the lands that are absolutely necessary for them,” wrote M.N. , with the obligation to plow, sow and squeeze a certain amount of acres for the landowner. In the memoirs and descriptions written by the landowners themselves, the historian pointed out, this practice of segments was described as ubiquitous - there were practically no landlord farms where segments did not exist. In one example, the landowner “boasted that his segments covered, like a ring, 18 villages, all of which were in bondage to him; the German tenant who had just arrived remembered atreski as one of the first Russian words and, renting the estate, first of all inquired whether this jewel was in it.
Subsequently, the elimination of segments became one of the main demands not only of the peasants, but also of the revolutionaries of the last third of the 19th century. (populists, people's will, etc.), but also the majority of revolutionary and democratic parties at the beginning of the 20th century, until 1917. Thus, the agrarian program of the Bolsheviks up to December 1905 included as the main and in essence the only point the liquidation of the landlord segments; the same requirement was the main point of the agrarian program of the 1st and 2nd State Duma (1905-1907), adopted by the overwhelming majority of its members (including deputies from the Menshevik, Socialist-Revolutionary, Cadets and Trudovik parties), but rejected by Nicholas II and Stolypin. Previously, the elimination of such forms of exploitation of peasants by landowners - the so-called. banalities - was one of the main demands of the population during the French Revolution.
According to N. Rozhkov, the "feudal" reform of February 19, 1861 became "the starting point for the entire process of the origin of the revolution" in Russia.
"Manifesto" and "Regulations" were promulgated from March 7 to April 2 (in St. Petersburg and Moscow - March 5). Fearing dissatisfaction of the peasants with the terms of the reform, the government took a number of precautionary measures (redeployment of troops, secondment of the imperial retinue to the places, appeal of the Synod, etc.). The peasantry, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky performance of 1861 and the Kandeev performance of 1861.
In total, during 1861 alone, 1176 peasant uprisings were recorded, while in 6 years from 1855 to 1860. there were only 474 of them. The uprisings did not subside even in 1862, and were suppressed very cruelly. Two years after the announcement of the reform, the government had to apply military force in 2115 villages. This gave many people a reason to talk about the beginning of the peasant revolution. So, M.A. Bakunin was in 1861-1862. I am convinced that the outbreak of peasant uprisings will inevitably lead to a peasant revolution, which, as he wrote, "essentially has already begun." “There is no doubt that the peasant revolution in Russia in the 60s was not the fruit of a frightened imagination, but a completely real possibility ...”, wrote N.A. Rozhkov, comparing its possible consequences with the Great French Revolution.
The implementation of the Peasant Reform began with the drafting of charters, which was basically completed by the middle of 1863. On January 1, 1863, the peasants refused to sign about 60% of the letters. The price of land for redemption significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in the non-chernozem zone by an average of 2-2.5 times. As a result of this, in a number of districts they were extremely striving to receive donation allotments, and in some provinces (Saratov, Samara, Yekaterinoslav, Voronezh, etc.), a significant number of peasants-gifts appeared.
Under the influence of the Polish uprising of 1863, changes took place in the conditions of the Peasant Reform in Lithuania, Belarus, and the Right-Bank Ukraine—the law of 1863 introduced compulsory redemption; redemption payments decreased by 20%; peasants, landless from 1857 to 1861, received their allotments in full, previously landless - partially.
The transition of peasants to ransom lasted for several decades. By 1881, 15% remained in temporary relations. But in a number of provinces there were still many of them (Kursk 160 thousand, 44%; Nizhny Novgorod 119 thousand, 35%; Tula 114 thousand, 31%; Kostroma 87 thousand, 31%). The transition to redemption was faster in the black-earth provinces, where voluntary transactions prevailed over mandatory redemption. Landowners who had large debts, more often than others, sought to speed up the redemption and conclude voluntary deals.
The transition from "temporarily liable" to "redemption" did not give the peasants the right to leave their plot - that is, the freedom proclaimed by the manifesto on February 19. Some historians believe that the result of the reform was the "relative" freedom of the peasants, however, according to experts on the peasant question, the peasants had relative freedom of movement and economic activity until 1861. Thus, many serfs left for a long time to work or fish for hundreds miles from home; half of the 130 cotton factories in the city of Ivanovo in the 1840s belonged to serfs (and the other half - mainly to former serfs). However, a direct consequence of the reform was a significant increase in the burden of payments. The redemption of land under the terms of the reform of 1861 for the vast majority of peasants dragged on for 45 years and represented real bondage for them, since they were not able to pay such amounts. So, by 1902, the total amount of arrears in peasant redemption payments amounted to 420% of the amount of annual payments, and in a number of provinces exceeded 500%. Only in 1906, after the peasants had burnt about 15% of the landowners' estates in the country during 1905, the redemption payments and accumulated arrears were canceled, and the "redemption" peasants finally received freedom of movement.
The abolition of serfdom also affected the appanage peasants, who, by the "Regulations of June 26, 1863", were transferred to the category of peasant proprietors by compulsory redemption on the terms of the "Regulations of February 19". On the whole, their cuts were much smaller than those of the landowning peasants.
The law of November 24, 1866, began the reform of the state peasants. They retained all the lands that were in their use. According to the law of June 12, 1886, the state peasants were transferred for redemption, which, in contrast to the redemption of land by former serfs, was carried out in accordance with market prices for land.
The peasant reform of 1861 led to the abolition of serfdom in the national outskirts of the Russian Empire.
On October 13, 1864, a decree was issued on the abolition of serfdom in the Tiflis province, a year later it was extended with some changes to the Kutaisi province, and in 1866 to Megrelia. In Abkhazia, serfdom was abolished in 1870, in Svaneti - in 1871. The terms of the reform here retained serfdom survivals to a greater extent than according to the "Regulations of February 19". In Azerbaijan and Armenia, the peasant reform was carried out in 1870-1883 and was no less enslaving than in Georgia. In Bessarabia, the bulk of the peasant population was made up of legally free landless peasants - tsarans, who, according to the "Regulations of July 14, 1868", were endowed with land for permanent use for service. The redemption of this land was carried out with some derogations on the basis of the "Regulations on Redemption" on February 19, 1861.
The peasant reform of 1861 marked the beginning of the process of rapid impoverishment of the peasants. The average peasant allotment in Russia in the period from 1860 to 1880 decreased from 4.8 to 3.5 acres (almost 30%), many ruined peasants, rural proletarians appeared who lived by odd jobs - a phenomenon that practically disappeared in the middle 19th century
Reform of self-government (zemstvo and city regulations)
Zemstvo reform January 1, 1864- The reform consisted in the fact that the issues of the local economy, the collection of taxes, the approval of the budget, primary education, medical and veterinary services were henceforth entrusted to elected institutions - county and provincial zemstvo councils. The elections of representatives from the population to the zemstvo (zemstvo vowels) were two-stage and ensured the numerical predominance of the nobles. Vowels from the peasants were a minority. They were elected for a term of 4 years. All affairs in the zemstvo, which concerned primarily the vital needs of the peasantry, were handled by the landlords, who limited the interests of the other estates. In addition, local zemstvo institutions were subordinate to the tsarist administration and, first of all, to the governors. The zemstvo consisted of: zemstvo provincial assemblies (legislative power), zemstvo councils (executive power).
City reform of 1870- The reform replaced the previously existing estate city administrations with city dumas elected on the basis of a property qualification. The system of these elections ensured the predominance of large merchants and manufacturers. Representatives of big capital managed the municipal services of cities, proceeding from their own interests, paying attention to the development of the central quarters of the city and not paying attention to the outskirts. The organs of state administration under the law of 1870 were also subject to the supervision of government authorities. The decisions adopted by the Duma received force only after approval by the tsarist administration.
Historians late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. commented on the reform of self-government in the following way. M.N. Pokrovsky pointed out its inconsistency: in many positions, “self-government by the reform of 1864 was not expanded, but, on the contrary, narrowed, moreover, extremely significantly.” And he gave examples of such a narrowing - the resubordination of the local police to the central government, prohibitions on local authorities to establish many types of taxes, limiting other local taxes to no more than 25% of the central tax, etc. In addition, as a result of the reform, local power ended up in the hands of large landowners (while previously it was mainly in the hands of officials reporting directly to the tsar and his ministers).
One of the results was changes in local taxation, which, after the completion of the self-government reform, became discriminatory. So, if back in 1868 peasant and landowner land were subject to local taxes in approximately the same way, then already in 1871 local taxes levied on a tithe of peasant land were twice as high as taxes levied on a tithe of landowner land. Later, the practice of flogging peasants for various offenses spread in the zemstvos (which had previously been mainly the prerogative of the landowners themselves). Thus, self-government in the absence of real equality of estates and defeat in political rights the majority of the population of the country led to increased discrimination of the lower classes by the higher
Judicial reform
Judicial charter of 1864- Charter introduced single system judicial institutions, based on the formal equality of all social groups before the law. Court sessions were held with the participation of interested parties, were public, and reports on them were published in the press. Litigants could hire defense lawyers who had a law degree and were not employed by the government. The new judiciary met the needs of capitalist development, but the imprints of serfdom still remained on it - special volost courts were created for the peasants, in which corporal punishment was preserved. In political trials, even with acquittals, administrative repressions were used. Political cases were considered without the participation of jurors, etc. While malfeasance of officials remained beyond the jurisdiction of general courts.
However, according to contemporary historians, the judicial reform did not give the results that were expected from it. The jury trials that were introduced dealt with a comparatively small number of cases; there was no real independence of judges.
In fact, in the era of Alexander II, there was an increase in police and judicial arbitrariness, that is, something opposite to what was proclaimed by the judicial reform. For example, the investigation into the case of 193 populists (the trial of the 193 in the case of going to the people) dragged on for almost 5 years (from 1873 to 1878), and during the investigation they were beaten (which, for example, under Nicholas I was not neither in the case of the Decembrists, nor in the case of the Petrashevists). As historians have pointed out, the authorities kept those arrested for years in jail without trial or investigation and subjected them to humiliation before the huge trials that were being created (the trial of 193 Narodniks was followed by the trial of 50 workers). And after the process of the 193rd, not satisfied with the verdict delivered by the court, Alexander II toughened the court verdict administratively - contrary to all the previously proclaimed principles of judicial reform.
Another example of the growth of judicial arbitrariness is the execution of four officers - Ivanitsky, Mrochek, Stanevich and Kenevich - who in 1863-1865. conducted agitation in order to prepare a peasant uprising. Unlike, for example, the Decembrists, who organized two uprisings (in St. Petersburg and in the south of the country) with the aim of overthrowing the tsar, killed several officers, the Governor-General Miloradovich and almost killed the tsar's brother, four officers under Alexander II suffered the same punishment ( execution), as well as 5 leaders of the Decembrists under Nicholas I, just for campaigning among the peasants.
AT last years During the reign of Alexander II, against the backdrop of growing protest moods in society, unprecedented police measures were introduced: the authorities and the police received the right to exile any person who seemed suspicious, to conduct searches and arrests at their own discretion, without any coordination with the judiciary, to issue political crimes to the courts of military tribunals - "with the application by them of punishments established for wartime".
Military reform
Milyutin's military reforms took place in the period of the 60-70s of the XIX century.
Milyutin's military reforms can be divided into two conditional parts: organizational and technological.
Organizational reforms
Report of the War Office 01/15/1862:
- To transform the reserve troops into a combat reserve, to ensure that they replenish the composition of the active troops and free them from the obligation to train recruits in wartime.
- Entrust the training of recruits to the reserve troops, providing them with sufficient personnel.
- All supernumerary "lower ranks" of the reserve and reserve troops, in peacetime, should be considered on vacation and called up only in wartime. Recruits to replenish the loss in the active troops, and not to form new units from them.
- To form cadres of reserve troops for peacetime, entrusting them with garrison service, and disband the internal service battalions.
It was not possible to quickly introduce this organization, and only in 1864 was a systematic reorganization of the army and a reduction in the strength of the troops begun.
By 1869, the bringing of troops to the new states was completed. At the same time, the total number of troops in peacetime, compared with 1860, decreased from 899 thousand people. up to 726 thousand people (mainly due to the reduction of the "non-combat" element). And the number of reservists in the reserve increased from 242 to 553 thousand people. At the same time, with the transition to wartime states, no new units and formations were now formed, and units were deployed at the expense of reservists. All troops could now be understaffed to wartime states in 30-40 days, while in 1859 it took 6 months.
The new system of organization of troops contained a number of shortcomings:
- The organization of the infantry retained the division into line and rifle companies (with the same weapons, there was no point in this).
- Artillery brigades were not included in the infantry divisions, which negatively affected their interactions.
- Of the 3 brigades of the cavalry divisions (hussars, lancers and dragoons), only the dragoons were armed with carbines, and the rest did not have firearms, while the entire cavalry of European states was armed with pistols.
In May 1862, Milyutin submitted proposals to Alexander II under the heading "Main grounds for the proposed structure of military administration by districts." This document was based on the following provisions:
- Destroy the division in peacetime into armies and corps, consider the division as the highest tactical unit.
- Divide the territory of the entire state into several military districts.
- Place a chief at the head of the district, who will be entrusted with the supervision of the active troops and command of the local troops, and also entrust him with the management of all local military institutions.
Already in the summer of 1862, instead of the First Army, the Warsaw, Kyiv and Vilna military districts were established, and at the end of 1862 - Odessa.
In August 1864, the “Regulations on Military Districts” were approved, on the basis of which all military units and military institutions located in the district were subordinate to the Commander of the District Troops, thus he became the sole chief, and not an inspector, as was planned before (at the same time, all artillery units in the district reported directly to the chief of artillery of the district). In the border districts, the Commander was entrusted with the duties of the Governor-General and all military and civil power was concentrated in his person. The structure of the district administration remained unchanged.
In 1864, 6 more military districts were created: Petersburg, Moscow, Finland, Riga, Kharkov and Kazan. In subsequent years, the Caucasian, Turkestan, Orenburg, West Siberian and East Siberian military districts were formed.
As a result of the organization of military districts, a relatively harmonious system of local military administration was created, eliminating the extreme centralization of the War Ministry, whose functions are now in the implementation of general leadership and supervision. The military districts ensured the rapid deployment of the army in the event of war, and if they were available, it became possible to start drawing up a mobilization schedule.
In parallel, there was a reform of the military ministry itself. According to the new state, the composition of the War Department was reduced by 327 officers and 607 soldiers. Significantly reduced the volume of correspondence. As a positive, one can also note the fact that the Minister of War concentrated all the threads of military command in his hands, but the troops were not completely subordinate to him, since the heads of the military districts depended directly on the king, who headed the supreme command of the armed forces.
At the same time, the organization of the central military command contained a number of other weaknesses:
- The structure of the General Staff was built in such a way that little space was allocated to the functions of the General Staff itself.
- The subordination of the chief military court and the prosecutor to the Minister of War meant the subordination of the judiciary to a representative of the executive branch.
- The subordination of medical institutions not to the main military medical department, but to the heads of local troops, had a negative effect on the establishment of medical affairs in the army.
Conclusions of organizational reforms armed forces conducted in the 60-70s of the XIX century:
- During the first 8 years, the War Department managed to carry out a significant part of the planned reforms in the field of army organization and command and control.
- In the field of army organization, a system was created that, in the event of war, could increase the number of troops without resorting to new formations.
- The destruction of army corps and the continued division of infantry battalions into rifle and line companies had a negative effect in terms of combat training of troops.
- The reorganization of the War Department ensured the relative unity of military command.
- As a result of the military district reform, local government bodies were created, excessive centralization of command was eliminated, operational command and control of troops and their mobilization were ensured.
Technological reforms in the field of weapons
In 1856, a new type of infantry weapon was developed: a 6-line, muzzle-loading, rifled rifle. In 1862, more than 260 thousand people were armed with it. A significant part of the rifles was produced in Germany and Belgium. By the beginning of 1865, all infantry had been rearmed with 6-line rifles. At the same time, work continued to improve rifles, and in 1868 the Berdan rifle was adopted, and in 1870 its modified version. As a result, by the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the entire Russian army was armed with the latest breech-loading rifles.
The introduction of rifled, muzzle-loading guns began in 1860. The field artillery adopted 4-pounder 3.42-inch rifled guns, superior to those previously produced both in range and in accuracy.
In 1866, armament for field artillery was approved, according to which all batteries of foot and horse artillery should have rifled, breech-loading guns. 1/3 of the foot batteries are to be armed with 9-pounders, and all other batteries of foot and horse artillery with 4-pounders. For the rearmament of field artillery, 1200 guns were required. By 1870, the re-equipment of field artillery was completely completed, and by 1871 there were 448 guns in reserve.
In 1870, rapid-fire 10-barreled Gatling and 6-barreled Baranovsky guns with a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute were adopted by artillery brigades. In 1872, the Baranovsky 2.5-inch rapid-fire cannon was adopted, in which the basic principles of modern rapid-fire guns were implemented.
Thus, over the course of 12 years (from 1862 to 1874), the number of batteries increased from 138 to 300, and the number of guns from 1104 to 2400. In 1874, there were 851 guns in stock, a transition was made from wooden carriages to iron ones.
Education reform
During the reforms of the 1860s, the network of public schools was expanded. Along with the classical gymnasiums, real gymnasiums (schools) were created in which the main emphasis was on teaching mathematics and the natural sciences. The university charter of 1863 for higher educational institutions introduced partial autonomy of universities - the election of rectors and deans and the expansion of the rights of the professorial corporation. In 1869, the first higher women's courses in Russia were opened in Moscow with general education program. In 1864, a new school charter was approved, according to which gymnasiums and real schools were introduced in the country.
Contemporaries considered some elements of the education reform as discrimination against the lower classes. As the historian N.A. Rozhkov pointed out, in real gymnasiums introduced for people from the lower and middle strata of society, they did not teach ancient languages (Latin and Greek), unlike ordinary gymnasiums that existed only for the upper classes; but knowledge of ancient languages was made mandatory for admission to universities. So for the broad masses of the population, access to universities was actually closed.
Other reforms
Under Alexander II, there were significant changes in relation to the Jewish Pale of Settlement. A number of decrees issued in the period from 1859 to 1880, a significant part of the Jews received the right to freely settle in the territory of Russia. As A.I. Solzhenitsyn writes, merchants, artisans, doctors, lawyers, university graduates, their families and service personnel, as well as, for example, “persons of free professions”, received the right to free settlement. And in 1880, by decree of the Minister of the Interior, it was allowed to leave for residence outside the Pale of Settlement those Jews who settled illegally.
autocracy reform
At the end of the reign of Alexander II, a project was drawn up to create a supreme council under the tsar (which included large nobles and officials), to which part of the rights and powers of the tsar himself was transferred. It was not about a constitutional monarchy, in which the supreme body is a democratically elected parliament (which was not and was not planned in Russia). 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 approved this plan two weeks before his death, 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 king). As the historian N.A. Rozhkov pointed out, a similar project for the reform of the autocracy was later presented to Alexander III, as well as to Nicholas II at the beginning of his reign, but both times it was rejected on the advice of K.N. Pobedonostsev.
Economic development of the country
From the beginning of the 1860s. an economic crisis began in the country, which a number of historians associate with the refusal of Alexander II from industrial protectionism and the transition to a liberal policy in foreign trade. So, within a few years after the introduction of the liberal customs tariff of 1857 (by 1862), cotton processing in Russia fell 3.5 times, and pig iron production decreased by 25%.
The liberal policy in foreign trade continued in the future, after the introduction of a new customs tariff in 1868. Thus, it was calculated that, compared with 1841, import duties in 1868 decreased by an average of more than 10 times, and for certain types of imports - even 20-40 times. According to M. Pokrovsky, “customs tariffs of 1857-1868. were the most preferential that Russia enjoyed in the 19th century ... ". This won the approval of the liberal press, which at the time dominated other economic publications. As the historian writes, "the financial and economic literature of the 60s gives an almost continuous chorus of free traders ...". At the same time, the real situation in the country's economy continued to deteriorate: modern economic historians characterize the entire period until the end of the reign of Alexander II and even until the second half of the 1880s. as a period of economic depression.
Contrary to the goals declared by the peasant reform of 1861, agricultural productivity in the country 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 also only worsened. For the first time in Russia, during the reign of Alexander II, periodically repeated famines began, which had not been in Russia since the time of Catherine II and which took on the character of real disasters (for example, a mass famine in the Volga region in 1873).
Liberalization foreign trade led to a sharp increase in imports: from 1851-1856. to 1869-1876 imports grew almost 4 times. If earlier the trade balance of Russia was always positive, then during the reign of Alexander II it worsened. Beginning in 1871, for several years it was reduced to a deficit, which by 1875 reached a record level of 162 million rubles, or 35% of exports. The trade deficit threatened to cause gold to flow out of the country and depreciate the ruble. At the same time, this deficit could not be explained by the unfavorable conjuncture of foreign markets: for the main product of Russian export - grain - prices in foreign markets from 1861 to 1880. have almost doubled. During 1877-1881. The government, in order to combat the sharp increase in imports, was forced to resort to a series of increases in the level of import duties, which prevented further growth in imports and improved the country's foreign trade balance.
The only industry that developed rapidly was railway transport: the country's railway network grew rapidly, which also stimulated its own locomotive and wagon building. However, the development of railways was accompanied by many abuses and the deterioration of the financial situation of the state. Thus, the state guaranteed the private railway companies that were being created to fully cover their expenses and also to maintain a guaranteed rate of return through subsidies. The result was huge budget expenditures to support private companies, while the latter artificially inflated their costs in order to receive state subsidies.
To cover budget expenditures, the state for the first time began to actively resort to external loans (there were almost none under Nicholas I). Loans were attracted on extremely unfavorable conditions: the commission to banks was up to 10% of the borrowed amount, in addition, loans were placed, as a rule, at a price of 63-67% of its face value. Thus, only a little more than half of the loan amount came to the treasury, but the debt arose for the full amount, and annual interest was calculated from the full amount of the loan (7-8% per annum). As a result, the volume of the state external debt reached 2.2 billion rubles by 1862, and 5.9 billion rubles by the beginning of the 1880s.
Until 1858, a firm exchange rate of the ruble against gold was maintained, following the principles of the monetary policy pursued during the reign of Nicholas I. But starting from 1859, credit money was introduced into circulation, which did not have a firm exchange rate against gold. As indicated in the work of M. Kovalevsky, during the entire period of the 1860-1870s. In order to cover the budget deficit, the state was forced to resort to the issuance of credit money, which caused their depreciation and the disappearance of metal money from circulation. So, by January 1, 1879, the exchange rate of the credit ruble against the gold ruble fell to 0.617. Attempts to re-introduce a firm rate of the paper ruble against gold did not produce results, and the government abandoned these attempts until the end of the reign of Alexander II.
The problem of corruption
During the reign of Alexander II there was a marked increase in corruption. So, many nobles and nobles close to the court established private railway companies, which received state subsidies on unprecedentedly favorable terms, ruining the treasury. For example, the annual revenue of the Ural railway in the early 1880s, it was only 300 thousand rubles, and its expenses and profit guaranteed to shareholders were 4 million rubles, thus, the state had to pay extra 3.7 annually from its own pocket only for the maintenance of this private railway company million rubles, which is 12 times higher than the income of the company itself. In addition to the fact that the nobles themselves acted as shareholders of railway companies, the latter paid them, including persons close to Alexander II, large bribes for certain permits and decisions in their favor.
Another example of corruption is the placement of government loans (see above), a significant part of which was appropriated by various financial intermediaries.
There are also examples of "favoritism" on the part of Alexander II himself. As N.A. Rozhkov wrote, he “unceremoniously handled the state chest ... gave his brothers a number of luxurious estates from state lands, built magnificent palaces for them at public expense.”
In general, characterizing the economic policy of Alexander II, M.N. Pokrovsky wrote that it was "a waste of money and effort, completely fruitless and harmful for the national economy ... They simply forgot about the country." The Russian economic reality of the 1860s and 1870s, wrote N.A. Rozhkov, “was distinguished by its rudely predatory character, the squandering of living and productive forces in general for the sake of the most elementary gain”; the state during this period "in essence, served as a tool for the enrichment of the grunders, speculators, in general - the predatory bourgeoisie."
Foreign policy
In the reign of Alexander II, Russia returned to the policy of the 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, Batumi were annexed to Russia. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance to Central Asia ended successfully (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). After a long resistance, he decided to go to war with Turkey in 1877-1878. Following the war, he accepted the rank of Field Marshal (April 30, 1878).
The meaning of joining some new territories, especially Central Asia, was incomprehensible to a part of Russian society. So, 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 senselessness 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 the conclusion of a secret agreement with Austria in connection with the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, which, according to some historians and diplomats of the second half of the 19th century, led to. became the Berlin Treaty (1878), included in national historiography as "flawed" in relation to the self-determination of the Balkan peoples (significantly curtailing the Bulgarian state and transferring Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria).
In 1867, Alaska (Russian America) was transferred to the United States.
Growing public discontent
Unlike the previous reign, which was almost not marked by social protests, the era of Alexander II was characterized by an increase in public discontent. Along with a sharp increase in the number of peasant uprisings (see above), many protest groups appeared among the intelligentsia and workers. In the 1860s, a group of S. Nechaev, a circle of Zaichnevsky, a circle of Olshevsky, a circle of Ishutin, the organization Land and Freedom, a group of officers and students (Ivanitsky and others) arose peasant uprising. In the same period, the first revolutionaries appeared (Pyotr Tkachev, Sergei Nechaev), who propagated the ideology of terrorism as a method of fighting the authorities. In 1866, the first attempt was made to assassinate Alexander II, who was shot by Karakozov (a lone terrorist).
In the 1870s, these trends increased significantly. This period includes such protest groups and movements as the circle of Kursk Jacobins, the circle of Chaikovites, the circle of Perovskaya, the circle of Dolgushinites, the groups of Lavrov and Bakunin, the circles of Dyakov, Siryakov, Semyanovsky, the South Russian Union of Workers, the Kyiv Commune, the Northern Workers Union, the new organization Land and Will 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 end of the 1870s. begins a clear tilt towards terrorist acts. In 1873-1874. 2-3 thousand people (the so-called "going to the people"), mainly from among the intelligentsia, went to the countryside under the guise ordinary people for the purpose of propagating revolutionary ideas.
After the suppression of the Polish uprising of 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 toughening measures in the field of domestic policy.
The intensification of repressions by the police, 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 assumed a mass character. Thus, in 1878 Vera Zasulich attempted to assassinate the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov in response to the mistreatment of prisoners in the trial of the 193rd. Despite the irrefutable evidence that testified to the attempt, the jury acquitted her, she received a standing ovation in the courtroom, and on the street she was greeted by an enthusiastic demonstration of a large mass of the public gathered outside the courthouse.
During the following years, assassination attempts were organized:
1878: - on the Kyiv prosecutor Kotlyarevsky, on the gendarmerie officer Geiking in Kyiv, on the chief of the gendarmes Mezentsev in St. Petersburg;
1879: on the Kharkov governor Prince Kropotkin, on the chief of gendarmes Drenteln in St. Petersburg.
1878-1881: there was a series of assassination attempts on Alexander II.
Towards the end of his reign, protest moods spread among different sections of society, including the intelligentsia, part of the nobility and the army. The public applauded the terrorists, the number of terrorist organizations themselves grew - for example, Narodnaya Volya, 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 policy and even, according to the testimony of A. Koni and P. Kropotkin, expressed his intention to arrest the royal family. These and other facts gave rise to the version that Skobelev was preparing a military coup to overthrow the Romanovs. Another example of a protest mood in relation to the policy of Alexander II is the monument to his successor Alexander III. The author of the monument, the sculptor Trubetskoy, depicted the tsar sharply besieging a horse, which, according to his plan, was supposed to symbolize Russia stopped by Alexander III at the edge of the abyss - where the policy of Alexander II led her.
Assassination attempts and murder
History of unsuccessful attempts
Several assassination attempts were made on Alexander II:
- D. V. Karakozov April 4, 1866. When Alexander II was heading from the gates of the Summer Garden to his carriage, a shot rang out. The bullet flew over the head of the emperor: the shooter was pushed by a peasant, Osip Komissarov, who was standing nearby.
- Polish emigrant Anton Berezovsky on May 25, 1867 in Paris; the bullet hit the horse.
- A. K. Solovyov April 2, 1879 in St. Petersburg. Solovyov fired 5 shots from a revolver, including 4 at the emperor, but missed.
On August 26, 1879, the Executive Committee of the People's Will decided to assassinate Alexander II.
- November 19, 1879 there was an attempt to blow up the imperial train near Moscow. The emperor was saved by the fact that he was traveling in another carriage. The explosion fell on the first car, and the emperor himself rode in the second, since in the first he was carrying food from Kyiv.
- On February 5 (17), 1880, S. N. Khalturin carried out an explosion on the first floor of the Winter Palace. The emperor dined on the third floor, he was saved by the fact that he arrived later than the appointed time, the guards (11 people) on the second floor died.
On February 12, 1880, the Supreme Administrative Commission was established to protect state order and combat the revolutionary movement, headed by the liberal-minded Count Loris-Melikov.
Death and burial. Society reaction
On March 1 (13), 1881, at 3:35 pm, he died in the Winter Palace as a result of a mortal wound received on the embankment of the Catherine Canal (Petersburg) at about 2:25 pm on the same day - from a bomb explosion (the second during the assassination attempt ), thrown under his feet by the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky; died on the day when he intended to approve the constitutional project of M. T. Loris-Melikov. The assassination attempt took place when the emperor was returning after a military divorce in the Mikhailovsky Manege, from “tea” (second breakfast) in the Mikhailovsky Palace with Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna; 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, gave orders and orders at the scene. On the eve of February 28 (Saturday of the first week of Great Lent), the emperor in the Small Church of the Winter Palace, along with some other members of the family, communed the Holy Mysteries.
On March 4, his body was transferred to the Court Cathedral of the Winter Palace; March 7 solemnly transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The funeral service on March 15 was led by Metropolitan Isidor (Nikolsky) of St. Petersburg, co-served by other members of the Holy Synod and a host of clergy.
The death of the "Liberator", who was killed by the Narodnaya Volya on behalf of the "liberated", seemed to many a symbolic end to his reign, which, from the point of view of the conservative part of society, led to rampant "nihilism"; particular indignation was caused by the conciliatory policy of Count Loris-Melikov, who was regarded as a puppet in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya. Political figures of the right wing (including Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Yevgeny Feoktistov and Konstantin Leontiev) even said with more or less frankness that the emperor died “on time”: if he reigned for another year or two, the catastrophe of Russia (the collapse of the autocracy) would become inevitable.
Shortly before that, K. P. Pobedonostsev, who had been appointed chief prosecutor, wrote to the new emperor on the very day of the death of Alexander II: “God ordered us to survive this terrible day. It is as if God's punishment fell 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 a memorial service in St. Isaac's Cathedral, said in his speech: “The Sovereign not only died, but was also killed in His own capital ... a martyr's crown for His sacred Head is woven on Russian ground, among His subjects… That is what makes our grief unbearable, the disease of the Russian and Christian hearts - incurable, our immeasurable calamity - our eternal disgrace!
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who at a young age was at the bedside of the dying emperor and whose father was in the Mikhailovsky Palace on the day of the assassination attempt, wrote in his emigrant memoirs about his feelings in the following days: “At night, sitting on our beds, we continued to discuss the catastrophe last Sunday and asked each other, what will happen next? The image of the late Sovereign, bent over the body of a wounded Cossack and not thinking about the possibility of a second attempt, did not leave us. We understood that something immeasurably greater than our loving uncle and courageous monarch had irretrievably gone with him into the past. Idyllic Russia with the Tsar-Father and his loyal people ceased to exist on March 1, 1881. We understood that the Russian Tsar would never again be able to treat his subjects with boundless trust. He will not be able, forgetting regicide, to devote himself entirely to state affairs. The romantic traditions of the past and the idealistic understanding of the Russian autocracy in the spirit of the Slavophiles - all this will be buried, together with the murdered emperor, in the crypt of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Last Sunday's explosion 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 whole world, now depended on the outcome of the inevitable struggle between the new Russian Tsar and the elements of denial and destruction.
The editorial of the Special Supplement to the right-wing conservative newspaper "Rus" dated March 4 read: "The Tsar has been killed! ... Russian the tsar, in his own Russia, in his capital, brutally, barbarously, in front of everyone - with the same Russian hand ... Shame, shame on our country! May 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 wrath of indignation! That scum, which so impudently, so brazenly oppresses the soul of the entire Russian people with crimes, is not the offspring of our very simple people, nor their antiquity, nor even the truly enlightened newness, but the product of the dark sides of the Petersburg period of our history, apostasy from the Russian people, treason its traditions, beginnings and ideals.
At an emergency meeting of the Moscow City Duma, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “An unheard-of and terrifying event has taken place: the Russian Tsar, the liberator of peoples, fell victim to a gang of villains among the many millions of people selflessly devoted to him. Several people, the offspring of darkness and sedition, dared with a blasphemous hand to encroach on the age-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 No. 65 (March 8, 1881) of the semi-official newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti, a "hot and frank article" was published, which caused "a stir in the St. Petersburg press." The article, in particular, said: “Petersburg, standing on the outskirts of the state, is teeming with foreign elements. Here both foreigners, thirsting for the disintegration of Russia, and leaders of our outskirts have built a nest for themselves. [Petersburg] is full of our bureaucracy, which has long lost its sense of the people's pulse. That is why in Petersburg you can meet a lot of people, apparently Russians, but who argue as enemies of their homeland, as traitors to their people.
The anti-monarchist representative of the left wing of the Cadets, V.P. Obninsky, in his work “The Last Autocrat” (1912 or later) wrote about regicide: “This act deeply stirred up society and the people. For the murdered sovereign, too outstanding merits were listed 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 in which, along with a statement of the “enforcement of the sentence” to the tsar, contained an “ultimatum” to the new tsar, Alexander III: “If the policy of the government does not change , revolution will be inevitable. The government must express the will of the people, and it is a usurper gang.” Despite the arrest and execution of all the leaders of the "Narodnaya Volya", terrorist acts continued in the first 2-3 years of the reign of Alexander III.
The following lines of Alexander Blok are dedicated to the assassination of Alexander II (poem "Retribution"):
The results of the reign
Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator. In his reign, serfdom was abolished, compulsory military service was introduced, zemstvos were established, judicial reform was carried out, censorship was limited, and a number of other reforms were carried out. The empire expanded significantly due to the conquest and inclusion of the Central Asian possessions, the North Caucasus, the Far East and other territories.
At the same time, the country's economic situation worsened: industry was struck by a protracted depression, and there were several cases of mass starvation in the countryside. The deficit of the foreign trade balance and the state external debt (almost 6 billion rubles) reached a large size, which led to the disorder of money circulation and public finances. The problem of corruption has escalated. A split and sharp social contradictions formed in Russian society, which reached their peak by the end of the reign.
Other negative aspects usually include the results of the Berlin Congress of 1878, unfavorable for Russia, exorbitant expenses in the war of 1877-1878, numerous peasant uprisings (in 1861-1863: more than 1150 speeches), large-scale nationalist uprisings in the kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Territory ( 1863) and in the Caucasus (1877-1878). Within the imperial family, Alexander II's authority was undermined by his love interests and morganatic marriage.
Estimates of some of the reforms of Alexander II are contradictory. Noble circles and the liberal press called his reforms "great". At the same time, a significant part of the population (the peasantry, part of the intelligentsia), as well as a number of statesmen of that era, negatively assessed these reforms. So, at the first meeting of the government of Alexander III on March 8, 1881, K.N. Pobedonostsev sharply criticized the peasant, zemstvo, and judicial reforms of Alexander II. And historians of the late XIX - early XX centuries. they argued that there was no real emancipation of the peasants (only a mechanism for such emancipation was created, and an unfair one at that); corporal punishment against peasants was not abolished (which persisted until 1904-1905); the establishment of zemstvos led to discrimination against the lower classes; judicial reform failed to prevent the growth of judicial and police arbitrariness. In addition, according to experts on the agrarian issue, the peasant reform of 1861 led to the emergence of serious new problems (landowner cuts, the ruin of the peasants), which became one of the reasons for the future revolutions of 1905 and 1917.
The views of modern historians on the era of Alexander II were subjected to drastic changes under the influence of the dominant ideology, and are not well-established. Soviet historiography was dominated by a tendentious view of his reign, which followed from the general nihilistic attitudes towards the "era of tsarism." Modern historians, along with the thesis of the "liberation of the peasants", state that their freedom of movement after the reform was "relative". Calling the reforms of Alexander II "great", they at the same time write that the reforms gave rise to "the deepest socio-economic crisis in the countryside", did not lead to the abolition of corporal punishment for peasants, were not consistent, but economic life in the 1860s-1870s characterized by industrial recession, rampant speculation and grunderstvo.
A family
- First marriage (1841) with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.
- The second, morganatic, marriage with an old (since 1866) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who received the title Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.
As of March 1, 1881, the personal capital of Alexander II was about 12 million rubles. (securities, tickets of the State Bank, shares of railway companies); from personal funds, he donated 1 million rubles in 1880. on the construction of a hospital in memory of the Empress.
Children from 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).
Children from a morganatic marriage (legalized after the wedding):
- His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913);
- Most Serene Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya (1873-1925);
- Boris (1876-1876), posthumously legalized with the assignment of the surname "Yurievsky";
- His Serene Highness Princess Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and later to Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky.
In addition to children from Ekaterina Dolgoruky, he had several other illegitimate children.
Some monuments to Alexander II
Moscow
On May 14, 1893, in the Kremlin, next to the Small Nikolaevsky Palace, where Alexander was born (opposite the Chudov Monastery), it was founded, and on August 16, 1898, solemnly, after the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral, in the Highest Presence (the service was officiated by Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow (Bogoyavlensky) ), a monument to him was opened (the work of A. M. Opekushin, P. V. Zhukovsky and N. V. Sultanov). The emperor was sculpted standing under a pyramidal canopy in a general's uniform, in purple, with a scepter; a canopy made of dark pink granite with bronze ornaments was crowned with a gilded patterned hipped roof with a double-headed eagle; in the dome of the canopy was placed a chronicle of the life of the king. On three sides, a through gallery adjoined the monument, formed by vaults resting on columns. In the spring of 1918, the sculptural figure of the king was thrown off the monument; The monument was completely dismantled in 1928.
In June 2005, a monument to Alexander II was solemnly opened in Moscow. The author of the monument is Alexander Rukavishnikov. The monument is set on a granite platform on the western side of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On the pedestal of the monument there is an inscription “Emperor Alexander II. He abolished serfdom in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery. He carried out military and judicial reforms. He introduced a system of local self-government, city dumas and zemstvo councils. He completed the long-term Caucasian war. freed Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. He died on March 1 (13), 1881 as a result of a terrorist act.
St. Petersburg
In St. Petersburg, on the site of the death of the tsar, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was erected with funds collected from all over Russia. The cathedral was built by order of Emperor Alexander III in 1883-1907. joint project architect Alfred Parland and Archimandrite Ignatius (Malyshev), and consecrated on August 6, 1907 - the day of the Transfiguration.
The tombstone set over the grave of Alexander II differs from the white marble tombstones of other emperors: it is made of gray-green jasper.
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, Alexander II is known as Tsar Liberator. His manifesto of April 12 (24), 1877 declaring war on Turkey is studied in the school history course. The Treaty of San Stefano on March 3, 1878 brought freedom to Bulgaria, after five centuries of Ottoman rule that began in 1396. The grateful Bulgarian people erected many monuments to the Tsar-Liberator and named streets and institutions in his honor all over the country.
Sofia
In the center of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on the square in front of the People's Assembly, stands one of the best monuments to the Tsar-Liberator.
General-Toshevo
On April 24, 2009, a monument to Alexander II was solemnly opened in the city of General Toshevo. The height of the monument is 4 meters, it is made of two types of volcanic stone: red and black. The monument was made in Armenia and is a gift from the Union of Armenians in Bulgaria. It took the Armenian craftsmen a year and four months to make the monument. The stone from which it is made is very ancient.
Kyiv
In Kyiv from 1911 to 1919 there was a monument to Alexander II, which was demolished by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution.
Kazan
The monument to Alexander II in Kazan was erected on the Alexander Square (formerly Ivanovskaya, now May 1) at the Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin and solemnly opened on August 30, 1895. In February-March 1918, the bronze figure of the emperor was dismantled from the pedestal, until the end of the 1930s it lay on the territory of Gostiny Dvor, and in April 1938 it was melted down to make brake bushings for tram wheels. On the pedestal, the “monument of Labor” was first erected, then the monument to Lenin. In 1966, a monumental memorial complex was built on this site as part of the monument to the Hero Soviet Union Musa Jalil and a bas-relief to the heroes of the Tatar resistance in the Nazi captivity of the “Kurmashev group”.
Rybinsk
On January 12, 1914, the laying of a monument took place on the Red Square of the city of Rybinsk - in the presence of Bishop Sylvester (Bratanovsky) of Rybinsk and Yaroslavl Governor Count D. N. Tatishchev. On May 6, 1914, the monument was unveiled (work by A. M. Opekushin).
Repeated attempts by the crowd to desecrate the monument began immediately after February Revolution 1917. In March 1918, the "hated" sculpture was finally wrapped and hidden under the matting, and in July it was completely thrown off the pedestal. First, the sculpture "Hammer and Sickle" was put in its place, and in 1923 - a monument to V. I. Lenin. Further fate sculpture is not exactly known; The pedestal of the monument has survived to this day. In 2009, Albert Serafimovich Charkin began to work on the reconstruction of the sculpture of Alexander II; the opening of the monument was originally planned in 2011, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom, but most citizens consider it inappropriate to move the monument to V.I. Lenin and replace it with Emperor Alexander II.
Helsinki
In the capital of the Grand Duchy of Helsingfors, on the Senate Square in 1894, a monument to Alexander II, the work of Walter Runeberg, was erected. With the monument, the Finns expressed their gratitude for strengthening the foundations of Finnish culture and, in particular, for recognizing the Finnish language as the state language.
Czestochowa
The monument to Alexander II in Czestochowa (Kingdom of Poland) by A. M. Opekushin was opened in 1899.
Monuments of Opekushin's work
A. M. Opekushin erected monuments to Alexander II in Moscow (1898), Pskov (1886), Chisinau (1886), Astrakhan (1884), Czestokhov (1899), Vladimir (1913), Buturlinovka (1912), Rybinsk (1914) and in other cities of the empire. Each of them was unique; according to estimates, “the Czestochowa monument, created with donations from the Polish population, was very beautiful and elegant.” After 1917, most of those created by Opekushin were destroyed.
- And to this day in Bulgaria during the liturgy in Orthodox churches, during the great entrance of the liturgy of the faithful, Alexander II and all Russian soldiers who fell on the battlefield for the liberation of Bulgaria in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 are commemorated.
- Alexander II - the last on this moment head of the Russian state, born in Moscow.
- The abolition of serfdom (1861), carried out during the reign of Alexander II, coincided with the beginning of the American Civil War (1861-1865), where the struggle to abolish slavery is considered its main cause.
Movie incarnations
- Ivan Kononenko ("Heroes of Shipka", 1954).
- Vladislav Strzhelchik (Sofya Perovskaya, 1967).
- Vladislav Dvorzhetsky (Julia Vrevskaya, 1977).
- Yuri Belyaev ("Tsarkiller", 1991).
- Nikolay Burov ("The Emperor's Romance", 1993).
- Georgy Taratorkin ("The Emperor's Love", 2003).
- Dmitry Isaev ("Poor Nastya", 2003-2004).
- Evgeny Lazarev ("Turkish Gambit", 2005).
- Smirnov, Andrey Sergeevich ("Gentlemen of the Jury", 2005).
- Lazarev, Alexander Sergeevich ("The Mysterious Prisoner", 1986).
- Borisov, Maxim Stepanovich ("Alexander II", 2011).
from 2nd marriage
sons: St. book. Georgy Aleksandrovich Yuryevsky and Boris
daughters: Olga and Ekaterina
Alexander II Nikolaevich(April 17 (29), Moscow - March 1 (13), St. Petersburg) - Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland -. From the Romanov dynasty.
Origin
Alexander II is the eldest son, first of the Grand Duke, and since 1825 of the Imperial couple, Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna.
Nikolai Pavlovich was the third son of Emperor Paul I. Alexandra Feodorovna - daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III, before chrismation - Princess Charlotte. She was the niece and goddaughter of the English Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, and, therefore, a relative of the future reigning Queen of England - Victoria.
Childhood, education and upbringing
According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. So, during a trip to London, he had a fleeting crush on the young Queen Victoria.
Beginning of state activity
Upon reaching the age of majority on April 22 (the day he took the oath), the heir-prince was introduced by his father to the main state institutions of the empire: in the Senate, in the Holy Governing Synod, with a member of the State Council, in - the Committee of Ministers.
The military service of the future emperor was quite successful. In 1836, he had already become a major general, from 1844 a full general, commanded the guards infantry. Since 1849, Alexander was the head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees for Peasant Affairs and years. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, with the announcement of the St. Petersburg province under martial law, he commanded all the troops of the capital.
Reign of Alexander II
Grand Title
By God's hastening mercy, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kyiv, Vladimir, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonis, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuanian, Volyn, Podolsk and Finland, Prince of Estland , Liflyandsky, Kurlyandsky and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Belostoksky, Korelsky, Tversky, Yugorsky, Permsky, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod Nizovsky land, Chernigov. Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozersk, Udora, Obdorsk, Kondi, Vitebsk, Mstislav and all Northern countries, Lord and Sovereign of Iver. Kartalinsky, Georgian and Kabardian lands and Armenian regions, Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsen and Oldenburg and others, and others, and others.
Beginning of the reign
In his life, Alexander did not adhere to any specific concept in his views on the history of Russia and the tasks of state administration. Having ascended the throne in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. None of the issues of the 30-year reign of his father (peasant, eastern, Polish, etc.) was resolved; Russia was defeated in the Crimean War.
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The first of his important decisions was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in March 1856. A “thaw” began in the socio-political life of the country. On the occasion of the coronation in August 1856, he announced an amnesty for the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, suspended recruiting for 3 years, and in 1857 liquidated military settlements.
Abolition of serfdom
Alexander II
Peasant reform in Russia, also known as abolition of serfdom- the reform carried out in 1861, which abolished serfdom in the Russian Empire.
The first steps towards the abolition of serfdom were made by Alexander I in 1803 by signing the Decree on free cultivators, which spelled out the legal status of peasants released into the wild.
In the Baltic (Ostsee) provinces of the Russian Empire (Estland, Courland, Livonia), serfdom was abolished back in the years.
Alexander II
Contrary to the existing erroneous opinion that the vast majority of the population of pre-reform Russia was serfdom, in reality the percentage of serfs to the entire population of the empire remained almost unchanged at 45% from the second revision to the eighth (that is, from to), and to the 10th revision ( ) this share fell to 37%. According to the population census, 23.1 million people (of both sexes) out of 62.5 million people who inhabited the Russian Empire were in serfdom. Of the 65 provinces and regions that existed in the Russian Empire in 1858, in the three above-mentioned Baltic provinces, in the Land of the Black Sea Host, in the Primorsky Region, the Semipalatinsk Region and the region of the Siberian Kirghiz, in the Derbent Governorate (with the Caspian Territory) and the Erivan Governorate, there were no serfs at all; in 4 more administrative units (Arkhangelsk and Shemakha provinces, Transbaikal and Yakutsk regions) there were no serfs either, with the exception of a few dozen courtyard people (servants). In the remaining 52 provinces and regions, the proportion of serfs in the population ranged from 1.17% (Bessarabian region) to 69.07% (Smolensk province).
The main provisions of the peasant reform
The main act - "The General Regulations on Peasants Who Have Emerged from Serfdom" - contained the main conditions for the peasant reform:
- peasants received personal freedom and the right to freely dispose of their property;
- the landlords retained ownership of all the lands that belonged to them, but they were obliged to provide the peasants with "estate estates" and a field allotment for use;
- for the use of allotment land, the peasants had to serve a corvee or pay dues and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years;
- the size of the field allotment and duties were to be fixed in charter letters of 1861, which were drawn up by the landowners for each estate and verified by amicable mediators;
- the peasants were given the right to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the field plot, before this they were called temporarily liable peasants;
- the structure, rights and obligations of the bodies of peasant public administration (village and volost) and the volost court were also determined.
Four "Local Regulations" determined the size of land plots and duties for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. From the land that was in the use of the peasants before February 19, 1861, cuts could be made if the per capita allotments of the peasants exceeded the highest size established for the given locality, or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the entire land of the estate.
Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landlords, as well as upon receipt of a donation. If the peasants had plots of less than the lowest size in use, the landowner was obliged either to cut the missing land, or to reduce duties. For the highest shower allotment, a quitrent was set from 8 to 12 rubles. per year or corvee - 40 male and 30 female working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties decreased, but not proportionally. The rest of the "Local provisions" basically repeated the "Great Russian", but taking into account the specifics of their regions. The features of the Peasant Reform for certain categories of peasants and specific regions were determined by the “Additional Rules” - “On the arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small landowners, and on the allowance for these owners”, “On people assigned to private mining plants of the department of the Ministry of Finance”, “On peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines”, “About peasants serving work at landowner factories”, “About peasants and yard people in the Land of the Don Cossacks”, “About peasants and yard people in the Stavropol province”, “ About Peasants and Household People in Siberia”, “About people who came out of serfdom in the Bessarabian region”.
The “Regulations on the arrangement of courtyard people” provided for their release without land, but for 2 years they remained completely dependent on the landowner.
The “Regulations on Redemption” determined the procedure for the redemption of land by peasants from landlords, the organization of the redemption operation, the rights and obligations of peasant owners. The redemption of the field plot depended on an agreement with the landowner, who could oblige the peasants to redeem the land at their request. The price of land was determined by quitrent, capitalized from 6% per annum. In the event of a ransom under a voluntary agreement, the peasants had to make an additional payment to the landowner. The landlord received the main amount from the state, to which the peasants had to repay it for 49 years annually in redemption payments.
"Manifesto" and "Regulations" were promulgated from March 7 to April 2 (in St. Petersburg and Moscow - March 5). Fearing dissatisfaction of the peasants with the terms of the reform, the government took a number of precautionary measures (redeployment of troops, secondment of the imperial retinue to the places, appeal of the Synod, etc.). The peasantry, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky performance of 1861 and the Kandeev performance of 1861.
The implementation of the Peasant Reform began with the drafting of charters, which was basically completed by the middle of 1863. On January 1, 1863, the peasants refused to sign about 60% of the letters. The price of land for redemption significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in some areas by 2-3 times. As a result of this, in a number of districts they were extremely striving to receive donation allotments, and in some provinces (Saratov, Samara, Yekaterinoslav, Voronezh, etc.), a significant number of peasants-gifts appeared.
The reforms continued, but sluggishly and inconsistently, almost all the leaders of the reforms, with rare exceptions, were resigned. At the end of his reign, Alexander inclined towards the introduction in Russia of limited public representation at the State Council.
Assassination attempts and murder
Several assassination attempts were made on Alexander II:
April 4, 1866, when Alexander II was heading from the gates of the Summer Garden to his carriage, a shot rang out. The bullet flew over the head of the emperor - the shooter was pushed by the peasant Osip Komissarov, who was standing nearby. The crowd almost tore apart a young man in a dark coat. The gendarmes, who forcibly recaptured the nobleman Dmitry Karakozov from the crowd, brought him to the tsar. "You're polish?" Alexander asked him. - "No, pure Russian."
The results of the reign
Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator.
In his reign, serfdom was abolished, general military service was introduced, zemstvos were established, judicial reform was carried out, censorship was limited, autonomy was granted to the Caucasian highlanders (which to a large extent contributed to the cessation of the Caucasian war), and a number of other reforms were carried out.
The negative side usually includes the unfavorable for Russia results of the Berlin Congress, exorbitant expenses in the war of 1877-1878, numerous peasant uprisings (in 1861-1863, more than 1150 speeches), large-scale nationalist uprisings in the kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Territory ( ) and in the Caucasus (1877-1878).
A family
- First marriage () with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.
- The second, morganatic, marriage to an old (s) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (-), who received the title Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.
As of March 1, 1881, the personal capital of Alexander II was about 12 million rubles. (securities, tickets of the State Bank, shares of railway companies); from personal funds, he donated 1 million rubles in 1880. on the construction of a hospital in memory of the Empress.
Children from first marriage:
- Alexandra (1842-1849);
- Nicholas (1843-1865), brought up 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).
Children from a morganatic marriage:
- His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913), married to Countess Alexandra von Zarnekau (1883-1957), daughter of Prince Konstantin of Oldenburg from a morganatic marriage;
