Download - Alexander II, the not-so-great reformer
Alexander II, the not-so-great reformer
But problems too…
• 1863-1864: Another Polish Uprising
– Suppressed and Polish-Lithuanian territories excluded from reforms
• 1863: Finnish Diet restored and the Finnish language raised to national language
• 1867: Ems Ukaz banned publications in Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Belarussian.
• Petersburg zemstvo became very assertive and critical.
• Alexander saw this as too much independence from nobility
“Eastern Crisis,” 1870-78• Oct. 1870: Prince Gorchakov: no
more Black Sea neutrality• 1873: Russia annexed Khiva• 1875-1876: Balkan Christians rose
up• April 1877: Russia declared war on
Ottomans• January 1878: Ottomans defeated• March 1878: Treaty of San Stefano• June-July 1878: Congress of Berlin
forced Russia to give up “Greater Bulgaria”
Problems at home: Radicals• 1860s-1870s: narodniki:• Nostalgic about peasants and the
commune.• Saw 1861 as replacing nobles
with capitalists, destroying “true Russia” and that peasants got a bad deal.
• 1873-75: Back to the People’s movement (Khozhdenie v narod)
• Clashed with peasants’ indifference and suspicion
• 1876: Land and Liberty (Zemlya I volya)
• Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will)
And assassinsFirst assassination attempt:• Dmitry V. Karakozov (1840-1866)• Born in minor noble family• Studied at Kazan University, 1861-
1864• Moscow University, 1864-1866• Early 1866 joined Ishutin society
(cousin Nikolai Ishutin)• Tactic: “individualist terror”• Issued proclamation: “To Brothers-
Workers”• 4 April 1866: attempted• Osip I. Komissarov (enobled)• Karakazov (convicted and hung)
And assassins: Aleksandr Soloviev , 1846-1879
• Father was a government official• Excellent student: won scholarship to
study in St. Petersburg• 1865: enrolled in Law Faculty at St.
Petersburg University• Quit because of lack of money• Became a teacher in the provinces• Deeply religious ascetic, then
disillusioned• 1876 joined "Land and Freedom”.• 1877-1878: “went to the people” -
the peasants of the Volga region.• 20 April 1879: fired five shots, missed
Alexander• Arrested, tried, and hanged (28 May
1879)
And assassins: Narodnaya Volya, 1879-1884
• Social revolution impossible without political revolution.
• Program: – Constituent Assembly– universal suffrage– permanent people’s representation– freedom of speech, press,
and assembly– communal self-government– people’s volunteer army– transfer of land to the people– gradual placement of the factories
under the control of the workers– granting oppressed peoples of the
Russian Empire the right to self-determination Andrey Zheliabov, 1851-1881
And assassins: Narodnaya Volya, 1879-1884
• Assassination attempts:– December 1879: Narodnaya
volya (People’s Will) blew up some dynamite under Tsar’s railroad, but missed his train.
– February 1880: Stephan Khalturin set off a charge under the dining room of the Winter Palace.
– late for dinner, the tsar was unharmed; although 11 other people were killed and 30 wounded.
– Seven attempts in total– Last successful
1 March 1881
Narodnaya volya’s persistent– Cheeseshop tunnel– Andrey Zheliabov– Sophiya Perovskaya– Rysakov– Grinevitskii– Nikolay Kibalchich (bomb-
maker)
• All major participants sentenced to death.
Alexander II, r. 1855-1881