Alexander II is known today as the “Tsar Liberator. He held a vision of Russia as a major world power, a Russia that was westernized, industrialized, and educated. However, his reforms did not go so smoothly. With many attempts to take his life were made throughout his reign, he was finally assassinated before the completion of his reforms in March 1881. Was the reforms he made deemed a success? The humiliation of the Crimean War had greatly exposed Russia's main problems, involving its lack of communication; problems within industry; the useless military; and a corrupt, ineffective administration. The defeat acted as proof of Russia's backwardness compared to other western powers. Alexander II needed to act effectively. The first reform
