Alexander I of Russia

The opposition in Russia opposed to Tsar Nicholas II autocratic style of before 1905 can be categorised into two main groups: Revolutionaries and Reformers (liberals). In turn the revolutionaries can be further divided into three distinct groups: Populists, Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries. It has long been debated how much of a danger they posed to the tsardom, before 1905, which is what I shall be discussing. The Populists, who dated back to the 1870s, regarded that Russia’s future…

Alexander II’s reforms changed Russia more than any other events from 1855-1905. The most significant of these reforms The Emancipation of the Serf’s freed the people from the land. Serfdom had long been seen as the symbol of the superannuated Russian system holding Russia back from real progress. The emancipation had some significant advantages for Russia: it created a movable industrial workforce, a better military it changed the structure of Society and it abolished it without Civil War or…

chronicles only once, in 1347, when he was said to have been sent to Tver with the purpose of meeting the daughter of Alexander I of Tver. Later generations assigned other more illustrious pedigrees to Kobyla, however, they are highly unlikely to be true. An 18th century genealogy chart even claimed that Kobyla was the son of the Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans. Indeed, one of the leaders of the Prussian…

many of Alexander II’s reforms appeared liberal in nature, most of them did not turn out so in practice and were simply initiated to promote stability in the Russian Empire. Furthermore, Alexander II was reluctant to relinquish his absolute power. Combined with the fact that he displayed traits of an autocrat from time to time, particularly after an assassination attempt in 1866, these reasons make ‘Tsar Liberator’ an unsuitable title for him. Instead, a better term to describe Alexander II…

The Assassination of the Duchess Anastasia What does it take to bring down the Tsar of Russia? Maybe killing him, or even his family. No matter how innocent his family is they have to die. Does that sound right? Is it right? Well it isn't! Yet it still happened. Specifically, his daughter, the Duchess Anastasia who was on 17 when she died. And the way she was killed was so horrible and unbelievable it gets you thinking, was she in any way guilty. The assassination of Anastasia was unjust…

At this time, the Russian nobility had almost exclusive rights to own serfs. Russia had been becoming less dependent on serf service to the state and had freed the nobility from their requirement to serve the state, so serf bondage became much more of a private civil matter for the nobles that required their service on private lands and in new industries that had been growing since the time of Alexander the Great. So, though early in Catherine II's reign she began posing the question of serfdom…

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…

RUSSIA IN THE 1900’S From 1896 Tsar Nicholas II has ruled the Russian empire taking over from his late father Alexander 3rd. With social classes still as prominent as ever despite the freeing of peasants in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II (Tsar Nicholas grandfather), the Great Russian empire has a social structure like a pyramid. The Tsar and his government placed at the top and peasants at the bottom. PEASENTS: Life as a peasant as we all know is hard. It requires hours on end of work and hardship…

Why did Alexander II emancipate the serfs? Alexander II, the Tsar of Russia from 1855-1881, formally emancipated, or set free, the serfs in the Emancipation Reform of 1861 despite that it was only applied to privately owned serfs and was a measured three stage process beginning with personal freedom. Ultimately, Alexander II emancipated the serfs as it held back Russia’s economy from progressing and improving. However, the combination of various military, social and political factors also…

property for little or no compensation. The landowner would give them a small piece of land which they could farm to provide for their own needs. There were several peasant rebellions that led to numerous revolutions. In 1861, a law was issued by Tsar Alexander II finally eliminating serfdom; however, it did not improve the quality of life for the serf community. Between the 13-15th centuries, the number of serf’s dependents grow significantly in number. They were not considered slaves, but…