Tzar Alexander II – Liberator or Pragmatist?

By Jenny Meader

Alexander II (1818 –  1881) was the Emperor of Russia from 1855 until his assassination in 1881. He was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland.

Alexander's most significant reform as Emperor was emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator.  The tsar was responsible for other reforms, including reorganising the judicial system, setting up elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoting local self-government through the zemstvo system, imposing universal military service, ending some privileges of the nobility, and promoting university education.   However, after an assassination attempt in 1866, Alexander adopted a somewhat more reactionary stance until his death.

The Russian Revolution

by Oscar Winsey

Before discussing the revolution, it is necessary to examine the causes.  History shows that revolutions usually occur because of intolerable conditions imposed upon the populace or a strong man waiting in the wings who fancies the top job.   Russia in 1900 was a large sprawling country extending some 5000 miles from Poland, Ukraine, Baltic states and Finland in the west to Vladivostok in the East and inhabited by a variety of peoples having  diverse languages, religions and customs.  The population was largely rural and it was not until 1861 that serfdom was abolished but the country was still ruled by an elite, headed by an autocratic Tsar.