Alexander II, the not-so-great reformer

1. Alexander II, the not-so-great reformer

2. 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

3. “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”

4. 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)

5. And assassins First 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)

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Alexander II, r. 1855-1881