Alexander II, Tsar Liberator, Reformer and Educator of Russia

April 29, 2019 marks the 201st anniversary of the birth of Alexander II, the Russian emperor, who was awarded the high national title of the Liberator (1818-1881). The monarch, who managed to give a powerful impetus to the development of the state, is portrayed in the materials of the section of the unique collection of the Presidential Library “The House of Romanovs. Zemsky Sobor 1613". They include biographical essays, research papers, memoirs and speeches by contemporaries dedicated to the sovereign, as well as numerous photographs of the tsar and his family members.

Nicholas I paid much attention to the upbringing and education of Alexander. “The officer who was once bravely fighting, Karl Merder, personally known to the Sovereign as a person most honest and kind, but very strict together, was appointed the tutor of the Heir. Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the tsarevich's mentor”, - we learn from an electronic copy of the biographical sketch “Alexander II, the Tsar Liberator”, published in 1892 under the initials E.L.

The teachers had a great influence on the future emperor. “The heir got up at 6 o'clock in the morning, made a morning prayer and had breakfast. Classes began at 7 o'clock and ended at noon”, - writes E. Bogdanovich in his free publication for the people “Tsar Liberator” (1898). 16 years - the age of majority for the heir to the throne. This significant event was accompanied by a special celebration. “When the Gospel was open”, - says an eyewitness, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, - and the Sovereign Heir pronounced it in a firm voice. But when he reached the final expressions of this act, which included prayer, deep feeling and tears stopped him. Taking his heart and proceeding, he completed his reading in a changed, touchingly quivering voice”. On the same day, the crown prince was granted the rank of aide-de-camp of His Majesty.

The accession of Alexander II to the throne on February 19, 1855 occurred at a rather difficult historical moment: he inherited from his father a state exhausted by the Crimean War, "which discovered the internal wounds of Russia and the complete inconsistency of the former life". Under these historical conditions, radical transformations were simply necessary.

The reforms were not long in coming.

According to Professor A. Alexandrov, the author of the historical essay “Tsar Liberator, Reformer and Educator of Russia, Emperor Alexander II” (1897), the monarch was convinced that the liberation of the peasants should take place in his reign: “The first slaughter of the Tsar was the organization of the everyday life of the inhabitants and villages whose whole life is spent in hard work. They pay taxes, serve in the army and perform a variety of duties".

Work to develop the provisions of the peasant reform began. “All the efforts of overt and covert opponents of the cause of liberation could not stop him”, - we read in the essay “Alexander II, Tsar Liberator” mentioned above. - Four years have passed in the preparatory work. The sovereign was looking forward to when it would be possible to announce the good news to his people. He had already found that the matter was dragging on. At the beginning of 1861, he announced to the meeting that worked on the Peasant Regulations that he wanted to declare the will of the people to the beginning of the field work”.

The highest will of February 19, 1861 throughout Russia was declared the Most Merciful manifesto on granting the will to the serfs - and the nobility, by the word of the sovereign, renounced the right of ownership to them.

The abolition of serfdom entailed a number of other reforms: judicial, administrative (zemstvo and urban), military and educational.

The trial now became public, independent, there were jurors, the legal profession. The judiciary was separated from the administrative and accusatory. "The previous order of the court was completely changed by the new "judicial statutes", promulgated by the Highest order on November 20, 1864. The judge of the old time dealt with the case, tried for the crimes as he himself thought about this case, as he himself looked at the crime... In the new courts everything happens openly, with the public and is called a vowel. Everyone can see how things are sorted out, sorted out in truth, in justice, in law, as they should, and for all equally, without justifying the guilty and not condemning the innocent”, - reflects the work Tsar Liberator, Reformer and Educator of Russia, Emperor Alexander II.  

The changes also affected the areas of local government, education, finance. The Press Act and the censorship reform of 1865 marked a significant step in the development of Russian society and the history of print legislation: under Alexander II, a controversy was resolved in the press regarding the abolition of serfdom, disciplinary restrictions in universities were lifted - these measures weakened censorship.

Alas, by the time of his reign, those who considered the “easiest” way to achieve their goals by killing entered the arena of political struggle. On April 4, 1865, a count was opened: Dmitry Karakozov shot the sovereign, leaving the Summer Garden, almost point-blank. Then there were bombers Solovyov, Khalturin, Zhelyabov. 11 soldiers were killed in the explosion in the dining room of the Winter Palace. The last was an attempt on the Catherine Canal on March 1, 1881. “To great misfortune, it was successful - on the day when the monarch was carrying with him the elaborated program of the constitution, which he meant to bring happiness to his people and complete his reforms”, - the publication “The Truth about the Death of Alexander II: from eyewitness notes” (1898). The electronic copy of the book "The Tsar and the People" (1881) also contains numerous testimonies of eyewitnesses who witnessed the terrible incident on the embankment of the Catherine Canal.

Mortally wounded, Alexander II died in the Winter Palace a few hours and was buried along with the other Romanovs in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress.