Alexander II, the not-so-great reformer

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

“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”

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)

And assassinsFirst 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)

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)

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

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

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.

Alexander II, r. 1855-1881