Alexander was the eldest son, first of the grand-ducal, and since 1825 of the imperial couple, Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna (daughter of the Prussian monarch Friedrich Wilhelm III). Alexander Nikolaevich received a good education... His mentor, who guided the process of upbringing and education, and the teacher of the Russian language was V.A.Zhukovsky, the teacher of the Law of God - the theologian, Archpriest G. Pavsky, the teacher of history and statistics - K.I. Arseniev, legislation - M.M.Speransky, finance - E.F. Kankrin, foreign policy - F.I.Brunov, military instructor rum - Captain K. K. Murder and other prominent teachers.
The personality of the future emperor was formed under the influence of his father, who wanted to see in the heir a military man, and at the same time a poet Zhukovsky, who sought to educate an enlightened monarch, a monarch-legislator who was carrying out reasonable reforms in Russia. Both these tendencies left a deep imprint on the character of Alexander Nikolaevich.
Leading Russia in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. There was a difficult Crimean War, Russia was internationally isolated. The country faced difficult internal political issues: the Caucasian War continued, the peasant question was not resolved, etc. Alexander Nikolaevich was forced to become a reformer tsar. In March 1856, the Peace of Paris was concluded. In the same year, Alexander II secretly concluded a "dual alliance" with Prussia, breaking through the diplomatic isolation of Russia. At the same time, Aleksandr Nikolaevich made some indulgences in domestic policy: recruitment was suspended for 3 years; privileges were received by the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. In 1857, military settlements were abolished. A kind of "thaw" began in the social and political life of Russia.
Alexander headed for the abolition of serfdom and in 1861 pushed through this decision. Moreover, a milder version of the reform was adopted - initially it was proposed to carry out the "Ostsee version", with the landless liberation of the peasants. With the support of the emperor, the zemstvo and judicial reforms (1864), the city reform (1870), military reforms (60-70s), and education reform were carried out. In general, Alexander carried out reforms of a liberal orientation. Thus, the position of Jewry was eased, corporal punishment was abolished, censorship was facilitated, etc.
During the reign of Alexander Nikolaevich, Russia won decisive victories in the Caucasian War and ended it. The North Caucasus was pacified. The advance of the empire into Central Asia was successfully completed: in 1865-1881. a large part of Turkestan became part of Russia. In 1870, Russia, taking advantage of the victory of Prussia over France, was able to mark the article of the Paris Treaty on the neutralization of the Black Sea. Russia won the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Although St. Petersburg, under pressure from the West, had to give up part of the conquests. The Russian Empire returned the southern part of Bessarabia, lost after the Crimean War, and received the Kars region. True, the government of Alexander made a strategic mistake - in 1867 the United States sold Alaska, which seriously worsened Russia's position in the Asia-Pacific region.
After the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. and the attempted assassination of D.V. Karakozov on the life of the emperor in April 1866, Alexander II began to listen more to the supporters of the protective course. The governor-general of Grodno, Minsk and Vilna was appointed a “guardian” MN Muravyov, he carried out a series of reforms aimed at Russification, restoring the position of Orthodoxy in the region. Conservatives D. A. Tolstoy, F. F. Trepov, P. A. Shuvalov were appointed to the highest government posts. Many supporters of the reforms, with the exception of a few exceptions, such as Minister of War Milyutin and Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov, were removed from power. However, on the whole, the course of reforms was continued, but more cautiously and sluggishly.
At the end of his reign, a project was developed to expand the functions of the State Council and the establishment of the "General Commission" (congress), which was supposed to introduce representatives from the zemstvos. As a result, autocracy could be limited in favor of bodies with limited representation. The authors of this idea were the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov and the Minister of Finance A. A. Abaza. The emperor, shortly before his death, approved the project, but they did not have time to discuss it at the council of ministers.
The reforms led to the destabilization of the internal political situation in Russia. The revolutionary underground, represented by the People's Will, strengthened its position and embarked on a course of eliminating the tsar. According to the conspirators, the death of the emperor should have caused a revolutionary wave in Russia. On April 4, 1866, Karakozov tried to shoot the Tsar, who was walking in the Summer Garden. It should be noted that the protection of the head of the Russian state was then extremely poorly organized. On May 25, 1867, in Paris, Alexander was shot by a Polish emigrant, Berezovsky.
The dining room of the Winter Palace after the assassination attempt on Alexander II. 1879
Despite all these "bells", it was only on February 12, 1880 that the Supreme Administrative Commission was established to protect state order and fight the revolutionary underground. But it was headed by the liberal-minded Count Loris-Melikov. The result of such a careless attitude to the mortal danger and activities of the then "fifth column" was obvious and sad.
On the last day of his reign, Alexander Nikolaevich felt like a tired and lonely person. The reforms caused a number of negative processes in the empire. Failures in domestic politics were complemented by family troubles. After the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, he married Princess E. Yurievskaya. However, the heir to the throne refused to recognize her. Tension arose between father and son.
On Sunday, March 1 (13), in the morning, the Emperor received the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov. He approved his constitutional draft and appointed a meeting of the Council of Ministers for March 4. I must say that most of the ministers approved of this plan. When this meeting took place on March 8, already under the chairmanship of Alexander III, the majority of ministers spoke in favor, only Stroganov and Pobedonostsev were against ( Alexander III accepted their point of view).
Loris-Melikov asked the tsar not to go on that day to divorce the troops. Such requests have recently been repeated regularly, the emperor almost stopped visiting the troops. Alexander was indignant: "I would not want my people to consider me a coward!" The Minister of Internal Affairs did not back down and turned to Princess Yuryevskaya, knowing how much Alexander was susceptible to female influence. She managed to persuade her husband. The divorce trip was canceled. But the Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna came to the palace. Her youngest son, the sovereign's nephew, was to appear before him for the first time at that divorce. Alexander makes a fatal decision.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Alexander Nikolaevich returned to the palace. The imperial carriage rode accompanied by the Cossacks and the Chief of Police's sleigh. When we drove to the Catherine Canal, the carriage shook and enveloped in smoke. This was thrown by N. Rysakov. The coachman wanted to leave, but Alexander ordered to stop. Climbing out of the carriage, he saw that several Cossacks and passers-by were injured. Rysakov tried to escape, but was captured. He was fighting off the crowds, when the king came up and said: "What have you done, madman?" And also asked his name and rank. Rysakov called himself a tradesman. The chief of police ran up and asked if the sovereign had been wounded. “Thank God, no,” said Alexander. Rysakov heard this and said angrily: "Is it still glory to God?" Nobody understood the hidden meaning of these words.
Alexander Nikolaevich bent over the wounded boy who had died down, crossed him and went to the carriage. Suddenly rang out new explosion... It was I. Grinevitsky who threw the second bomb at the sovereign's feet. Both the assassin and the emperor were mortally wounded and died on the same day. The emperor actually lost his legs. "To the palace ... There to die ..." - he whispered barely audibly. About an hour later, at 3 hours 35 minutes in the afternoon, Alexander II died in Winter Palace.
Alexander II Nikolayevich was largely responsible for his own death. No wonder Pobedonostsev said that only pure autocracy can resist the revolution. Alexander shook the Nikolaev empire. Fortunately for Russia, the reins of power after his death were seized by the strong hand of Alexander III, who was able to freeze the decay of the empire. At the same time, his reign left behind a good memory. At the beginning of the 20th century, when Russian peasants were asked which of the historical figures they remember, they also named the Tsar-Liberator.
Russian Emperor Alexander II was born on April 29 (old style 17), 1818 in Moscow. Older son of the emperor and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After accession to the throne of his father in 1825, he was proclaimed heir to the throne.
Received an excellent education at home. His mentors were lawyer Mikhail Speransky, poet Vasily Zhukovsky, financier Yegor Kankrin and other outstanding minds of that time.
He inherited the throne on March 3 (according to the old style on February 18), 1855 at the end of an unsuccessful one for Russia, which he managed to complete with minimal losses for the empire. He was married to the throne in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on September 8 (according to the old style on August 26), 1856.
On the occasion of the coronation, Alexander II announced an amnesty to the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.
The transformations of Alexander II affected all spheres of activity Russian society, having formed the economic and political contours of post-reform Russia.
On December 3, 1855, the Supreme Censorship Committee was closed by imperial decree and the discussion of state affairs became open.
In 1856, a secret committee was organized "to discuss measures to arrange the life of landowners' peasants."
On March 3 (old style February 19), 1861, the emperor signed the Manifesto on the Abolition of Serfdom and the Regulations on the Peasants Emerging from Serfdom, for which they began to call him the "Tsar-Liberator". The transformation of the peasants into a free labor force contributed to the capitalization of agriculture and the growth of factory production.
In 1864, by the publication of the Judicial Statutes, Alexander II separated the judiciary from the executive, legislative and administrative powers, ensuring its complete independence. The process became transparent and adversarial. The police, financial, university and the entire secular and spiritual educational system as a whole was reformed. The beginning of the creation of all-estates zemstvo institutions, which were entrusted with the management of economic and other social issues at the local level, dates back to 1864. In 1870, on the basis of the City Statute, city councils and councils appeared.
As a result of reforms in the field of education, self-government became the basis of the activities of universities, and secondary education for women was developed. Three Universities were founded - in Novorossiysk, Warsaw and Tomsk. The innovations in the field of the press have significantly limited the role of censorship and contributed to the development of the media.
By 1874, the army was rearmed in Russia, a system of military districts was created, the War Ministry was reorganized, the officer training system was reformed, general conscription was introduced, the term of military service was reduced (from 25 to 15 years, including service in the reserve), corporal punishment was abolished ...
Also, the Emperor established the State Bank.
The internal and external wars of Emperor Alexander II were victorious - the uprising that broke out in 1863 in Poland was suppressed, the Caucasian War ended (1864). According to the Aigun and Peking treaties with the Chinese Empire, Russia annexed the Amur and Ussuri regions in 1858-1860. In 1867-1873, the territory of Russia increased due to the conquest of the Turkestan Territory and the Fergana Valley and the voluntary entry of the Bukhara Emirate and the Khiva Khanate on the vassal rights. At the same time, in 1867, the overseas possessions - Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were ceded to the United States, with which good relations were established. In 1877 Russia declared war Ottoman Empire... Turkey was defeated, which predetermined the state independence of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro.
© Infographics
© Infographics
The reforms of 1861-1874 created the preconditions for a more dynamic development of Russia, increased the participation of the most active part of society in the life of the country. The flip side of the transformations was the aggravation of social contradictions and the growth of the revolutionary movement.
Six attempts were made on the life of Alexander II, the seventh was the cause of his death. The first was the shot of the nobleman Dmitry Karakozov in the Summer Garden on April 17 (4 according to the old style), 1866. By a happy coincidence, the peasant Osip Komissarov saved the emperor. In 1867, during a visit to Paris, the emperor was assassinated by the leader of the Polish liberation movement Anton Berezovsky. In 1879, the populist revolutionary Alexander Soloviev tried to shoot the emperor with several revolver shots, but missed. The underground terrorist organization "Narodnaya Volya" purposefully and systematically prepared regicide. Terrorists exploded the tsarist train near Aleksandrovsk and Moscow, and then in the Winter Palace itself.
The explosion in the Winter Palace forced the authorities to take extraordinary measures. To fight the revolutionaries, the Supreme Administrative Commission was formed, headed by the then popular and authoritative General Mikhail Loris-Melikov, who actually received dictatorial powers. He took harsh measures to combat the revolutionary terrorist movement, while at the same time pursuing a policy of rapprochement between the government and the "well-meaning" circles of Russian society. So, under him in 1880, the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was abolished. Police functions were concentrated in a police department formed within the Ministry of the Interior.
On March 14 (old style 1), 1881, as a result of a new attack by the People's Will, Alexander II was mortally wounded on the Catherine Canal (now the Griboyedov Canal) in St. Petersburg. The explosion of the first bomb thrown by Nikolai Rysakov damaged the royal carriage, wounded several guards and passers-by, but Alexander II survived. Then another thrower, Ignatius Grinevitsky, came close to the tsar and threw a bomb at his feet. Alexander II died a few hours later in the Winter Palace and was buried in the ancestral tomb of the Romanov dynasty in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. On the site of the death of Alexander II in 1907, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was erected.
In the first marriage, Emperor Alexander II consisted with Empress Maria Alexandrovna (nee Princess Maximiliana-Wilhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt). The emperor entered into the second (morganatic) marriage with Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova, granted the title of His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya, shortly before his death.
The eldest son of Alexander II and heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in Nice from tuberculosis in 1865, and the throne was inherited by the second son of the emperor, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (Alexander III).
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Egor BOTMAN (? -1891). Emperor Alexander II. 1875.
Reproduction from the site http://lj.rossia.org/users/john_petrov/
Detailed biography
ALEXANDER II Nikolaevich Romanov - Sovereign Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia in 1855 - 1881. Son of Emperor Nicholas 1 and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Genus. Apr 17 1818 He ascended the throne on February 18. 1855 Crowned on 26 August. 1856 g.
1) from 16 Apr. 1841 daughter of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Grand Duke Duchess Maximiliana-Welhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria, Empress Maria Alexandrovna (born July 27, 1824 + May 22, 1880);
2) from July 6, 1880, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, His Serene Highness Princess Yurievskaya (born 1847 + 1922).
It is known that the birth of Alexander attracted special attention of the entire Russian society. His father, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, the third son of Emperor Paul I, occupied at that time more than a modest position and did not even think about the throne. However, since both older brothers did not have male heirs, in the person of his son, the Romanov family, as it were, received a long-awaited continuation.
The parents of the future emperor were very different people, but Alexander inherited the character of his mother much more. He grew up as a gentle boy, sensitive, even sentimental. Feelings and experiences have always played a big role in his life. The firmness and unyielding authority inherent in Nikolai Pavlovich were never the hallmarks of his son. As a child, Alexander was distinguished by liveliness, speed and quick wit. Educators noted in him cordiality, sensitivity, cheerful disposition, courtesy, sociability, good manners and good looks. But at the same time, they recognized that the Tsarevich lacks persistence in achieving the goal, that he easily succumbs to difficulties, does not have character and will.
At the age of six, Alexander's upbringing was entrusted to a purely military man - Captain Merder. He was a combat officer, awarded for bravery at Austerlitz, a participant in all the battles of the 1806 - 1807 campaign. Contemporaries unanimously spoke of him as a person of high moral character, kind, with a clear and inquisitive mind and a strong will. In general, the choice was successful. Having become emperor, Nicholas immediately took care of the general education of the heir and chose Zhukovsky as his mentor. The poet took the appointment with the greatest responsibility. Within six months, he drew up a "special" Plan of Teaching ", calculated for 12 years and approved by Nicholas 1. This pedagogical treatise was a detailed program of moral education and training.
The set of subjects proposed by Zhukovsky included Russian, history, geography, statistics, ethnography, logic, philosophy, mathematics, natural science, physics, mineralogy, geology, God's law, languages: French, German, English and Polish. Much attention was paid to drawing, music, gymnastics, fencing, swimming and sports in general, dancing, handicrafts and recitation. Twice a year exams were held for the heir, often in the presence of the sovereign himself, who was generally pleased with the success of his son and the diligence of the teachers. But the emperor believed that military science should become the basis for raising his son, and this had to be reckoned with. Already at the age of 11, Alexander commanded a company, at 14 - for the first time as an officer, he led a platoon during the exercises of the 1st Cadet Corps. From 1833 he began to teach a course in fortification and artillery. A year later, the teaching of military subjects was further strengthened to the detriment of other disciplines.
At the same time, the Tsarevich began to be involved in state affairs. From 1834 he was supposed to be present at the meetings of the Senate, in 1835 he was introduced to the Synod, and in 1836 he was promoted to major general and ranked among the retinue of Nicholas. These years were also the "final period of study", when the highest state dignitaries read practical courses to the future emperor. Speransky for a year and a half led "conversations about laws", the famous Russian financier Kankrin made a "short review of Russian finances", the adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Baron Vrunov, introduced the heir to the basic principles of Russian foreign policy, starting with the reign of Catherine II, finally, a military historian and theorist General Jomini taught at French military policy of Russia. In the spring of 1837, together with his fellow practitioners Patkul and Vielgorsky, Alexander passed the final exams, taking a solid first place among his talented peers.
Immediately after this, on May 2, Alexander set off on his first big journey through his native country, which he had to, if not recognize, then at least see, in order to imagine what and whom he was destined to control when his time came. The trip continued until the end of the year. During this time, Alexander visited many cities, was in the south, reached the Urals and Siberia itself. For the next three months, the crown prince was intensively engaged in military affairs, finance and diplomacy, preparing for a trip abroad. At the same time, he experienced a very strong love interest. The maid of honor Olga Kalinovskaya became the subject of his passion. According to the testimony of Countess Fersen, she was not at all distinguished by beauty, but possessed smoothness and tenderness. Alexander was ready to give up the throne in order to marry her. Upon learning of this, Nikolai thought it best to hurry up with his son's trip abroad, especially since one of her goals was just to find a bride for the heir. At the end of April, Alexander again set off on a long journey. During the year, he visited Scandinavia, Austria, traveled all the Italian and German states.
On March 13, 1839, the heir stayed for the night in a small Darmstadt surrounded by gardens and parks, where no stop was foreseen on his route. The Traube hotel was rented especially for the crown prince, since Alexander categorically refused to spend the night in the castle of the Duke of Hesse (he was very tired of visits to numerous German princes and dreamed of getting to Holland faster). However, in the evening he went to the opera, and here in the theater hall he was greeted by the whole ducal family. The Duke's daughter Maria, who was then only 15 years old, greatly impressed Alexander with her beauty and grace. After the performance, he accepted an invitation to dinner, talked a lot, laughed and, instead of rushing to leave, agreed to have breakfast with the crown prince. During these hours, Maria completely charmed the Tsarevich and, going to bed, he said to the accompanying adjutants Kaverin and Orlov: "This is whom I have dreamed of all my life. I will only marry her." He immediately wrote to his father and mother, asking them for permission to propose to the young princess of Hesse. Nikolai agreed.
Alexander spent the month of May in London, where he was warmly received by the English aristocracy, visited the Parliament, at the races, in Oxford, the Tower, at the docks on the Thames, in the Bank of England and Westminster Abbey. But his most vivid memories were associated with 19-year-old Queen Victoria. On June 23, he returned to St. Petersburg and here again became interested in Olga Kalinovskaya: he was very amorous, and his parents had to reckon with this. The emperor hastened to hand off Kalinovskaya to the husband of her late sister, the wealthy Polish magnate, Count Iriney Oginsky. Only then, on March 4, 1840, did Alexander go to fetch his bride in Darmstadt. He returned to Russia with her and his parents, who met them in Poland in early September. On December 5, Mary was baptized according to the Orthodox rite and became grand duchess Maria Alekseevna. The wedding took place on April 16, 1841. Everyone who wrote about Alexander's wife paid tribute to her beauty and wonderful spiritual qualities. Tyutcheva, who met her 12 years later, recalled: "Despite her tall stature and slenderness, she was so thin and fragile that at first glance she did not give the impression of a beauty; but she was unusually graceful with that very special grace that can be found on old German paintings, in the Madonnas of Albrecht Durer, combining a certain austerity and dryness of forms with a kind of grace in movements and posture, due to which an elusive charm is felt in their whole being and, as it were, a glimpse of the soul through the shell of the body. than in the crown princess, this spiritualized and chaste grace of ideal abstraction. Her features were not correct. Beautiful were her wonderful hair, her delicate complexion, her big blue, slightly bulging eyes, looking meek and soulful ... It was above all the soul extremely sincere and deeply religious ... The mind of the crown princess was like her soul: delicate, graceful, perceptive, very ь ironic ... "
Upon his return from the trip, Alexander became involved in government activities. Since 1839, he has been present at the meetings of the State Council, and since 1840 - also at the meetings of the Committee of Ministers. In 1841 - 1842 he was already a member of these higher state institutions. Finally, in 1842, on the occasion of the two-month departure of Nicholas 1 from the capital, Alexander was entrusted with the decision of all state affairs. In the years that followed, this became the rule. In 1846, Nikolai made his son chairman of the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question. At the same time, the heir held military positions. In 1844 he received a full general, in 1849 he became the chief chief of military educational institutions and took command of the Guards Corps, and in 1852 he was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and Grenadier Corps. In 1850, Alexander went to the Caucasus to familiarize himself with military operations. On the whole, as always, it was a ceremonial tour of the garrisons. Only in Dagestan the Tsarevich witnessed a battle with the Chechens, he could not resist and galloped by the chain under enemy fire.
All these years before his accession to the throne, Alexander always tried to accurately and faithfully fulfill the orders of the emperor. He did not commit any independent actions, did not express any political ideas. He, apparently, shared all the conservative views of his father and, working, for example, in the Peasant Committee, did not reveal any liberal intentions. Even outwardly, he tried to be like his father. Tyutcheva, who got to know Alexander closely in 1853, wrote: "His facial features were correct, but sluggish and not clear enough, his eyes were large, blue, but his gaze was not very inspired; in a word, his face was not expressive and there was even something unpleasant in him. in those cases when in public he considered himself obliged to assume a solemn and majestic appearance. This expression he adopted from his father, whose it was natural, but on his face it gave the impression of an unsuccessful mask. On the contrary, when the Grand Duke was in the family or in the circle of close persons and when he allowed himself to be himself, his whole face was illuminated by kindness, a friendly and gentle smile, which made him really cute. as emperor, he considered himself obliged almost always to take on a stern and imposing appearance, which in him was only a bad copy. at one time the emperor Nicholas possessed, and deprived him of that which was given to him by nature and which he could so easily attract hearts to himself. "
Emperor Nicholas during his lifetime completely overshadowed and suppressed his son with his personality. He always remained only an obedient executor of the will of his parent, but on February 18, 1855, Nikolai suddenly died. The next day Alexander ascended the throne. He assumed power at the most difficult moment, when it was obvious to everyone that Russia was doomed to defeat in the Crimean War. Astonishment, resentment, pain, anger and irritation reigned in society. The first years of his reign became for Alexander a harsh school of political education. It was then that he fully felt all the dissatisfaction accumulated in society and drank all the bitterness of cruel and fair criticism.
Not immediately, but only after long hesitations and mistakes, he came across the road that Russia was supposed to take. At first, there was no sign of any intention to carry out reforms in Alexander. The day after taking power, February 19, 1855, he announced in the State Council that he recognized himself as the successor of the "desires and views" of "our unforgettable parent", and on February 23, at the reception of the diplomatic corps, he definitely promised to adhere to the political principles of his father and uncle. He did not even want to hear about the conclusion of peace, rightly considering the proposed conditions humiliating and unacceptable for Russia. But his firmness could not last long - the circumstances were too unfavorable to rule in the old way. In August, Sevastopol fell - it was a terrible blow. They say that Alexander wept upon receiving the fatal news. He himself went south, watched the construction of bastions around Nikolaev, examined the fortifications around Ochakov and Odessa, and visited the army's headquarters in Bakhchisarai. But all efforts were in vain. Russia could not continue the war. In the international arena, she found herself isolated, inner strength it was undermined, discontent swept across all strata of society.
Possessing a sound and sober mind, a certain flexibility, not at all inclined to fanaticism, Alexander, under the pressure of circumstances and without any program, began to make new decisions that did not fit into the old system and even directly opposite to it. He embarked on the path of liberation reforms not because of his convictions, but as a military man on the throne, realizing the "lessons" of the Crimean War, as an emperor and autocrat, for whom the prestige and greatness of the state were above all.
The contours of this new course took shape gradually. On December 3, 1855, the Supreme Censorship Committee was closed. The ban imposed by Nicholas 1 on the printed word was canceled - so great was the need of society to speak out. One after another, new independent publications began to appear. Glasnost was the first manifestation of the thaw that came shortly after Alexander's accession. The constraints imposed on the universities after 1848 were also eliminated.
In March 1856, with the active participation of Prince Gorchakov, the Paris Peace was concluded. It cost Russia the Black Sea Fleet, but it was still far less shameful than one might expect. Soon after the signing of the peace, the remaining military settlements were abolished, the term of service in the army was reduced from 25 to 15 years.
August 14 royal family from the Nikolaevsky railway station went by train to Moscow and on August 26, the coronation took place in the Assumption Cathedral. On the occasion of the holiday, Alexander canceled the recruitment duty for three years, forgave arrears, pardoned or eased the plight of a large number of criminals, including the Decembrists. The estates and titles were returned to the surviving participants in the uprising.
It is difficult to say when Alexander finally realized that serfdom had outlived its usefulness, but the fact that he became convinced of this soon after his accession to the throne is beyond doubt. It remained to decide how to carry out this grandiose reform. In March 1856, shortly after the conclusion of peace, the emperor went to Moscow. The Moscow governor-general, the well-known serf-owner Count Zakrevsky, petitioned Alexander about the desire of the local nobility to introduce themselves to the sovereign about the rumor spread among him that the government was contemplating the abolition of serfdom.
The emperor received the Moscow provincial leader of the nobility, Prince Shcherbatov, with the district representatives and told them: “Rumors are running about that I want to declare the liberation of the serfdom. me in St. Petersburg. But I will not tell you that I was completely against it. We live in such an age that over time it should happen. I think that you also have the same opinion with me; therefore, it is much better for this to happen from above, than below. " The Emperor asked to think about it and express his proposals.
On January 3, 1857, a new secret committee of the closest confidants was drawn up to consider the issue of abolishing serfdom. At the beginning of December of the same year, a circular was sent out on behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs, in which it was proposed to form committees in each province to discuss this important issue. By the middle of July 1858, committees were opened in all provinces. They worked for about a year, working out local regulations on the structure of the life of the landlord peasants. In February 1859, the first secret committee on peasant affairs received a public official existence as the chief leader of the undertaken business. As soon as the projects developed by the provincial committees began to arrive, editorial commissions were formed under him, which were supposed to give the final elaboration of the provincial projects. On October 10, 1860, Alexander ordered to transfer the developments to the disposal of the main committee, and on January 28, 1861, the first meeting of the State Council was held, which was supposed to approve the project. Speaking at it, Alexander said that it was no longer possible to postpone the liberation of the peasants, that it must be completed in February in order to declare the will to begin field work. But despite the direct support of the sovereign, the project met with serious opposition in the State Council. In the end, Alexander approved it, contrary to the opinion of the majority of the members. On February 19, the final text of the law on the emancipation and arrangement of the life of the peasants, as well as the Highest Manifesto about this, were signed, and on March 5, the manifesto was read in all churches.
This is how the great deed of abolishing serfdom was accomplished. When assessing the peasant reform, it should be remembered that it was what it could only be at that time, that is, a compromise between the two main classes of Russian society: the nobles and the peasants. As a result of the reform, the peasants received much more than the overwhelming mass of feudal landlords wanted to give them, but much less than what they themselves expected of them after so many years of talking. If we recall that among the reform projects submitted in 1859 by the provincial committees, almost a third were those in which the emancipation of the peasants was completely rejected, and in a third of others it was proposed to free the peasants without land, if we add to this that the members of the editorial commission (who all By the way, they were nobles) did not include in the final version of the law many semi-feudal fetters with which the landowners wanted to tie their former serfs hand and foot, it must be admitted that the law of February 19, 1861 had tremendous progressive significance and was, according to Klyuchevsky, one of the most important acts of Russian history. And truly, Alexander's personal merit in this is enormous. He should be recognized as the main driver of the reform, for he began it alone, not yet having assistants in the government and family, and completed it, despite the stubborn resistance of landowners and high officials. He put a lot of his energy into this business, personally traveling around the provinces and trying to soften the bitterness of the landowners: he persuaded, persuaded, shamed. In the end, thanks to his personal authority, the most liberal of the liberation options possible at that time (with land for ransom) was approved.
But on the other hand, the financial situation in which the peasants found themselves after the liberation was so inconsistent with their real needs that many of them, after a few years, were brought to the brink of complete poverty. The emperor was well aware that the peasants were dissatisfied with the decrease in allotments, high duties and redemption payments, but he did not consider it possible to yield on this issue. Speaking on August 15, 1861 in Poltava in front of the peasant elders, Alexander categorically stated: “I hear rumors that you are looking for another will. and work. Be obedient to the authorities and landlords. " He remained faithful to this opinion until the end of his life.
The emancipation of the peasants substantially changed all the foundations of the Russian state and social life. It created in the central and southern regions Russia has a new populous social class. Previously, to manage it, they were content with landlord power. Now the state was to govern the peasants. The old Catherine's institutions, which established self-government of the nobility in the districts, were no longer suitable for the new district population of different classes. It was necessary to create anew the local administration and the court. The abolition of serfdom, thus, inevitably led to other transformations. In the first half of the 60s, the university reform, reform local government, a new all-estates court is created and censorship control is softened. For all the limitations and incompleteness of the reforms carried out, they were of enormous progressive importance for Russia. Many of the fetters that bound the country's development were removed. This was the key to Russia's industrial success. Construction became a serious stimulus to economic life under Alexander. railways, strongly encouraged by the government. Soon, about 20 thousand versts of railway lines were built. This influenced the development of industry and trade. Trade with neighboring countries has grown tenfold. The number of commercial and industrial enterprises, factories and plants has noticeably increased. Credit institutions also appeared - banks, which were headed by the State Bank since 1860. Russia began to gradually lose the character of a patriarchal agricultural state.
But many years passed before the Russian society realized the correctness of the chosen course. Alexander had to siphon off the bitterness of disappointment familiar to many great reformers. Instead of the gratitude that he might have expected to hear from his subjects, the emperor was severely criticized. Some reproached him for overstepping the line of what was permitted in his transformations and embarking on a disastrous path for Russia, while others, on the contrary, believed that the sovereign was too slow to introduce new institutions and that even in his reforms he was more reactionary than a liberal.
In fact, both were right. Public and state order in Nicholas Russia was maintained at the expense of military force, overt national oppression and brutal censorship. As soon as the regime was softened, national uprisings and revolutionary fermentation began to shake Russia. New ideas, penetrating into all strata of society, gradually corroded loyal feelings. Since 1862, revolutionary proclamations have appeared calling for the overthrow of the autocracy and the equalizing division of the land. For the first time, power and society felt opposed to each other.
At the same time, the national liberation movement revived in its northwestern outskirts. As soon as the order established by Nicholas 1 in the Kingdom of Poland was slightly softened by Alexander, a strong patriotic movement for the independence of Poland began. All attempts to find a compromise, satisfying the most modest demands of the opposition, did not yield results, concessions were regarded as evidence of the weakness of the authorities, which should be used. In January 1863, the underground movement turned into an armed uprising, which began with an attack by the rebels on the soldiers of a number of garrisons. Having exhausted all the possibilities of negotiations, Alexander finally decided on tough measures. In the summer of 1863, he recalled the Grand Duke Constantine from Poland, appointing Count Berg in his place, and sent Muravyov, known for his penchant for drastic measures, as governor-general to the northwestern provinces. The use against the rebels is enormous regular army, death sentences for those involved in the murders - all this made it possible to quickly stabilize the situation on the western outskirts of Russia.
A decade of tireless work did not pass without a trace. Since 1865, fatigue, even some apathy, has been noticed in Alexander. Transformative activity is weakening, and although the reforms that have begun continue to be steadily implemented, new beginnings are becoming rare. Personal misfortunes and attempts on the life of the sovereign, which followed one after the other with terrible methodology, played a significant role here.
In April 1865, Alexander suffered a severe blow both as a person and as an emperor. In Nice, his eldest son Nikolai died of spinal meningitis - a young man who had just turned 21, successfully completed his education, found a bride, intending to start state activities as an assistant and future successor of his father. The second son of the emperor, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, was declared the new heir to the throne. Both in ability and education, he frankly did not correspond to his high assignment. The emperor could not help but feel anxiety about the future of Russia. One could still try to fill in the gaps in the training course (and this was done), but the time was already lost, because it was about an established twenty-year-old man.
The death of Grand Duke Nicholas affected the Empress the hardest. She loved him especially, was engaged in his education, invariably invited him to evenings in her living room. There was a deep inner bond between mother and son. After her son died in her arms, the empress closed herself in her grief, her health deteriorated even more.
The married life of Alexander with his Wife has not been getting along well for a long time. Perhaps the death of her son dealt her the last fatal blow. During the first twenty years of marriage, Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to eight children. Meanwhile, her health from the very beginning did not differ in strength. Numerous births further shattered him. After forty, the empress began to suffer from acute heart attacks. Doctors strongly advised Maria Alexandrovna to refrain from matrimonial relations And like his father, Alexander turned out to be a straw widower at forty. One by one, he changed several mistresses. Among them are named Princess Alexandra Dolgorukaya, Zamyatina, Labunskaya, Makarova, Makov and Wanda Carozzi. All of these were impeccable beauties (Alexander from his youth was known as a connoisseur and lover of women), but they could not fill the void that somehow imperceptibly arose around the emperor.
And Alexander still did not feel like an old man at all. The French poet Théophile Gaultier, who saw him shortly after his son's death, described his appearance as follows: “The sovereign's hair was cut short and well framed by a high and handsome forehead. time of long travels. The contours of the mouth are so thin and defined that they resemble Greek sculpture. The expression on the face is majestically calm and soft, sometimes adorned with a gracious smile. "
In the spring of 1865, Alexander started a new, the most turbulent romance in his life, which was destined to become the last. Walking in the Summer Garden, he noticed a young girl, graceful, fashionably dressed, with a blush all over her cheek, with large radiant eyes. It was the eighteen-year-old princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova. The emperor had known her for a long time, since 1857, when she was still a little girl. Now, fascinated by her fresh beauty, he began to look after her, getting carried away more and more. He managed to gradually awaken counter feelings, but the relationship of the lovers for a long time remained platonic, they had to go through many trials before their attraction turned into an all-consuming passion.
On April 4, 1866, Alexander, having finished his usual Walk in the Summer Garden, went out of the gate to get into a carriage. Suddenly a young man approached him, drew a revolver and pointed it straight at the chest. The attack was so unexpected that it should have ended tragically, but the captain Osip Komissarov, who was standing nearby, managed to hit the killer on the hand. The bullet flew past. The gendarmes seized the assassin and brought the emperor to the carriage. "You're polish?" - Alexander asked first of all. “Russian,” the terrorist replied. "Why did you shoot me?" - the emperor was surprised. "You deceived the people," he answered, "you promised them land, but you did not give it." The arrested person was taken to the 3rd department. It soon became clear that the revolutionary was named Dmitry Karakozov. He was a member of the "Moscow Circle", one of the fragments of Chernyshevsky's "Land and Freedom", which had been destroyed before. The circle consisted of pupils and students preparing for a violent coup and actively promoting socialist doctrine. In the Karakozov case, 36 people were put on trial. All of them were sentenced to hard labor and exile, and Karakozov himself was hanged on September 3 at the Smolensk field.
An assassination attempt of this kind was the first in Russian history and therefore made a huge impression on contemporaries. It had no less strong effect on the emperor. After the obvious success of the reforms (in which few people had dared to believe ten years earlier) it was extremely difficult to suddenly appear face to face with such intolerance, aggressiveness and lack of understanding. The assassination attempt on April 4 marked a definite change both in the emperor himself and in his policies. Alexander suddenly seemed to be immediately exhausted and tired. "The sovereign was really constantly in a nervous irritation," Golovnin recalled later, "he seemed extremely sad and frightened and inspired condolences." From this time began the "protective" period of the reign of Alexander, when he was more concerned not so much with new reforms as with maintaining the achieved position. Even some reactionary features began to appear in politics, although there was no obvious turn to the past. The government closed the most radical magazines "Sovremennik" and " Russian word"The Minister of Education Golovnin was dismissed, the St. Petersburg governor Suvorov - people of moderate liberal orientation, resigned the chief of the gendarmes, Prince Dolgorukov. Count Muravyov, appointed head of the Investigative Commission, and Prince Gagarin, the creator of the Special Commission for the development of strengthening measures General Trepov became the governor of St. Petersburg, and the III department was headed by the young and energetic Count Shuvalov, who soon became the closest and confidant of the sovereign.
In the spring of the same 1866, the mother of Ekaterina Dolgorukova died. Fearing loneliness, the princess with all her heart reached out to Alexander, who, by age, was suitable for her as a father. On the night from June 1 to June 2, in Peterhof, in the Babigon pavilion, their first love date took place. Parting with his beloved, Alexander made a promise that he would marry her as soon as he became free. According to the testimony of the maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Tolstoy, the court soon learned about the new romance of the emperor and at first regarded it as another hobby. “I didn’t take into account,” wrote Tolstaya, “that his advanced age increased the danger, but most of all I didn’t take into account the fact that the girl to whom he turned his gaze was of a completely different kind from those whom he was fond of before. .. Although everyone saw the birth of a new hobby, they were not at all worried, even those closest to the emperor did not anticipate a serious turn of the matter. On the contrary, everyone was very far from suspecting that he was capable of a real love affair; a novel that was ripening in secret. We saw only what was happening before our eyes - walks with frequent, as if random meetings, glancing at the theater boxes, etc., etc. They said that the princess was pursuing the emperor, but no one yet knew that they were seen not only in public, but also in other places - by the way, with her brother, Prince Mikhail Dolgoruky, who is married to an Italian woman. "
Much later, they learned that Alexander was meeting with Dolgorukova in the Winter Palace itself, in the former office of Nicholas 1, who had a separate entrance directly from the square and a secret staircase connecting him with Alexander's apartments. Society unequivocally did not approve of the new connection: the empress's authority in the eyes of the world was extremely great, she was pitied, the emperor was quietly condemned and loudly murmured against the princess. Catherine's elder brother was married to the beautiful Neapolitan Marquis de Cercemaggiore. Having learned about the scandalous connection of her sister-in-law with the sovereign, she hastened to take her to Italy. Perhaps Alexander, conscious of his guilt before his wife, wanted to get rid of his feelings in this way, but it turned out to be stronger than him. During the six months apart, love only grew stronger. Alexander's new meeting with Catherine took place under extraordinary, even romantic, circumstances.
On May 16, 1867, the emperor with his two sons - Alexander and Vladimir - went to France for the World Exhibition. On May 20, the royal family arrived in Paris, where they were met by Napoleon III. Alexander settled in the Elysee Palace in the same apartment that Alexander 1 occupied in 1814. In honor of the distinguished guest, a ball and a performance at the Opera were given at the Tuileries, followed by a visit to the exhibition. But it soon became clear that Alexander had not come to Paris for this at all. “As it became known later,” wrote Alexandra Tolstaya, “the true purpose of the trip was to meet with Princess Dolgorukova, who was at that time in Paris with her Daughter-in-law. To be more aware, he made this discovery only in hindsight. The situation soon became apparent, his eyes finally opened to the threat posed by this connection, and this is how. He himself told me about it in the following expressions: "In the first On the day of our arrival in Paris, the Emperor went to the Opera Comique, but did not stay there long, finding that the performance was boring. We returned with him to the Elysee Palace, satisfied that we could finally rest after hard day... Between eleven and midnight, the emperor knocked on Count Adlerberg's door. "I will walk on foot," he said, "it is unnecessary to accompany me, I will manage myself, but please, dear, give me some money." - "How much do you need?" - "I don't even know, maybe a hundred thousand francs?"
Adlerberg immediately informed me of this strange incident, and since I had at my disposal my own agents (not to mention the French police) who were supposed to follow the emperor from afar wherever he went, I remained almost calm. We returned to our rooms, of course, having forgotten about sleep, expecting from minute to minute the return of the emperor. But when midnight struck, then one and two o'clock, and he did not appear, I was seized with anxiety, I ran to Adlerberg and found him alarmed too. The most terrible assumptions flashed in our souls.
The police agents, who were tasked with monitoring the emperor very delicately, could lose sight of him, and he, poorly knowing the location of the Parisian streets, could easily get lost and lose his way to the Elysee Palace. In short, the thought of the emperor, alone at such a late hour on the street with a hundred thousand francs in his pocket, made us go through nightmarish hours. The suggestion that he might be visiting someone did not even occur to us; as you can see, this proves our complete ignorance of the main motives of his actions.
Finally, at three o'clock in the morning, he returned, not even realizing that we were awake waiting for him. What happened to him that night? Going out into the street, the emperor hired a fiacre, bent down under the lantern, read some address at which he told the cabby to take him to Rampar Street, number such and such. Arriving at the place, he got off the fiacre and went through the gate into the courtyard of the house. He was absent for about twenty minutes, during which the police watched in surprise as he unsuccessfully fumbled with the gate. The Emperor did not know that he had to pull the rope to open the door, and he was trapped. Fortunately, the surveillance agent figured out what was going on. Pushing the gate, he quickly walked into the courtyard past the emperor, as if not paying attention to him, and thus gave the emperor the opportunity to leave. The cabman made the wrong number, and the house indicated by the emperor was two steps away. This time he entered it unhindered. While Adlerberg and I were shaking with fear, the emperor was probably quietly drinking tea in the company of two ladies. "One of them was Princess Yekaterina Dolgorukova, the other was her daughter-in-law. Gabrielle Street and Avenue Marigny.
Shuvalov was not in vain worried about Alexander's safety. French society was hostile to Russia. When Alexander appeared on the streets of Paris, there were often audacious demonstrative shouts: "Long live Poland!" Polish émigrés staged demonstrations every now and then. On May 25, in honor of the Russian sovereign, a review of troops was organized on the Longchans field. Upon its completion, Alexander, Napoleon and the retinues of both emperors slowly and solemnly drove to the city through the Bois de Boulogne. Both emperors were sitting in an open carriage when suddenly a shot rang out. The bullet hit the French equestrian's horse. The terrorist was captured. It turned out to be a Polish emigrant, Anton Berezovsky.
The second attempt on Alexander's life had a depressing effect. All the signs of regret and sympathy, all the efforts of the French Emperor and Empress Eugenie could not dispel his bad mood. It was further aggravated by unsuccessful negotiations: despite outward courtesy, Napoleon refused to revise the terms of the humiliating Paris Peace Treaty of 1856, according to which Russia was prohibited from keeping a fleet on the Black Sea.
Alexander returned to Petersburg with a firm intention never to part with his beloved again. In addition to a large, official family, he kind of got a second, "small" one. In September 1872, Princess Catherine informed the emperor that she was pregnant. In due time, she gave birth to a boy, who was named George. The next year, their daughter Olga was born.
This scandalous story not only tormented the sick empress, but also caused indignant rumors from the courtiers. The sons were also worried, fearing that the side brothers and sisters would one day claim their rights. Count Shuvalov considered it his duty to report to Alexander about the general discontent that arose because of the sovereign's relationship with Dolgorukova. The emperor listened coldly to Shuvalov and made him understand that he would not allow anyone to interfere in his personal life. From that time on, the position of the all-powerful favorite was shaken, and in 1874 Alexander suddenly sent Shuvalov as ambassador to London. In the same year, he bestowed upon his side children the title of the Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky.
After the Paris Peace, perceived by all Russian society as a national humiliation, Russia's foreign policy prestige fell extremely low. Alexander had to spend a lot of energy before he returned to his state the weight that it had before the Crimean War. Only after going through the shame of defeat, Alexander was able to decide on reforms, but he never forgot the main goal of these reforms - to revive the military might of the Russian Empire. It is reported that, presiding at one meeting in 1863, the sovereign said: "Seven years ago I did one thing at this table, which I can determine, since I did it: I signed the Treaty of Paris, and that was cowardice." And, banging his fist on the table, he said: "Yes, it was cowardice, and I will not repeat it!" This episode sharply characterizes the acuteness of the bitter feeling hidden by the sovereign. Neither he nor Gorchakov forgot the humiliation of 1856. The goal of Russian foreign policy from that time was the destruction of the Paris Treaty. The means is the renewal of destroyed military power. Military articles under Alexander absorbed the lion's share of the budget. The military reform was entrusted to Count Dmitry Milyutin, who remained Minister of War throughout the entire reign of Alexander. Milyutin introduced new principles for the manning of troops, created a different structure, paid much attention to the rearmament of the army, the restructuring of the military education system. In 1874, a charter on universal military service was adopted, which completed the reform of Russian society. Service in the army turned from a heavy class duty of the peasantry into a civic duty, equal for all classes, and Russia received modern army, staffed and organized according to the European model. Very little time passed, and Alexander had to test it in combat conditions.
The situation in the East escalated in 1875, when an uprising broke out against the Turks in the Serb-populated Turkish regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then in Bulgaria. Alexander found himself in an extremely difficult position. On the one hand, all the leading ministers - foreign, military and finance - urged him to remain neutral. It was obvious that Russia would meet with opposition from all European powers, primarily England and Austria, that the war would require colossal costs, and that its outcome was very doubtful, since the Turkish army received an abundance of modern weapons from England. But on the other hand, he had to reckon with the powerful pressure of public opinion, which demanded immediate military assistance to the Serbs and Bulgarians. Could the emperor have shown restraint when such excitement and unprecedented patriotic enthusiasm reigned in society?
On April 12, 1877, war was declared. Trying to maximize the prestige of the imperial power and the reigning family, Alexander attracted almost all adult grand dukes to participate in the campaign. The king's brother, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, was appointed commander-in-chief in the Balkans, and another brother, Mikhail, was appointed commander-in-chief on the Caucasian front. The heir commanded the Ruschuk detachment. Alexander's youngest son, Vladimir, was also at the front. Alexander himself stayed in the Balkans from May to December 1877. He did not intend to interfere with the command, but considered it his duty to be in the rear of the army, where there were wounded. He said, leaving the capital: "I am going by the brother of mercy."
In June, the Russian army crossed the Danube and began a siege of Plevna, defended by a strong Turkish garrison. The Turks defended themselves with exceptional stubbornness, made daring forays, inflicting heavy damage on the Russians. At one time it seemed that the war would end in nothing and that they would have to return across the Danube in disgrace. With each month, the murmur of the disaffected both in the army and in Russia intensified. Count Milyutin wrote in September: “The troops are not discouraged; however, one can hear a murmur against the authorities. In Russia, this murmur takes on the character of general displeasure; both the army chiefs and the sovereign himself are loudly condemned. to the grand dukes, as if the whole campaign was being done just to provide an opportunity for members of the royal house to adorn themselves with St. George's crosses ... Evil tongues, even in the entourage of the sovereign, loudly say that the war is being waged on the model of the Red-rural maneuvers. Russia, in St. Petersburg itself, intend to give the sovereign an address to persuade him to return to his capital. " It seemed to many that by his departure the emperor would ease the situation of the generals. But it is obvious that Alexander could not return to Russia, leaving the army in such a difficult situation. He felt on his shoulders a heavy burden of responsibility for the outcome of this war, and the understanding that much was happening and was being done wrong was the cause of many grief and disappointment for him. Colonel Gazenkampf wrote in September in his diary: “... For the first time I understood the full depth of the tragedy of the sovereign's position. is done, otherwise there is not and cannot be even a minute of peace for his tortured soul. He is physically weak and mentally torn: he is deceived in his best expectations, disappointed and upset by the failures of his noblest efforts for the good of his people; what a majestic simplicity and what a deep humility! All of Russia and everyone around us grumble and look for scapegoats for all the failures and disappointments - one sovereign does not complain about anything, does not reproach or blame anyone, but only prays and cries. he followed him all day: it was clear that every nerve was tense, that he turned into agonizing expectation, that in his soul there was a mortal melancholy. and even a displeased look ... "
The emperor patiently endured the difficulties of a camp life, bad roads and lack of sleep. He went around the wards of the wounded, consoled the desperate, rewarded those who distinguished themselves and encouraged everyone. Finally, in mid-November, a turning point came. On November 16, in Transcaucasia, the Russians took Kara, and on November 28, Plevna fell. Inspired by this victory, Russian troops crossed the Balkans to Romania in winter. The city surrendered outside the city, whole corps of Turkish troops surrendered. The forward detachments occupied Philippopolis and Andrianople, and were approaching Istanbul. The Sultan asked for peace. In February 1878, a preliminary peace treaty was concluded in the town of Saint-Stefano. Under this treaty, Turkey recognized the independence of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania, agreed to the formation of a special principality of Bulgaria from its Bulgarian and Macedonian regions; pledged to carry out reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turkey ceded back to Russia the mouth of the Danube, which had moved away from it in 1856, and, in addition, the cities of Batum and Kara in the Transcaucasus.
But England and Austria categorically refused to accept the terms of this peace. The relations of these powers with Russia became so aggravated that a new European war was about to begin. With the mediation of Germany, a peace congress began in Berlin. But even the terms of peace proposed by Bismarck were not directed in favor of Russia. Under pressure from all European diplomacy, Prince Gorchakov had to agree to concessions. Serbia and Montenegro's acquisitions were cut; instead of a unified Bulgaria, two Bulgarian regions were created - the principality of Bulgaria and the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia, both under the rule of Turkey. Serbia and Romania were recognized as independent kingdoms. Bosnia and Herzegovina came under Austrian rule. Thus, the consequences of the war for the liberation of the Balkan Slavs were not very satisfactory. Military success was not accompanied by a corresponding political outcome... Russia did not achieve its goals and remained completely isolated, without allies and friends. That is why in Russian society the Eastern War and the Berlin Congress evoked feelings of dissatisfaction and disappointment.
Chancellor Prince Gorchakov, who represented Russia at the congress, confessed in a note to Alexander: "The Berlin Congress is the blackest page in my career." The Emperor noted: "And in mine too." This was the end of the war, on which more than a billion rubles were spent (with a total budget of 600 million in 1878) and for the sake of which domestic finances were completely upset. Alexander returned to Russia aged. All the witnesses of his life at that time unanimously say that he lost weight, thinned and hunched over. Maurice Palaeologus wrote about the state of the sovereign at the end of 1878: “Sometimes he was seized by a severe melancholy, reaching deep despair. Power was no longer interested in him; everything that he tried to accomplish. It ended in failure. None of the other monarchs wanted his happiness anymore. to the people: he abolished slavery, abolished corporal punishment, instituted jury trials, carried out wise and liberal reforms in all areas of government. Unlike other kings, he never aspired to bloody laurels of glory. How much effort did he spend to avoid the Turkish war imposed on him And after its end, he prevented a new military clash ... What did he receive as a reward for all this? From all parts of Russia, he received reports from governors saying that the people, deceived in their aspirations, blamed the tsar for everything. police reports reported an alarming growth of revolutionary ferment. who sacrificed for him his honor, secular pleasures and successes, "- to a man who thought about his happiness and surrounded him with signs of passionate adoration."
Soon after his return, Alexander ordered to prepare apartments in the Winter Palace for Princess Dolgorukova and her children. They were located directly under his rooms. For the convenience of communication, an elevator was installed between the floors. The emperor was already so in need of the constant presence of this woman that he became completely indifferent to the opinion of the world and his terminally ill wife. Meanwhile, the attempts on Alexander's life were becoming more and more audacious. The third attempt to kill him was made on April 20, 1879. At ten o'clock in the morning, the sovereign made his usual walk: he walked along the Millionnaya, Winter Canal and Moika, and then turned to the square of the Guards headquarters. Here he met a tall young man in an official's cap. Having missed him, Alexander turned around and saw a revolver in the hands of the stranger. Instantly realizing what was the matter, he rushed to run in zigzags towards the Pevchesky Bridge. The killer rushed after him, firing as he went. Before he was captured, he managed to shoot five times, but never hit. The gunman turned out to be a former student of St. Petersburg University, 33-year-old Alexander Soloviev. A short time later, the Supreme Court sentenced him to death. He was hanged on 28 May. Although Soloviev belonged to an underground socialist circle, the assassination attempt was his own affair. But in August the Executive Committee issued a death sentence to the emperor " Of the people's will"From that moment on, the hunt for Alexander took on harsher forms.
In December 1879, terrorists staged an explosion on the route of the tsarist train from Livadia to Moscow. By mistake, they detonated the bomb not under the imperial train, but under the one on which the royal retinue was traveling. Alexander himself remained unharmed, but he understood that with each new attempt on his life, the chances of salvation are diminishing. Petersburg was too large, and the police could not guarantee the safety of all members of the imperial family outside their palaces. The grand dukes asked the sovereign to move to Gatchina, but Alexander flatly refused to leave the capital and change the routes of his daily walks and Sunday parades of the guard troops. Further developments showed that in the palace the emperor could no longer feel safe. On February 5, 1880, at six and a half o'clock in the evening, when Alexander, surrounded by his family, was talking in his apartment with the Empress's brother, Prince Alexander of Hesse and his son Alexander of Bulgaria, who had arrived in St. and stuffy, filled the palace. Alexander realized that this was another assassination attempt. His first movement was to run to the rooms of Ekaterina Dolgorukova. Fortunately, she was alive and ran into him on the stairs.
What happened? Several pounds of dynamite, it turns out, was blown up under the premises of the main guard, where eight soldiers were killed and forty-five were wounded. The terrorists hoped that the explosion would destroy the royal dining room, where the emperor was supposed to dine with his relatives just at that time. To the annoyance of the revolutionaries, the sovereign was half an hour late for dinner. However, the explosion still did not overcome the strong palace building; only the floor of the dining room went down, furniture fell and the glass shattered. The guardhouse was destroyed - just under the dining room.
A few days after the explosion, Alexander called an extraordinary meeting at the Winter Palace. He was gloomy, hunched over, blackened, and spoke in a hoarse, cold voice. Among the general confusion, only Count Loris-Melikov, a combat general, a hero of the Turkish war and conqueror of Kars, who had served as Kharkiv governor-general for the last year, inspired the emperor with some optimism. He managed to quite successfully fight the revolutionaries in his province, and Alexander put him at the head of the extraordinary Supreme Administrative Commission with broad, almost dictatorial powers.
The emperor and heir saw in Loris-Melikov, first of all, a "firm hand" capable of establishing "order". But it was obvious that tough measures alone would not achieve this goal. Although society condemned the savage ways of fighting the People's Will, it fully sympathized with the ideals for which they began the terror. The closest circle of the emperor understood this as well. It was necessary to convince the moderate, enlightened part of society that the government is still in a position to carry out reforms. Therefore, Loris-Melikov tried, first of all, in his explanations with public figures and publicists to convince everyone that the reaction was over and that the reforms would be continued. The main thing in the plans of Loris-Melikov was the plan for the establishment of a very limited representative body under the emperor.
Although Alexander did not like everything in Loris-Melikov's program, he gradually began to agree with his arguments. The Emperor felt tired of the burden of power and was ready to put at least some of this burden on other shoulders. In addition, personal affairs occupied Alexander at that time almost more than state affairs. In May 1880, Empress Maria Alexandrovna died. Alexander decided that the time had come to fulfill the promise he made to Princess Dolgorukova fourteen years ago. The wedding took place on July 6 in the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace in one of the small rooms, where they put a marching altar - an ordinary table. The wedding was attended only by Count Adlerberg, two adjutant generals on duty and the maid of honor Shebeko, an attorney of this love from the very first day of its inception. Bogdanovich writes that Alexander got married in civilian dress, saying: "This is not the emperor, but private person, who corrects the mistake and restores the reputation of the young girl. "On the same day, he granted his wife the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya and granted her all the rights enjoyed by members of the imperial family.
Immediately after the wedding, Alexander for the whole summer and autumn left with his wife to the Crimea, to Livadia. He wanted to give his entourage time to get used to the new wife of the emperor and himself to live in an atmosphere of relative peace with his family. The legend has survived that he was going to carry out the state transformations outlined by Loris-Melikov, and then abdicate in favor of the Tsarevich and leave for Nice to lead the life of a private person.
Trying to improve relations with his eldest son, who was deeply offended by his father's hasty marriage, Alexander summoned him to the Crimea. But Princess Yuryevskaya occupied the chambers of her predecessor in the Livadia Palace, and this turned out to be an intolerable insult for the Tsarevich and his wife. Reconciliation did not take place. The heir avoided meeting his stepmother at the dinner table, so the emperor had to divide the week into regular days: if his son had dinner with him, then his wife did not appear in the dining room, if she was at the table, Alexander Alexandrovich went for a walk. At the end of November, Alexander and his family returned to St. Petersburg, where Princess Yuryevskaya settled in the luxurious, specially decorated apartments of the Winter Palace.
On January 28, 1881, Count Loris-Melikov submitted a report to Alexander, in which he finally outlined his program. The most significant part of it was the creation of two deputy commissions from representatives of the nobility, zemstvo and cities, as well as government officials to consider finances and administrative and economic bills, which then go to the general commission, and from it to the State Council, supplemented by deputies. Alexander immediately rejected the idea of introducing electives to the State Council, but preliminarily approved the rest of the plan, but, as usual, instructed to consider the case in meetings with a narrow composition. A week later, the first such meeting met with the emperor himself and fully approved the report of Loris-Melikov. All that remained was to prepare a government message and publish it for general information. The draft was submitted to the emperor, who preliminarily approved it and on the morning of March 1 ordered the convocation of the Council of Ministers to finalize the text of the message. Valuev, one of the last dignitaries who worked with the emperor that day, made the most favorable impression on his mood. "I have not seen the sovereign in such a good spirit for a long, long time, and even looking so healthy and kind," he recalled the next day.
Alexander had a difficult decision, but as soon as he made it, he felt relief. Of course, the significance of the proposed reform cannot be overestimated - it was still very far before the introduction of the constitution in Russia, but nevertheless it meant a new step towards the liberal restructuring of the state. Who knows - if Alexander had time to implement the Loris-Melikov program in full, and, perhaps, the history of Russia would have taken a completely different path. But he was not destined to continue his endeavors - the time allotted to him came to an end.
Having finished with business, Alexander, after breakfast, went to the Manezh for divorce, and then to the Mikhailovsky Castle to his beloved cousin. According to the testimony of Chief of Police Dvozhitsky, who accompanied the emperor that day, Alexander left the castle at two hours and ten minutes and ordered him to return to Zimny by the same road. Having passed Inzhenernaya Street, the coachman turned to the Ekaterininsky Canal and started the horses at a gallop, but before he could drive a hundred yards, there was a deafening explosion, from which the Emperor's carriage was severely damaged and two escort Cossacks were wounded, as well as a peasant boy who happened to be nearby. After a few more steps, the emperor's carriage stopped. Dvorzhitsky helped the sovereign get out of the carriage and reported that the terrorist Rysakov, who had thrown the bomb, had been detained. Alexander was completely calm and answered the agitated questions of those around him: "Thank God, I am not wounded." Dvorzhitsky offered to continue the journey in his sleigh. Alexander said, "Okay, just show me the criminal first." Looking at Rysakov, who was already being searched by the guards, and learning that he was a bourgeois, the emperor slowly walked towards the Theater Bridge. Dvozhitsky again asked to sit in the sleigh. Alexander replied: "Okay, just first show me the place of the explosion." They went back. At this time, another terrorist threw a second bomb right at the feet of the emperor. When Dvorzhitsky, stunned by the explosion, ran up to Alexander, he saw that both his legs were completely crushed and blood was flowing profusely from them.
There were at least two dozen dead and wounded lying around. Pieces of tattered clothing, sabers and epaulettes, parts of human bodies, fragments of a gas lantern were scattered everywhere, the skeleton of which was bent from the explosion. Alexander only managed to say: "Help!" - and lost consciousness. They put him in Dvorzhitsky's sleigh and, accompanied by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, was taken to Zimny, where he died about half past three from loss of blood, never regaining consciousness.
Soon after the funeral, Tyutcheva wrote in her diary, comparing the murdered emperor with Alexander III, his son, who had begun his reign: “Seeing him, you understand that he recognizes himself as an emperor, that he has assumed responsibility and the prerogatives of power. always lacked precisely this instinctive sense of his position, faith in his power; he did not believe in his power, no matter how real it was. He suspected opposition everywhere and, irritated by his own doubts, began to create this resistance around him. for his kindness, they feared him more than they loved him, and, despite his humility, only flatterers had an influence on him; that's why he was so badly surrounded at the end of his life and fell into the hands of bad people. trusted himself, but even less trusted others; in the people he used, he preferred nonentities, because he thought that over such people it is easier to rule and it is easier to direct them, while, on the contrary, they are more prone to deception and flattery. This weakness of the character of the late sovereign made him so inconsistent and ambiguous in all his words, deeds and relations, and this, in the eyes of all of Russia, discredited the power itself and brought the country into a state of that deplorable anarchy in which we are now. The wonderful reforms of the reign of Alexander II, the gentleness, the generosity of his character should have provided him with the enthusiastic love of his people., And yet he was not a popular sovereign in the true sense of the word; the people did not feel attracted to him, because the national and popular string was completely absent in himself, and in gratitude for all the blessings shown to them in Russia, in the majestic worship shown to his memory, one feels the influence of reason rather than the immediate impulse of the masses. Human nature is such that it values people more for themselves than for their deeds. In character and mind, the late emperor was inferior to the deeds that he did. He was really high with the inexhaustible kindness and generosity of his heart, but this kindness could not replace the strength of character and mind, which he was deprived of. "
Perhaps in this posthumous assessment Alexandra, one of his clever and observant contemporaries, who knew the court and the royal family well, really is the solution to the ill-fated fate of the emperor-liberator and the amazing fact that, having done more for Russia than all his ancestors after Peter the Great, he did not deserve any love for it contemporaries, no gratitude from descendants.
Buried in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
All the monarchs of the world. Russia. 600 short biographies. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999.
Alexander II Nikolaevich (Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov). Born on April 17, 1818 in Moscow - died on March 1 (13), 1881 in St. Petersburg. Russian emperor 1855-1881 from the Romanov dynasty. Awarded a special epithet in historiography - Liberator.
Alexander II is the eldest son of the first grand-ducal, and since 1825 the imperial couple, Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian king Friedrich-Wilhelm III.
Born on April 17, 1818, on Bright Wednesday, at 11 o'clock in the morning at the Bishop's House of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, where the entire Imperial family, excluding the uncle of the newborn Alexander I, who was on an inspection trip to southern Russia, arrived in early April for fasting and celebrating Easter; in Moscow, a salute of 201 cannon salvo was given. On May 5, the sacraments of baptism and chrismation were performed over the infant in the church of the Chudov Monastery by Archbishop Augustine of Moscow, in honor of which Maria Feodorovna was given a gala dinner.
The future emperor was educated at home. His mentor (with the responsibility of overseeing the entire process of upbringing and education) was V.A. Zhukovsky, a teacher of the Law of God and Sacred History - Archpriest Gerasim Pavsky (until 1835), a military instructor - Karl Karlovich Merder, and also: M.M. Speransky (legislation), K. I. Arseniev (statistics and history), E. F. Kankrin (finance), F. I. Brunov (foreign policy), Academician Collins (arithmetic), K. B. Trinius (natural history) ...
According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. So, during a trip to London in 1839, he developed a fleeting, but strong, love for the young Queen Victoria, who would later become for him the most hated ruler in Europe.
Upon reaching the age of majority on April 22, 1834 (the day he took the oath), the Heir-Tsarevich was introduced by his father to the main state institutions Empire: in 1834 in the Senate, in 1835 introduced into the composition of the Holy Governing Synod, from 1841 a member of the State Council, in 1842 - of the Committee of Ministers.
In 1837 Alexander made a long trip across Russia and visited 29 provinces of the European part, Transcaucasia and Western Siberia, and in 1838-39 he visited Europe.
Military service with the future emperor was quite successful. In 1836, he already became a major general, since 1844, a full general, commanded the Guards infantry. Since 1849, Alexander was the head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees for Peasant Affairs in 1846 and 1848. During the Crimean War of 1853-56, with the declaration of the Petersburg province, he commanded all the troops of the capital on martial law.
In his life, Alexander did not adhere to any specific concept in his views on the history of Russia and tasks government controlled... When he ascended the throne in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. None of the issues of the 30-year reign of his father (peasant, oriental, Polish, etc.) were resolved, in Crimean war Russia was defeated.
The first of his important decisions was the conclusion of the Paris Peace in March 1856. In the social and political life of the country, there was a "thaw". On the occasion of his coronation in August 1856, he announced an amnesty to the Decembrists, Petrashevists, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-31, suspended recruitment for 3 years, and in 1857 liquidated military settlements.
Not being a reformer by vocation and temperament, Alexander became them in response to the needs of the time as a man of sober mind and goodwill.
Realizing the overriding importance of the decision peasant question, for 4 years he showed a desire to cancel serfdom... Adhering to the "Ostsee version" of landless emancipation of the peasants in 1857-58, at the end of 1858 he agreed to the peasants' purchase of allotment land as their property, that is, to the reform program developed by the liberals, together with like-minded public figures (N. A. Milyutin , Ya.I. Rostovtsev, Yu.F. Samarin, V.A. Cherkassky; Grand Prince Elena Pavlovna and others).
From the speech of Emperor Alexander II at a meeting of the State Council on January 28, 1861: “... power ... Further waiting can only further arouse passions and lead to the most harmful and disastrous consequences for the entire state in general and the landowners in particular ... "
With his support, the Zemsky Regulations of 1864 and the City Regulations of 1870, the Judicial Regulations of 1864, the military reforms of the 1860s and 1970s, the reforms of public education, censorship, and the abolition of corporal punishment were adopted.
Alexander II confidently and successfully pursued the traditional imperial policy. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance to Central Asia ended successfully (in 1865-81, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). After a long resistance, he decided to go to war with Turkey in 1877-78.
After the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-64 and the attempted assassination of D. V. Karakozov on his life on April 4, 1866, Alexander II made concessions to the protective course, expressed in the appointment of D. A. Tolstoy, F. F. Trepov, P. A. Shuvalov.
In 1867, Alaska (Russian America) was sold to the United States. This gave almost a 3% increase in total income. Russian Empire that year.
Reforms continued, but sluggish and inconsistent, almost all reform leaders, with rare exceptions, were dismissed. At the end of his reign, Alexander tended to introduce limited public representation in Russia at the State Council.
Several attempts were made on Alexander II: D. V. Karakozov in 1866, the Polish emigrant Anton Berezovsky on May 25, 1867 in Paris, A. K. Solovyov on April 2, 1879 in St. Petersburg.
The Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya on August 26, 1879 decided to assassinate Alexander II (an attempt to blow up an imperial train near Moscow on November 19, 1879, an explosion in the Winter Palace by SN Khalturin on February 5 (17), 1880). The Supreme Administrative Commission was created to protect state order and fight against the revolutionary movement. But this could not prevent the violent death of the emperor.
On March 1 (13), 1881, Alexander II was mortally wounded on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by the People's Will Ignatiy Grinevitsky. He died on the very day when he decided to launch the constitutional project of MT Loris-Melikov, telling his sons Alexander (the future emperor) and Vladimir: "I do not hide from myself that we are following the path of the constitution."
First marriage (1841) with Maria Alexandrovna (07/01/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximiliana-Wilhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.
The second, morganatic, marriage to a longtime (since 1866) mistress Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who received the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.
Own capital of Alexander II was about 12 million rubles as of March 1, 1881. (securities, State Bank tickets, shares of railway companies); from personal funds, he donated 1 million rubles in 1880. on the device of the hospital in memory of the Empress.
Children from first marriage:
Alexandra (1842-1849);
Nicholas (1843-1865), raised as heir to the throne, died of pneumonia in Nice;
Alexander III (1845-1894) - Emperor of Russia in 1881-1894;
Vladimir (1847-1909);
Alexey (1850-1908);
Mary (1853-1920), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Great Britain and Germany;
Sergey (1857-1905);
Paul (1860-1919).
Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator.
During his reign, serfdom was abolished, universal military service was introduced, zemstvos were established, a judicial reform was carried out, censorship was limited, autonomy was granted to the Caucasian highlanders (which in no small measure contributed to the end of the Caucasian War), and a number of other reforms were carried out.
The negative side usually includes the unfavorable results of the Berlin Congress of 1878 for Russia, exorbitant expenditures in the war of 1877-1878, numerous peasant uprisings (in 1861-1863, more than 1150 speeches), large-scale nationalist uprisings in the kingdom of Poland and the Northwest Territory. (1863) and in the Caucasus (1877-1878).
The fate of this emperor is in many respects the fate of Russia, in many respects a game on the verge of the possible and the impossible. Alexander II all his life did not act as he wanted, but as circumstances, relatives, country demanded. Is it possible that the king called the Liberator will be destroyed by those who considered themselves the best representatives of the people!
On April 17, 1818, the firstborn of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I was born in the Chudov Monastery. Prominent teachers and scientists were involved in the upbringing of the heir to the throne: V.A. Zhukovsky, legislation was taught by M.M. Speransky, and finance E.F. Kankrin. The future emperor quickly developed a complete picture of the state of Russia and its potential future, and also developed state thinking.
Already in 1834-1635, Nicholas I introduced his son to the most important state bodies of the Empire: the Senate and the Holy Synod. Like his predecessors, Alexander consists of military service and is responsible during the Russian-Turkish war of 1853-1856 for the combat capability of the militia in St. Petersburg. An ardent champion of autocracy, Alexander very quickly comes to the conviction of the backwardness of the socio-economic system of Russia, while launching a whole set of reforms that will forever change the face of the empire.
The reforms of Alexander II are called the Great: Abolition of serfdom (1861), Judicial reform (1863), Education reform (1864), Zemskaya reform (1864), Military reform (1874). The transformations affected all spheres of activity of Russian society, shaping the economic and political contours of post-reform Russia. The activities of Alexander II were largely aimed at breaking down the centuries-old order, which led to a surge in social activity on the one hand, and also aroused a reaction from the landlord class. As a result of such an attitude towards the Tsar-Liberator, on March 1, 1881, on the embankment of the Catherine Canal (now the Griboyedov Canal), Emperor Alexander II died at the hands of the Narodnaya Volya bombers. Historians are still arguing about what Russia would have become if the sovereign had lived at least four days, when the State Council was supposed to discuss the constitutional project of Loris-Melikov.
In the reign of Alexander II Russian society and the state has reached its 1000th anniversary. Looking back, into the depths of the centuries, every Russian person saw years of struggle with stubborn nature for the harvest, the 240-year-old Tatar yoke and Ivan the Great who threw him off, the Terrible's campaigns against Kazan and Astrakhan, the first emperor Peter and his associates, as well as Alexander I the Blessed, who brought peace and the rule of law to Europe! The list of glorious ancestors and their deeds were captured in the monument "Millennium of Russia" (in the spirit of the times on the monument was not immortalized), which was installed in the first capital of the Russian state, Novgorod in 1862.
Today there are many monuments to Alexander II the Liberator, one of which stands in Helsinki. In St. Petersburg, on the embankment of the canal im. Griboyedov in place fatal injury the emperor-liberator, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built, where you can still see the cobblestones on which Alexander's blood was shed on March 1, 1881.
