Accession and the Shift Towards Enlightenment (1855–1859)

Alexander II came to power in 1855. His first actions seemed to confirm his determination to rule in a more enlightened manner: he released political prisoners, pardoned those involved in a plot to assassinate his father, relaxed censorship, lessened restrictions on foreign travel and university entrance, cancelled the debts of those in arrears, and restored some liberties of Poland and the Catholic Church. He was fully committed to maintaining the tsarist autocracy and upholding his “God-given” duties, but he believed that granting limited freedoms and reforms would help stimulate a more dynamic economy. In this, he was supported by his brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, his aunt the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, and “enlightened bureaucrats” like Nicholas Alexander Milyutin, the minister for internal affairs (1859-61).

Alexander set the tone of his reign when he addressed the Moscow nobility in 1856, warning them of the hostility between peasants and landlords: “I am convinced that sooner or later we must come to it. I believe that you too, are of the same opinion as I; consequently, it is far better that this should come about from above, rather than from below”. Economic necessity drove this forward; by 1859, nobles were being forced to take out mortgages on estates, and 66% of serfs had been mortgaged as security for nobles’ loans from the State Loan Bank.

Emancipation and Immediate Repercussions (1860–1862)

The 1860s ushered in a wave of structural changes, beginning with the creation of a state bank in 1860 to extend credit facilities. The landmark 1861 Emancipation Ukase (decree) was a lengthy legal document applying initially only to privately owned serfs. It declared them free men who could marry, own property, set up businesses, travel, and enjoy legal rights, allowing each family to keep its cottage or allotment. However, peasants were required to make “redemption payments” to the government over 49 years at 6% interest, remaining within their peasant community (mir)—which distributed allotments and collected taxes—until all payments were made. Landlords received compensation in the form of government bonds.

However, nationalist tensions exploded simultaneously in Poland. Nationalist demonstrations in Warsaw in February 1861 led to the dissolution of the Agricultural Society in April, and demonstrations resulted in up to 200 people being killed. Throughout 1862, the Tsar’s brother Constantine faced a number of assassination attempts while trying to defuse these tensions. In the same year, municipal banks were created, and a manifesto titled “Young Russia” was published by students calling for radical change. When fires in St Petersburg destroyed over 2,000 shops in June 1862, there were rumours that these radical students were responsible.

The Height of Reform and Nationalist Rebellions (1863–1865)

In January 1863, an order for the conscription of Poles into the Russian army sparked an armed insurrection that took nearly a year to control. In the same year, Finland demanded a separate Finnish Parliament (Diet), to which Alexander II conceded, and universities were given their independence. Conversely, Alexander issued decrees in 1863 forbidding the publication and import of books written in Ukrainian.

In 1864, sweeping Local Government Reforms became law under Minister for Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuev, establishing elected local councils known as zemstva. These bodies were chosen through “electoral colleges” designed to allow the nobility to dominate, and they managed public services like roads, schools, public health, and gaols.

Also in 1864, Judicial Reforms became law under Minister of Justice Dmitrii Zamyatnin. The system introduced juries to encourage fairer trials, gave judges better training and pay, and established Volost courts run by literate peasants to deal with minor offences.

Educational reforms under Alexander Golovnin in 1864 transferred responsibility for schooling from the Church to the zemstva, opening schools to all regardless of class.

Finally, in August 1864, the Polish rebellion was suppressed; the Milyutin Plan exiled hundreds of Polish nobles to Siberia while emancipating Polish peasants on more favourable terms than Russian peasants. By 1865, Finland demanded a constitution (which the Tsar conceded), and new regulations loosened censorship laws, allowing the press to report and comment on government policy for the first time.

Reactionary Adjustments and Continued Expansion (1866–1870)

The rapid pace of change led to some reactionary backtracking, but modernization continued. In 1866, the Emancipation Ukase was finally extended to over 20 million state serfs. However, because educational reforms had increased the number of radical and militant thinkers, the government deemed it necessary to reassert control over the education system in 1866.

Economic reforms saw the creation of a savings bank in 1869, while government subsidies were offered to private entrepreneurs to develop railways. In 1870, women were allowed to attend secondary schools for non-vocational education, and local government reforms were extended to towns to create Dumas (local town councils). Despite press freedoms resulting in the number of books published growing from 1,020 in 1855 to 1,836 in 1864, the 1870s saw a retightening of censorship laws as the government remained wary of subversion.

The Rise of Radical Opposition and Military Modernization (1871–1876)

Radical opposition, fueled by thinkers like Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin, and Nikolai Chernyshevsky, began to mobilize. In 1871, Sergei Nechyev, a radical of peasant extraction, returned illegally to St Petersburg. In 1874, Pyotr Lavrov led a group of around 2,000 young men and women—known as the narodniks or Populists—to “go to the people” and win over the peasantry to socialist ideas. However, the romantic illusions of the young were shattered by the peasants’ ignorance, superstition, and deep-rooted loyalty to the Tsar, resulting in 1,600 arrests by the autumn of 1874.

Simultaneously, Dmitry Milyutin, the minister for war, overhauled the armed forces. Alexander gave his assent to these military reforms in 1874, and they were put into effect from 1875. Conscription was made compulsory for all classes from the age of 20, the length of service was reduced from 25 years to 15 years (with 6 years active and 9 in the reserves), military colleges were set up to accept non-noble recruits, and modern weaponry and iron-clad steamships were introduced.

In 1876, Alexander II continued his policy of Russification by issuing another decree forbidding the publication of Ukrainian books.

Crisis, Show Trials, and Escalating Violence (1877–1879)

In 1877, a more radical and better-organised group called “Land and Liberty” was established, whose members set out to find work within peasant communities to stir up resistance. Minister for Justice Konstantin Pahlen attempted to deter political agitation through open show trials in 1877–78. The “Trial of 50” and the “Trial of 193” were a resounding failure for the minister; at the latter, 153 of the 193 defendants were acquitted, and passionate defence speeches were widely reported in the press. This emboldened radicals. In July 1877, a political prisoner named Alexei Bogogyubov was flogged for refusing to remove his cap for General Trepov, the Governor of St Petersburg. In retaliation, Vera Zasulich shot and seriously wounded Trepov in 1878, but a sympathetic jury found her not guilty of terrorism. After this embarrassment, the government announced in 1878 that political crimes would be transferred to military courts, where they could be heard in secret.

The late 1870s proved a time of intense political crisis: the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78 failed to bring a swift victory, a poor harvest resulted in famine in 1879–80, and an industrial recession began. Furthermore, there were attempts on the Tsar’s life in 1879, leading to the creation of new governor-generals with emergency powers to prosecute in military courts and exile political offenders.

The Final Years and Assassination (1880–1881)

Following further attempts on his life in February 1880, Alexander was severely shaken and set up a commission under General Loris-Melikov to investigate how best to reduce revolutionary activity. Loris-Melikov immediately instituted a series of concessions: he released political prisoners, relaxed censorship, removed the salt-tax, lifted restrictions on the zemstva, and abolished the much-feared Third Section (transferring its powers to the regular police and a new special section called the Okhrana).

By 1880, the impact of earlier reforms was clear: the number of primary schools had risen to 23,000 (up from 8,000 in 1856), educating over a million children, while university students had grown to 10,000.

Loris-Melikov produced a report in 1880 designed to meet the demands of the zemstva for an extension of representative government at a national level, a project that became known as “Loris-Melikov’s Constitution”. By 1881, despite the decades-long process, 15% of serfs were still obligated to a landowner. Alexander II signed Loris-Melikov’s report on the morning of March 13, 1881, and called for a meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss the document. However, that same day, the Tsar was killed by a bomb planted by the Peoples Will.