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How effectively did the reforms of Alexander II solve the
internal problems of Russia?
Background:
Born in 1818, Alexander was educated privately as well as enduring rigorous military training. In his
early life he did not show a large amount of potential for being the great leader and reformer that
many people now refer to him as during his time as Tsar of Russia. He was assassinated in 1881 in
St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of a revolutionary group.
Alexander II came to power in 1855 after the death of his father Nikolaj I as the Crimean War was
coming to a close. Beginning in late 1853, the war had proved to be a total catastrophe for Russia,
with two of the original Great Nations of the Vienna Settlement of 1815, France and Britain allying
the Ottoman Empire against Russia. One of the main aims of the Vienna Settlement had been to
maintain a balance of power within Europe and with Russia’s re-kindled interest in the Crimea
Constantinople in particular, forced those previously mentioned countries to intervene.
Russia had had an interest in the Ottoman Empire, (the so-called “Sick man of Europe” by Tsar
Nikolaj I) since the early 1800’s, and with the excuse of protecting the prejudiced orthodox
Christians residing in the predominantly Muslim territory of the Ottoman Empire, had caused
numerous stirs in the past. Alexander’s father Nikolaj I, still believed that his army was as strong as it
once had been, but he was soon proved wrong as British and French forces dominated the battle
field, most notably at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Subsequently, Nikolaj travelled to his troops on
the battle field to boost morale, but only days after he left was bed ridden with pneumonia which he
consequently died from a week later, leaving his son Alexander the throne. Alexander decided on
ending the Crimean War with the Treaty of Paris of 1856, the option least likely to embarrass the
and anger the Russian nation, and took it upon himself to put into place a number of reforms within
Russia. The Crimean War had been a wake-up call for Alexander; the Russian Army had been so
under industrialised that the eventual outcome was to have been expected.
Russian Internal problems:
Russia has often been noted for being backwards during the 1800’s, the time for many countries in
Europe when the industrial revolution was taking place. The vast majority of the Russian population
still lived in the country, working either as peasants or land owners. Only the nobility lived in the
cities. Serfdom was a form of slavery in which peasants were bound to landlords. They provided
labour for land owners in cultivating crops for example and were also forced to pay rent for a small
plot where they lived. Serfdom had been abolished in Great Britain for example hundreds of years
before, and the continued use of serfs in Russia was in fact hindering its industrialization, with serfs
being bound to their landlords instead of being able to work together in factories or in large scale
agriculture. The Russian army also suffered from serfdom, especially during the Crimean War. A
significant proportion of the Russian army was comprised of serfs with little training the majority
were armed with out-dated weaponry. This was perhaps the main Russian weakness, and ultimately
led to their defeat.
Another problem was the growing aversion to Tsarist rule. The Tsar controlled everything and had
total power. There was no democratic system for voting in the Tsar, and no government to make
decisions regarding law. The Tsar was succeeded by his son, and had unlimited control over the laws
that governed the Russian people. The Russian system of Tsar’s was unique in Europe at the time,
with many countries now opting for a more democratic system in which the people’s needs and
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requests were taking more into account. Moscow was increasingly coming under attack from
criticism and riots from revolutionaries displeased with how the Tsar controlled the country.
The Russian economy had also suffered partly as a result of the Crimean War and partly from the
ever growing population. With no money coming from an industrialised sector, Russia had to rely on
its relatively small output of crops which was not increasing at a fast enough rate, from the
peasantry. The Russian population was to augment from 50 million in the 1860’s to 82 million by
1897. Industrialisation had yet to fully appear in Russia at the time of Alexander II’s arrival as Tsar,
and as a result of serfdom to a large extent, was not going to arrive in the near future. This was one
the most important reasons behind Alexander’s move to free the serfs.
Reforms:
One important reform that Alexander carried forward was a relaxation of the press censorship that
existed in Russia. This pleased the various radical and more liberal groups that were becoming more
common, and this freedom of the press gave more of a chance for those opposed to the Tsarist
regime to speak out. The idea was to gain the respect of the people, and keep them on the side of
the Tsar. However, any book over 10 pages in length would still be eligible for a preliminary
censorship. Interestingly, Karl Marx's book, Das Kapital remained uncensored. It may have been to
some extent, as a result of the loosening of press censorship that Alexander's fate came about in
1881, when he was attacked by radical terrorists in St. Petersburg. With newly found freedom, the
radicals became braver and willing to take action.
Perhaps one of the most important and well known reforms carried out by Alexander II was the
Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861 (preceded by the Freeing of the Imperial Serfs in 1858). In a
speech in 1856 at the end of the Crimean War he had already stated that “It is better to abolish
serfdom from above that wait until it begins to abolish itself from below.” The lack of industrial
power in both military and civil sectors had proved to be disastrous in the Crimean War, thus by
freeing the serfs from their landlords, he hoped more workers would be able to move to the cities
and work in the factories. However, despite being made free personally, the serfs were still faced
with a financial issue. They often received less land than they had had been farming as serfs and the
annual redemption payments to the government were a burden which were disliked as they
believed the land they now owned had always belonged to them. In some places, it took 20 years for
the serfs to receive their land, and many were forced to pay more than what the land was worth.
This led to severe famines, which in turn caused the Russian economy to fail. Conditions in the
factories were very bad, and did not pose such a good alternative to farming; however this was to
have been expected at the beginning of industrialisation.
The Zemstvo was similar to what is now a city council. They took care of maintaining roads, primary
education (with supervision from the central government) and looking after the sick and poor. This
in theory should have benefitted the population greatly, giving them more of a say in what
happened in their local community and the provision of health care and some education. However,
to compensate for the loss of the serfs, only the nobility were able to make decisions that resulted in
an unfair representation of the community. Equal justice was also introduced, with public trials and a
jury system and professionally trained judges. This conversely caused some issues as well, as a high
rate of corruption remained leading to unfair punishments and an increase in flogging despite its
outlawing in 1863. This however, was a great improvement on the system of individual punishments
that existed before the judicial reforms took place in November 1864.
Compulsory military service was introduced in 1874 for all able-bodied men regardless of their social
stature. This was to provide a strong army with a substantial reserve, and men had to serve for a
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minimum of six years. The Prussian Army had become the model for all European armies after its
great effectiveness against France, Austria and numerous other countries in the past few decades,
and thus became also the model for Russia. The literacy rate of those in the army soon rose to five
times that of the adult male population in general as a result of a very effective educational
programme that all conscripts were forced to attend. However, with a weak economy and lack of
modernised weapons, the Russian army still was not proved to be effective, as shown in the Balkans
at the end of the 1870’s, where Russia was again forced to sign a humiliating treaty (Treaty of Berlin
1878).
Industrialisation started to appear from the 1860’s onwards, with the number of factories growing
by over a factor of 10. Employment in the factories increased dramatically as there was no shortage
of peasants coming from over populated rural areas to towns, and by 1880 over 24000km of rail
road track had been constructed meaning easier transport for soldiers if a war were to happen and
easier transport of materials for other industrial processes. However despite the relatively large
increase in the amount of industrial action happening in Russia at the end of the 19th century, it was
still on a small scale in comparison with the rest of Europe and the likes of Britain and Germany for
example.
Conclusions:
To conclude, the reforms taken out by Tsar Alexander II, although with good intentions, did not
really provide solutions for many of the problems that existed in Russia from the end of the Crimean
War in 1856 to Alexander's assassination in 1881. Despite often being referred to as the Tsar
Liberator by Russians and Westerners alike for his liberal ideas and emancipation of the serfs in
1861, the serfs did not gain true freedom for many years to come, being forced to pay the exuberant
for land, and in some cases having to wait decades for the land that they believed was rightfully
theirs. In fact, freeing the serfs had done little apart from increasing the difference between the
classes. The idea of the Zemstvo, although in theory a very good one, did not in reality prove to be
an effective means of giving a limited amount of power to the people, as only the nobility were able
to make decisions, where the majority of the population were still peasants. Some of the other
minor reforms passed were more successful, but the majority and arguably the most important did
not solve the problems they had been designed to fix. Finally, despite Alexander's attempts to give
more power to the people, the Tsarist regime in Russia continued until 1917 and the Russian
Revolution, which ended the rule of the Tsar with the disputed claim that the Bolshevik leaders killed
the entirety of the remaining royal family.
It is worth noting however, that the majority of the sources used in this essay were from a Western
perspective, and as such there is a rather large plausibility that these facts are biased, due to the
Russophobia that existed in the late 19th century in Western Europe. Thus, it is difficult to discern
whether or not the reliability of these sources can be fully trusted, as they may tint the reality and
reaction of the Russians who were affected by the reforms of Alexander II during his time as Tsar.
Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_history,_1855%E2%80%931892

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSalexander2.htm

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa47

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/czar-alexander-ii-assassinated
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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia

http://www.russianlife.com/blog/serfdom-gogol/

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSserfsE.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution

Years of Nationalism, European History 1815-1890. Leonard W. Cowie, Robert Wolfston
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