Forgotten History of the Russian Revolution. From Alexander I to Vladimir Putin Kalyuzhny Dmitry Vitalievich

Alexander II (1855–1881)

Alexander II (1855–1881)

February 18, 1855 on Russian throne 37-year-old Alexander II entered. The situation in the country was in crisis. The requisitions of foodstuffs, horses and fodder carried out during the Crimean War, and especially recruitment kits, which reduced the number of workers by 10%, had a severe impact on the economy of the village.

Alexander II

1855 .- Publication abroad of the first issue of the dissident magazine "Polyarnaya Zvezda".

1855 . – Reducing the term military service from 20 to 12 years old.

1857 January 3 . - Creation of a Secret Committee "to discuss measures to arrange the life of the landlord peasants."

The landlords of the black earth provinces, who owned expensive land and kept the peasants on corvee, wanted to keep the maximum possible amount of land and keep the hands of the workers. In the industrial non-chernozem quitrent provinces, the landlords wanted to get cash to reorganize their farms in a bourgeois way. And the emerging bourgeoisie demanded hired workers. In general, everyone public structures countries had their own, often opposing interests, locked in human resource, more precisely, on its shortage, and the state had to synchronize these opposing interests in one way or another.

Under such conditions, in 1857, by decree of Alexander II, the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question began to work, which later led to the abolition of serfdom.

1859 March 4 .- The beginning of the work of editorial commissions to develop the Regulations on the peasants.

1859 March 16 . - Permission for Jews - merchants of the 1st guild, to live outside the Pale of Settlement.

On February 19, 1861, the emperor signed whole line laws. Here were the Manifesto and the Regulations on granting freedom to the peasants, documents on the entry into force of the Regulations, on the management rural communities etc. The abolition of serfdom did not become a one-time event: first, the landlord peasants were liberated, then appanage and assigned to factories.

This story is well known. Therefore, we confine ourselves to a story that is not very widely known.

Many believe that prior to 1861 serfs were the majority Russian population. Nothing like this. According to the last revision of 1858-1859 before the liberation of the peasants, 60 million people lived in Russia. Of these, 12 million were freemen: nobles, clergy and philistines, individual peasants, Cossacks, etc. There were about a million nobles of both sexes. The rest were divided approximately equally into two categories of rural residents: state peasants, although they were attached to the land, but were not considered serfs, and landlord peasants, who sat on private land and were personally enslaved. So, serfs in the strict sense of the word made up a little more than a third of the population of the empire.

It should be said that the serf was not a slave, and the estate was not a plantation. Russian serfdom began to be mistakenly identified with slavery only two hundred years ago, and we owe this to Alexander Radishchev. The mention of serfdom in his Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790) was the first attempt to establish an analogy between serfdom and slavery by emphasizing certain features (for example, the lack of marriage rights) that were indeed characteristic of both of them. critical literature subsequent decades, written by Western-minded writers, made this analogy commonplace, and from them it was assimilated by Russian and Western thought.

Meanwhile, almost half of the serfs were tenants and paid dues. They could go to all four directions and return when they wanted; they were free to choose their occupation to their liking, and the landowner did not interfere in their lives. Everything for them serfdom was reduced to the payment of a fixed quitrent or, as a tax, a share of the earnings of the nobles who owned the land to which they were assigned. So we still pay taxes!

They say that the landowner could punish them - yes, but for guilt and with the consent of the gathering. They say that the landowner had the right to hand over disobedient peasants to the authorities to be sent to Siberian exile. It was right. And here is the practice: between 1822 and 1833, in twelve years, 1283 peasants were subjected to such punishment, a hundred a year. For more than twenty million landlord peasants, this is not such a stunning figure. And it is quite possible that they were exiled for the cause!

It seems to us more important that many nobles, especially from the richest, were chic at the expense of serfs, spitting on the interests of not only “their people”, but also the country. Free income spoiled the Russian nobility to such an extent that when credit institutions appeared that issued loans secured by the estate, the landowners rushed to borrow, including “under the peasants”. (About this Gogol wrote his " Dead Souls"). By 1859, 66% of the serfs in Russia were mortgaged and re-mortgaged in credit institutions (in some provinces this figure reached 90%).

With proper management of the economy, secured loans are used either to introduce necessary improvements or to expand the economy with new purchases. The Russian nobility borrowed for their own pleasure, for the needs of personal comfort. Noble loans tended to gradually turn from long-term into perpetual, and borrowed money, once leaving the cash register of banks, did not return there anymore.

Some nobles, having moved abroad, struck the Europeans with their extravagance. One Russian aristocrat lived for some time in a small German town and amused himself by sending his servants to the market in the morning with an order to buy ALL products and then admiring from the window how local housewives rush about in search of food. In the gambling houses and resorts of Western Europe, Russian nobles who littered with money were also well known. Of course, not all nobles behaved in this way, but only the "elite"; most of the nobles really served and did not have extra money.

And yesterday's serfs were released. Let's face it, the reform was carried out in such a way that the nobles did not suffer very much. Peasants were released "to freedom" with the land, but - with the use of it for a certain fixed dues or serving corvee. They could not give up these allotments for nine years, and for full release they had to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, put it on, and only after that they became peasant owners, and before that they were considered to be in a “temporarily obligated position”. In addition, the size of the allotments received by the peasants depended on the fertility of the soil and economic features different regions and varied greatly.

All this did not contribute to the development Agriculture. Many peasants, experiencing a lack of land, were forced to rent additional plots from the landowner and, in return, cultivate his land with their own implements. Another part of the peasants abandoned their allotments and went to work in the city or as farm laborers, hiring themselves for work with the landlords for a fee. In all this there was little economic sense and even less justice, although it should be noted that others European countries moved to the industrial phase of development with even greater injustice to the rural population.

And the most surprising thing - which few people know about - is that the then privatization of land took place according to a scenario that was painfully familiar to all of us. The lands of 50,000 (fifty thousand!) Poor landlords who went bankrupt after the abolition of serfdom were bought not by peasants at all, but by 143 (one hundred and forty-three) large dignitaries, who then rented these same lands to peasant communities.

1861 .- The first student unrest in St. Petersburg. Creation of the Council of Ministers. Autumn. - The emergence of a secret society "Earth and Freedom". Permission for Jews higher education live outside the Pale of Settlement and enter the civil service.

1862 . – First publication state budget.

1863 June 18 . – Approval of the new University Charter, which restored university autonomy.

After peasant reform a number of others followed: university (1863), zemstvo and judicial (1864), censorship (1865), city (1870), military (1874). In other words, the authorities understood that reforms were necessary, but decided to carry them out without leaps and gradually. Unfortunately, this approach did not allow Russia to overcome difficulties, but, fortunately, it did not allow Russia to completely slide into a hole - the prerequisites for which, to be honest, were there. But what was positive was that, as a result of the succession of power in the government of the country, goals appeared more high order than the mere survival of rulers. For example, problem solving began industrial policy and education.

In 1864, the "Regulations on the initial public schools”, which expanded the network of primary educational institutions. According to the “Regulations”, elementary schools were allowed to be opened by public institutions and even private individuals, but they were all under the control of school councils. They taught writing, reading, rules of arithmetic, the Law of God and church singing. Majority primary schools it was zemstvo (created by zemstvos), parochial and "ministerial" (established by the Ministry of Public Education).

A new charter of gymnasiums was introduced, which began to be divided into classical (focused on noble and bureaucratic children) and real (mainly for children of the bourgeoisie). We studied at the gymnasium for seven years. The classical ones emphasized the careful study of the ancient languages ​​(Latin and Greek); in real ones they read extended courses in the natural sciences. Graduates of classical gymnasiums could enter universities without exams, "realists" mainly went to technical higher educational institutions.

The court in the middle of the century was of a class character, the meetings were private and were not covered in the press. The judges were completely dependent on the administration, and the defendants had no defenders. Now (November 20, 1864) new judicial charters were approved: judicial branch separated from the executive and the legislature. A classless and public court was introduced, the principle of the irremovability of judges was affirmed. Two types of court were introduced - general (crown, in charge of criminal cases) and world. The trial became open, although in a number of cases cases were heard behind closed doors. The competitiveness of the court was established, the positions of investigators and the bar were introduced; the question of the guilt of the defendant was decided by 12 jurors. The most important principle reform was the recognition of the equality of all subjects of the empire before the law. There was a position of a notary.

1863, September-October . - Arrival of two Russian squadrons in New York and San Francisco.

From 1861-1865, the United States was in the midst of a civil war. Many people think that the northerners wanted to do a noble deed and free the Negroes languishing in slavery, but the reason lay in the economy. The financial and industrial oligarchs of the North needed to destroy state self-government and subjugate the wealthy and independent South to power. federal center. And the farmers of the North, who could in no way compete with the planters of the South, saw in the elimination of cheap labor from these planters an opportunity to strengthen their economic position.

In the north, 22 million people lived, the states were covered with a dense network of railways and had a developed industry (almost all metallurgical, textile and weapons). About 9 million people lived in the South, including 4 million Negro slaves. the south had no economic base for a long war.

Despite this, at the first stage of the war, the North suffered a number of severe lesions. After six months of fighting, the poor of the North lost their will to fight, which forced President Lincoln to issue a decree on forced mobilization, evasion of which was punishable by hard labor. But that didn't help either. To rectify the situation, Congress passed a law according to which, any US citizen had the right to receive 15 acres of land for a symbolic price; all that was required was to reconquer this land. And still it took to open immigration missions in Europe to attract fighters.

The army of southerners, consisting entirely of volunteers, defended their way of life, their right to self-government. The troops of the federal center were mostly poor white Americans who wanted to get land. If the blacks of the South from the very first days of the war voluntarily enrolled in the army of the southerners, then the federal authorities for a long time Negroes were not called into service.

Only on January 1, 1863, did Lincoln's proclamation emancipate the Negro slaves in southern states: slaves were freed without ransom, but also without land. And only in December 1865 did Congress officially sanction the emancipation of blacks! A year later, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution recognized the right to vote for blacks.

To hasten victory, the North began to wage a war of annihilation: with mass shootings civilian population, the destruction of cities and the creation of concentration camps. And only then, the army of the northerners, who did not take into account their own and other people's losses, managed to seize the military initiative, and in April 1865, the commander-in-chief of the US army, the future president of America, General Ulysses Grant, accepted the surrender from the commander-in-chief of the forces of the South, General Robert Lee.

Russia was interested in the existence of a united United States, because in this way America could resist Great Britain and France, which at that time became the main rivals of Russia. The arrival in September-October 1863 of two Russian squadrons in New York and San Francisco was perceived in the United States as a friendly demonstration against the Lincoln government.

1863–1864 .- Uprising in Poland.

1864–1885 . – Conquest Central Asia.

In the 1860s, the annexation of Kazakh lands to Russia was completed.

AT mid-nineteenth century in Central Asia there were the Kokand, Bukhara and Khiva khanates, which were feudal formations with vestiges of slavery. And for the Russian government, Central Asia was an important strategic region adjacent to the Indian possessions of England; transit lines intersected here trade routes. The role of the region was high and how raw material base, which was especially important in connection with the termination of the supply of cotton, necessary for the production of gunpowder, from the United States during the civil war between North and South.

In 1864, Russian troops entered Khanate of Kokand and took Tashkent (1865). The attempts of the Emir of Bukhara to intervene in the events led to his defeat and the occupation of Samarkand (1868), and the Emirate of Bukhara fell into vassal dependence on Russia. Khiva surrendered in 1873, and Ashgabat was occupied in 1881. The final accession of Central Asia to Russia was completed in 1885.

Conducting an active foreign policy in Central Asia was important for Russian diplomacy in order to weaken the influence of England, which seized Asian lands, not embarrassed by anyone or anything. At the same time, England and France were strengthening their position in China. From the beginning of the 1840s, from the Anglo-Chinese (first "opium") war, Great Britain constantly fought here, imposing unequal treaties on China; also in the Far East with its rich natural resources France and the United States acted.

But the policy of Russia, neither in the XVIII nor in XIX centuries did not have an aggressive character in the Far East, and the agreements concluded were not imposed military force and were voluntary.

During the Crimean War, England tried to capture our Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka. At the same time, it became necessary to clearly define the borders of China and Russia. Such a border was established as a result of the signing of the Aigun (1858), Tianjin (1858) and Beijing (1860) treaties, according to which Primorye and the Amur region departed to Russia.

1864 .– Approval of the Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions. Issuance of the first domestic winning loan. Approval of the Regulations on primary public schools and the new Charter of gymnasiums. Establishment of the St. Petersburg Private Commercial Bank, the first joint-stock bank in Russia.

Among the most important measures to streamline finances was the creation of the State Bank in 1860, and four years later private commercial joint-stock banks began to emerge, the number of which reached forty by 1873, streamlining the process of forming the state budget. But financial transformations did not change the class character of the taxation system, in which the entire burden of taxes fell on the taxable population.

Transformations in the field of finance failed to solve the problem of stabilization monetary system in view of the costs of wars in the reign of Alexander II. These were: Caucasian war, begun under Alexander I and completed in 1864; suppression Polish uprising in 1863-1864 and the Russian-Turkish war in the Balkans of 1877-1878, which contributed to the liberation of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania from Ottoman rule and brought Russia a number of Black Sea fortresses.

1865 April 6 . – Approval of the Provisional Rules for the Press, which eliminated some censorship restrictions. June 28. – Permission for Jewish craftsmen to live outside the Pale of Settlement.

1866 . - Cancellation of mutual responsibility and poll tax from urban residents and the introduction of property tax for them. April, 4. - Assassination attempt by D. V. Karakozov on Emperor Alexander II.

A new system of credit developed. During 1866-1875, 359 joint-stock commercial banks, mutual credit societies and other financial institutions were created. Since 1866, the largest European banks began to actively participate in their work. Thanks to state regulation foreign loans and investments went mainly to railway construction, and railways ensured the expansion of the economic market in the vast expanses of Russia. In addition, they were also important for the operational transfer of military units.

The construction of railways, according to the plan of the Minister of Finance Reitern, who outlined his views in a note to the tsar in 1866, was supposed to provide Russia with a transport network for the transport of the main export product - bread, to the Baltic and Black Sea ports. And an increase in exports was necessary to ensure an active trade balance and obtain foreign currency for investment in industry. Reitern argued that a railway owned by a private person, including a foreigner, would serve the state interests no worse than a state-owned one. The need for additional funds for railway construction Reitern motivated the sale of Alaska to the United States. In 1867, he organized the sale (for $ 7.2 million), and in an atmosphere of extreme secrecy: besides him, only Chancellor Prince Gorchakov and Naval Minister Admiral Krabbe were initiated into the business. All others were only informed a few days after the signing of the treaty in Washington; the country was stunned.

The development of commodity-money relations led to property differentiation in the countryside, middle-peasant farms were ruined, and the number of poor peasants grew. On the other hand, strong kulak farms appeared, some of which used agricultural machines. All this was part of the plans of the reformers. But unexpectedly for them, the traditionally hostile attitude towards trade intensified in the country, manifested in hatred of the kulak, the merchant, the fence - in a word, the "successful entrepreneur" who grew up on the wave of reforms.

In Russia, large-scale industry was originally created as a state industry. Main concern government after the failures of the Crimean War were enterprises that produced military equipment; in budget planning, special attention was paid to the development of heavy industry and transport. It was in these spheres that funds, both Russian and foreign, fell; the government distributed special orders, and, accordingly, big bourgeoisie was closely associated with the state. The industrialist received an order and profit, an official received a bribe; corruption flourished.

1867 .– Creation of the Red Cross Society in Russia. Cancellation of inheritance by kinship of places of clergy and clergy. Sale of Russian possessions in America (Alaska) to the government of the North American United States.

1868 . - The beginning of the abolition of mutual responsibility among the peasants (in communities with less than 21 male souls).

1869 . - The first student unrest that swept several cities. Exemption of the children of the clergy from compulsory registration in the clergy.

1872 , October. - Invention by A. N. Lodygin of an electric incandescent bulb.

1873–1874 . - Mass "going to the people" with the aim of agitation. However, the agitation of the Narodniks failed to ignite the flame of a peasant uprising.

1874, January 1 . – Military reform, the introduction of universal military service.

Back in 1864, 15 military districts were formed, directly subordinate to the Minister of War. The system of military educational institutions was reformed, new military regulations were adopted. The army was rearmed. Ten years later, in 1874, all-class military service was introduced in Russia with a limited period of military service. Recruitment sets were canceled, the entire male population over the age of 21 was subject to conscription. Military service established for a period of six years active service and nine years left. They served seven years in the Navy and three years in the reserve. These periods were reduced for those who had an education.

Clerics, members of a number of religious sects, the peoples of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, as well as some peoples of the Caucasus and the Far North were not subject to conscription into the army. The only son, the only breadwinner in the family, was released from service. Since in peacetime the need for soldiers was negligible, all fit for service, with the exception of those who received benefits, drew lots. Thus, a mass army was created in the country, which had a limited personnel in peacetime and large human resources in case of war. However, as before, the regular officer corps consisted mainly of nobles, soldiers - of peasants.

1869–1870 .– Creation of the Russian section of the First International.

1870 . - Transfer of inquiries on political matters to the provincial gendarme departments.

1875 . – The emergence in Odessa of the first working organization- "South Russian Union of Workers".

1876 . – Formation of the organization “Land and Freedom”. The first full translation Bibles into Russian. December 6. - The first demonstration (in St. Petersburg near the Kazan Cathedral).

AT Western Europe As always, there was a fight going on. In the second half of the 1860s - early 1870s, the process of unification of Germany was completed, and the fate of the unification was decided in an open military clash between Prussia and Austria. In 1866, Austria was defeated, and in 1867 the North German Confederation was created, with the Prussian king as president. But this development of events caused fears of the authorities of neighboring France. They wanted to stop the territorial claims of Prussia, and in July 1870 the Franco-Prussian war began, which ended in a few months with a brutal defeat of the French near Sedan. And Russia began rapprochement with the formed after Franco-Prussian War German Empire, and this led to the emergence in 1873 of the Union of the Three Emperors (Russia, Germany, Austria). This union was not lasting, it was conditioned more by the fear of mutual strengthening than by common interests. During the next aggravation of Franco-German relations in 1875, Russia made it clear that it would not allow the defeat of France.

In 1875, under an agreement with Japan, Sakhalin Island went to Russia.

By the mid-1870s, the Turkish government pursued a policy of economic and political pressure on the Christian peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. In the spring of 1875, an outbreak broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. popular uprising. Russia in these years was not ready for war (there was a risk of diplomatic isolation, military reforms were not completed, the rearmament of the army was not completed, in fact, nothing was done to strengthen Russian fleet after the abolition of neutralization in the Black Sea, the economic and political position inside the country). Russian diplomats tried to resolve the conflict peacefully, to persuade Turkey to make concessions to the Slavic population.

However, this diplomacy was not successful. Turkey, confident in the support of England, actually refused to accept these proposals. The new demarche of European states (the so-called London Protocol, March 1877, which proposed reforms in favor of Christians) was rejected by Turkey and regarded by it as interference in internal affairs. Ottoman Empire hurriedly prepared for war, and the war began in April 1877.

Our troops did not have well-trained reserves, in terms of quality small arms yielded Turkish army(it was armed with the help of England and the USA), the Russian fleet was inferior in size to the Turkish one. However, in artillery we outnumbered the Turks.

Military operations were also conducted in the Caucasian theater, where the Russian army achieved remarkable victories. In October-November 1877, by night assault (after the siege), the perfectly defended Kars fortress, which was considered impregnable, was taken. Even earlier, the territory of Abkhazia was cleared of the Turks.

Soon the Turkish government requested negotiations, then (in January 1878) an armistice was signed, and a month later a peace treaty. Montenegro, Serbia and Romania received full independence, Bosnia and Herzegovina became autonomous. Especially important point treaty was the creation of a large autonomous Bulgarian state. On the territory of Bulgaria, fortresses were destroyed and Turkish troops were withdrawn, and Russia regained Southern Bessarabia, which had been lost after the Crimean War; in the Caucasus, Ardagan, Kars, Bayazet and Batum departed for her.

But these decisions did not suit England and Austria-Hungary, who did not participate in the war, but wanted to increase their territories and weaken Russia. At their insistence, the Petersburg cabinet, which was not able to conduct new war with strong European states, agreed to convene an international congress in Berlin, where the peace treaty was revised. Although the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro was confirmed, Bulgaria was divided into two parts: the northern Bulgarian principality received autonomy, and southern part, the so-called Eastern Rumelia, remained under Turkish rule. Bosnia and Herzegovina ended up in the zone of occupation of Austria-Hungary. In the Caucasus, Kars and Ardagan remained behind Russia, Batum became a port free for trade.

For its assistance to Turkey, England, having concluded a secret agreement with the Sultan, received Cyprus.

Assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II

1878 .- Opening of the Bestuzhev courses in St. Petersburg - the first women's educational institution in Russia. Shot V. I. Zasulich in F. F. Trepova, her acquittal by the jury.

1878–1880 . - "Northern Union of Russian Workers" in St. Petersburg.

1879–1881 . - Political crisis in Russia.

1879 . - Assassination attempt by A. K. Solovyov on Alexander II. The split of "Land and Freedom" into the parties "People's Will" and "Black Redistribution".

1879–1882 . - Decor tripartite alliance(Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy).

1880 . - Explosion in Zimny, prepared by S. N. Khalturin. Abolition of Section III, creation of the Police Department.

On February 12, 1880, the “Supreme Administrative Commission for the Protection of State Order and Public Peace” was created, headed by MP Loris-Melikov. In April 1880, the commission was liquidated, and Loris-Melikov, appointed Minister of the Interior, began to prepare the completion of the "great work of state reforms." The so-called Constitution of Loris-Melikov, approved in advance by the emperor, provided for the election of representatives from public institutions to the highest bodies of state power.

On the morning of March 1, 1881, Alexander II appointed a meeting of the Council of Ministers to approve the bill. A few hours later, he was killed by members of the Narodnaya Volya organization.

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From the book Domestic History (until 1917) author Dvornichenko Andrey Yurievich

§ 13. Domestic policy of Nicholas I (1825-1855) The Decembrist uprising had a great influence on government policy. An active and purposeful fight against any manifestations of public discontent has become an important component of the internal political course

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author Anisimov Evgeny Viktorovich

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From the book Chronology of Russian History. Russia and the world author Anisimov Evgeny Viktorovich

1855, February 18 Death of Nicholas I Nicholas I did not know about it. He could not stand the shame of the impending defeat of Russia in the war and passed away. In the summer in Peterhof, from elevated places, people could see the Anglo-French squadron standing near Kronstadt, which blocked the Russian fleet.

From the book Russian Chronograph. From Rurik to Nicholas II. 809–1894 author Konyaev Nikolai Mikhailovich

The era of Nicholas 3 (1825–1855) As biographers testify, the third son of Grand Duke Paul, Nicholas, on the eighth day of his life, began to eat porridge ... And this fact would not be worth mentioning if 59 years later, on February 18, 1855, it was not announced that, having been poisoned by porridge, suddenly

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3.3. Domestic policy of Nicholas I (1828–1855) Historiography notes the profound influence that the Decembrist movement had on all spheres of the politics of the reign of Nicholas. However, there are different estimates of the degree of this influence. Russian historiography (V.O.

From the book Life and customs of tsarist Russia author Anishkin V. G.

13:24 — REGNUM

1855 March 2 (February 18 O.S.) Emperor Alexander II ascended the Russian throne

“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 died suddenly. 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. Amazement, 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 discontent accumulated in society and drank all the bitterness of cruel and fair criticism.

Not immediately, but only after long hesitations and mistakes, he stumbled upon the road that Russia was supposed to take. At first, there is no intention of reform at all in Alexander. The next day after taking power, February 19, 1855, he declared in State Council that he recognizes himself as the successor of the "wishes and views" of "our unforgettable parent", and on February 23 at the reception of the diplomatic corps he definitely promised to adhere to political principles father and uncle. He did not 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 when he received the fatal news. He himself went south, watched the construction of bastions around Nikolaev, inspected 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. On the international arena she was isolated internal forces it was undermined, discontent engulfed all sections of society.

Possessing a sound and sober mind, a certain flexibility, not at all prone to fanaticism, Alexander, under the pressure of circumstances and having no program, began to make new decisions that did not fit into the old system and even directly opposed to it. He embarked on the path of liberation reforms not because of his convictions, but as a military man on the throne, who realized the "lessons" of the Crimean War, as an emperor and autocrat, for whom the prestige and greatness of the state were above all else.

The contours of this new course were gradually taking shape. 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 for 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 restrictions introduced at the universities after 1848 were also abolished.

In March 1856, with active participation Prince Gorchakov was imprisoned Parisian world. He cost Russia Black Sea Fleet, but was still much less shameful than one might expect. Shortly 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 she 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 recruitment duty for three years, forgave arrears, amnestied or eased the lot a large number criminals, including the Decembrists. The surviving participants in the uprising were returned estates and titles.

Quoted from: Ryzhov K.V. All the monarchs of the world. Russia. 600 short biographies. M.: Veche, 1999

History in faces

Prince V.P. Meshchersky, memoirs:

... Having assimilated, one might say, unconsciously the whole stronghold of autocracy in such a school as the reign of Nicholas I, he, Alexander II, did not doubt for a moment the right and power to do whatever he wanted, but at the same time this unconscious assimilation Nikolaev autocracy and this ignorance of Russian life caused him to be unable to verify the biased and false accusations raised by liberals against the reign of his father, which did not distinguish accidents and trifles from those foundations, institutions and principles that constituted not only the strength of his state, but were the needs of his people, and he did not know how to defend these foundations of the Russian system as inviolable, at the moment when the liberals wanted to make the entire reign of Nicholas and the entire internal structure of the state responsible for various accidental ailments of Russian life ...

Quoted from: Meshchersky V.P. My memories. SPb., 1898. Part 2. p.506

The world at this time

In 1855, Henry Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Portrait of Lord Palmerston. M. Claxton. 1855

"Palmerston, Henry John Temple (1784-1865), Viscount English statesman and diplomat.

Palmerston entered the House of Commons in 1807 as a member of the Tory party from the "rotten place" Newtown (on the Isle of Wight). Thanks to his connections, in 1808 he was appointed Junior Lord of the Admiralty, and in 1809 he took the post of assistant minister of war. He stayed in this post for 20 years, never speaking on foreign policy issues. In 1830, Palmerston joined the Whig party, declaring himself a supporter of electoral reform. Prime Minister Lord Gray granted him the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1830-41 and 1846-51 Palmerston was at the head of the foreign department, but even after that, as Minister of the Interior, and then Prime Minister, he continued to lead British foreign policy - until his death.

Palmerston considered it useful for the interests of England to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, which represented a profitable market for the sale of English goods, a source of raw materials and a military-political barrier against both Russia and France in its attempts to gain a foothold in Egypt. At the same time, Palmerston considered the territory of the Ottoman Empire as a convenient springboard for the further expansion of England in the East. The principle of "integrity" of the Ottoman Empire put forward by England did not prevent the British from capturing Aden in 1839 and striving to establish their dominance also over other Ottoman possessions. Palmerston always considered Russia to be the main enemy of England. Following the example of Pitt the Younger, whose disciple he called himself, Palmerston covered up his service to the interests of English expansion with grandiloquent speeches about the "defense of civilization." Just at the beginning of the 1930s, Anglo-Russian contradictions began to escalate in connection with the successes that Russian diplomacy had won in the Middle East by that time. In an effort to deprive Russia of its pre-eminent position in Turkey, Palmerston made it his main diplomatic task to "dissolve" the Unkar-Iskelesi treaty into an "agreement of more general", i.e., providing the sultan with collective assistance instead of assistance from Russia alone. By doing this, he simultaneously tied the hands of France, which supported Muhammad Ali against the sultan. Palmerston largely achieved his goals by concluding two London conventions - 1840 and 1841. Methods, to which Palmerston resorted to in negotiations, especially his rude manners, arrogant, imperious tone, aimed at intimidating the enemy, created constant tension between England and other powers.Palmerston was spoken of as an instigator of war, as a "dangerous minister".

After the fall of the Melbourne ministry (1841), Palmerston was in opposition for 5 years. When a new Whig government was formed in July 1846, Palmerston again became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and it was officially stated that the Prime Minister would strictly control his actions. In reality, however, this control was not exercised, for it was Palmerston who was the true spokesman for the predatory aspirations of the English bourgeoisie. This was manifested with particular clarity in his sensational speech in the House of Commons on the actions English fleet against Greece in order to support the monetary claims of the financier-adventurer Don Pacifico (1850). In this five-hour speech, Palmerston laid out with complete frankness the basic principles of British foreign policy. An English subject, he argued, is a kind of citizen of the ancient Roman Empire. strong hand English government should provide him with patronage and protection in any corner of the globe. Since then, the English bourgeoisie began to revere Palmerston as a national figure, calling him "the great Pam." Palmerston applied the same policy of protecting the English colonial robbers in the "opium war" he started with China (1839-42).

Under the guise of sanctimonious phrases about his adherence to democratic principles, Palmerston played a deeply reactionary role in relation to the democratic movements on the continent. For a number of years the British police, on Palmerston's orders, had been poring over the correspondence of emigrants, betraying their plans to the governments, and exiling them under all sorts of pretexts. Palmerston's overt reactionary nature at times compromised his party. After he (in December 1851), behind the back of his government, expressed to the French ambassador satisfaction with the coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon and at the same time in sharp terms condemned the British ambassador in Paris, for not hastening to congratulate the new dictator of France on the successful outcome of his adventure, Palmerston was dismissed from the office. This incident ended his career as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In the cabinet of Lord Aberdeen (1852-55), Palmerston served as Home Secretary. In the years leading up to the war with Russia, Palmerston exerted provocative pressure on the government. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was Lord Clarendon, who was completely under the influence of P. Ambassador to Turkey with wide powers was appointed personal friend Palmerston Stratford-Canning, who used the method of direct falsification to aggravate the Russian-Turkish conflict (informing London about the content of the Russian note to Turkey, Stratford replaced in English translation the words of this note about the right of Russia to "make representations" with the words "to give orders"). Turkey's declaration of war on Russia in October 1853 was the result of direct incitement on the part of Palmerston's agents. For tactical reasons, in order to further consolidate his influence in the cabinet, Palmerston abruptly resigned in December 1853. This was followed by a stormy newspaper campaign staged by him in favor of an "honest patriot" who was "survived from the government." Palmerston soon returned to office in triumph, which sealed the entry of England, and with it France, into the war. Being the soul of the anti-Russian coalition, in which he wanted to involve all of Europe, Palmerston drew up broad plans for the dismemberment of Russia. 11 month old heroic defense Sevastopol thwarted these plans and caused discord between the allies. The French, who suffered colossal losses, were not averse to finding a way out of the war. But Palmerston, who became prime minister in February 1855, made every effort to drag out the war and carry out his plan to weaken Russia. At the Congress of Paris in 1856, Palmerston sought to impose the most difficult and humiliating conditions on Russia. The art of Russian diplomacy, which managed to break the united front of its opponents, to a large extent neutralized Palmerston's plans.

Quoted from: Diplomatic Dictionary. Ed. A. Ya. Vyshinsky and S. A. Lozovsky. Moscow: Ogiz, 1948

1855-1881 - the reign of Alexander II (son of Nicholas I).

1856, March 18 - Paris Peace Treaty, which ended the Crimean War. Loss of South Bessarabia by Russia. Neutralization of the Black Sea (prohibition to keep the navy and build military fortifications on the coast).

1856 - Blagoveshchensk was founded (now the center of the Amur Region).

1857 - the beginning of the publication of "The Bells" by A. I. Herzen.

1857, November - Alexander II's rescript to V.I. Nazimov, ordering the Lithuanian nobles to create provincial committees to develop projects for the liberation of the peasants.

1857 - "sober movement".

1858 - Aigun peace treaty with China.

1858, May 31 - the settlement of Khabarovka was founded, which laid the foundation for the city of Khabarovsk (now administrative center Khabarovsk Territory).

1859 - Capitulation of Shamil's troops in the village of Gunib.

1859-1860 - the activities of the Editorial Commissions.

1860 - Peking peace treaty with China.

1863-1864 - uprising in Poland.

1863 - university charter. Expanding the autonomy of universities.

1863-1866 - the existence of the circle of N. Ishutin.

1864 - gymnasium charter, which established the equality of all classes in obtaining a secondary education. Creation of classical and real gymnasiums.

1864, November 20 - Creation of classless, public and independent courts. Introduction to jury trial.

1865 - "Temporary rules for the press." Abolition of prior censorship for books and press.

1865 - the capture of Tashkent by Russian troops under the command of M. G. Chernyaev.

1865 - foundation of Elista (now the capital of Kalmykia).

1867 - Sale of Alaska by Russia to the USA for 7 million dollars.

1867 - the creation of the Turkestan Governor-General.

1870 - urban reform. Creation of a system of city self-government.

1870 - the creation of the Association of the Wanderers.

1871 - London Conference. Cancellation of articles Paris Treaty on the neutralization of the Black Sea.

1871 - the city of Ivanovo-Voznesensk was formed, since 1930 the city of Ivanovo (now the administrative center of the Ivanovo region).

1873 - Khiva campaign. The transformation of the Khiva Khanate into a vassal of the Russian Empire.

1873 - Creation of the Union of the Three Emperors (Russia, Austria and Prussia).

1874 - "Walking to the People".

1875 - Petersburg Treaty between Russia and Japan. Recognition of Sakhalin Island as exclusively Russian possession.

1876-1879 - populist organization "Land and Freedom".

1877-1878 - Russian-Turkish war.

1878, February - Treaty of San Stefano with Turkey. Turkish recognition of the independence of Serbia, Romania and Montenegro. Granting autonomy to Bulgaria. The return of South Bessarabia to Russia and the transfer of fortresses in the Caucasus to it.

1878 - Congress of Berlin. Revision of the terms of the San Stefano peace treaty.

1879-1881 - the activities of the organization "Narodnaya Volya". "The Hunt for the King"

1879-1881 - "Dictatorship" by M. T. Loris-Melikov. Draft "constitution"