1855 - 1881 - this is the period of the reign of Alexander II, who was popularly called the Liberator. The policy of Alexander II within the state differed significantly from the policy of Nicholas I. During its manifestation, the new emperor carried out many reforms. I will name the most important, in my opinion, reforms.

On February 19, 1861, a peasant reform was carried out, according to which serfdom was abolished. According to this reform, the peasants were endowed with land, not free of charge, but by paying a ransom to the landowner. But the peasants did not have the funds for this, so the landowner received 80% of the ransom from the state. Thus the peasant was indebted to the state. He paid this debt for 49 years at 6% per annum. Such payments were called ransom payments. And while the debt was listed on the peasant, he was considered "temporarily liable" and performed his former duties - corvée and dues. Mutual responsibility was also preserved, when the peasant could not leave the peasant community. Since the village meeting hardly gave an agreement to leave for another place, since payments were a common duty. This state of affairs was abolished only in 1881. The size of allotments of land and duties were determined by the Charter, which regulated the relationship between landlords and peasants. Under the provisions of the reform, the peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property. This was the main result of this reform. Emperor Alexander Nikolayevich himself took an active part in the preparation of the peasant reform. On his recommendations, various kinds of commissions were created to consider financial, administrative, legal and other issues of the upcoming social restructuring. Alexander II, of course, is an important historical figure in this matter, who decided to turn over the dark page of Russian history with a single act of will.

Another important event of this era was the breaking of the diplomatic isolation in which Russia found itself after the defeat in the Crimean War. Therefore, a necessary step in this direction was the military reform of 1874. The results of the Crimean War exposed the tactical and technical backwardness of the Russian army. The fact is that the order of manning the army and its management did not correspond to the transformations taking place in society. Therefore, military reform was aimed at solving this problem. The network of military educational institutions expanded, new military regulations, universal military service, and benefits for military personnel were introduced. The person who took part in this issue to a greater extent was an outstanding Russian military leader, Minister of War D.A. Milyutin. The military structure of Russia changed in a short time, and Alexander II himself sent a rescript to Milyutin, in which he highly appreciated his work. He was also a member of the State Council, actively influenced all spheres of domestic politics and foreign affairs.
Consider what are the cause-and-effect relationships between the named events of the period of the reign of Alexander II. Both events - both the abolition of serfdom and the military reform - were dictated by common causes: the aggravation of social contradictions in the country; the Government's fears of spontaneous peasant uprisings; The Crimean War showed the military-technical backwardness of the country. The emperor understood that it was necessary and better to carry out reforms from above than to wait for the time when they would be carried out from below. The result was an increase in the combat capability of the army, which manifested itself in the war with Turkey in 1877-1878. The peasant reform was the result of a compromise between politicians, peasants and the government.

During the years of his reign, Alexander II carried out a number of other reforms, including zemstvo, judicial, censorship, financial, and city reforms. He also pursued a very successful foreign policy. As a result, Russia regained its military power, which had been shaken under Nicholas I. In the spring of 1864, the North Caucasus was subjugated, where the Caucasian War was going on for a long time; managed to pacify Poland, subdue Turkestan. During the war with Turkey, Russia increased its territory! 1877 - 1878). But Russia lost Alaska, sold to the United States.

The life of Alexander II was cut short during the assassination attempt. His reign in historiography is ambiguous. On the one hand, significant reforms were carried out in a short time. The first and noticeable step was taken towards the transformation of the country into a bourgeois monarchy. But on the other hand, the reforms did not reach their finish line, the emperor did not reach the “revolution from above”. If he completed the goal of the reform by creating a representative body, then this would be a step towards a constitutional monarchy.

The era of Alexander II was generally a period of progressive transformations. Russia gained prestige in the international arena; a new system of state administration was created; new principles of legal proceedings were laid down; the education system has been developed, etc. Russia has entered a new phase of development.

History teacher MKOU "Myureginskaya secondary school" Abidova P.G.

Egor BOTMAN (? -1891). Emperor Alexander II. 1875.
Reproduction from 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. 17 Apr. 1818 Ascended to the throne 18 Feb. 1855 Crowned 26 Aug. 1856

1) from 16 Apr. 1841 daughter of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Grand. Duchess Maximilian-Welhelmina-Augusta-Sophia-Maria, Empress Maria Alexandrovna (b. July 27, 1824 + May 22, 1880);

2) from July 6, 1880, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya (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 a more than 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 soft, sensitive, even sentimental boy. Feelings and experiences have always played a big role in his life. The firmness and inflexible 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 perseverance in achieving the goal, that he easily gives in to difficulties, has no character and will.

At the age of six, Alexander's upbringing was entrusted to a purely military man - Captain Merder. He was a military officer, awarded for bravery shown at Austerlitz, a participant in all the battles of the campaign of 1806-1807. Contemporaries unanimously spoke of him as a man of high morals, kindness, who had a clear and inquisitive mind and a strong will. In general, the choice turned out to be successful. Having become emperor, Nicholas immediately attended to the general education of the heir and elected Zhukovsky as his tutor. The poet treated the appointment with the greatest responsibility. Within six months, he compiled a special "Plan of Teaching", designed 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 the Russian language, 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, manual work and recitation. Twice a year, exams were held for the heir, often in the presence of the sovereign himself, who was generally satisfied with the success of his son and the diligence of 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. Since 1833, he began to read the course of 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 crown prince began to be involved in state affairs. Since 1834, he had to attend meetings of the Senate, in 1835 he was introduced to the Synod, and in 1836 he was promoted to major general and included in the retinue of Nicholas. These years were also the "final period of learning", when the highest state dignitaries read courses of a practical nature to the future emperor. Speransky conducted "conversations about laws" for a year and a half, the famous Russian financier Kankrin made a "brief review of Russian finances", adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Baron Vrunov acquainted the heir with the basic principles of Russia's foreign policy, starting with the reign of Catherine II, and finally, a military historian and theoretician General Jomini taught Russian military policy in French. In the spring of 1837, together with his classmates Patkul and Vielgorsky, Alexander passed his final exams, taking a solid first place among his capable peers.

Immediately after this, on May 2, Alexander went on his first big trip around his native country, which he had, if not to know, then at least to see in order to imagine what and whom he was destined to manage when his time came. The trip continued until the end of the year. During this time, Alexander visited many cities, was in the south, traveled to the Urals and Siberia itself. For the next three months, the Tsarevich was intensively engaged in military affairs, finances and diplomacy, preparing for a trip abroad. At the same time, he experienced a very strong love interest. The subject of his passion was the maid of honor Olga Kalinovskaya. According to Countess Fersen, she was not at all distinguished by beauty, but possessed insinuatingness and tenderness. Alexander was already ready to give up the throne in order to marry her. Upon learning of this, Nikolai considered it best to hurry 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. In the course of a year, he visited Scandinavia, Austria, and traveled all over the Italian and German states.

On March 13, 1839, the heir stopped for the night in a small Darmstadt surrounded by gardens and parks, where there was no stopover on his route. Especially for the Tsarevich, the Traube Hotel was rented, since Alexander categorically refused to spend the night in the castle of the Duke of Hesse (he was very tired of visiting 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 met by the entire 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 fascinated the Tsarevich and, going to bed, he said to the adjutants Kaverin and Orlov accompanying him: "That's who I dreamed of all my life. I will marry only her." He immediately wrote to his father and mother, asking them for permission to propose to the young princess of Hesse. Nicholas agreed.

Alexander spent the month of May in London, where he was cordially received by the English aristocracy, visited Parliament, the races, Oxford, the Tower, the docks on the Thames, the Bank of England and Westminster Abbey. But his most vivid memories were associated with the 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 hurried to marry Kalinovskaya to the husband of her late sister, the wealthy Polish magnate Count Iriney Oginsky. Only then, on March 4, 1840, Alexander went to Darmstadt to fetch his bride. He returned to Russia with her and his parents, who met them in Poland in early September. On December 5, Maria 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 elegant with that very special grace that can be found on old German paintings, in the Madonnas of Albrecht Dürer, combining a certain severity and dryness of forms with a kind of grace in movements and poses, thanks 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 princess, this spiritual and chaste grace of ideal abstraction. Her features were not correct. Her wonderful hair, her delicate complexion, her large blue, slightly bulging eyes, looked meek and penetrating ... It was first of all the soul extremely sincere and deeply religious ... The mind of the princess was like her soul: subtle, elegant, insightful, very ironic..."

Upon his return from the trip, Alexander became involved in state activities. Since 1839, he has been present at meetings of the State Council, and since 1840, also at 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 later years, this became the rule. In 1846, Nicholas made his son chairman of the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question. At the same time, the heir performed military posts. In 1844 he received a full general, in 1849 he became the chief head 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 get acquainted with the military operations. In general, as always, it was a parade tour of the garrisons. Only in Dagestan did the Tsarevich witness a battle with the Chechens, he could not resist and galloped behind the chain under enemy fire.

All these years before his accession to the throne, Alexander always tried to accurately and faithfully carry out 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, while working, for example, in the Peasant Committee, did not show any liberal intentions. Even outwardly, he tried to resemble his father. Tyutcheva, who closely recognized Alexander in 1853, wrote: “His features were correct, but sluggish and not clear enough, his eyes were large, blue, but his eyes were not very spiritualized; in a word, his face was inexpressive and there was even something unpleasant in it. in those cases when in public he considered himself obliged to take on a solemn and majestic appearance. He adopted this expression from his father, from whom 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 a circle of intimate faces, and when he allowed himself to be himself, his whole face lit up with kindness, a friendly and gentle smile, which made him really likeable.At that time, when he was still an heir, this last expression was predominant in him; As emperor, he considered himself obliged almost always to assume a severe and imposing air, which in him was only a poor copy.This did not give him that charm, which at one time Emperor Nicholas possessed, and deprived him of that which was given to him by nature and with which he could so easily attract hearts to himself.

During his lifetime, Emperor Nicholas 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, on February 19, 1855, he declared in the State Council that he recognized himself as the successor of the "desires and types" 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 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, visited the main army headquarters in Bakhchisarai. But all efforts were in vain. Russia could not continue the war. In the international arena, it found itself isolated, its internal forces were undermined, discontent swept through 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 the active participation of Prince Gorchakov, the Peace of Paris was concluded. It cost Russia the Black Sea Fleet, but it 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.

On August 14, the 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 recruitment for three years, forgave arrears, amnestied or alleviated the fate of a large number of criminals, including the Decembrists. The surviving participants in the uprising were returned estates and titles.

It is difficult to say when Alexander finally realized that serf relations had become obsolete, 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 present themselves to the sovereign about a rumor that had spread among him that the government was plotting to abolish serfdom.

The emperor received the Moscow provincial marshal of the nobility, Prince Shcherbatov, with district representatives and told them: “Rumors are circulating that I want to announce the liberation of serfdom. Petersburg. But I will not tell you that I am completely against it. We live in such an age that in time this must happen. I think that you, too, are of the same opinion with me; therefore, it is much better for this to happen from above, than below." The sovereign asked to think about it and express their proposals.

On January 3, 1857, to consider the issue of abolishing serfdom, a new secret committee was formed from the closest trustees. At the beginning of December of the same year, a circular was sent out on behalf of the Minister of the Interior, 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, developing local regulations on the arrangement of the life of the landlord peasants. In February 1859, the first secret committee for peasant affairs received a public official existence as the main leader of the undertaking. As soon as the drafts developed by the provincial committees began to arrive, editorial commissions were formed under him, which were supposed to give the final development to the provincial projects. On October 10, 1860, Alexander ordered the developments to be transferred to the disposal of the main committee, and on January 28, 1861, the first meeting of the State Council took place, which was supposed to approve the project. Speaking at it, Alexander said that it was no longer possible to postpone the work of freeing the peasants, that it was necessary to finish it in February in order to declare the will to start field work. But despite the direct support of the sovereign, the project met with serious opposition in the State Council. Eventually Alexander approved it against the opinion of the majority of the members. On February 19, the final text of the law on the liberation and organization of the life of the peasants, as well as the Supreme Manifesto on this, were signed, and on March 5, the manifesto was read in all churches.

Thus the great deed of the abolition of serfdom was accomplished. When evaluating 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: nobles and peasants. As a result of the reform, the peasants received much more than what the overwhelming mass of feudal landlords wanted to give them, but much less than what they themselves expected from them after so many years of talk. If we recall that among the reform projects submitted in 1859 by the provincial committees, almost a third represented those in which the emancipation of the peasants was completely rejected, and in a third of the others it was proposed to emancipate the peasants without land, if we add to this that the members of the drafting commission (who all , by the way, were nobles) did not include in the final version of the law a lot of semi-feudal fetters with which the landlords wanted to tie their former serfs hand and foot, it cannot be denied that the law of February 19, 1861 was of tremendous progressive significance and was, according to Klyuchevsky, one of the most important acts of Russian history. And truly, the personal merit of Alexander in this is enormous. He should be recognized as the main engine of the reform, for he started it alone, without yet having assistants in the government and family, and completed it, despite the stubborn resistance of the landlords and senior 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 options for release 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 liberation did not correspond to their real needs so much that many of them were brought to the brink of complete poverty in a few years. 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 before the peasant elders, Alexander categorically stated: “I hear rumors that you are looking for another will. There will be no other will like the one I gave you. Do what the law and the Regulation require. and work. Be obedient to the authorities and the landowners." He remained true to this opinion until the end of his life.

The liberation of the peasants significantly changed all the foundations of Russian state and social life. It created a new populous social class in the central and southern regions of Russia. Previously, to manage it, they were content with the power of the landowners. Now the state had to manage the peasants. The old Catherine's institutions, which established noble self-government in the counties, were no longer suitable for the new heterogeneous county population. It was necessary to create anew the local administration and the court. The abolition of serfdom, therefore, inevitably led to other transformations. In the first half of the 1960s, the university reform and the reform of local self-government were consistently carried out, a new all-estate court was created, and censorship control was softened. Despite the limitations and incompleteness of the reforms carried out, they were of great progressive importance for Russia. Many of the fetters that bound the development of the country were eliminated. This was the key to Russia's industrial success. A serious stimulus to economic life under Alexander was the construction of railways, strongly encouraged by the government. Soon, about 20 thousand miles of railway tracks were built. This influenced the development of industry and trade. Trade with neighboring countries increased tenfold. The number of commercial and industrial enterprises, factories and factories has increased noticeably. Credit institutions also appeared - banks, headed by the State Bank in 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 drink in full the bitterness of disappointment, familiar to many great reformers. Instead of the gratitude he might have expected from his subjects, the emperor was severely criticized. Some reproached him for having crossed the line of what was permitted in his transformations and embarked 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 liberal.

In fact, both were right. Public and state order in Nicholas Russia was maintained through military force, overt national oppression and brutal censorship. As soon as the regime was relaxed, Russia began to be shaken by national uprisings and revolutionary ferment. New ideas, penetrating into all strata of society, gradually corroded loyalist feelings. As early as 1862, revolutionary proclamations appeared calling for the overthrow of the autocracy and an equal division of the land. Power and society for the first time felt themselves 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 produce results, concessions were regarded as evidence of the weakness of the authorities, which should be taken advantage of. 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 Grand Duke Konstantin from Poland, appointing Count Berg in his place, and sent Muravyov, known for his propensity for drastic measures, as governor general to the northwestern provinces. The use of a huge regular army against the rebels, the 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 has not passed without a trace. Since 1865, fatigue, even some apathy, has been noticed in Alexander. Transformative activity is weakening, and although the initiated reforms continue to be steadily implemented, new beginnings are becoming rare. A significant role was played here by personal misfortunes and attempts on the life of the sovereign, which followed one after another with terrible method.

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, who had successfully completed his education, found a bride for himself, and intended to start public activity as an assistant and future successor to his father. The second son of the emperor, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, was declared the new heir to the throne. Both in terms of his abilities and education, he frankly did not correspond to his high appointment. The emperor could not but feel anxiety for the future of Russia. It was still possible to try to fill in the gaps in the training course (and this was done), but time had already been lost, because we were talking about an established twenty-year-old man.

The death of Grand Duke Nicholas most severely affected the Empress. She loved him especially, was engaged in his education, invariably invited to evenings in her living room. There was a deep bond between mother and son. After her son died in her arms, the empress withdrew into her grief, her health deteriorated even more.

The married life of Alexander and his wife had not gone 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 was not distinguished by 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 marital relations. And like his father, Alexander at the age of forty turned out to be a straw widower. One after another, he changed several mistresses. Among them are Princess Alexandra Dolgoruky, Zamyatina, Labunskaya, Makarova, Makova and Wanda Carozzi. All 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 Theophile Gauthier, who saw him soon after the death of his son, described his appearance as follows: “The sovereign’s hair was cut short and framed well a high and beautiful forehead. The facial features are amazingly regular and seem to be carved by a sculptor. time of long travels. The outline of the mouth is so thin and defined that it resembles Greek sculpture. The expression of the face is majestically calm and soft, from time to time adorned with a gracious smile. "

In the spring of 1865, Alexander began a new, most stormy romance in his life, which was destined to be his 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 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, captivated by her fresh beauty, he began to woo her, becoming more and more infatuated. He managed to gradually awaken counter feelings, but the relationship of lovers remained platonic for a long time, 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 the carriage. Suddenly, a young man approached him, pulled out a revolver and pointed it right in the chest. The attack was so unexpected that it should have ended tragically, but 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 him to the emperor's 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 him land, but did not give it." The arrested person was taken to the 3rd section. It soon became clear that the revolutionary's name was Dmitry Karakozov. He was a member of the "Moscow Circle", one of the fragments of Chernyshevsky's "Earth and Freedom", which had been crushed before. The circle consisted of pupils and students who were preparing for a violent coup and actively propagated the socialist doctrine. 36 people were put on trial in Karakozov's case. All of them were sentenced to hard labor and exile, and Karakozov himself was hanged on September 3 on the Smolensk field.

An 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 dared to believe ten years earlier), it was extremely difficult to suddenly be face to face with such intolerance, aggressiveness and misunderstanding. The attempt on April 4 marked a definite change both in the emperor himself and in his policy. Alexander suddenly, as if immediately exhausted and tired. “The sovereign was really constantly in a nervous irritability,” Golovnin later recalled, “he seemed extremely sad and frightened and inspired condolences.” From that time begins the "protective" period of the reign of Alexander, when he was more concerned not so much with new reforms as with the preservation of the achieved position. Even some reactionary traits began to appear in politics, although there was no obvious turn to the past. The government closed the most radical magazines Sovremennik and Russkoe Slovo. The minister of education Golovnin, the governor of St. Petersburg Suvorov were removed - people of a moderately liberal orientation, the chief of the gendarmes, Prince Dolgorukov, resigned. The first place was taken by Count Muraviev, who was appointed head of the Investigative Commission, and Prince Gagarin, the creator of the Special Commission for the Development of Measures to Strengthen Internal Peace. General Trepov became governor of St. Petersburg, and the young and energetic Count Shuvalov, who soon became the closest and most trusted person of the sovereign, headed the III department.

In the spring of the same 1866, Ekaterina Dolgorukova's mother died. Fearing loneliness, the princess reached out with all her heart to Alexander, who, by age, was suitable for her father. On the night from the first to the second of June in Peterhof, in the "Babigon" pavilion, their first love date took place. Parting with his beloved, Alexander promised that he would marry her as soon as he was free. According to the maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Tolstoy, the court soon learned about the emperor’s new novel and at first regarded it as another hobby. “I did not take into account,” wrote Tolstaya, “that his advanced age increased the danger, but most of all I did not take into account the fact that the girl on whom he turned his gaze was of a completely different type than those whom he was fond of before. .. Although everyone saw the birth of a new hobby, they were not at all worried, even the persons closest to the emperor did not assume a serious turn of affairs.On the contrary, everyone was very far from suspecting that he was capable of a real love affair; a romance that was ripening in secret. They only saw what was happening before our eyes - walks with frequent, as if by chance meetings, looking at each other in theater boxes, etc., etc. They said that the princess was pursuing the emperor, but no one knew yet that they saw each other not only in public, but also in other places - by the way, with her brother, Prince Mikhail Dolgoruky, who is married to an Italian.

Much later, they learned that Alexander was meeting with Dolgorukova in the Winter Palace itself, in the former office of Nicholas 1, which had a separate entrance directly from the square and a secret staircase connecting it with Alexander's apartments. Society unambiguously did not approve of the new connection: the authority of the empress in the eyes of the world was extremely great, they pitied her, quietly condemned the emperor and loudly grumbled at the princess. Catherine's older brother was married to the beautiful Neapolitan Marquis de Cherchemaggiore. 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 of separation, love only grew stronger. A new meeting between Alexander and Catherine took place under extraordinary, even romantic circumstances.

On May 16, 1867, the emperor with 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 apartments that Alexander 1 occupied in 1814. A ball and a performance at the Opera were given in honor of the distinguished guest at the Tuileries, and then a visit to the exhibition followed. But it soon became clear that Alexander did not come to Paris for this at all. “As it became known later,” Alexandra Tolstaya wrote, “the true purpose of the trip was a meeting with Princess Dolgorukova, who at that time was in Paris with her daughter-in-law. Even Count Shuvalov, who cannot be called naive and who had at his disposal all the possibilities for this "In order to be more informed, he made this discovery only in hindsight. The situation soon became clear, his eyes were finally opened to the threat that this connection carried, and this is how. He himself told me about it in the following expressions: "At the first On the day of our arrival in Paris, the sovereign 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, pleased that we could finally rest after a hard day. Between eleven o'clock and midnight the emperor knocked on the door of Count Adlerberg. "I'll take a walk," he said, "it's unnecessary to accompany me, I'll manage on my own, 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 my own agents (not to mention the French police) at my disposal, who were supposed to follow the sovereign from a distance, wherever he went, I remained almost calm. We returned to our rooms, of course, forgetting about the dream, waiting any minute for the return of the emperor. But when midnight struck, then one and two, and he did not appear, anxiety seized me, I ran to Adlerberg and found him also alarmed. The most terrible assumptions flashed through our souls.

Police agents, who were instructed to monitor the emperor very delicately, could lose sight of him, and he, having little knowledge of the layout of the Parisian streets, could easily get lost and lose his way to the Elysee Palace. In a word, the thought of the emperor, alone at such a late hour in the street with a hundred thousand francs in his pocket, made us live nightmare hours. The suggestion that he could be at someone's house did not even cross our minds; as you see, this proves our complete ignorance of the main motives of his actions.

Finally, at three 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 cab, bent under a lantern, read some address to which he ordered the cab driver to take him to Rue Rampar, number such and such. Arriving at the place, he got off the cab and went through the gate into the courtyard of the house. He was gone for about twenty minutes, during which the policemen watched in amazement as he fumbled unsuccessfully with the gate. The emperor did not know that it was necessary to pull the rope to open the door, and he was trapped. Luckily, the surveillance agent figured out what was going on. Pushing the gate, he quickly walked into the depths of the courtyard past the emperor, as if not paying attention to him, and thus gave the emperor an opportunity to exit. The driver had the wrong number, and the house indicated by the emperor was two steps away. This time he entered there unhindered. While Adlerberg and I were shaking with fear, the emperor probably calmly drank tea in the company of two ladies. "One of them was Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova, the other was her daughter-in-law. In the following evenings, the princess secretly visited the emperor in the Elysee Palace, penetrating there through the gate on rue Gabrielle and avenue Marigny.

Shuvalov was not in vain worried about Alexander's safety. French society was hostile towards Russia. When Alexander appeared on the streets of Paris, defiant cries of "Long live Poland!" were often heard. Polish emigrants staged demonstrations every now and then. On May 25, in honor of the Russian sovereign, a review of the troops was arranged on the Longshansky field. Upon its completion, Alexander, Napoleon and the retinues of both emperors slowly and solemnly went 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 horse of the French ringmaster. The terrorist was captured. It turned out to be a Polish emigrant Anton Berezovsky.

The second attempt had a depressing effect on Alexander. 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 renegotiate the terms of the humiliating Paris Peace Treaty of 1856, according to which Russia was forbidden to keep a fleet on the Black Sea.

Alexander returned to St. Petersburg with the firm intention of never again parting with his beloved. In addition to a large, official family, he, as it were, acquired 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 following year, daughter Olga was born.

This scandalous story not only tormented the sick empress, but also caused indignant rumors of the courtiers. The sons were also worried, fearing that the side brothers and sisters would someday declare their rights. Count Shuvalov considered it his duty to report to Alexander about the general dissatisfaction that had arisen because of the sovereign's connection with Dolgorukova. The emperor coldly listened 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 an ambassador to London. In the same year, he granted his illegitimate children the title of the Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky.

After the Peace of Paris, perceived by the entire Russian society as a national humiliation, Russia's foreign policy prestige fell extremely low. Alexander had to spend a lot of effort 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 power of the Russian Empire. It is reported that, presiding over a meeting in 1863, the sovereign said: “Seven years ago I committed one act at this table, which I can determine, since I did it: I signed the Treaty of Paris, and it was cowardice.” And, striking the table with his fist, he said: "Yes, it was cowardice, and I will not repeat it!" This episode sharply characterizes the sharpness of the bitter feeling concealed by the sovereign. Neither he nor Gorchakov forgot the humiliation of 1856. The goal of Russian foreign policy since that time was the destruction of the Paris Treaty. The means is the renewal of the destroyed military power. Military articles under Alexander absorbed the lion's share of the budget. The implementation of the military reform was entrusted to Count Dmitry Milyutin, who remained Minister of War throughout the reign of Alexander. Milyutin introduced new principles for recruiting troops, created a different structure for them, 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 a modern army, staffed and organized according to the European model. Not much 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 affairs, military and finance - convinced him of the need to remain neutral. It was obvious that Russia would meet the opposition of all European powers, primarily England and Austria, that the war would require colossal expenses, 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 show restraint when such excitement and unprecedented patriotic excitement 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 tsar's brother Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was appointed commander-in-chief in the Balkans, another brother Mikhail was appointed commander-in-chief on the Caucasian front. The heir commanded the Ruschuk detachment. The youngest son of Alexander, Vladimir, was also at the front. Alexander himself stayed in the Balkans from May to December 1877. He was not going to interfere with the command, but considered it his duty to be in the rear of the army, where the wounded were. He said, leaving the capital: "I am going as a brother of mercy."

In June, the Russian army crossed the Danube and began the siege of Plevna, which was defended by a strong Turkish garrison. The Turks defended themselves with exceptional stubbornness, made daring sorties, inflicting heavy losses on the Russians. At one time it seemed that the war would end in nothing and would have to return in disgrace across the Danube. With each month, the murmur of the dissatisfied both in the army and in Russia intensified. Count Milyutin wrote in September: “The troops do not lose heart; however, murmuring at the authorities is heard. In Russia, this murmur takes on the character of general displeasure; both the army authorities and the sovereign himself are loudly condemned. to the grand dukes, as if the whole campaign is being done only to give the members of the royal house an opportunity to decorate themselves with St. 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 position 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 a lot was happening and being done wrong, served as the cause of many disappointments and disappointments for him. Colonel Gasenkampf wrote in his diary in September: "... For the first time I understood the full depth of the tragedy of the sovereign's position. It became clear to me that he really could not stay in the theater of operations. He needs to see and hear for himself everything that is here is done, otherwise there is not and cannot be a moment of rest for his tormented 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; he lost faith in people. And despite this "What majestic simplicity and what deep humility! All Russia and everyone around us grumble and look for scapegoats for all failures and disappointments - one sovereign does not complain about anything, does not reproach or blame anyone, but only prays and cries. I watched followed him all day: it was evident that every nerve was tense in him, that his whole body had turned into tormenting expectation, that there was mortal anguish in his soul. and even a dissatisfied look ... "

The emperor patiently endured the hardships of 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 cheered everyone up. Finally, in mid-November, a turning point came. On November 16, in Transcaucasia, the Russians took Kare, and on November 28 Plevna fell. Encouraged by this victory, the Russian troops crossed the Balkans into Romania in the winter. The city surrendered after the city, whole corps of Turkish troops capitulated. The forward detachments occupied Philippopolis and Andrianopol, 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 separate principality of Bulgaria from its Bulgarian and Macedonian regions; committed to reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turkey conceded back to Russia the mouth of the Danube, which moved away from it in 1856, and, moreover, the cities of Batum and Kara in Transcaucasia.

But England and Austria categorically refused to recognize 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 the peace conditions proposed by Bismarck were not directed in favor of Russia. Under pressure from all European diplomacy, Prince Gorchakov had to agree to concessions. The acquisitions of Serbia and Montenegro were reduced; instead of a united 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 the control of Austria. Thus, the consequences of the war for the liberation of the Balkan Slavs turned out to be unsatisfactory. Military success was not accompanied by a corresponding political result. Russia did not achieve its goals and remained completely isolated, without allies and friends. That is why the Eastern War and the Berlin Congress evoked feelings of dissatisfaction and disappointment in Russian society.

Chancellor Prince Gorchakov himself, who represented Russia at the congress, admitted in a note to Alexander: "The Berlin Congress is the darkest page in my service career." The emperor noted: "And in mine too." Such was the end of the war, for which more than a billion rubles were spent (with a total budget of 1878 of 600 million) and for the sake of which domestic finances were completely upset. Alexander returned to Russia aged. All witnesses of his then life unanimously say that he lost weight, haggard and hunched over. Maurice Palaiologos wrote about the state of the sovereign at the end of 1878: “Sometimes he was seized by severe melancholy, reaching deep despair. He was no longer interested in power; everything that he tried to implement ended in failure. to the people: he abolished slavery, abolished corporal punishment, established a jury, 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 he spent to avoid the Turkish war imposed on him his people! And after it ended, he prevented a new military clash ... What did he get as a reward for all this? From all over Russia, governors received reports that the people, deceived in their aspirations, blamed the tsar for everything. And police reports spoke of an ominous increase in revolutionary ferment, and with a confused soul, he involuntarily rushed to the one person whom sacrificing for him his honor, worldly pleasures and successes," - to a man who thought about his happiness and surrounded him with signs of passionate adoration.

Shortly 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 between the floors, an elevator was arranged. 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 mortally ill wife. Meanwhile, the assassination attempts on Alexander became more and more daring. The third attempt to kill him was made on April 20, 1879. At ten o'clock in the morning, the sovereign took his usual walk: he walked along Millionnaya, Zimnaya Canal and Moika, and then turned to the Guards Headquarters Square. Here he met a tall young man in a bureaucrat's cap. Having missed him, Alexander turned around and saw a revolver in the hands of a stranger. Instantly realizing what was the matter, he rushed to run in zigzags towards the Pevchesky bridge. The killer ran after him, firing as he went. Before he was captured, he managed to shoot five times, but did not hit once. The shooter was a former student of St. Petersburg University, 33-year-old Alexander Solovyov. A short time later, the Supreme Court sentenced him to death. He was hanged on 28 May. Although Solovyov belonged to an underground socialist circle, the assassination attempt was his personal affair. But in August, the Emperor was sentenced to death by the Executive Committee of the People's Will. From that moment on, the hunt for Alexander took on more severe forms.

In December 1879, terrorists staged an explosion on the route of the royal train from Livadia to Moscow. By mistake, they blew up a bomb not under the imperial train, but under the one on which the royal retinue followed. Alexander himself remained unharmed, but he understood that with each new attempt, the chances of salvation were becoming less and less. Petersburg was too big, 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 the Sunday parades of the guard troops. Subsequent events showed that the emperor could no longer feel safe in the palace. On February 5, 1880, at six and a half 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. Petersburg, a terrible blow was heard: the walls shook, the lights went out, the smell, bitter 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, were blown up under the premises of the main guard, where eight soldiers were killed and forty-five wounded. The terrorists hoped that the explosion would destroy the royal dining room, where the emperor and his relatives were supposed to dine 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 sank, furniture fell and windows burst. The guardhouse was destroyed - just under the dining room.

A few days after the explosion, Alexander called an emergency meeting in the Winter Palace. He was gloomy, hunched over, turned black, and spoke in a hoarse, cold voice. Amid the general confusion, only Count Loris-Melikov, a military general, hero of the Turkish war and conqueror of Kars, who had served as Kharkov governor-general for the last year, inspired some optimism in the emperor. 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 the heir saw in Loris-Melikov, first of all, a "firm hand" capable of bringing "order". But it was obvious that tough measures alone could not achieve this goal. Although society condemned the wild methods of struggle of the Narodnaya Volya, it fully sympathized with the ideals for which they began terror. This was understood by the inner circle of the emperor. It was necessary to convince the moderate, enlightened part of society that the government was 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 continue. The main thing in the plans of Loris-Melikov was a plan to establish a very limited representative body under the emperor.

Although Alexander did not like everything in the Loris-Melikov program, he gradually began to agree with his arguments. The emperor felt weary of the burden of power and was ready to place at least part 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 had made to Princess Dolgorukova fourteen years earlier. The wedding took place on July 6 in the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace in one of the small rooms, where they set up a camp 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 for this love from the very first day of its inception. Bogdanovich writes that Alexander married in civilian clothes, saying: "This is not an emperor, but a private person who corrects a mistake and restores the reputation of a 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 left for the whole summer and autumn with his wife in the Crimea, in Livadia. He wanted to give his entourage time to get used to the new wife of the emperor and to live himself in an atmosphere of relative peace with his family. There is a legend that he was going to carry out the state reforms planned by Loris-Melikov, and then abdicate in favor of the crown prince 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 unbearable insult for the Tsarevich and his wife. Reconciliation did not take place. The heir avoided meeting with his stepmother at the dinner table, so the emperor had to divide the week into duty days: if his son dined, then his wife did not show up 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 apartments of the Winter Palace, specially decorated for her.

On January 28, 1881, Count Loris-Melikov submitted a report to Alexander, in which he finally outlined his program. Its most significant part was the creation of two deputy commissions from representatives of the nobility, zemstvos and cities, as well as government officials to consider finances and administrative and economic bills, which then come to the general commission, and from it to the State Council, supplemented by deputies. Alexander immediately rejected the idea of ​​introducing elected officials into the State Council, while the rest of the plan was preliminarily approved, but, as usual, instructed to consider the case in meetings with a narrow composition. A week later, the first such meeting was held at the emperor's house and fully approved Loris-Melikov's report. It remained to prepare a government message and publish it to the public. The draft was submitted to the Emperor, who approved it in advance and on the morning of March 1 ordered the Council of Ministers to be convened 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 of his mood. “For a long, long time I have not seen the sovereign in such a good spirit and even in appearance so healthy and kind,” he recalled the next day.

The decision was not easy for Alexander, but as soon as he accepted it, he felt relieved. Of course, one cannot overestimate the significance of the proposed reform - it was still very far from the introduction of a constitution in Russia, but nevertheless it meant a new step towards the liberal restructuring of the state. Who knows - had Alexander succeeded in implementing 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 undertakings - the time allotted to him came to an end.

Having finished with business, Alexander after breakfast went to the Manege for a divorce, and then to the Mikhailovsky Castle to his beloved cousin. According to Chief Police Officer Dvorzhitsky, who accompanied the emperor that day, Alexander left the castle at two and ten minutes and ordered to return to Zimny ​​by the same road. Having passed Inzhenernaya Street, the coachman turned onto the Ekaterininsky Canal and started the horses at a gallop, but before he had time to drive even a hundred fathoms, there was a deafening explosion, from which the sovereign’s crew was severely damaged and two escort Cossacks were injured, 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 excited questions of those around him: "Thank God, I'm not wounded." Dvorzhitsky offered to continue the journey in his sleigh. Alexander said: "Well, just show me the criminal first." Glancing at Rysakov, who was already being searched by guards, and learning that he was a tradesman, the emperor slowly walked towards the Theater Bridge. Dvorzhitsky again asked to get into the sleigh. Alexander answered: "All right, but 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 of his legs were completely crushed and blood flowed profusely from them.

At least two dozen dead and wounded lay around. Pieces of torn clothing, sabers and epaulets, parts of human bodies, fragments of a gas lantern, the skeleton of which had bent from the explosion, were scattered everywhere. Alexander managed only to say: "Help!" - and lost consciousness. He was placed in Dvorzhitsky's sleigh and, accompanied by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, was taken to Zimny, where he died at about half past three from blood loss, never regaining consciousness.

Shortly after the funeral, Tyutcheva wrote in her diary, comparing the murdered emperor with Alexander III, his son, who began his reign: “Seeing him, you understand that he recognizes himself as an emperor, that he assumed responsibility and prerogatives of power. To his father, the late emperor, he always lacked this instinctive feeling of his position, faith in his power, he did not believe in his own 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 influence on him, which is why he was so badly surrounded at the end of his life and fell into the hands of bad people. Feeling weak, he did not trusted himself, but even less trusted others; in the people he used, he preferred nonentities, because he thought that it was easier to rule over such people It is easier to direct them, while, on the contrary, they are more prone to deceit and flattery. This weakness of character of the late sovereign made him so inconsistent and ambivalent in all his words, deeds and attitudes, and this, in the eyes of all of Russia, discredited the government itself and brought the country into the state of that deplorable anarchy in which we are currently. The wonderful reforms of the reign of Alexander II, the gentleness, generosity of his character should have ensured him the enthusiastic love of his people, but meanwhile he was not a popular sovereign in the true sense of the word; the people did not feel attraction to him, because in himself there was absolutely no national and popular string, and in gratitude for all the good deeds rendered to Russia by him, in the majestic worship rendered to his memory, one feels rather the influence of reason than the direct 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 he had done. He was really lofty 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 this posthumous assessment of Alexander by one of his smart and observant contemporaries, who knew the court and the royal family well, really contains the key to the unfortunate 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 for this either the love of his contemporaries or the gratitude of his 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.

Romanov
Years of life: April 17 (29), 1818, Moscow - March 1 (13), 1881, St. Petersburg
Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland 1855-1881

From the Romanov dynasty.

He was awarded a special epithet in Russian historiography - the Liberator.

He is the eldest son of the imperial couple Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III.

Biography of Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov

His father, Nikolai Pavlovich, was the Grand Duke at the time of his son's birth, and in 1825 he became emperor. From childhood, his father began to prepare him for the throne, and considered it a duty to “reign”. The mother of the great reformer, Alexandra Feodorovna, was a German who converted to Orthodoxy.

He received an education corresponding to his origin. His main mentor was the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky. He managed to raise the future king as an enlightened person, a reformer, not deprived of artistic taste.

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. During a trip to London in 1839, he fell in love with the young Queen Victoria, who later became for him the most hated ruler in Europe.

In 1834, the 16-year-old youth became a senator. And in 1835 a member
Holy Synod.

In 1836, the heir to the throne received the military rank of major general.

In 1837 he went on his first trip to Russia. He visited about 30 provinces, drove to Western Siberia. And in a letter to his father he wrote that he was ready "to strive for the work for which God has ordained me."

1838 - 1839 were marked by travels in Europe.

On April 28, 1841, he married Princess Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt, who received the name Maria Alexandrovna in Orthodoxy.

In 1841 he became a member of the State Council.

In 1842, the heir to the throne entered the Cabinet of Ministers.

In 1844 he received the rank of full general. For some time he even commanded the guards infantry.

In 1849, he received military educational institutions and secret committees for peasant affairs in his charge.

In 1853, at the beginning of the Crimean War, he commanded all the troops of the city.

Emperor Alexander 2

March 3 (February 19), 1855 became emperor. Having accepted the throne, he also accepted the problems of his father left behind. In Russia at that time the peasant question was not resolved, the Crimean War was in full swing, in which Russia suffered constant setbacks. The new ruler had to carry out forced reforms.

March 30, 1856 Emperor Alexander II signed the Peace of Paris, thus ending the Crimean War. However, the conditions for Russia turned out to be unfavorable, she became vulnerable from the sea, she was forbidden to have naval forces in the Black Sea.

In August 1856, on the day of the coronation, the new emperor announced an amnesty for the Decembrists, and also suspended recruiting for 3 years.

Reforms of Alexander 2

In 1857, the tsar intends to free the peasants, "without waiting for them to free themselves." He established a Secret Committee dealing with this issue. The result was the Manifesto on the liberation of the peasantry from serfdom and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, published on March 3 (February 19), 1861, according to which the peasants received personal freedom and the right to freely dispose of their property.

Among other reforms carried out by the tsar, there is a reorganization of the educational and legal systems, the actual abolition of censorship, the abolition of corporal punishment, and the creation of zemstvos. He carried out:

• Zemstvo reform on January 1, 1864, according to which issues of local economy, primary education, medical and veterinary services were entrusted to elected institutions - district and provincial zemstvo councils.
• The city reform of 1870 replaced the previously existing class city administrations with city dumas elected on the basis of a property qualification.
• The Judicial Charter of 1864 introduced a unified system of judicial institutions based on the formal equality of all social groups before the law.

In the course of military reforms, a systematic reorganization of the army was launched, new military districts were created, a relatively harmonious system of local military administration was created, the military ministry itself was reformed, operational command and control of troops was carried out and their mobilization. By the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. the entire Russian army was armed with the latest breech-loading rifles.

During the educational reforms of the 1860s. a network of public schools was created. Together with the classical gymnasiums, real gymnasiums (schools) were created, in which the main emphasis was on teaching the natural sciences and mathematics. The published Charter of 1863 for higher educational institutions introduced partial autonomy for universities. In 1869, the first higher women's courses in Russia with a general education program were opened in Moscow.

Imperial policy of Alexander 2

He confidently and successfully led the traditional imperial policy. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance to Central Asia was successfully completed (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). After a long resistance, he decided to go to war with Turkey in 1877-1878, in which Russia won.

On April 4, 1866, the first attempt was made on the emperor's life. The nobleman Dmitry Karakozov fired at him, but missed.

In 1866, the 47-year-old Emperor Alexander II entered into an extramarital affair with a 17-year-old maid of honor, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgoruky. Their relationship lasted for many years, until the death of the emperor.

In 1867, the tsar, seeking to improve relations with France, negotiated with Napoleon III.

On May 25, 1867, there was a second assassination attempt. In Paris, the Pole Anton Berezovsky shoots at the carriage where the tsar, his children and Napoleon III were. The rulers were saved by one of the officers of the French guard.

In 1867 Alaska (Russian America) and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the United States for $7.2 million in gold. The expediency of the acquisition of Alaska by the United States of America became apparent 30 years later, when gold was discovered in the Klondike and the famous "gold rush" began. The declaration of the Soviet government of 1917 announced that it did not recognize the agreements concluded by tsarist Russia, so Alaska should belong to Russia. The sale agreement was carried out with violations, so there are still disputes about the ownership of Alaska by Russia.

In 1872, Alexander joined the Union of the Three Emperors (Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary).

The years of the reign of Alexander 2

During the years of his reign, a revolutionary movement developed in Russia. Students unite in various unions and circles, often sharply radical, while for some reason they saw the guarantee of the liberation of Russia only if the tsar was physically destroyed.

On August 26, 1879, the executive committee of the Narodnaya Volya movement decided to assassinate the Russian tsar. This was followed by 2 more assassination attempts: on November 19, 1879, an imperial train was blown up near Moscow, but again the emperor was saved by chance. On February 5, 1880, there was an explosion in the Winter Palace.

In July 1880, after the death of his 1st wife, he secretly married Dolgoruky in the church of Tsarskoe Selo. The marriage was morganatic, that is, unequal in gender. Neither Catherine nor her children received any class privileges or succession rights from the emperor. They were granted the title of the Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky.

On March 1, 1881, the emperor was mortally wounded as a result of another assassination attempt by I.I. Grinevitsky, who threw the bomb, and died on the same day from blood loss.

Alexander II Nikolaevich went down in history as a reformer and liberator.

Was married twice:
First marriage (1841) with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Children from first marriage:
Alexandra (1842-1849)
Nicholas (1843-1865), brought up 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)
Maria (1853-1920), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Great Britain and Germany
Sergei (1857-1905)
Pavel (1860-1919)
The second, morganatic, marriage to an old (since 1866) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who received the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.
Children from this marriage:
Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913), married to Countess von Tsarnekau
Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1873-1925), married to Georg-Nicholas von Merenberg (1871-1948), son of Natalya Pushkina.
Boris Alexandrovich (1876-1876), posthumously legalized with the assignment of the surname "Yurievsky"
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and later to Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky.

He opened many monuments. In Moscow in 2005 at an open the inscription on the monument: “Emperor Alexander II. He abolished serfdom in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery. He carried out military and judicial reforms. He introduced a system of local self-government, city dumas and zemstvo councils. He completed the long-term Caucasian war. He freed the Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. He died on March 1 (13), 1881 as a result of a terrorist act. A monument was also erected in St. Petersburg from gray-green jasper. In the capital of Finland, in Helsinki, in 1894 a monument to Alexander II was erected for strengthening the foundations of Finnish culture and recognizing the Finnish language as the state language.

In Bulgaria, he is known as the Tsar Liberator. The grateful Bulgarian people for the liberation of Bulgaria erected many monuments to him and named streets and institutions in his honor throughout the country. And in modern times in Bulgaria, during the liturgy in Orthodox churches, Alexander II and all Russian soldiers who fell on the battlefield for the liberation of Bulgaria in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 are commemorated.

Lecture plan

Lecture No. 10 Reforms of Alexander II and their impact on the further development of Russia

Literature

test questions

1. What are the features of the socio-economic development of Russia in the first half of the nineteenth century? What historical facts testify to the inconsistency of this process?

2. Who was the inspirer of the reforms and who pursued a conservative policy during the reign of Alexander I? What is the meaning of the so-called. policy of "Arakcheevshchina" in the last years of the reign of Alexander I?

3. What were the consequences for Russia of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814?

4. Describe the features of liberation thought in Russia in the first half of the nineteenth century.

5. What are the reasons for Russia's defeat in the Crimean War?

1. Arslanov R. A., Kerov V. V., Moseykina M. N., Smirnova T. M. History of Russia. Educational minimum for the applicant: Proc. allowance. - M., 2001.

2. Bokhanov A. N., Zakharova L. G., Mironenko S. V. and others. Russian autocrats. 1801 - 1917. - M., 1994.

3. Georgiev V. A., Georgiev N. G. History of Russia. - M., 2006.

4. Ilyin V. V., Panarin A. S., Akhiezer A. S. Reforms and counter-reforms in Russia: Cycles of the modernization process. - M., 1996.

5. Ryzhov K. All monarchs of the world. Russia. (600 short biographies). - M., 1999.

Purpose of the lecture: to form students' knowledge about the causes, course and consequences of the liberal reforms of the 60s and 70s. 19th century in Russia and their impact on the subsequent development of the country; social movement in the second half of the 19th century; characteristic features and features of the development of capitalism in the post-reform period

1. Alexander II the Liberator (1855 - 1881). Reforms of the 60s - 70s. 19th century

2. Foreign policy of Alexander II.

3. Domestic and foreign policy of Alexander III the Peacemaker (1881 - 1894).

4. Ideological struggle and social movement in the second half of the 19th century.

5. Features of the modernization of post-reform Russia.

The crisis caused by the Crimean War, the intensification of feudal exploitation, the peasant movement, the general backwardness of the country, put the peasant reform on the agenda. Reform became not only necessary but inevitable.

At the end of 1857, at the direction of Alexander II, noble committees were established for the provinces to draw up reform projects. The government program was determined by the end of 1858.

February 19, 1861 Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom. The main result of the reform was the personal liberation of the peasant. Peasants received the right to own property, engage in commercial and industrial activities, and move to other estates. However, the peasants paid a high price for their release from the landowners. The peasants were released with land, but the size of the peasant allotment had to be made by agreement between the landowner and the peasants. If before the reform

peasants had more land than was provided for by the act of February 19, then the surplus ("cuts") was given to the landowners. The peasants were given land of poorer quality and in an inconvenient location. To become the owner of the land, the peasants had to pay ransom much higher than the market value of the land. Since the peasants had no money, the state acted as an intermediary. It gave the landowners up to 80% of the redemption sum. The peasants were obliged to pay this debt with interest within 49 years. Redemption payments canceled only after the revolution of 1905-1907. During this time, the peasants paid the treasury and landlords - 2 billion rubles, while the market price of the land left by the peasants - 0.5 billion rubles.

However, even 20% of the redemption sum turned out to be beyond the power of many peasants. Peasants were also considered temporarily liable and for the use of allotments they had to serve their former duties - corvee or dues. The temporary state was liquidated in 1881.

The historical significance of the reform. Peasants received personal freedom, civil and property rights. The reform cleared the way for the development of capitalism in Russia. However, it retained many feudal vestiges that hindered the capitalist development of the countryside.

As a result of the reform, the size of peasant allotments decreased significantly, in addition, the peasant could not sell his plot without the consent of the community. On the other hand, many landowners also felt the negative consequences of the reform: many of them went bankrupt, as they could not adapt to the new conditions of farming. Another consequence of the peasant reform was a significant influx of peasants to the cities, since many peasants, having received their allotments, were also unable to work in the new conditions and went to work in the cities. This gave impetus to the development of industrial production, as the ruined peasants left to work, first of all, at industrial enterprises. In the years following the reform, production increased sharply at metallurgical, mining, and machine-building plants.

It should be borne in mind here that this traditional point of view causes serious controversy in modern historiography. Indeed, the state made every effort to prevent the proletarianization of the peasantry. For the sake of this, the peasants were freed from the land, so the community was endowed with police functions. The bureaucrats were convinced that the proletarian was an extremely dangerous element, a source of instability in the country. In order to prevent the growth of the proletariat, the government put up barriers to the influx of labor to factories and plants.

The next step after the solution of the peasant question was the reform of local self-government. In accordance with the decree issued at the beginning of 1864, local governments were introduced at the provincial and district levels - zemstvos. The composition of the zemstvo was determined by the property qualification of three categories of citizens - landowners, townspeople and peasants. Their term of office was set at 3 years. Zemstvo councils became the executive bodies of the zemstvos. According to the founders of the zemstvos, the new bodies were supposed to solve local issues related to education, medical care, etc. At the same time, even the solution of these local issues was strictly controlled by the governor. In 1864, a Judicial reform. According to the new rules of judicial office work, unified judicial bodies have appeared in Russia, functioning on a non-estate basis. The judicial process was to be built on an adversarial basis, and the court itself was declared independent of the executive authorities. In addition, a jury trial was introduced. The Senate became the highest judicial body, which had the right to cancel the decisions of the courts. Volost courts were specially created for the peasants. In addition, cases concerning the military and the clergy were subject to consideration by separate courts.

In 1870 held urban reform. According to the City Regulations, a non-estate body of local government in cities was created - a duma, the executive body of which was declared the city government, which was headed by the mayor. As in the case of the zemstvos, the decisions of the city duma were controlled by the governor and the minister of the interior. Elections to the duma were held according to the property qualification from the same 3 categories of citizens (curia). The dooms were in charge of medicine, education, the local tax system, trade relations, etc.

In 1862 the government carried out financial reform. Its implementation was largely associated with the implementation of redemption payments for peasant land plots. Foreign investments were attracted to pay off payments, and some taxes were raised. In addition, since 1862, control over the spending of budgetary funds has been tightened (a new body, the State Control, was specially created for control). An attempt was also made to carry out a monetary reform, which consisted in the fact that state credit papers could be exchanged for silver and gold. However, it was possible to do this only at first due to foreign investment, the influx of which began to noticeably decline by the mid-1860s. To revive the economic situation, the State Bank was created, and it was also allowed to create private banks, which were also supposed to support the growth of the economy.

1864 was also the year of the beginning education reforms.

Back in the late 1850s. women's gymnasiums were created, and later higher women's courses began to appear on the basis of university programs. In 1864, the autonomous status of the universities was restored, which gave higher educational institutions relative freedom in deciding educational issues and policies for the appointment of teaching staff. Gymnasiums were divided into classical and real ones with a term of study of 7 years. In addition, zemstvo and Sunday schools appeared.

The initiator of another reform - military(1862) became Minister of War YES. Milyutin. The whole country was divided into military districts, which was supposed to make administration more efficient. The size of the army was reduced. In addition, a program was developed for the introduction of new weapons (which was due to the failures during the recent Crimean War). To improve the skills of the military, special military educational institutions (gymnasiums and colleges, as well as academies) were created. With 1874 was canceled recruiting in the army. To replace this outdated principle of recruiting military personnel, universal military service was introduced, to which men were subject from the age of 21.

The transformations carried out by Alexander II had a progressive character. They began to lay the foundation for the evolutionary path of Russia's development. A logical continuation of the reforms of the 60s - 70s. 19th century could have been the adoption of the moderate constitutional proposals developed in the late 1870s. Minister of the Interior, General M.T. Loris-Melikov. However, the assassination of Emperor Alexander II by Narodnaya Volya on March 1, 1881 changed the general direction of the government's course.

Emperor of All Russia Alexander II Nikolaevich (Moscow, April 17/30, 1818 - St. Petersburg, March 1/14, 1881)

Eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I the Unforgettable and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess of Prussia). After his father's accession to the throne in 1825, he was proclaimed heir to the throne. Since 1834 he has been present at meetings of the Governing Senate, and since 1835 - in the Holy Governing Synod. In 1837-1838 he traveled around Russia and Europe.

He inherited the Throne on February 18 / March 3, 1855 at the end of the Crimean War, which was unsuccessful for Russia, which he managed to complete with minimal losses for the Empire. He was married to the kingdom in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on August 26 / September 8, 1856. He began the era of the Great Reforms, which put an end to the feudal system and aimed at eliminating class contradictions. The first in a series of major transformations of Alexander II was the abolition of serfdom (February 19/March 4, 1861). With the publication of the Judicial Charters (1864), he separated the judiciary from the executive, legislative and administrative powers, ensuring its complete independence. The process became public and competitive. The police, financial, university and all secular and spiritual educational system as a whole was reformed. By 1864, the beginning of the creation of all-estate zemstvo institutions, which were entrusted with the management of economic and other social issues in the localities, also dates back. In 1874, he introduced a six-year general military service for young people from the age of 21. The military land and sea administration was also reformed according to the plan presented by D. Milyutin. Beneficial changes in the reign of the Sovereign include the abolition of corporal punishment, the establishment of the State Bank, the abolition of a number of taxes and the alleviation of the position of the Old Believers. Three Universities were founded - in Novorossiysk, Warsaw and Tomsk.

The internal and external wars of Emperor Alexander II were victorious. The uprising that broke out in 1863 in Poland, despite the recent favors and the restoration of the Council of the Kingdom of Poland, was quickly suppressed by Berg and Muravyov. In 1864, the Caucasian War successfully ended with the capture of Imam Shamil. According to the Aigun and Beijing treaties with the Chinese Empire, Russia in 1858-1860 annexed the Amur and Ussuri regions. In 1867-1873, the Empire expanded through the conquest of the Turkestan region and the Ferghana Valley and the voluntary entry into the vassal rights of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khiva Khanate. At the same time, in 1867, overseas possessions - Alaska and the Aleutian Islands - were ceded to the United American Northern States, with which good relations were established even during the American Civil War between North and South. In 1877 the Emperor, moved by sympathy for the oppressed Orthodox Balkan peoples, declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Turkey suffered a defeat that predetermined the state independence of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro. The Russian Empire returned the part of Bessarabia that had been torn away in 1856 and annexed Ardagan, Batum and Kars.

At the beginning of his reign, the life of Emperor Alexander II was not endangered. The first assassination attempt was a shot by the nobleman D. Karakozov in the Summer Garden on April 4/17, 1866. By a lucky chance, the Sovereign was saved by the peasant O. Komissarov, who prevented the regicide. In 1867, during the Highest visit to Paris, A. Berezovsky attempted on the Sovereign. April 2/15, 1879 A. Solovyov tried to shoot the Emperor with several revolver shots. The underground terrorist organization "Narodnaya Volya" purposefully and systematically prepared regicide. The failures of the previous assassination attempts led to a change in the tactics of the regicides - they blew up the tsar's train near Aleksandrovsk and Moscow, and then in the Winter Palace itself. But the Lord kept His Anointed One until the appointed hour.

In the first marriage, Emperor Alexander II was with Empress Maria Alexandrovna (nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt). In the second - morganatic - marriage with Princess E. Dolgorukova, granted the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, the Sovereign entered shortly before his death. On March 1/14, 1881, the Emperor was villainously murdered by terrorists on the Catherine Canal. A fatal role was played by the fact that after the first explosion, which damaged the Sovereign's carriage, but did not cause him the slightest damage, Alexander II, neglecting his own safety, went out to help the wounded - a passer-by boy and a Cossack from the Convoy. At that moment, the terrorist I. Grinevitsky threw the second infernal machine right under the feet of the Emperor. Mortally wounded and experiencing terrible torment, the Sovereign kept his presence of mind until the last minute and asked about the condition of his subjects who had suffered during the assassination attempt. He died in the Winter Palace and was buried in the Family Tomb of the Romanov Dynasty in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. On the site of the martyrdom of the Sovereign, a majestic temple was erected - the Savior on Blood. Alexander II entered the history of Russia and the whole world with the name of the Tsar-Liberator. His eldest son, Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in Nice on April 11/24, 1865 from tuberculosis, and the throne was inherited by the second son, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich.