To celebrate this blog's first anniversary, we go back straight to Russia's monarchy. This time, the topic is about Tsar Nicholas II's grandfather, Alexander II Romanov. Like his son and grandson, Alexander II too met the misfortune of being a victim to the extremists who took his life away. Because of the communism that came to replace the monarchy system, turning Russia to the republic of soviets, the deeds of Alexander II that earned him the nickname the Liberator were thus overshadowed. And, as it happened before to other monarchs, we humbly come here in an attempt to bring back to the public knowledge this Russian figure, once very popular and loved amongst his subjects.
So who was he? For a start, the future Emperor of all Russias was born Alexander Nikolaevich (Russian: Aleksander Nikolaevich) on April 29th (in Russia's old calendar the date was April 19th) as the oldest child of Tsar Nicholas I and his consort, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (née princess Charlotte of Prussia). At a young age, the Tsaverich was placed under an exemplar education, for:
"Nicholas I was determined that his son should be brought up by the finest teachers and instructors, even if their views clashed with his own. When he appointed Vasily Zhukovsky as personal tutor to the heir, the poet allegedly told the Russian autocrat that he would raise Alexander not as a regimental commander, more at home in the barracks or on the parade ground, but as a future enlightened monarch."
Indeed the heir of Nicholas I would receive an excellent education. He learned not only his maternal language, Russian, but soon could also speak and write in French, German, English and Polish. His other subjects included mathematics, physics, geography, history, political economy, statistics and law. It is said Alexander developed an appreciation for art. As he grew, Alexander's education was soon moved to the First Military Academy. There, he would:
"(...) led the exact same existence as the other cadets, appearing for roll call, participating in manoeuvres, marching on the parade-ground, hiking in full ammunition, sleeping on straw in the open air, and eating out of the common bowl (...). Carl Merder, a battle officer and the tsaverich's other tutor, wrote that Alexander commanded a platoon as an officer for the first time on 9 June 1832 and "performed his duties well". On 30 June, he took part in an imperial review, and the emperor "indicated his complete satisfaction"."
Despite having been reported that the tsaverich would rather have a quiet home with a peaceful family, he always embraced his sense of duty. He also had an advantage of being better prepared to the throne than his predecessors and even his successors. Either way, it wasn't too soon before he was ackwnoledged for his skills as "brave horseman and a cool and composed warrior". Those were displayed during the Caucasian War, a conflict under his father's reign that would not achieve peace until the first years of Alexander as tsar, years later. For that participation at the said conflict, he was "awarded the Order of St George (fourth class) for his heroism".
In his private life, when Alexander was circa twenty one years old, he payed a visit to Queen Victoria of United Kingdom, who was only a year younger than him and was a British sovereign for two years already back then. What resulted of this meeting was, apparently, a little more than just friendly relations as we can see in the next excerpt:
"During his month-long visit, Alexander and Victoria reputedly fell in love. They went for horse rides together at Windsor, danced at balls in Buckingham Palace and once, at the theatre, Alexander visited Victoria in her box alone for over half an hour. The tsaverich hold his aide-de-camp, Colonel Simon Yurievich, that he was in love with Victoria and convinced that she felt the same way about him. Yurievich spoke with the Queen's former governess and confidante, who said that Victoria had already told her of her similar feelings for Alexander. When Tsar Nicholas I heard of the romance, he ordered his son to return to Europe. Alexander was told that a marriage was impossible, as he would have to give up the Russian throne to become a British prince consort."
It was, thus, at the German courts that Alexander would find his bride at least. Her name was Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt, or as popular she was known, Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt. She later followed Russian rites, as consorts normally did, which was converting to the Ortodox Church of Russia and adopting a Russian name. Marie was now Maria Alexandrovna. Apparently, the two were very in love with one another, despite the controversy concerning Maria Alexandrovna's parentage: it was rumoured that her mother's children were fruit of her relationship with a lover, but even so the Grand Duke of Hesse acknowledged the two who reached adulthood, Maria and Alexander. It was apparently a happy relationship, despite Maria's poor health and her eight pregnancies that constantly left her away from court, which colaborated for her husband having some mistresses. The most famous of them was a 18 year old princess, Catherine Dolgoroky, with whom he had three children and was married only a month after Empress Maria's death, a relationship that caused quite some comotion at those days.
In March 2 1855, upon the death of Nicholas I, Alexander rose to the Russian throne as Tsar Alexander II of all Russias. He was 36 years old and by then, as already mentioned, a very prepared and highly educated sovereign, if compared to many of his relatives. He would later be compared to Peter the Great because of his political and social measures that marked his reign. Alexander also had the advantage for knowing most part of his country, since, whilst a tsaverich, he went on tour for six months throughtout Russia, being the first of the Romanovs for visiting Siberia.
One of his main measures was to diminish censorship, a trace of his antecessor's reign, which gravely reported those who dared to criticize government, this being an extreme offense; and Alexander instead gave freedom of speech, allowing independent press to flourish. He also reformed education, by creating new programmes concerning universities. Of his father, the new tsar also inherited a very fierce war, known as Crimea war, which was formed in a coalition by Britain, France and Ottoman Empire. This would come to an end with the treaty of Paris, but by then Russia lost its supremacy in territories in general. Nonetheless:
"The disastrous outcomes of the Crimean War prompted the tsar, Alexander II, to consider reforms, particularly the abolition of serfdom. By bringing an end to this medieval concept, in effect a form of bonded slavery, Alexander hoped that agricultural production could be modernised and made more efficient. This would assist the transformation of Russia from a backward agricultural economy into a modern industrial and capitalist economy. The idea of bringing an end to serfdom was hardly new. It had been suggested several times before but was always resisted by the conservative land-owning nobility, who benefited from the profits and status generated by serfdom."
This abolition of serfdom, followed by Bulgaria's independence, was:
"tackled boldly, taking advantage of a petition presented by the Polish landed proprietors of the Lithuanian provinces and, hoping that their relations with the serfs might be regulated in a more satisfactory way (...) he authorized the formation of committees "for ameliorating the condition of the peasants" and laid down the principles on which the amelioration was to be effected."
It was an important decision that the Tsar took independently of his advisors. He sent a letter to the Governor-General of Lithuania, where he suggested that "the landed proprietors of other provinces might express a similar desire." But, unlike the expectations of the sovereign, the popular reactions to this measure were not at all suportive. What can possibly explain this reaction from the Russians, is the fact they were long tied to this activity, which means that probably a better way of doing would be in a slower rhythm. Like countries that were long bound to slavery, such as Brazil, whose liberty of slaves in 1888 was partly the cause for the fall of Brazilian monarchy in the next year, Russia's mentality was not prepared to embrace measures that, despite favouring them, were input quite quickly, breaking chains from a day to other. It is known that "extreme" measures in both countries should have been done slowly, for no social mentality changes from a day to another. In fact, this abolishment of serfdom would cause the rise of a party that was supposedly supported by the general public's opinion, named as the People's Will, whose integrants would attempt at least four times to murder the Emperor before succeeding it in 1881.
And though this abolishment was the very main reason why the Tsar was popular recalled as the Liberator of Russia, other reforms were also part of his reign such as:
"Larger cities were given governmental assemblies similar to those of the villages. The Russian court system was reformed, and for the first time in Russian history, juries, or panels of citizens called together to decide court cases, were permitted. Court cases were debated publicly, and all social classes were made equal before the law. Censorship (or the silencing of certain opinions) was eased, which meant that people had more freedom of speech. Colleges were also freed from the rules imposed on them by Alexander's father Nicholas I"
He also "ordered the reformation of the army and navy, the implementation of new legal processes and an overhaul of the penal code". But, unfortunately for Alexander, as it happened to all Europe during his lifetime, in Russia also was marked by extreme ideas both from left and right political sides. Nonetheless, he managed to rule over them all. In fact, we can summon Alexander II's reign by these next general words:
"In foreign policy, Alexander sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, fearing the remote colony would fall into British hands if there were another war. He sought peace, moved away from bellicose France when Napoleon III fell in 1871, and in 1872 joined with Germany and Austria in the League of the Three Emperors that stabilized the European situation. Despite his otherwise pacifist foreign policy, he fought a brief war with Turkey in 1877-78, pursued further expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus, and conquered Turkestan. Although disappointd by the results of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Alexander abided by that agreement. Among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia. Alexander was proposing additional parliamentary reforms to counter the rise of nascent revolutionary and anarchistic movements when he was assassinated in 1881."
What probably would have been the best political measure under his reign, the said Loris Melikov constitution were not to be followed by his son, Alexander III. In fact, in 1881, the liberal deeds of his father would be removed and once more, Russia were to return to iron hands. A great contrast to the last Romanov rulers, in a small scale of comparison, though far from being an ideal monarch to such a great empire, this should not, nevertheless, be the impact left in historians in general, especially by those greatly influenced by any sort of ideology.
It is, more than never in the present days, to be taken by such a political view whenever it is due to review the accomplishments and faults of monarchs in general. But, whilst a balance should never pend to one side alone, history itself should ponder that, were not for the sovereigns who indeed worked for the people, many countries would have never reached their main point. This is why it is important to look back at Alexander II's reign and understand his notorious reforms for a country that was not prepared mentally to receive them. Looking comparatively through the reigns of his son and grandson, this can be confirmed, possibly because the advisors that surrounded Alexander III and Nicholas III were not well prepared for the task in bringing monarchy and the people to the common concern of Russia's welfare, and this can be suggested to have caused the later revolutions, as Russia was governed by extreme mentalities that did not know how to handle opposition without taking in arms to destroy what went against their supposed belief to what was better for the empire.
This, again we come to reassure, has nothing to do in pondering whether Alexander II was perfect, the best, the greastest emperor of all Russias, but to rather provoke a reflection of his faults and his qualities, which form any human being regardless their social status, and wonder why should his deeds be left of history in general and, as we have said regarding other monarchs discussed on this blog, why there is so little discussion around this figure. Alexander II died in 13 March 1881, surrounded by controversies, both in domestic affairs and outside them, but, for better or worse, later respected by his subjects.
Bibliographies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_II_of_Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Alexandrovna_(Marie_of_Hesse_and_by_Rhine)
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/russia1.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/czar-alexander-ii-assassinated
http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/the-romanov-dynasty/alexander-ii-liberator/
http://www.rusartnet.com/biographies/russian-rulers/romanov/tsar/alexander-ii
http://www2.sptimes.com/Treasures/TC.2.3.17.html
http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Alexander-II.html
http://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/reform-and-reaction-in-russia/
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