The Tsar Liberator

April 17 is the 180th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Alexander II (who ruled from 1855-1881), well-known as an emancipator and reformer, and lesser known as a benefactor of America (more on that later).

When Emperor Nicholas I died in 1855, his son Alexander (then 36) ascended to the throne. Russia was in deep crisis. “I turn over my command to you,” Nicholas said to his son in the final hours of his life, “but unfortunately not in the good order that I would wish. I am leaving you many worries and troubles.”

Russia had just been defeated by the combined forces of Britain, France and Turkey in the Crimea, and, under the terms of the peace (signed in 1856), was denied use of the Black Sea. Peasant revolts were becoming increasingly frequent and the economy was in a shambles. Though at heart a conservative, Alexander II quickly grasped the reality of the situation and set about reforming Russia.

His best-known achievement is the emancipation of the serfs. Tied to the land and without any legal rights, serfs were becoming both increasingly unprofitable and increasingly restless. As the serfs rose up against their masters time and again, more and more intellectuals began to call for them to be freed on moral grounds. So Alexander decided to abolish serfdom from above, before it abolished itself.

For several years, the Main Committee on Peasant Affairs, founded and headed by the tsar himself, worked on a plan for freeing Russian peasants from virtual slavery. On February 19, 1861, six years to the day after he became emperor, Alexander II read out a manifesto proclaiming emancipation. Some 23 million Russian peasants received their freedom, along with land (for which, at least in theory, they reimbursed the state through redemption payments for 49 years). Even so, their status was far from equal with other classes – they had to pay a head tax and continued to be judged by customary, rather than written, law.

On the heels of the emancipation followed the so-called “great reforms,” which transformed many areas of state and public life. Next on Alexander’s agenda was the reform of local government. In January 1864, a law was enacted establishing the so-called zemstvo system. Under the system, towns and villages received their own elected councils or zemstva. These councils were quite democratic for the time, although representation was based on land ownership. They oversaw and managed such things as education, medicine and roads and executed orders from the central government.

The year 1864 also saw major reforms in Russia’s legal system. The judiciary system became an independent branch of government. Legal procedures became public, whereas before they had been conducted in great secrecy. A new court system was formed which included justices of the peace for dealing with minor civil and criminal cases and trial by jury for more serious crimes. According to Russian historian Nicholas Riasanovsky, Russia’s legal system was almost instantly transformed “from one of the worst to one of the best in the civilized world.”

A sweeping reform of the army was the last “great reform” to occur under Alexander II. Military service, formerly required only for the lower classes, was extended to all male Russians, while the service term for active duty was decreased from 25 years to 4. At the same time, elementary education was introduced for all draftees.

During Alexander II’s reign, Russia’s southern and eastern borders were significantly expanded. Alexander followed a consistent policy of peace with European powers, although he did go to war with Turkey to protect Slavic states like Serbia and Herzegovina (See RL, August 1997, for a description of the famous battles at Plevna and Shipka)...

But the reforms unleased by Alexander only opened the door to further demands for change. A radical revolutionary movement gained force, feeding on dissatisfaction that the reforms were not moving fast enough. On the other side, frightened members of the Russian gentry resisted the reforms and pressured the emperor to restore the status quo ante. An alarmed Alexander tried to backpedal, only to discover that the engine he had set into motion could not be stopped. The extremist group “Will of the People” made four unsuccessful attempts on the Emperor’s life (in 1866, 1867, 1879 and 1880). Each time, he was saved by a lucky chance (at one point, terrorists even blew up the dining room in the Winter Palace). And each time the Emperor said: “If God is pleased to take me, I am ready.”

During the fifth attempt on March 1, 1881, the terrorists succeeded. While the emperor was riding along the embankment of St. Petersburg’s Yekaterininsky canal, they threw a bomb beneath the wheels of his carriage. The carriage was blown to pieces, but remarkably, Alexander emerged unharmed to help other victims of the explosion. Just then, a second bomb was thrown straight at his legs. The unconscious and bleeding emperor was hurried to the palace, where he died without regaining his senses. The fabulous onion-domed Savior on the Blood Cathedral was later erected on the site of Alexander’s assassination.

During Soviet times, the assassins who made the bomb were glorified in textbooks and described to Soviet schoolchildren as heroes. But now that history has been rewritten once again, Alexander II is regarded as a great and extremely influential leader.

There is an exhibition in the recently reopened Savior on the Blood Cathedral (St. Petersburg), dedicated to Alexander II’s 180th anniversary. Along with displays dedicated to his reforms and military victories, the exhibition contains a section dubbed “Alexander, the Savior of America.” For it turns out that Alexander sent  Russian battleships to visit New York, Philadelphia and Boston in 1863, during the Civil War, showing overt support for the Union. The cruisers were actually originally sent for another purpose, related to potential war between Russia and England and France over Poland. But it nevertheless sent a strong signal about an improvement of US-Russian relations that would reach its peak three years later, when Russia sold Alaska (a.k.a. Russian-America) to the US for $7.2 mn in gold.

In Brief

Besides Easter, which Orthodox Russians will celebrate on April 19 this year, there are several other important anniversaries coming up this month.

On April 2, 385 years ago, the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin sacrificed his life to save Tsar Mikhail Romanov. The Polish invaders who had been ordered to kill the young tsar did not know the way through the forest to his estate. Ivan Susanin, ordered to guide the Poles, led them into impassible underbrush and swamps, and was murdered. This exploit has often been praised in Russian art and serves as the theme of Glinka’s famous opera, A Life for the Tsar.

On April 13, 80 years ago, another Russian was killed before his time. Infantry general Lavr Kornilov fell during an attack on Yekaterinodar (now Krasnodar), where he was commanding the White Volunteer Army. In August of 1917, Kornilov, then commander-in-chief, spoke out against the chaos in the country and the Bolshevik threat and attempted to restore discipline in the army. This campaign went down in Russian history as the “Kornilov affair” – a strange misunderstanding between Prime Minister Kerensky and Kornilov, in which the latter was accused (probably falsely) of trying to destroy the February revolution. Kornilov was succeeded by Anton Denikin.

Just one week prior, on April 5, 1918, Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok, the first foreign troops to intervene in the Russian Civil War, soon followed by the Americans, British, French and some stranded Czechs.

April 5 also marks 110 years since the death of writer Vsevolod Garshin (1855-1888), known for depicting social inequality. His most famous works include the stories Signal, The Red Flower, The Coward and Artists.

Besides being Cosmonauts’ Day and Orthodox Palm Sunday, April 12 also marks the anniversary of another Russian literary figure. On this date, 175 years ago, the outstanding playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) was born. The prolific Ostrovsky wrote over 50 plays, of which The Thunderstorm (1859)and The Forest (1871) are still widely performed today. Ostrovsky was particularly good at depicting the life and ways of the lower middle classes.

On April 6, 80 years ago, Russian industrialist and arts patron Savva Mamontov (1841-1918) died. Mamontov made an enormous contribution to the development of music, theater and Russian art. He created the memorial Abramtsevo estate, where, for many years, artists and sculptors like Mikhail Antokolsky, Ilya Repin, Viktor and Apollinary Vasnetsov, Mikhail Vrubel, Vasily and Yelena Polenov, Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Nesterov and Valentin Serov worked. Mamontov also created a private opera in Moscow, which became the center of Russian musical culture and aided in the flowering of many talents.

On April 10, 1808, the coat of arms of the town of Taganrog was approved. But the town itself emerged much earlier, and this year, Russia will celebrate the 190th anniversary of the coat of arms, as well as Taganrog’s 300th anniversary. In 1698, in order to protect coastline seized from the Turks, Peter the Great founded the fortress and port of Troitskaya, which became the base for the Russian Azov fleet, on the cape of Tagan-rog. But the name Troitskaya did not stick, and the people persistently referred to “the fortress on Tagan-rog.”

After the unsuccessful campaign against Turkey in 1711, the fortress was destroyed according to the terms of the peace treaty. But in 1769, after the Russian-Turkish War, the entire northeastern part of the Azov sea coastline was occupied by Russian troops, and in 1774, it was finally annexed by Russia. Starting in 1775, the restoration of the fortress and town, which came to be called Taganrog, began. In 1825, Russian emperor Alexander I suddenly died there of meningitis. Today, Taganrog is an industrial center, best known as the birthplace of writer Anton Chekhov (1860-1904).

On April 15, 235 years ago, Fyodor Volkov (1728-1763) died. Besides being one of Russia’s first actors, Volkov was the founder of Russian professional theater.

Last but not least, April 1 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rakhmaninov (1873-1943), pianist, conductor and composer, who made an invaluable contribution to Russian and world music. Just like his friend Fyodor Chalyapin {RL, February 1998}, Rakhmaninov is too important a figure to discuss so briefly. We will offer a full feature story in the months ahead.

– Valentina Kolesnikova