Essay on Alexander II Reforms

8/3/2019 Essay on Alexander II Reforms

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Juan Manuel Jaramillo Lleras

For what reasons and with what results did Alexander IIreform Russian institutions?

In 1855, Alexander II assumed the throne of an isolated, weak Russia.His father, Nicholas I, had repressed modern western political thinkingand limited social and economic progress. The new Tsar was facedwith a rather difficult situation; he felt it was his duty to modernizeand transform Russia whilst keeping the tradition of autocracy andnobility. To do this, he introduced what is now considered to be thegrandest social reform in 19th century Russia, Europe or even theworld; the emancipation of the Serfs. This granted him the name of Tsar Liberator, and it led to a series of important reforms thatrevolutionized Russia. This essay discusses the reasons for the

mentioned reforms and their eventual results on Russian institutionsand society.

Firstly, it could be argued whether Alexander II reformed Russiansociety for humanitarian reasons. Some may think that he recognizedthe desperate situation of his people and devotedly worked onreforming the institution as to improve the living quality of Russianpeasantry and people in general. The evident immorality of serfdomled Alexander II to fight for their rightful freedom and establish themas a new class of free, working people, nevertheless, the modernpoint of view, defended by many contemporary western historians, is

that he was nothing more than an autocrat who realized that hisposition as absolute leader and the future of tsarism werecompromised by the growing dissatisfaction of Russian society. Thehumiliating defeat of Russia in the Crimean war caused thegovernment financial problems and unrest amongst the serfs who hadbeen recruited in the army, but its greatest consequence, was that itshowed that the political, social and economical systems used inRussia had failed. While the ideas of the French revolution spreadthroughout Europe, and countries such as Britain establishedthemselves as major powers through means of a developed industry

and market, Russia was stuck in almost every aspect, and theeconomy was starting to suffer. In April 1856, Alexander II said“Existing order of serfdom cannot remain unchanged. It is better toabolish it from above than to wait for the time when it will begin toabolish itself from below”. Evidently, the Tsar realized that theexistence of serfdom was holding Russia back and would eventuallycause problems to the integrity and stability of his and future tsaristgovernments and so, he decided to abolish it. This led to his biggestreform, the emancipation of serfdom. Alexander II establishedemancipation committees all over Russia, and by 1861, theemancipation law was signed and published. The truth is that this new

law was not well thought and it only created discontent amongstconservatives and nobility, who considered it to be a very ‘liberal’



reform which reduced their power, and liberals who thought that itsimply wasn’t well planned and left the peasants even worst off thanbefore. When the serfs were ‘freed’, they were buy land from thelandlords, but this land was usually very expensive and thegovernment charged heavy taxes or “redemption payments”.

Indubitably, the emancipation of the serfs was, in theory, anenormous social reform which changed Russian society for good, butit wasn’t really well planned or carried out, and the situation of theserfs didn’t improve or was even worse than before, for now they hadto pay for a land which was not big or good enough for them toproduce wealth.

One of the greatest effects of this reform was the fact that furtherreforms had to be carried out as a result of it. The sudden freeing of twenty three million people called for reforms within the judicialsystem, the government and even the military system. Reforms to thelegal system were actually successful; a new penal code was createdand the idea that everyone is equal before the law was established. Trials in open court, a jury system and judges who were independentfrom the government were all introduced to create a more stable andfair judicial system which replaced the justice of the landlords upontheir ‘properties’ (serfs). Reforms were also made to the educationsystem and the new minister of education, A.S Norov reversed therepressive methods of the previous reign. Universities were nowallowed to accept more students, give lectures on philosophy andEuropean government and in 1863, a new University statute gave

universities more autonomy in the managing of their own affairs. Theminister of war, Dmitri Milyutin, brought great reforms to the militaryinstitution. The military service period was reduced from 25 years to 6years and the introduction of universal military service, made all menliable to join the army at the age of 20. The nobility and rich classeshad always been allowed to bribe themselves out of military servicebut with the new reforms, they could not escape their obligation soeasily. New, strategic railways were built, military education of soldiers was emphasized and brutal punishments, such as branding,were abolished. All these aspects marked an enormous reform of themilitary system in Russia. The appearance of Zemstvos, which were

local self-governments for rural districts, meant a great administrativereform. The man in charge of these reforms was Nikolay Milyutin,brother of the minister of war, Dmitri Milyutin, and he establishedthese provisional assemblies which were to administrate primaryeducation, local health, local industry, poor relief and themaintenance of roads, bridges, etc. This gave the sense of a muchmore independent and free government, nevertheless, the Zemstvoswere really controlled by the government and the conservativenobility, which occupied 74% of the seats.

The period in which Alexander II ruled over Russia was definitely arevolutionizing and transforming one. Whether he did it for selfishreasons or for the good of his people, his reforms were massive,



although not very successful. The emancipation of serfdom marked anew era in Russian and European history and led to the reformation of almost every single Russian institution, which gained him the name of Tsar Liberator. Although this name may be exaggerated, since serfsdid not really gain freedom but simply acquired debts and more

problems, the reform is modernly considered to be the greatestRussian reform of the 19th century. It did gain him a lot of enemiessince no political or social group was genuinely satisfied with theresults, and this is reflected upon his assassination, in 1881. He wassucceeded by Alexander III, a much more conservative, reactionary Tsar, who opposed his father’s liberal reforms and managed tocounter-reform many of the institutions, nevertheless, theemancipation of serfdom remained and changed forever, the future of Russia.

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