HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 60

Rousseau; from Paul he learned to admire mili-
tary discipline and the aesthetics of the parade
ground. The contradictions that shaped his inter-
nal life reflected themselves in the trajectory of
his own reign: a reformist first half followed by a
second half of almost reactionary mysticism. The
first decade of Alexander's reign witnessed a
number of important reforms and new policies:
the establishment of ministries and a Council of
State, the foundation of a state school system
and four universities, the relaxation of censor-
ship, and the granting of a constitution to Poland.
Conscious of the need to tackle the issue of serf-
dom, he allowed for the manumission of serfs by
their landlords and liberated the serfs in the
Baltic provinces, albeit without land.
In foreign policy he alternated alliances with
England and Napoleon's France, trying to avoid
war with France. The key event of Alexander's
reign was the French invasion of 1812, known
in Russian history as the Patriotic War. Alexan-
der left the military details of Russia's defense to
his generals, but refused to negotiate with
Napoleon even when MOSCOW had fallen to the
invaders. Having outlasted Napoleon, Alexander
marched with his troops to Paris and was a cen-
tral figure at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15),
where he inspired the Holy Alliance. During his
reign, Russia continued to add to its territory,
acquiring through conquest or annexation Fin-
land, Bessarabia, and large parts of the Caucasus.
The second half of Alexander's reign was
dominated by two conservative advisers, Count
Aleksei ARAKCHEEV and Prince Aleksandr GOLIT -
SYN . Golitsyn, founder of the Russian Bible Soci-
ety, had introduced Alexander to Bible study
and accompanied him on the personal mystical
quest that came to dominate the czar's life.
Arakcheev convinced Alexander to establish
military colonies, where soldiers and their fami-
lies would combine military training with agri-
culture. Under Arakcheev's general supervision
the colonies quickly became examples of the
worst aspects of barracks life and serfdom and
bred protests and uprisings. Discontent over the
abandonment of the czar's earlier reformist

course was especially evident among young aris-
tocrats and junior army officers, some of whom
formed secret societies whose goals ranged from
discussion to conspiracies.
Toward the end of his life, Alexander with-
drew into seclusion and died unexpectedly in
Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov, on Novem-
ber 19, 1825. The coda to his death was the
Decembrist revolt of December 14, 1825. Alex-
ander's marriage to the German princess Eliza-
beth of Baden, known in Russian as Elizaveta
Alekseevna, produced no children. By the suc-
cession law, the throne was to pass to his
younger brother Constantine, but Constantine
had secretly renounced his rights in 1820 in
favor of the third brother, the future NICHOLAS I .
Public confusion over the right heir provided an
opening for the two secret societies that had
been plotting a rebellion, which they carried out,
without success, on the day that Nicholas was to
be proclaimed emperor.

Alexander II (1818-1881)
(Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
emperor
Known as the “Czar-Liberator” for abolishing
serfdom in 1861 and assisting in Bulgaria's inde-
pendence from Turkey in 1878, Alexander was
the eldest son of NICHOLAS I . Unlike his father he
received the education considered appropriate
for an heir to the throne. His tutor was the poet
Zhukovsky, and he traveled widely throughout
the Russian Empire and Europe. He assumed the
throne in 1855 in the final stages of the CRIMEAN
WAR and committed himself to reforming the
empire, despite his own conservative instincts.
Through the next decade in particular, his gov-
ernment set in motion a number of reforms that
attempted to transform and modernize Russia, a
time that is known as the period of the GREAT
REFORMS . The centerpiece to the reforms was
the emancipation of the serfs. After much dis-
cussion and consultation, the EMANCIPATION ACT
OF 1861 freed privately owned serfs but required
them to purchase the land they received. Other