Alexander II
Alexander II (1818-1881) was emperor of Russia from 1855 to 1881. He is called the “czar liberator” because he emancipated the serfs in 1861. His reign is famous in Russian history as the “era of great reforms.” Before he became czar, Alexander was not sympathetic to emancipation. Alexander Nicholayevich Romanov is largely remembered for emancipating the serfs, his assassination at the hands of revolutionaries, and he also is also famous for all of his important events.
According to the act, the serfs were immediately granted personal liberties and promised land. The 1861 Emancipation of Russian Serfs was the single most important reform of the reign of Tsar Alexander II. A serf is a peasant who lives under the political system of feudalism. In 1861 Alexander issued his Emancipation Manifesto that proposed 17 legislative acts that would…show more content… Alexander announced that personal serfdom would be abolished and all peasants would be able to buy land from their landlords. Indeed, this memorable Act of February 19, 1861, gave personal freedom to 23 million serf, or 34.4 percent of the total population of Russia, promoting them to the status of ¨free rural inhabitants.¨ Like the emancipation of slaves in the United States, the end of serfdom in Russia had huge social, political and economic consequences. Tsar Alexander II inherited the Russian throne in 1855, as the Crimean War seemed at its most hopeless. It is clear that Russiaś humiliation affected his reign, leading to a host of significant policies designed to modernise the country. Serfdom was held up as the cause of a host of Russia´s problems, from its military failure, to famines, slow
