Alexander II – Later Reactions

Why did Alexander II’s reign grow more reactionary after 1866?

- In 1865 Alexander II’s eldest son died.

- In 1866 Alexander II faced an attempted assassination – this undermined his confidence in his mission
- His liaison and consolation of Caterina Dolgoruki (whom he married in 1860) distanced him from the reforming
elements within his own family – his brother the grand Duke Constantine and the grand Duchess Elena
- The assassination attempt gave conservatives and churchmen the ammunition with which to attack the reformist
policies which they disliked – they immediately opposed the liberal education policies of Golovnin, leading to his
dismissal and Tolstoy’s installation as Minister for Education
- Historian’s view:
Modern Historian Richard Pipes – “The radicals unwittingly assisted this conservative party. Every time they made an
attempt on the life of the tsar or assassinated some high official, opponents of political reform could press for more
stringent police measures and further postponement of basic reforms. The terrorists couldn’t have been more
effective in scuttling political reform had they been on the police payroll.”
- At court, reactionary ministers hinted that the tsar’s reforming instincts had gone too far, weakening the props which
the imperial monarchy relied on – the Church and the nobility.
- They argued that the state needed to be purged of the ‘foreign influences’ which were undermining it – both the
dangerous and uncontrollable ‘western’ ideas which were spreading through the liberal universities and being
discussed in the press and, more literally, the ethnic minorities and their different religions which were seen as
diluting Russian strength.
- In more controversial areas, Alexander II was persuaded to make a spate of new appointments in 1866, replacing
those more liberally inclined with staunch reactionaries
- The late 1870s proved a time of political crisis in Russia as the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 failed to bring a swift
victory and a poor harvest, resulting in famine in 1879-80, was coupled with the beginnings of an industrial recession
- In 1879 and in February 1880 there were further attempts on the tsar’s life

Education

- A tight control over education was regarded as essential if western liberal ideas were to be eradicated and the
growing flow of criticism of the autocracy stemmed
- The conservatives feared that the educated populace would be a rebellious one and Count Dmitrii Tolstoy seemed the
ideal person to reinstate tight controls over schools and universities – he was a staunch Orthodox believer and had a
reputation as a pillar of conservatism

Ethnic Minorities

- A rebellion in Poland in 1863, which was only crushed after fierce fighting in 1864, persuaded the authorities that
non-Russian peoples were a danger to the Empire and this gave rise to the policy of Russification

What were his reactions?

Education

- The replacement of the liberal Golovnin by Dmitrii Tolstoy as minister for Education and public instruction
- The zemstva’s powers over education were reduced and the Church was restored to a position of prominence in rural
schools
- The higher schools, or gymnazii, were ordered to follow a traditional classical curriculum and abandon their
experimentation with the natural sciences
- From 1871, only students from these traditional gymnazii were allowed to progress to universities, while those at the
modern technical schools were limited to higher technical institutions, where they wouldn’t be exposed to the ‘corrupting’
influence of the universities
- Government control was extended over what could be taught in universities an more liberal courses were replaced by the
traditional curriculum
- A strict control over student activities was exercised, including a ban on extra-curricular student organization
- In 1873 the Ministry of Internal Affairs was given the right to forbid certain topics from discussion and censorship was
tightened once again in the later 1870s
The police and the law courts

- The appointment of Pyotr Shuvalov as head of the Third Section (The Secret Police) – he strengthened the police and
stepped up activities of the Third Section who were responsible for rooting out subversion
- The promotion of Konstantin Pahlen to minister of justice — he ensured that the judicial system made an example of those
accused of political agitation
- Pahlen held some open ‘show’ trials which members of the public were invited to witness, with the intention of deterring
others from similar activity (but this experiment failed through the failures of ‘Trial of 50’ and ‘Trial of 193’ which were
set up to prosecute those arrested for involvement in revolutionary populist activities as the government appeared
incompetent
- The failure of the 2 trials led to the announcement in 1878 that political crimes would be transferred from the civil courts
to the military, where cases could be heard, and sentences passed, in secret
- Searches and arrests were stepped up and new governor-generals were set up in 1879 with emergency powers to
prosecute in military courts and exile political offenders
- The appointment of Alexander Timashev to replace Pyotr Valuev as minister of internal affairs
- A special section called the Ohkrana was created and soon became feared and oppressive

Attitude to ethnic minorities

- A more hostile attitude towards the Poles, Finns, Jews and other minority races became apparent after 1866

Results

Education

- Education came to be seen as yet another way of enforcing tsarist control, rather than as a way of helping people to
better themselves

Attitude to ethnic minorities

- The consequences of such action was the growth, rather than the lessening, of the number of discontented
intellectuals within Russia and a spread of opposition with a large student input

What reforms did Alexander II continue?

- There was an extension in public education throughout this period and more teacher training colleges (under state
control) were set up
- No major changes were made on Reutern’s reforms of the economy and Milyutin’s of the army, which were seen as
essential by the conservatives to the future of Russia and these 2 ministers were allowed to continue in their positions
- Demonstrations of disloyalty led to Alexander’s decision of setting up a commission under General Loris-Melikov, who
made immediate ministerial changes and instituded a series of concessions, such as the release of political prisoners,
the relaxation of censorship and the removal of the salt-tax and a lifting of restrictions on the activities of the zemstva;
the Third Section was also abolished and its powers transferred to the regular police