Concise Russian history for a traveler

But the Crimean war (1853-56) showed that this giant had feet of clay. The vast empire was unable to mobilize, equip, and transport enough troops to defeat the medium-size French and English forces under very mediocre command. Nicholas died in the bitter knowledge of general failure.

Alexander II (1855-81). Defeat in the Crimea made Russia’s backwardness clear, and the first step toward modernization was abolition of serfdom. As the tsar said to the nobility of Moscow in March 1856, “it is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until the serfs begin to liberate themselves from below”. The main work of reform was carried out in the ministry of the interior, where the most able officials, headed by the deputy minister Nickolay Milyutin, were resolved to get the best possible terms for the peasants. But the bulk of the landowning class was determined, if it could no prevent abolition of serfdom, to give the freed peasants as little as possible. The settlement, proclaimed on Feb. 19, 1861, was a compromise. Further important reforms followed emancipation. A new system of elected assemblies at the provincial and country level was introduced in 1864.

The same year a major judicial reform was completed. Russia received a system of law courts based on European models. In 1870 the main cities of Russia were given elected municipal government, and in 1874 a series of military reforms was completed by the establishment of universal military service.

In the 1870s revolutionary activity revived. Terrorist group that took the name People’s Will made its aim the assassination of Alexander II. After several unsuccessful attempts, it achieved its aim on March 1881, when the tsar was fatally wounded by a bomb while driving through the capital. Shortly before his death the tsar had been considering reforms that would have introduced a few elected representatives into the apparatus of government. His successor, Alexander III (1881-94), considered these plans. He decided to reject them and to reaffirm the principle of autocracy without a change.

Nicholas II (1894-1917). The 20th century brought wars and revolutions to Russia. On the night of Jan 26/27, 1904 Japanese forces made a surprise attack on Russian warships in Port Arthur, and the Russo-Japanese War began. The war brought a series of Russian defeats on land and sea, culminating in the destruction of the Baltic fleet in the Tsushima Strait.