ALEXANDER II (ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH)
1818-1881
EMPEROR OF ALL RUSSIA 1855-1881
Eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I, Alexander was
born in Moscow on April 17, 1818, and came to the throne on February 19, 1855,
after the death of his father. He was crowned in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on August 26,
1856.
After his accession to the throne, Alexander II implemented important
reforms, notably the abolition of serfdom, as well as changes in national,
military and municipal organization. He also rethought foreign policy: Russia now
refrained from overseas expansion and concentrated on strengthening its borders.
In 1867, he sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States. His greatest foreign policy achievement
was the successful war of 1877-8 against the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the
liberation of Bulgaria and annulment of the conditions of the Treaty of Paris of
1856, imposed after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War.
In 1841, Alexander II married Maria of Hessen-Darmstadt (Maria Alexandrovna).
The marriage produced seven children.
On March 1, 1881, in St. Petersburg, he was mortally wounded by a bomb thrown
by a student, I. Grinevitskii, a member of the revolutionary organization "The
National Will.'' The Cathedral of the Resurrection on Blood was erected on the
site of the murder. Alexander II was buried in the Cathedral of the St. Peter and
St. Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
Lobby | Information | Timeline | Previous Czar |
Next Czar
©Copyright 1999, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
©Copyright 1999, The Moscow Kremlin Museums and other international
copyrights.
Text compiled by Alexei K. Levykin
To E-mail us: E-mail Connections