Assessment of Achievements of Alexander II’s Reign.

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Assessment of Achievements of Alexander II's Reign.

As an autocrat, Alexander II recognised it as his duty to rectify a system that had manifestly failed Russia (in the Crimea as well as at home), yet he was uncertain how best to go about the task. Following the war political prisoners were released, censorship was relaxed, tax arrears were cancelled, serfdom was abolished and some of the liberties of Poland and of the Catholic Church were restored. The Crimean war had also illustrated faults in the social and governmental system of Russia which Alexander tried to correct by instigating a number of reforms which were motivated by a desire to strengthen the autocracy. Alexander II marked the opening of a period of reform in Russian politics and social issues, in which such reforms were to have implications for the future of Russia.

"Existing order of serfdom cannot remain unchanged. It is better to abolish it from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below" This speech was given by Alexander to the nobility of Moscow in April 1856, and was to be the introduction of arguably the grandest social reform of