In the Emperor of Russia 1855-1881.
Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich was born on 17 (29) April 1818 in the Bishop's house of Chudov monastery in the Moscow Kremlin, in the family of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, the future Emperor Nicholas I. in 1825 he was proclaimed heir to the throne.The crown Prince Alexander was educated at home under the personal supervision of his father. His" mentor " with the responsibility of leading the entire process of education was poet VA Zhukovsky. From him, the future Emperor learned liberal views and romantic attitude to life.In 1837, the crown Prince Alexander made a long journey through Russia, visited 29 provinces of the European part, the Caucasus and Western Siberia. In 1838-1839, he made a study tour of the countries of Western Europe. In 1841, the heir to the throne married a Hesse-Darmstadt Princess Maximiliano Wilhelmina Augusta Sofia Maria, who took the Orthodox name of Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880). In this marriage were born six sons and two daughters, including the crown Prince Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843-1865), heir to the throne in 1855-1865, and the Grand Duke, and then the crown Prince Alexander Alexandrovich (1845-1894), the future Emperor Alexander III.In 1844, crown Prince Alexander was promoted to full generals, appointed commander of the guards infantry. Since 1849, he was head of military schools. During the Crimean war of 1853-1856 with the Declaration of St. Petersburg province in martial law, the crown Prince commanded all the troops of the capital.Emperor Alexander II took the throne after his father's death on February 19 (March 3), 1855. In the early days of his reign, he was determined to continue the Crimean war with renewed vigour, but soon he was forced to conclude a peace Treaty with the countries of the coalition that opposed Russia (Paris, March 18 (30), 1856). After Russia's failed war, demands for change have intensified in all sectors of society. In conditions of social upheaval, a significant response was caused by the pardon of the exiled Decembrists, petrashevists, and the participants of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, announced during the coronation of Alexander II in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on August 26 (September 12), 1856.The course of Russia's economic development and public excitement forced Alexander II to accelerate the implementation of the reforms necessary for the country to promote the development of capitalist relations. The main among them was the abolition of serfdom. February 19 (March 3), 1861 Alexander II issued a Manifesto on the liberation of the peasants from serfdom. This fundamental reform was preceded by other, no less significant ones: administrative (regulations on provincial and district Zemstvo institutions), judicial (publicity and publicity of the court, independence of judges, new procedure of legal proceedings), complex of military reforms, as well as modernization of the national education system.The Polish uprising of 1863-1864 and the rise of revolutionary sentiment in Russia forced the government of Alexander II to move to a more conservative domestic policy course. The reaction was a wave of revolutionary terror, one of whose objectives was the Emperor himself.