Alexander II , Emperor (1818-1881)

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ALEXANDER II (1818-1881, St. Petersburg), Emperor (since 1855). He was a son of Emperor Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra Fedorovna. Tsarevitch (from 1831), General of Infantry (1847), Honorary Member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1826). His first marriage was to the Princess of Hesse and Rhine, who took the name of Maria Alexandrovna; his second (morganatic) marriage to Princess E.M. Dolgorukova (1880), who received the title of Princess Yuryevskaya. He was a member of the Committee for the Neva Bridge Construction (1841), and the head of the Committee of the St. Petersburg - Moscow Railway Construction (1842). From 1849, he commanded the Guard and Grenadier Corps, was the head of the Main Military Schools (until 1860), and Trustee of the Chesme Military Hospital. In the 1860-70s, he carried out various reforms, such as peasant (abolishment serfdom, 1861), judicial (1864), land (1865), city (see City reform 1870), and military (the 1860-70s) reforms, all of which came to be known in Russian history as the Great Reforms of Alexander II. Many people had considerable influence on state affairs and government throughout different periods of his reign, including his brother Grand Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich, aunt Grand Princess Elena Pavlovna, P.D. Kiselev, Y.I. Rostovtsev, P.A. Valuev, D.A. Milyutin, A.M. Gorchakov, P.A. Shuvalov (see the Shuvalovs), and M.T. Loris-Melikov. In 1866-81, members of secret revolutionary societies made a number of attempts on Alexander II's life, some of them in St. Petersburg. In 1866, D.V. Karakozov shot at the Tsar through the ironwork of the Summer Garden (a chapel was built on the place of attempt; not preserved), in 1879, A.K. Solovyev made an attempt on Palace Square; in 1880, S.N. Khalturin planted an explosive in the Winter Palace. On 1 March 1881, Alexander II was fatally wounded on the Catherine Canal Embankment (today Griboedova Canal) as a result of a terrorist attack by members of the group Narodnaya Volya (People's Will), and died several hours later in the Winter Palace. He was buried in the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral. The Holy Resurrection Cathedral was built on site of the assassination. Before taking the crown, Alexander II lived in Anichkov Palace, then in the Winter Palace. In summertime he preferred the Tsarskoe Selo (particularly the Zubov Wing of the Catherine Palace), and the Farmer Palace in Alexandria. He owned Petrovsky Island, Anichkov Palace, a cottage, a personal dacha in Peterhof (1843), the Ropsha grange in the Peterhof District, and the city of Gatchina.

References: Александр II и его эпоха: К 140-летию со дня восшествия на престол: Тез. докл. конф. СПб., 1995; Захарова Л. Г. Александр II // Романовы: Ист. портреты, 1762-1917. М., 1997. Кн. 2. С. 404-490; Толмачев Е. П. Александр II и его время: В 2 кн. М., 1998; Александр II и Царское Село: Кат. выст. / Гос. музей-заповедник "Царское Село". СПб., 2000.

Y. A. Kuzmin. Alexander II, Emperor
Alexandra Fedorovna, Empress
Dolgorukova Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Duchess
Elena Pavlovna, Grand Princess
Gorchakov Alexander Mikhailovich, Duke
Karakozov Dmitry Vladimirovich
Khalturin Stepan Nikolaevich
Kiselev Pavel Dmitrievich
Konstantin Nikolaevich, Grand Prince
Loris-Melikov Mikhail Tarielovich, Count
Maria Alexandrovna, Empress
Milyutin Dmitry Alexeevich
Nicholas I, Emperor
Rostovtsev Yakov Ivanovich
Shuvalov Peter Andreevich, Count
Solovyev Alexander Konstantinovich
Valuev Peter Alexandrovich
Dvortsovaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Griboedova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Александр II и его эпоха: К 140-летию со дня восшествия на престол: Тез. докл. конф. СПб., 1995
Толмачев Е. П. Александр II и его время: В 2 кн. М., 1998
Захарова Л. Г. Александр II // Романовы: Ист. портреты, 1762-1917. М., 1997
Александр II и Царское Село: Кат. выст. / Гос. музей-заповедник "Царское Село". СПб., 2000 Russian Academy of Sciences
Municipal Reform of 1870
Winter Palace
Narodnaya Volya
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
Holy Resurrection Cathedral, (Spas-na-Krovi)
Anichkov Palace
Catherine Palace (Town of Pushkin)
1855
1866
1879