OK, so I decided to do what I did for Germany already with Kaiser Friedrich III and have Alexander II survive to reform the Russian Empire, leading to a surviving Russian Empire (probably) and a different 20th century.
Alexander II was born in 1818 as the son of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia who was the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His younger years were no indication at the time of his potential to tackle the worst problems of the Russian Empire and reform it into a more modern state even though he was well educated, knew a number of European languages and had visited twenty provinces of Russia, giving him knowledge about the state of his empire. There was no freedom of thought in Russia under Nicholas I and the intellectual atmosphere was stifling since criticism of the regime at this time was considered a serious offense. This would slowly but surely come to change during the reign of Tsar Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, who succeeded his father in 1855 at the age of 37. His first year in power was devoted to ending the Crimean War (1853-1856) which had exhausted the Russian giant. The resulting Treaty of Paris humiliated Russia, but Alexander II had no choice but to accept the terms of the treaty: Russia lost its territory on the mouth of the Danube, it had to renounce its protection over Christians in the Ottoman Empire in favour of France, the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea were to be demilitarized and Russia lost influence over the Romanian principalities which were given greater autonomy along with Serbia afterward. From there, Alexander II could begin with the immense task of ruling and modernizing his backward country with the largest reforms since Catherine the Great or even Peter the Great, starting with the emancipation of the serfs.
The existence of serfdom was handled quite daringly. Taking advantage of a petition presented by the Polish landed proprietors of the Lithuanian provinces, who hoped that their relations with the serfs might be regulated in a way more satisfying to them, he authorized the formation of committees for ameliorating the condition of the peasants. This step was followed by a still more important one. Without consulting his ordinary advisors, Alexander had a circular sent to the provincial governors of Western Russia, containing a copy of the instructions sent to the governor-general of the Lithuanian provinces, praising the “generous, patriotic intentions” of the Lithuanian landed elites, and suggesting that perhaps the land owners of other provinces should express a similar desire. The hint was taken: in all provinces where serfdom existed, emancipation committees were formed. But the emancipation was not merely a humanitarian question capable of being solved instantaneously by imperial proclamation from St. Petersburg. It contained very intricate issues which had strong effects on the economic, social and political future of the Russian Empire. Alexander now had to choose between a large number of different measures recommended to him by the so-called “emancipation committees” of the provinces of Russia. Should the serfs become agricultural labourers dependent economically and administratively on the landowning class, or should they be transformed into a class of independent communal land owners? Alexander II gave his support to the latter project, and the Russian peasantry became one of the last groups of peasants in Europe to shake off serfdom. On March 3rd 1861, 6 years after his accession to the throne, the emancipation act was signed and went into effect.
The Tsar also introduced a number of other reforms such as a new French-based penal code and a unified justice system for all of Russia. Laws were more codified than before, taking away the autonomy of lower courts and from now on all parties were equal in theory (in practice extrajudicial punishment would continue for some years to come). As a response to the defeat in the Crimean War, Alexander II also reformed the military. He introduced universal conscription so that everyone, rich or poor, noble or non-noble, had to serve in the armed forces. Corporal punishment was banned from the Russian armed forces and a military reserve was created along with a system of military districts. These were some of the most sweeping reforms in decades if not more. The Tsar also introduced a complex scheme of limited local autonomy for rural districts and large towns with elective assemblies (Zemstvo) who collected taxes among other things. Alexander during these reforms also re-established the Diet of Finland and elevated Finnish to a national language, encouraging Finnish Nationalism. It is unsure why he did this; according to some he wanted to test reforms in a homogenous and not densely populated area while others claim he wanted to reward the usually western oriented Finns for their services in the Crimean War. Regardless of his intentions, he was a popular Tsar among the Finns. In any case, Alexander II followed a generally liberal course when compared to his reactionary predecessor, but not in all fields. Russia was still a “peoples’ prison” with Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Uzbeks and so on and the Tsarist regime suppressed their nationalisms and support the Russians who were the largest group. The Russians for example had a Polish Revolt (1863-’64) squashed and many were executed or deported. The Polish language was banned from both oral and written use except in Congress Poland and the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian languages were banished from print. Alexander II was as much a reformer as he was a tyrant. Nonetheless, his reforms were of great benefit to Russia and the ethnic policies would change in the twentieth century, not under Alexander II.
Unsurprisingly, there were a number of assassination attempts, none of which succeeded, fortunately. The most serious one was in March 1881. Tsar Alexander II was known for many years to go the Manezh to review the Life Guards there every Sunday. He travelled both to and from the Manezh in a closed carriage accompanied by six Cossacks with a seventh sitting left of the coachman. The Tsar's carriage was followed by two sleighs carrying, among others, the chief of police and the chief of the Tsar's guards. The route, as always, was via the Catherine Canal and over the Pevchesky Bridge. The street was flanked by narrow sidewalks for the public where a young member of the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) movement stood, carrying a small white package which contained a bomb. Unbeknownst to him, the Tsar had fallen ill and would be bedridden for some time and so he had sent an aide to meet their with important ministers. The young revolutionary threw the bomb and the blast killed whoever was inside the carriage. The aide died, but the Tsar lived on to continue his most innovative reform. After the previous assassination attempt of 1880, Alexander II had appointed Count Loris-Melikov as head of the Supreme Executive Commission with extraordinary powers to combat the revolutionaries. He had given the Tsar the advice to form some sort of legislative body or parliament, an advice that the Emperor didn’t really like. Despite all the liberal reforms, he was still obstinate in playing the role of Russian Autocrat, but he was also pragmatic enough to see what had to be done. Russia was weak and backward compared to Western Europe. Its rivals had all surpassed it in power, save for the moribund Ottoman Empire which continued to go down the spiral of administrative dysfunction, conservatism, weak military power and restive minorities. The would-be killer of the Tsar was hanged and couldn’t prevent the reforms. The aristocracy was the main obstacle; they didn’t want to share their privileged position with European-style mass parties. They feared that they would slip into insignificance if the people were given a vote. They were supported by the Tsarevich, Alexander, whose reactionary ideas conflicted with the more liberal ones of his father. Months of bickering ensued, but Alexander II was able to demonstrate the need for reform to shut up the revolutionaries and appease the people which would arguably preserve the nobility’s privileges better than a violent revolution and end to the Tsarist regime. In 1882, the Duma was erected and elections were proclaimed.
Mass parties didn’t exist yet, but they soon formed although they had no political experience and were fragmented, quite different from the Western “three parties plus crumbs” model. The Tsar and the nobility would exploit this through a “divide and conquer” policy combined with a “carrot and stick” policy (through emphasizing the divides between parties while also offering rewards and/or punishment, the establishment made certain their privileges weren’t touched). There were liberals, socialists, Christian-Democrats and a smattering of bickering nationalist parties and one issue parties. Unlike in the west, these parties were often divided into three or two. The liberals had a split between left and right liberalism, the socialists between the moderate social-democrats and the radical communists and the Christian-Democrats between reactionaries and a more tolerant faction. Then there was the strong Russian nationalist party which supported Slavic nationalism, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Tsar. Eventually, after three months of political paralysis, a coalition was formed. The Russian system was more based on the Imperial German system (already aped quite successfully by Japan) than the British Westminster model. Nonetheless, a semblance of democracy had been created even if it was still dominated by the Tsar and the elites. As a compromise to the mass parties, the Tsar had the right to appoint ministers as he pleased after the elections, but not to dismiss them or disband the government (this was done by Alexander II to prevent his son from turning back the reforms some day). Out of the previous changes a system of tentative consultation and cooperation would emerge between the Tsar and the nobles on one hand and the powerful mass parties with support from large segments of the populace on the other hand, making the uneasy mix of ethnicities much more stable (setting Russia on a course away from tottering ruin and toward the twentieth century). Elections were henceforth to be held every six years and universal male suffrage from the age of 21 was introduced. At first glance, these first steps may seem small, but for a country that had known nothing but autocratic monarchy, it was a major leap forward. The next reform was a leap even more so. This reform was a constitution in which all the rights and duties of the people were laid down such as equality before the law, habeas corpus, freedom of speech and gathering and so on, making Russia a pseudo-democracy (still an improvement over Absolute monarchy).
Tsar Alexander II continued to reform, even more radical than before, this time in the economic field in which feudal Russia also lagged behind significantly. He abolished protectionist measures and tariffs to attract foreign investment, mainly from France, but also from America with which Russia had friendly relations. In the meantime a majority in the Russian Duma voted in favour of a law which made universal education up to the age of twelve compulsory, starting the massive educational reform of the Russian Empire. Illiteracy rates were extremely high in Russia when compared to the west and within one decade they would drop to a mere 10% of the population despite difficulties such as finding qualified teachers and funds. The social-democrats, in the meantime agitated for a shorter workday and so a ten hour workday was instated. In return, they accepted the relatively low wages of factory workers, miners and railroad workers among other things. Alexander pressed for railroad construction to improve Russian infrastructure and low wages were necessary to finance their construction. If this succeeded than Russia would be able to respond quicker to any military threat and mobilize faster. One of the results of the Tsar’s policies was that many exchanged a very labour intensive peasant existence for life in the cities. The industrial revolution which had started decades before in other countries now finally started to get hold on Russia too for all the problems it entailed. Russia had an ocean of unskilled cheap labour and many natural resources, and the end of protectionist measures encouraged investment from entrepreneurs and rich businessmen. By the end of the 19th century, industrialization would be quite well underway. Specifically mining and the heavy industrial sectors rose to prominence as Russia still lacked the basis for more advanced industries such as optics and electronics although this would change later. Production of coal and steel, the cornerstones of modern economies, rose rapidly to exceed British production by 1900. Besides these, Russia also produced textiles, machinery, weapons, petroleum, pig iron, iron ore, chemicals and electricity. This was the start of a period of economic growth whereas the rest of the world experienced a malaise in the 1880s. There were problems, though. Though there was enough unskilled labour, skilled labour was harder to come by and due to the sudden urbanisation, there was a serious housing shortage, forcing people to live in slums and small, overcrowded houses. The problem was remedied by better, but affordable “social housing” and a number of labour laws modelled on those of Bismarck (although the Russian versions were less extensive) curbed the rise of the communists and silenced any serious opposition from the semi-tolerated trade unions. By 1910, Russia would be the third largest industrial power of the world, behind the USA and Germany, eclipsing Britain and France.
This had its good effects on Russia too. Electricity slowly spread to all major cities giving Moscow and St. Petersburg streetlights by 1910, consumer goods became more widely available, affluence rose and mobility increased with a rapidly expanding network of roads, railroads, waterways and modern communications such as telegraphs and telephone lines (for example the St. Petersburg-Moscow-Vladivostok Telegraph Service). The railroad network alone increased from only a few thousand kilometres in 1856 to 60.000 kilometres in 1900 and 102.000 in 1912 with feats of engineering such as the Trans-Caspian, Turkestan-Siberian and Trans-Siberian railways. Nonetheless, the continuities and discrepancies between social layers shouldn’t be downplayed either; the reforms are often seriously overrated. Russia remained fundamentally authoritarian and a divide between those with power and those without it remained. Moreover, although living standards increased, they still fell short of western standards in large parts of the Russian Empire. The initiator of the reforms, Alexander II, eventually passed away in 1889 at the age of 71, after his son had tragically passed away in 1887 at the young age of 42 of a heart attack allegedly out of frustration for being kept off the throne and his inability to stop the liberal reforms (which was perhaps for the better). He died as one of the most celebrated Tsars in Russian history. According to the Pauline Laws, the Tsar was succeeded by his eldest male heir, in this case Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich who Alexander had been grooming to be his heir for some time after the death of his first heir Alexander. He was crowned Tsar Vladimir III, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, in the Moscow Dormition Cathedral and continued building on the system built by his father and would continue to modernize.
The Reign of Alexander II and the Death of the Tsarevich
Chapter I: Reforms, 1855 – 1913.
Alexander II was born in 1818 as the son of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia who was the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His younger years were no indication at the time of his potential to tackle the worst problems of the Russian Empire and reform it into a more modern state even though he was well educated, knew a number of European languages and had visited twenty provinces of Russia, giving him knowledge about the state of his empire. There was no freedom of thought in Russia under Nicholas I and the intellectual atmosphere was stifling since criticism of the regime at this time was considered a serious offense. This would slowly but surely come to change during the reign of Tsar Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, who succeeded his father in 1855 at the age of 37. His first year in power was devoted to ending the Crimean War (1853-1856) which had exhausted the Russian giant. The resulting Treaty of Paris humiliated Russia, but Alexander II had no choice but to accept the terms of the treaty: Russia lost its territory on the mouth of the Danube, it had to renounce its protection over Christians in the Ottoman Empire in favour of France, the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea were to be demilitarized and Russia lost influence over the Romanian principalities which were given greater autonomy along with Serbia afterward. From there, Alexander II could begin with the immense task of ruling and modernizing his backward country with the largest reforms since Catherine the Great or even Peter the Great, starting with the emancipation of the serfs.
The existence of serfdom was handled quite daringly. Taking advantage of a petition presented by the Polish landed proprietors of the Lithuanian provinces, who hoped that their relations with the serfs might be regulated in a way more satisfying to them, he authorized the formation of committees for ameliorating the condition of the peasants. This step was followed by a still more important one. Without consulting his ordinary advisors, Alexander had a circular sent to the provincial governors of Western Russia, containing a copy of the instructions sent to the governor-general of the Lithuanian provinces, praising the “generous, patriotic intentions” of the Lithuanian landed elites, and suggesting that perhaps the land owners of other provinces should express a similar desire. The hint was taken: in all provinces where serfdom existed, emancipation committees were formed. But the emancipation was not merely a humanitarian question capable of being solved instantaneously by imperial proclamation from St. Petersburg. It contained very intricate issues which had strong effects on the economic, social and political future of the Russian Empire. Alexander now had to choose between a large number of different measures recommended to him by the so-called “emancipation committees” of the provinces of Russia. Should the serfs become agricultural labourers dependent economically and administratively on the landowning class, or should they be transformed into a class of independent communal land owners? Alexander II gave his support to the latter project, and the Russian peasantry became one of the last groups of peasants in Europe to shake off serfdom. On March 3rd 1861, 6 years after his accession to the throne, the emancipation act was signed and went into effect.
The Tsar also introduced a number of other reforms such as a new French-based penal code and a unified justice system for all of Russia. Laws were more codified than before, taking away the autonomy of lower courts and from now on all parties were equal in theory (in practice extrajudicial punishment would continue for some years to come). As a response to the defeat in the Crimean War, Alexander II also reformed the military. He introduced universal conscription so that everyone, rich or poor, noble or non-noble, had to serve in the armed forces. Corporal punishment was banned from the Russian armed forces and a military reserve was created along with a system of military districts. These were some of the most sweeping reforms in decades if not more. The Tsar also introduced a complex scheme of limited local autonomy for rural districts and large towns with elective assemblies (Zemstvo) who collected taxes among other things. Alexander during these reforms also re-established the Diet of Finland and elevated Finnish to a national language, encouraging Finnish Nationalism. It is unsure why he did this; according to some he wanted to test reforms in a homogenous and not densely populated area while others claim he wanted to reward the usually western oriented Finns for their services in the Crimean War. Regardless of his intentions, he was a popular Tsar among the Finns. In any case, Alexander II followed a generally liberal course when compared to his reactionary predecessor, but not in all fields. Russia was still a “peoples’ prison” with Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Uzbeks and so on and the Tsarist regime suppressed their nationalisms and support the Russians who were the largest group. The Russians for example had a Polish Revolt (1863-’64) squashed and many were executed or deported. The Polish language was banned from both oral and written use except in Congress Poland and the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian languages were banished from print. Alexander II was as much a reformer as he was a tyrant. Nonetheless, his reforms were of great benefit to Russia and the ethnic policies would change in the twentieth century, not under Alexander II.
Unsurprisingly, there were a number of assassination attempts, none of which succeeded, fortunately. The most serious one was in March 1881. Tsar Alexander II was known for many years to go the Manezh to review the Life Guards there every Sunday. He travelled both to and from the Manezh in a closed carriage accompanied by six Cossacks with a seventh sitting left of the coachman. The Tsar's carriage was followed by two sleighs carrying, among others, the chief of police and the chief of the Tsar's guards. The route, as always, was via the Catherine Canal and over the Pevchesky Bridge. The street was flanked by narrow sidewalks for the public where a young member of the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) movement stood, carrying a small white package which contained a bomb. Unbeknownst to him, the Tsar had fallen ill and would be bedridden for some time and so he had sent an aide to meet their with important ministers. The young revolutionary threw the bomb and the blast killed whoever was inside the carriage. The aide died, but the Tsar lived on to continue his most innovative reform. After the previous assassination attempt of 1880, Alexander II had appointed Count Loris-Melikov as head of the Supreme Executive Commission with extraordinary powers to combat the revolutionaries. He had given the Tsar the advice to form some sort of legislative body or parliament, an advice that the Emperor didn’t really like. Despite all the liberal reforms, he was still obstinate in playing the role of Russian Autocrat, but he was also pragmatic enough to see what had to be done. Russia was weak and backward compared to Western Europe. Its rivals had all surpassed it in power, save for the moribund Ottoman Empire which continued to go down the spiral of administrative dysfunction, conservatism, weak military power and restive minorities. The would-be killer of the Tsar was hanged and couldn’t prevent the reforms. The aristocracy was the main obstacle; they didn’t want to share their privileged position with European-style mass parties. They feared that they would slip into insignificance if the people were given a vote. They were supported by the Tsarevich, Alexander, whose reactionary ideas conflicted with the more liberal ones of his father. Months of bickering ensued, but Alexander II was able to demonstrate the need for reform to shut up the revolutionaries and appease the people which would arguably preserve the nobility’s privileges better than a violent revolution and end to the Tsarist regime. In 1882, the Duma was erected and elections were proclaimed.
Mass parties didn’t exist yet, but they soon formed although they had no political experience and were fragmented, quite different from the Western “three parties plus crumbs” model. The Tsar and the nobility would exploit this through a “divide and conquer” policy combined with a “carrot and stick” policy (through emphasizing the divides between parties while also offering rewards and/or punishment, the establishment made certain their privileges weren’t touched). There were liberals, socialists, Christian-Democrats and a smattering of bickering nationalist parties and one issue parties. Unlike in the west, these parties were often divided into three or two. The liberals had a split between left and right liberalism, the socialists between the moderate social-democrats and the radical communists and the Christian-Democrats between reactionaries and a more tolerant faction. Then there was the strong Russian nationalist party which supported Slavic nationalism, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Tsar. Eventually, after three months of political paralysis, a coalition was formed. The Russian system was more based on the Imperial German system (already aped quite successfully by Japan) than the British Westminster model. Nonetheless, a semblance of democracy had been created even if it was still dominated by the Tsar and the elites. As a compromise to the mass parties, the Tsar had the right to appoint ministers as he pleased after the elections, but not to dismiss them or disband the government (this was done by Alexander II to prevent his son from turning back the reforms some day). Out of the previous changes a system of tentative consultation and cooperation would emerge between the Tsar and the nobles on one hand and the powerful mass parties with support from large segments of the populace on the other hand, making the uneasy mix of ethnicities much more stable (setting Russia on a course away from tottering ruin and toward the twentieth century). Elections were henceforth to be held every six years and universal male suffrage from the age of 21 was introduced. At first glance, these first steps may seem small, but for a country that had known nothing but autocratic monarchy, it was a major leap forward. The next reform was a leap even more so. This reform was a constitution in which all the rights and duties of the people were laid down such as equality before the law, habeas corpus, freedom of speech and gathering and so on, making Russia a pseudo-democracy (still an improvement over Absolute monarchy).
Tsar Alexander II continued to reform, even more radical than before, this time in the economic field in which feudal Russia also lagged behind significantly. He abolished protectionist measures and tariffs to attract foreign investment, mainly from France, but also from America with which Russia had friendly relations. In the meantime a majority in the Russian Duma voted in favour of a law which made universal education up to the age of twelve compulsory, starting the massive educational reform of the Russian Empire. Illiteracy rates were extremely high in Russia when compared to the west and within one decade they would drop to a mere 10% of the population despite difficulties such as finding qualified teachers and funds. The social-democrats, in the meantime agitated for a shorter workday and so a ten hour workday was instated. In return, they accepted the relatively low wages of factory workers, miners and railroad workers among other things. Alexander pressed for railroad construction to improve Russian infrastructure and low wages were necessary to finance their construction. If this succeeded than Russia would be able to respond quicker to any military threat and mobilize faster. One of the results of the Tsar’s policies was that many exchanged a very labour intensive peasant existence for life in the cities. The industrial revolution which had started decades before in other countries now finally started to get hold on Russia too for all the problems it entailed. Russia had an ocean of unskilled cheap labour and many natural resources, and the end of protectionist measures encouraged investment from entrepreneurs and rich businessmen. By the end of the 19th century, industrialization would be quite well underway. Specifically mining and the heavy industrial sectors rose to prominence as Russia still lacked the basis for more advanced industries such as optics and electronics although this would change later. Production of coal and steel, the cornerstones of modern economies, rose rapidly to exceed British production by 1900. Besides these, Russia also produced textiles, machinery, weapons, petroleum, pig iron, iron ore, chemicals and electricity. This was the start of a period of economic growth whereas the rest of the world experienced a malaise in the 1880s. There were problems, though. Though there was enough unskilled labour, skilled labour was harder to come by and due to the sudden urbanisation, there was a serious housing shortage, forcing people to live in slums and small, overcrowded houses. The problem was remedied by better, but affordable “social housing” and a number of labour laws modelled on those of Bismarck (although the Russian versions were less extensive) curbed the rise of the communists and silenced any serious opposition from the semi-tolerated trade unions. By 1910, Russia would be the third largest industrial power of the world, behind the USA and Germany, eclipsing Britain and France.
This had its good effects on Russia too. Electricity slowly spread to all major cities giving Moscow and St. Petersburg streetlights by 1910, consumer goods became more widely available, affluence rose and mobility increased with a rapidly expanding network of roads, railroads, waterways and modern communications such as telegraphs and telephone lines (for example the St. Petersburg-Moscow-Vladivostok Telegraph Service). The railroad network alone increased from only a few thousand kilometres in 1856 to 60.000 kilometres in 1900 and 102.000 in 1912 with feats of engineering such as the Trans-Caspian, Turkestan-Siberian and Trans-Siberian railways. Nonetheless, the continuities and discrepancies between social layers shouldn’t be downplayed either; the reforms are often seriously overrated. Russia remained fundamentally authoritarian and a divide between those with power and those without it remained. Moreover, although living standards increased, they still fell short of western standards in large parts of the Russian Empire. The initiator of the reforms, Alexander II, eventually passed away in 1889 at the age of 71, after his son had tragically passed away in 1887 at the young age of 42 of a heart attack allegedly out of frustration for being kept off the throne and his inability to stop the liberal reforms (which was perhaps for the better). He died as one of the most celebrated Tsars in Russian history. According to the Pauline Laws, the Tsar was succeeded by his eldest male heir, in this case Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich who Alexander had been grooming to be his heir for some time after the death of his first heir Alexander. He was crowned Tsar Vladimir III, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, in the Moscow Dormition Cathedral and continued building on the system built by his father and would continue to modernize.
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. It will get more interesting... 