Alexander II - The Last Great Tsar [antikvár]

Intro duLlionThis may be the most important era in the thousand-year existence of Russia.GRAND DUKE KONSTANTIN NIKOLAYEVICH DIARY, JANUARY 1, 1861If we perish, there will be others.TERRORIST ANDREI ZHELYABOVThe history of Tsar Alexander II is paradoxical. VVlexander II dreamed of bringing Russia into the circle of European states, leading the country toward a European constitution. He gave the eternal Russian pendulum that swings between West and East a definite push to the West. Yet this Westernizing tsar is little known in the West.Nevertheless, Alexander II was the greatest reformer tsar since Peter the Great. The Russian Lincoln, he put an end to a thousand years of Russian slavery by emancipating the serfs.He did more than free 23 million Russian slaves; he reformed Russian life by changing the justice system, the army, and the very form of government. He was the father of the first Russian perestroika, which brought about a great spiritual awakening. "The Thaw" . . . "The Great Icebreaker" . . . "The Russian Renaissance" were some of the terms for Alexanders reign used by the press. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Mendeleyev only begin the list of stars in the galaxy of famous writers and scientists who created their masterworks in the days of Alexander II."This may be the most important era in the thousand-year existence of Russia," wrote the tsar's brother. Grand Duke Konstantin Niko-layevich, in his diary.