Timeline 1855-1881 (Tsar Nicholas II)

Flowchart nodes

• 2nd March 1855 Alexander II becomes Tsar

• 1st Februrary 1856Russia defeated in the Crimean War(1853-1856)

• 1860State Bank established

• 3rd March 1861Alexander II signs the emancipation edict abolishing serfdom

• January 1863January uprising. Poles refused conscription and were dissatisfied because they weren't emancipated.

• 1863 Universities allowed to be self-governing bodies

• 1863The novel 'what is to be done' by Nikolai Chernyshevsky, an imprisoned revolutionary who was smuggled out. Book greatly affected Lenin

• 1864 Zemstva formed with responsibility for providing local services including health & education.

• 1865 Censorship reforms introduced with more relaxed guidelines

• 1864Judicial reforms introduced

• 1865Alexander II's heir Nicholas died of meningitis, making Alexander III heir.

• April 1866Alexander II's attempted assassination attempt failed

• July 1886Alexander II took a mistress, Catherine Dolgorukov 

• 1886 (after July)Alexander III married Princess Dagmar of Denmark. She converted to Orthodoxy and took the name  Maria Feodorovna. She was highly influential on Alexander III

• 1866 Many nobles & ministers felt that the reforms had gone too far, by allowing an influx of Western ideas. They persuaded Alexander to replace liberal ministers with more conservative ones.

• 1869Trial by Jury removed for political crimes

• 1869Catechism of a Revolutionary by Mikhail Bakunin and Sergei Nechaev was published. It argued for opponents of autocracy to keep up the struggle and press for revolution

• 1869Karl Marx's 'communist manifesto' translated into Russian.

• 1870(Elected town councils) Duma's were introduced to urban areas.

• 1870-1873Railway mania saw substantial Gov. investment in railway construction.

• 1871Dimitri Tolstoy, minister for education, insisted on a return to a classical curriculum. Universities were forbidden from including any subjects that encouraged critical thinking

• 1871Oil was pumped from sea port Baku

• 1872The Donetsk iron works was established

• 1872Karl Marx’s Das Kapital was published

• 1874- Military reformmilitary service extended to all classes, inhumane punishments abolished, military colleges set up and modern weapons introduced.

• 1874Populist ‘Go to the People’ campaign spread by nihilists and narodniks. Their aim was to persuade peasants to rise up against the regime by stirring up resentment at their lack of land and the taxes they had to pay.

• Autumn 1874More than 1,500 exponents of the Populist Movement had been arrested.

• 1874Another Populist ‘Go to the People’ campaign failed.

• 1877Trial of the 193 – populists were put on trial as populist revolutionaries who spread propaganda against the Russian government

• 1877A number of Populists that had evaded capture set up ‘Land and Liberty’ but it soon became clear that the peasants were not interested in joining a full scale revolution.

• April 1877Russo-Turkish War began. Russia declared war on Turkey in support of the Balkan States who were fighting against Turkish rule.

• 1878General Mezemtsev, head of the Third Section and Prince Kropotkin were assassinated by members of the ‘Land and Liberty’ group. The assassins escaped amid a wave of popular support.

• March 1878 The war with Turkey ended with the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano. The Russians had secured autonomy for the Balkan States and created Bulgaria under Russian protection. However, Britain and Austro-Hungary protested against this and Bulgaria was split under the Treaty of Berlin.

• 1879‘Land and Liberty’ split into two groups – Black Partition and The People’s Will

• 1879The People’s Will declared that the Tsar had to be removed.

• 1879-1880A poor harvest in 1879 led to the 1880 famine

• 1880Alexander II married his mistress Catherine, 40 days after his wife's death.

• 1880Numerous arrests weekend the black partition group

• 13th March 1881Alexander II assassinated by the 'people's will' group

• He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III who was much more conservative than his father.