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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

The Russian Empire

The Abolition of Serfdom by Alphonse Mucha

The existing order of the possession of souls cannot remain unchanged." - Alexander II

Emperor Alexander I, who had led Russia through the Napoleonic Wars, died in 1825 without any children. The throne passed to his younger brother, Nicholas I, who reigned for twenty years. Nicholas expanded the Russian Empire to its greatest extent and held a conservative outlook, seeking to avoid any sort of social reform, which he believed could be a catalyst for revolution. The end of his reign saw Russia's defeat in the Crimean War at the hands of the United Kingdom, France, Ottoman Empire, and the north Italian country Piedmont-Sardinia.

Nicholas died in 1855 and was succeeded by his son, Alexander II. The new emperor recognized the need for modernization and social reform. One of his main goals was the emancipation of the serfs. Although this met resistance from Russian nobility, Alexander prophetically warned them, "It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until it begins to abolish by itself from below." In 1861, he passed a decree granting serfs full citizenship, including the right to own and manage their own property, for which Alexander became known as "the Tsar Liberator." He also signed reforms with the goal of industrializing the country, modernizing the military, and reforming the legal system.

However, after several assassination attempts by revolutionaries, the emperor grew more reactionary, and resisted further reforms. The revolutionaries would succeed in 1881 when Alexander II was killed by a bomb thrown by an assassin from a left-wing socialist group called "People's Will."

Alexander II was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II.