After the Crimean War ended in 1856 , many historians claim that the era of liberation and reform began in Russia. Even at the end of the eighteenth century, many scholars, thinkers and public people found reasons for the abolition of serfdom. And the grounds really were, at least, the elite of those times believed that serfdom was at least immoral. Even secret communities were created that fought against serfdom, but all this was in vain.
In 1855, a new king came to power. From childhood, Alexander II was accustomed to a humane attitude towards people, no matter what social status they were from. Nevertheless, the new ruler was not particularly in a hurry to carry out any reforms, although he perfectly understood that the technical backwardness of Russia, as well as serfdom, were the reasons that could be called the main ones for which the war was lost. Be that as it may, but in the end, Alexander II still came to the conclusion that reforms are really needed, and they need to be implemented as soon as possible.
So, the main prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom are as follows: it very strongly restrained the growth of industry, capital collected extremely slowly, and it was likely that Russia would become a secondary state.
The next reason is that, without exception, all the farms of the peasants could not stand afloat and went bankrupt, and this was all because the landlords too often increased corvee and the duty-bound peasants had no choice but to leave to work in the factories.
The third premise is that serfdom was the main reason why the Crimean War was lost. It was a fact that Russia has an extremely high military-technical weakness in comparison with other major powers. In addition, the peasants went bankrupt very quickly due to various duties and requisitions, many peasants simply ran away from the landowners.
Another reason is the growth of peasant uprisings. They, in fact, had nothing to lose, so the unrest began. The government was extremely afraid that the second “Pugachevschina” would not begin.
The fifth reason for the abolition of serfdom is that the ruling circles themselves were well aware that they were in such a state of affairs, as if on a powder keg, and reforms really needed to be carried out, otherwise it would not end in anything good.
Finally, the sixth reason that serfdom needed to be abolished was also because it was perceived by many as real slavery and almost all sections of society condemned this state of affairs.
These are far from all the reasons for the abolition of serfdom, but it was these six prerequisites that most worried the government.
It was in the first years of the reign of the new king that the law on amnesty was signed. By the terms of this document, many Decembrists, as well as participants in other uprisings, were freed, some military settlements were liquidated, although censorship remained, it noticeably weakened, and travel abroad became free.
Although the new government saw all the reasons for the abolition of serfdom, they did not have a clear plan of action. But in society at that time there were already notes of various figures of culture, history and literature who proposed their projects for a new reform. The most famous was the note by the historian Cavelin, who believed that the peasant reform should take into account the interests of not only the landlords, but also the peasants. In his opinion, these people should have received land for use, and the landowners - a reward for it.
Also, it was this man who most vividly described all the reasons for the abolition of serfdom, and the people really listened to his words. However, it is worth noting that the government was not particularly pleased with such activists, he was even fired from his job, but in fairness it is necessary to take into account the fact that it was his ideas that determined the main provisions of the future reform.