The sovereign, who went down in history with the epithet “Liberator”, fulfilled the centuries-old dream of the people about the abolition of serfdom, became a victim of immigrants from the same people, to the dispensation of whose life he put so much effort. His death raises many questions among historians. The name of the terrorist who threw the bomb is known, and, nevertheless, the question "Why did they kill Alexander 2?" to this day does not have a definite answer.
Reforms and their implications
The state activity of Alexander 2 can serve as an illustration to the famous proverb "Good road paved the road to hell." Having ascended the throne at the age of thirty-six, he made a series of radical transformations. He managed to complete the Crimean War, fatal for Russia, hopelessly failed by his father, Nicholas I. Abolished serfdom. Established universal military duty, introduced local self-government and carried out judicial reform. In addition, he managed to soften censorship and facilitate travel abroad.
However, the result of all his good undertakings, which went down in the history of Russia as the “Great Reforms”, was the impoverishment of the peasants, freed from slavery, but deprived of their main source of subsistence - land; the impoverishment of their former owners - nobles; corruption, covering all areas of government; a series of annoying mistakes in foreign policy. Obviously, in the aggregate of all these factors, one should look for the answer to the question of why Alexander 2 was killed.
The beginning of a series of attempts
In Russian history there was no monarch whom they tried so consistently and inexorably to kill. Six attempts were made on Alexander 2, the last of which turned out to be fatal for him. Even before Narodnaya Volya, the organization that killed Alexander 2, fully declared its existence, the list of attempts was opened by a single terrorist Dmitry Karakozov. On April 4, 1866 (all dates in the article are given in a new style), he shot at a sovereign who was leaving the gates of the Summer Garden on the Neva Embankment. The shot was unsuccessful, which saved the life of Alexander.
The next attempt was made on May 25, 1867 in Paris by the Polish emigrant Anton Berezovsky. This happened during the visit of the sovereign to the World Exhibition. The shooter missed. He subsequently explained his action by the desire to take revenge on the Russian monarch for the bloody suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863.
This was followed by the assassination attempt on April 14, 1879, committed by retired college assessor Alexander Solovyov, who was part of the Earth and Freedom organization. He managed to watch the sovereign in the Palace Square during his usual walk, which he made alone and without protection. The attacker fired five shots, but to no avail.
The debut of the Narodnaya Volya
On December 1 of the same year, the first attempt was made by the Volunteers who killed Alexander 2 two years later. They tried to blow up the Tsar’s train during his journey to Moscow. It was only a mistake that prevented the implementation of the plan, due to which the wrong composition was blown up, and the sovereign remained unharmed.
And finally, a series of failed attempts is completed by an explosion that thundered on February 17, 1880 on the ground floor of the Winter Palace. It was produced by a member of the organization "Narodnaya Volya" Stepan Khalturin. This was the last time that fate saved the life of the sovereign. This time, Alexander 2 was saved from death by being late for the dinner scheduled for that day, and the infernal machine worked in his absence. A week later, a special government commission was appointed to combat terrorism and maintain order in the country.
Blood on the canal embankment
Fatal for the sovereign was March 13, 1881. On this day, as usual, he returned from a divorce of troops in the Mikhailovsky Manege. Having visited the Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna on the road , Alexander, continuing the journey, went to the embankment of the Catherine’s Canal, where terrorists were waiting for him.
The name of the one who killed Alexander 2 is now well known to everyone. This is a Pole, a student of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute Ignatius Grinevitsky. He threw the bomb after his comrade Nikolai Rysakov, who also threw the infernal machine, but to no avail. When the sovereign got out of the damaged carriage after the first explosion, Grinevitsky threw a bomb under his feet. The mortally wounded emperor was taken to the Winter Palace, where he died without regaining consciousness.
Court opposition
In 1881, when Alexander 2 was killed, the work of the state commission, although outwardly giving the impression of intense activity, nevertheless, seemed very strange. Historians have reason to believe that the death of Alexander was the result of a conspiracy of the court elite, firstly, dissatisfied with the liberal reforms carried out by the emperor, and secondly, fearing the possible adoption of the constitution.
In addition, the former dignitaries, who lost their serfs and suffered significant losses, were among the highest dignitaries. They had a clear reason to hate the sovereign. If we consider the issue from such an angle, it can be quite understandable why Alexander 2 was killed.
Strange inaction of the security department
The actions of the Gendarmerie Office are legitimately perplexing. It is known that in the period preceding the murder, they received several reports about the impending terrorist attack, and even indicated the possible place of its conduct. However, there was no reaction to this. Moreover, when the law enforcers got information that Malaya Sadovaya - not far from the place where Alexander 2 was killed - was mined the path of his possible passage, they limited themselves to a cursory inspection of the room from which the digging was conducted.
Without noticing (or not considering it necessary to notice), the gendarmes allowed the terrorists to continue preparing the attack. It seemed that someone deliberately untied the hands of criminals, wanting to use them to implement their plans. Suspicion is also caused by the fact that when the tragedy took place, and the emperor, who had such a powerful opposition in the palace, was gone, all the participants in the attempt were arrested with amazing speed. There is no doubt that the gendarmes knew exactly which organization killed Alexander 2.
Succession Problems
In addition, in the question of who killed Alexander 2 (more precisely, he became the real organizer of the murder), one should take into account the dynastic crisis that erupted in the palace. His son and heir to the throne, the future autocrat Alexander III, had every reason to fear for his future. The fact is that at the beginning of that year, when Alexander 2 was killed, the sovereign, barely having stood the position forty days after the death of his lawful wife Maria Alexandrovna, married his favorite Princess Yekaterina Dolgorukova.
Considering that his father had repeatedly expressed his desire to remove him from the palace, Alexander Alexandrovich could well assume that he planned to transfer the crown not to him, but to a child born of a new marriage. This could be prevented only by unexpected death, and given the previous assassination attempts, it would not have aroused suspicion from anyone.
The first terrorist organization in modern history
The one who killed Tsar Alexander 2 (terrorist Ignatius Grinevitsky) was a member of the underground union "Narodnaya Volya". It is generally accepted that this was the first terrorist organization in modern history . She specialized exclusively in political killings, in which she saw the only possible way to change the existing system.
Its structure included people belonging to the most diverse sectors of society. For example, Sofia Perovskaya, who directly led the assassination attempt on the Catherine’s canal, was a noblewoman and even the daughter of a St. Petersburg governor, and her comrade-in-arms and hearty friend Zhelyabov came from a family of serfs.
Sentence to the king
Having chosen terror by achieving political goals, they at their first meeting, held in 1879, unanimously sentenced Alexander 2 to death and in subsequent years engaged in the implementation of their decision. For them, it was important to destroy the autocrat, regardless of where it happens and in which year. Alexander was killed by 2 fanatics who did not spare for the sake of utopian revolutionary ideas neither their lives, nor even those of others.
However, in that ill-fated spring, they had reasons to rush. The terrorists knew that the constitution was approved for March 14, and could not allow it, since, according to their calculations, the adoption of such an important historical document could reduce the level of social tension in the country and deprive their struggle of popular support. It was decided at all costs to end the king as soon as possible.
Revaluation of historical realities
The name of the one who killed Alexander 2 by throwing the infernal machine under his feet went down in history, but historians are unlikely to be able to prove the validity or failure of suspicion of involvement in the plot of the court circles and the heir to the throne. There are no documents shedding light on this issue. It is believed that the initiators of the assassination and its perpetrators were young people, members of the underground union "Narodnaya Volya".
During the years of Soviet power, all organizations fighting the autocracy were extolled as spokesmen for historical truth. Their actions were justified regardless of how much and whose blood was spilled. But if you ask the question today: “Who are the people who killed Alexander 2 — criminals or not?”, Then in most cases the answer will be yes.
Monument to the Tsar Liberator
History has proved that the goal does not always justify the means, and sometimes the fighter for a just cause is among the criminals. Therefore, the one who killed Alexander 2 did not become the pride of Russia. The streets of cities were not named after him, and no monuments were erected on the squares. When asked about the year in which Alexander 2 was killed, many will answer, but it will be difficult to name the killer.
At the same time, at the site of the death of the murdered emperor-liberator, a magnificent temple was built, popularly called the Savior on Blood and became an eternal monument to him. Over the years of atheistic obscurantism, he was repeatedly tried to demolish, but each time an invisible force averted the hand of the vandals. You can call it fate, you can call it the Finger of God, but the memory of Alexander 2, who broke the chains of serfdom, now shines with gold domes, and his murderers have gone into the darkness of history forever.