Answer to Question #304877 in History for Marno

Question

Analyze and discuss this statement: Alexander II became one of the most highly sought after target of the People's Will and he was eventually assissinated on 1 March 1881

Answer 1

Alexander II is largely remembered for two events his decision to emancipate the serfs and his assassination at the hands of revolutionaries. That the same tsar who finally ended serfdom in Russia would become the only tsar to be assassinated by political terrorists illustrates the turbulence of his time and its contradictions.  The Black Repartition focused on the land question, while the People's Will sought to establish a new political system in Russia by assassinating the tsar. After numerous attempts, they succeeded in their quest on March 1, 1881. As Alexander rode near the Catherine Canal, a bomb went off near the tsar's carriage, injuring several people. Alexander stepped out to inspect the damage when a second bomb landed at his feet and exploded. He was carried to the Winter Palace, where he died from massive blood loss.

Alexander II was on his way to discuss the possibility of establishing a national assembly and a new constitution. This final reform would not be completed, and Alexander's era ended with him. The tsar's son and grandson, the future Alexander III and Nicholas II, were at the deathbed, and the sight of the autocrat dying as a result of his reforms would shape their respective rules. As Larissa Zakharova has concluded, the act of March 1 initiated the bloody trail to Russia's tragic twentieth century. Alexander II's tragedy became Russia's.