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Alexander II
Zar Alexander II.jpg (cropped).jpg
Emperor of Russia
Reign 2 March 1855 – 13 March 1881
Coronation 7 September 1856
Predecessor Nicholas I
Successor Alexander III
Born (1818-04-29)29 April 1818
Moscow Kremlin, Moscow, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Died 13 March 1881(1881-03-13) (aged 62)
Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Burial Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Consort
Marie of Hesse
​
​
(m. 1841; died 1880)​
Issue
among others...
  • Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna
  • Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich
  • Alexander III of Russia
  • Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich
  • Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich
  • Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
  • Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
  • Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich
  • George Yuryevsky
  • Catherine Yurievskaya
Full name
Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov
House Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father Nicholas I of Russia
Mother Charlotte of Prussia
Religion Russian Orthodox
Signature Alexander II's signature

Alexander II (29 April 1818 – 13 March 1881) was the Emperor of Russia from 2 March 1855 until his assassination on 13 March 1881. He was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland.

Alexander's most significant reform as Emperor was emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator. The tsar was responsible for other reforms, including reorganising the judicial system, setting up elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoting local self-government through the zemstvo system, imposing universal military service, ending some privileges of the nobility, and promoting university education. After an assassination attempt in 1866, Alexander adopted a somewhat more reactionary stance until his death.

Alexander pivoted towards foreign policy and sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, fearing the remote colony would fall into British hands if there were another war. He sought peace, moved away from bellicose France when Napoleon III fell in 1871, and in 1872 joined with Germany and Austria in the League of the Three Emperors that stabilized the European situation. Despite his otherwise pacifist foreign policy, he fought a brief war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, pursued further expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus, and conquered Turkestan. Although disappointed by the results of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Alexander abided by that agreement. Among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia. Alexander was proposing additional parliamentary reforms to counter the rise of nascent revolutionary and anarchistic movements when he was assassinated in 1881.

Images for kids

  • Entry Processin

    Procession of Alexander II into Dormition Cathedral from the Red Porch during his coronation

  • Mihály Zichy - Coronation of Alexander II (1857, Hermitage) detail 01

    The coronation of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna on 26 August/7 September 1856 at the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, painting by Mihály Zichy. The painting depicts the moment when the Emperor crowned the Empress.

  • Alexander Iwanowitsch Morosow 001

    Leaving church in Pskov, 1864

  • Alaska Purchase (hi-res)

    The US$7.2 million check used to pay for Russian Alaska in 1867

  • Tsar Alexander II and Kaser Wilhelm I

    Alexander II with his uncle, German Emperor William I on a hunting trip together, 1872

  • Bitwa pod Mrzygłodem 1863

    Battle of Mrzygłód during the January Uprising in 1863

  • Sofia winter (Tsar Liberator Monument, sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi) - panoramio

    The Monument to the Tsar Liberator in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria

  • Imam Shamil surrendered to Count Baryatinsky on August 25, 1859 by Kivshenko, Alexei Danilovich

    Imam Shamil surrendered to Count Baryatinsky on 25 August 1859.

  • Nikolai-dmitriev-orenburgsky-grand-prince-nikolai-nikolaevich-enters-trnovo-in-1877-1885

    In 1877, Russian general Iosif Gurko liberated Veliko Tarnovo, ending the 480-year rule of the Ottoman Empire.

  • Slsa1070 31 3

    Alexander II, also known as the Grand Duke of Finland, was well regarded among the majority of Finns. Statue of Alexander II at the Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland, flowered on 13 March 1899, the day of the commemoration of the emperor's death.

  • Cartetsar

    Emperor Alexander II and his wife, Empress Maria, with their son, the future Alexander III by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky 1870

  • Tsar Alexander II 1881

    Tsar Alexander II, photo by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, 1881 (The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada)

  • Alexander II by E.Botman (1856, Russian museum)

    Portrait of Alexander II, 1856

  • Alexander II of Russia by Monogrammist V.G. (1888, Hermitage) detail

    Portrait of Emperor Alexander II wearing the greatcoat and cap of the Imperial Horse-Guards Regiment. c. 1865

  • Alexander II S L Levitsky

    Alexander II, by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, 1860 (The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada)

  • Alexander II of Russia by K.Makovskiy (1881, GTG)

    Alexander II, portrait by Konstantin Makovsky. 1881

  • Tsar-liberator-imagesfrombulgaria

    The Monument to the Tsar Liberator in Sofia commemorates Alexander II's decisive role in the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.

  • Chenstokhov

    A monument to Alexander II in Częstochowa, the spiritual heart of Poland.

  • Monument of Alexander II of Russia in Plovdiv

    A monument to Alexander II in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

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