Russian Monarch. The son of Czar Nicholas I, he became Emperor of Russia on February 9, 1855 after the death of his father. As Czar Alexander II, he began a series of reforms as a result of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War, which included trial by jury, reduction of censorship, and establishment of town councils. He also reformed the Imperial budget process which included more audits. The Imperial Army was included in the reforms by modernizing the training and education of the soldiers (prior to this reform, the army was supplied with out-of-date weapons and the soldiers' training centered on parade drills instead of combat). In 1861 he abolished serfdom, which had oppressed millions of Russian peasants with poverty and over taxation, in what is considered his greatest and longest lasting reform achievement. Prior to this abolition, the peasants of Russian were bound to the land, which was usually owned by the State or a noble. He supported the Union during the American Civil War, sending the Russian fleet to the United States in a show of solidarity. In 1867 he approved the sale of the Russian territory of Alaska in North America to the United States, mainly on the fear it would eventually be lost be seizure by the United Kingdom in case of another war. He had survived four separate assassination attempts by Russian revolutionaries before being killed in St. Petersburg, Russia in March 1881 by a bomb thrown by radical Ignacy Hryniewiecki, who was mortally wounded in the same explosion. Five other conspirators, who had hoped the death of Czar Alexander II would ignite a peasant revolution, were caught, and eventually executed. The assassination was witnessed by his son and successor, Czar Alexander III, and his grandson, who would become Czar Nicholas II. The reform movement enacted by Alexander II ended with his death, and his successors reversed many of the freedoms he had implemented, determining suppression would be the way they would avoid Alexander II's fate. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg was built on the site of the Czar's assassination.

Russian Monarch. The son of Czar Nicholas I, he became Emperor of Russia on February 9, 1855 after the death of his father. As Czar Alexander II, he began a series of reforms as a result of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War, which included trial by jury, reduction of censorship, and establishment of town councils. He also reformed the Imperial budget process which included more audits. The Imperial Army was included in the reforms by modernizing the training and education of the soldiers (prior to this reform, the army was supplied with out-of-date weapons and the soldiers' training centered on parade drills instead of combat). In 1861 he abolished serfdom, which had oppressed millions of Russian peasants with poverty and over taxation, in what is considered his greatest and longest lasting reform achievement. Prior to this abolition, the peasants of Russian were bound to the land, which was usually owned by the State or a noble. He supported the Union during the American Civil War, sending the Russian fleet to the United States in a show of solidarity. In 1867 he approved the sale of the Russian territory of Alaska in North America to the United States, mainly on the fear it would eventually be lost be seizure by the United Kingdom in case of another war. He had survived four separate assassination attempts by Russian revolutionaries before being killed in St. Petersburg, Russia in March 1881 by a bomb thrown by radical Ignacy Hryniewiecki, who was mortally wounded in the same explosion. Five other conspirators, who had hoped the death of Czar Alexander II would ignite a peasant revolution, were caught, and eventually executed. The assassination was witnessed by his son and successor, Czar Alexander III, and his grandson, who would become Czar Nicholas II. The reform movement enacted by Alexander II ended with his death, and his successors reversed many of the freedoms he had implemented, determining suppression would be the way they would avoid Alexander II's fate. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg was built on the site of the Czar's assassination.

Bio by: John Hinkle