March 13, 1881: Tsar Alexander II is assassinated

Alexander Nikolaevich was born in Moscow on April 29, 1818. During his childhood, he traveled throughout his future empire under the tutelage of poet and scholar, Vasily Zhukovsky. Young Alexander embraced the liberal notions of freedom of thought, and expression being preached throughout Russia, especially in intellectual centers like St. Petersburg. After Russia's disastrous defeat in the Crimean War, he grew to detest military pomp and circumstance. In 1855, his father, Tsar Nicholas I died, and Alexander ascended to the throne.

Tsar Alexander II was a very progressive ruler, fostering the reforms he favored as a youth. In 1861, he abolished serfdom, a long held system of peasant servitude. He liberalized Russia's harsh penal code. He also expanded land rights to the recently released serfs. However even with Alexander's liberal reforms, his reign saw an increase in popular dissent throughout the country. The dissenters formed groups around the new ideology of anarchism. Anarchists believed that the natural state of humanity was to be free and freedom was only guaranteed without governments to impede it. Alexander as head of the Russian aristocracy became the main target of these groups. In 1879, a student named Alexander Soloviev opened fire on the Tsar as he walked through the park. Luckily, Soloviev missed all of his shots and was tackled to the ground by the Tsar's guards. He later confessed that he acted alone and wanted to kill the Tsar to make statement. The Tsar survived his brush with death, but his luck would run out two years later.

On March 13, 1881, Alexander was traveling in his carriage on his way to see the military roll call at Mikhailovsky Manege. As his carriage traveled slowly through the crowded streets, members of the Norodraya Volya (People's Will) anxiously approached it. Anarchist Nikolai Rysakov tossed a small white package at the carriage. It exploded five feet away from the carriage, nearly destroying it. However, the Tsar survived this first attempt, being protect from the blast by the carriage itself (a bulletproof gift from Napoleon III of France). The Tsar emerged from the carriage to survey the damage. At this point, anarchist Ignacy Hryniewiecki tossed another bomb at the Tsar. This bomb would prove fatal. The explosion threw the Tsar backward, mortally wounding him. His surviving guards ran to his aid. He was carried back to the Winter Palace, desperately clinging to life. He passed away there at 3:30 that afternoon.



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