It can be said that he was a great historical figure without being a great man, that what he did was more important than what he was. His Great Reforms indeed rank in importance with those of Peter the Great (Peter I) and Vladimir Lenin (Lenin, Vladimir Ilich), yet the impact of his personality was much inferior to theirs. The tsar's place in history—a substantial one—is due almost entirely to his position as the absolute ruler of a vast empire at a critical stage in its development.
Assessment
The modernization of Russian institutions, though piecemeal, was extensive. In Alexander's reign, Russia built the base needed for emergence into capitalism and industrialization later in the century. At the same time, Russian expansion, especially in Asia, steadily gathered momentum. The sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 was outweighed in importance by the acquisition of the Maritime Province from China (1858 and 1860) and the founding of Vladivostok as Russia's far eastern capital (1860), the definitive subjugation of the Caucasus (in the 1860s), and the conquest of central Asia (Khiva, Bokhara, Turkestan) in the 1870s. The contribution of the reign to the development of what was to be described as Russia's “cotton imperialism” was immense. Here also, the reign of Alexander paved the way for the later phases of Russian imperialism in Asia.
Alexander's importance lies chiefly in his efforts to assist Russia's emergence from the past. To some extent, he was, of course, the representative of forces—intellectual, economic, and political—that were stronger than himself or, indeed, any single individual. After the Crimean War, the modernization of Russia had indeed become imperative if Russia was to retain its position as a major European power. But even within the context of a wider movement, the role of Alexander II, through his position as autocratic ruler, was a highly important one. The Great Reforms, both in what they achieved and in what they failed to do, bear the imprint of his personality. Unfortunately, however, by placing great power in the hands of the influential reactionary minister K.P. Pobedonostsev (Pobedonostsev, Konstantin Petrovich)—whom he appointed minister for church affairs (procurator of the Holy Synod) and entrusted with the education of his son and heir, the future Alexander III—Alexander II, perhaps unwittingly, did much to frustrate his own reforming policies and to set Russia finally on the road to revolution.
W.E. Mosse
Additional Reading
S.S. Tatishchev, Imperator Aleksandr II, 2 vol. (1903), the standard life of Alexander II, is the prerevolutionary official biography. The fullest modern biography is C. de Grunwald, Le Tsar Alexandre II et son temps (1963). A short, concise life of the Emperor is W.E. Mosse, Alexander II and the Modernization of Russia (1958). Two popular biographies are S. Graham, Alexander II: Tsar of Russia (1935); and Martha E. Almedingen, The Emperor Alexander II (1962).
▪ king of Scotland
born August 24, 1198, Haddington, Lothian [now in East Lothian], Scotland
died July 8, 1249, Kerrera Island [now in Argyll and Bute]
king of Scotland from 1214 to 1249; he maintained peace with England and greatly strengthened the Scottish monarchy.
Alexander came to the throne on the death of his father, William I (the Lion; reigned 1165–1214). When the English barons rebelled against King John (reigned 1199–1216) in 1215, Alexander sided with the insurgents in the hope of regaining territory he claimed in northern England. After the rebellion collapsed in 1217, he did homage to King Henry III (reigned 1216–72), and in 1221 he married Henry's sister, Joan (d. 1238). In 1237 Henry and Alexander concluded the Peace of York, an agreement by which the Scots king abandoned his claim to land in England but received in exchange several English estates. The boundary of Scotland was fixed approximately at its present location.
Meanwhile, Alexander was suppressing rebellious Scots lords and consolidating his rule over parts of Scotland that had hitherto only nominally acknowledged royal authority. In 1222 he subjugated Argyll. He died as he was preparing to conquer the Norwegian-held islands along Scotland's west coast.
▪ pope
also called (until 1061) Anselm of Baggio or Anselm of Lucca , Italian Anselmo da Baggio or Anselmo di Lucca
born , Baggio, near Milan [Italy]
died April 21, 1073, Rome
pope from 1061 to 1073.
At Bec in Normandy he studied under the Benedictine scholar Lanfranc, who later became archbishop of Canterbury. As bishop of Lucca, Anselm worked for the abolition of simony and the enforcement of clerical celibacy. His election as Pope Alexander II was opposed by the German court, which nominated Peter Cadalus of Parma as Honorius II. In 1062 the antipope was dropped by the German regents, and the schism ceased to be important. In cooperation with Hildebrand (later Pope Gregory VII (Gregory VII, Saint)) and St. Peter Damian (Peter Damian, Saint), Alexander promoted the Gregorian Reform movement begun by Pope Leo IX (Leo IX, Saint) in 1049. He also bestowed his blessing on William the Conqueror (William I)'s invasion of England in 1066.
Crimean War
▪ Eurasian history [1853–56]
(October 1853–February 1856), war fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between the Russians and the British, French, and Ottoman (Ottoman Empire) Turkish, with support, from January 1855, by the army of Sardinia-Piedmont (Sardinia). The war arose from the conflict of great powers in the Middle East and was more directly caused by Russian demands to exercise protection over the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman sultan. Another major factor was the dispute between Russia and France over the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in the holy places in Palestine.
Supported by Britain, the Turks took a firm stand against the Russians, who occupied the Danubian principalities (modern Romania) on the Russo-Turkish border in July 1853. The British fleet was ordered to Constantinople (Istanbul) on September 23. On October 4 the Turks declared war on Russia and in the same month opened an offensive against the Russians in the Danubian principalities. After the Russian Black Sea fleet destroyed a Turkish squadron at Sinope, on the Turkish side of the Black Sea, the British and French fleets entered the Black Sea on Jan. 3, 1854, to protect Turkish transports. On March 28, Britain and France declared war on Russia. To satisfy Austria and avoid having that country also enter the war, Russia evacuated the Danubian principalities. Austria occupied them in August 1854. In September 1854 the allies landed troops in Russian Crimea, on the north shore of the Black Sea, and began a year-long siege of the Russian fortress of Sevastopol (Sevastopol, Siege of). Major engagements were fought at the Alma River on September 20, at Balaklava on October 25, and at Inkerman on November 5. On Jan. 26, 1855, Sardinia-Piedmont entered the war and sent 10,000 troops. Finally, on Sept. 11, 1855, three days after a successful French assault on the Malakhov, a major strongpoint in the Russian defenses, the Russians blew up the forts, sank the ships, and evacuated Sevastopol. Secondary operations of the war were conducted in the Caucasus and in the Baltic Sea.
After Austria threatened to join the allies, Russia accepted preliminary peace terms on Feb. 1, 1856. The Congress of Paris worked out the final settlement from February 25 to March 30. The resulting Treaty of Paris (Paris, Treaty of), signed on March 30, 1856, guaranteed the integrity of Ottoman Turkey and obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube. The Black Sea was neutralized, and the Danube River was opened to the shipping of all nations. The Crimean War was managed and commanded very poorly on both sides. Disease accounted for a disproportionate number of the approximately 250,000 men lost by each side.