HIS 241
Unit 11: Alexander II and the Great Reforms
Tsar
Alexander II of Russia (1818-1881, reigned 1855-1881). Along with
Peter the Great, Alexander II was by far the most important
reform-minded tsar of the Romanov dynasty. His reforms of the
1860s profoundly affected Russian society and charted a new course for
his country.
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What you must do this
unit
What you can do this
unit
- Read Professor Hammond's notes on the "Campaign to Assassinate the Tsar"
(*.pdf file). The Russian revolutionaries tried for quite some
time to assassinate Alexander II before finally succeeding in
1881. The story of the "hunt for the tsar" is actually very
fascinating, and here, in Professor Hammond's lecture notes, you can
get a brief account of what was involved.
- Read chapter 23 and chapter 24 from Mary Platt Parmele (1843-1911) A Short History of Russia
(1907, 4th edition). These are short chapters, and this is optional reading.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- Russia - Land Of The Tsars 17
- Russian Imperial History 17/20
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the url and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For 50 points maximum extra credit, read
Ivan Goncharov (1812-91), Oblomov (1858) and
write a one-page paper about why it took Oblomov so long to get out of bed in the morning.
- For 50 points maximum extra credit, read
W. Bruce Lincoln, The Great Reforms: Autocracy, Bureaucracy
and the Politics of Change in Imperial Russia (1990) and
write a one-page paper about why the tsar actually undertook the Great Reforms.
- For 50 points maximum extra credit, read
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-89), History of a Town (1869-70) and
write a one-page paper in which you explain why the book was so funny yet so realistic.
- For 25 points maximum extra credit, read the
Emancipation Manifesto (also
in Russian at schoolart.narod.ru/1861.html) and
write a paragraph that answers the question, What was the underlying political
rationale for the Emancipation?
- For 10 points maximum extra credit, submit the
answers to the Turgenev study questions.
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