How did tsar nicholas 2 managed to extend its territory
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Nicholas, the eldest son of Alexander III, the Tsar of Russia, and Marie Feodorovna (formerly Princess Dagmar of Denmark), was born at Krasnoye Selo in May 1868. He had five younger siblings: Alexander (1869–1870), George (1871–1899), Xenia (1875–1960), Michael (1878–1918) and Olga (1882–1960).
The Romanov family had ruled Russia since 1613 when the leading nobles decided to place the sixteen-year-old Michael Romanov, a distant relative of Ivan the Terrible, on the throne. He took the title "Emperor and Autocrat of all Russia". The Emperor of Russia became known as the Tsar (Czar) and imposed autocratic rule - government by one man. All the other contenders were murdered. Unlike in other European countries, the Tsars of Russia did not take advice from an elected parliament. The country wa s run by a ten man ministerial council. Each minister was both appointed and dismissed by the Tsar. (1)
Alexander II became the sixteenth Romanov tsar in 1855. He attempted to bring in some political reforms. This included permitting each district to set up a Zemstvo. These were local councils with powers to provide roads, schools and medical services. However, the right to elect members was restricted to the wealthy. He also continued with rigid censorship and to take part in political discussion groups, could be punished by execution. The novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, was found guilty of this offence and was sentenced to death, but it was commuted and he was sent to Siberia instead. (2)
In 1861 Alexander issued his Emancipation Manifesto that proposed 17 legislative acts that would free the serfs in Russia. Alexander announced that personal serfdom would be abolished and all peasants would be able to buy land from their landlords. The State would advance the the money to the landlords and they would recover it from the peasants in 49 annual sums known as redemption payments. (3)
Victor Serge, the author of Year One of the Russian Revolution (1930), pointed out: "With a population of sixty-seven million, Russia had twenty-three million serfs belonging to 103,000 landlords. The arable land which the freed peasantry had to rent or buy was valued at about double its real value (342 million roubles instead of 180 million); yesterday's serfs discovered that, in becoming free, they were now hopelessly in debt." (4)
There were several attempts on the life of the Tsar by the People's Will terrorist group. On 1st March, 1881, Alexander II decided to travel along the Ekaterinsky Canal. An armed Cossack sat with the coach-driver and another six Cossacks followed on horseback. Behind them came a group of police officers in sledges. Perovskaya, who was stationed at the intersection between the two routes, gave the signal to Nikolai Rysakov and Timofei Mikhailov to throw their bombs at the Tsar's carriage. The bombs missed the carriage and instead landed amongst the Cossacks. The Tsar was unhurt but insisted on getting out of the carriage to check the condition of the injured men. (5)
While he was standing with the wounded Cossacks another terrorist, Ignatei Grinevitski, threw his bomb. Alexander was killed instantly and the explosion was so great that Grinevitski also died from the bomb blast. In the confusion Sophia Perovskaya was able to slip away. She told the surviving members of the group: "I think it was a success he was either killed or very badly wounded." Soon afterwards news reached Sophia that the Tsar had died at the scene of the bombing. (6)
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Alexander III became Tsar of Russia on the assassination of Alexander II. He immediately cancelled his father's plans to introduce a representative assembly and announced he had no intention of limiting his autocratic power. During his reign he followed a repressive policy against those seeking political reform. Alexander also pursued a policy of Russification of national minorities. This included imposing the Russian language and Russian schools on the German, Polish and Finnish peoples living in the Russian Empire.
Lionel Kochan, the author of Russia in Revolution (1970) pointed out: "In this new world of flux, when all manner of alien institutions and alien political and philosophic doctrines threatened Russia's precarious stability the autocracy was more necessary than ever as an agent of the status quo." Konstantin Pobedonostsev, the Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, the non-clerical official who supervised the Russian Orthodox Church, was Alexander's key adviser: "Pobedonostsev... initiated and justified the enforcement of uniformity of belief and conduct in every sphere of life.... On this basis, Pobedonostsev defended the censor and denounced freedom of the press as an avenue to the dissemination of falsehood." (7)