Alexander II: Tsar Liberator?

Well, AII was a great Tsar who did change Russia for the better. However, he was determined to keep his power as an autocrat who rules over the entire country; this of course does not go with economic modernisation, which the Tsar was very keen to embrace in order to make Russia one of the great powers of the world.

After the Crimean War against the Turks, who were backed up by the Austrians, British,French and other small powers, the Russians felt hugely humiliated. This is mostly because Russia's great pride was it's military, which had, in this case failed it. The Russian military was not as up to date as the other European powers and the higher ranks were given based on status instead of achievement. 

The Crimean War was the main cause for Alexander II's reforms. But was he genuinely liberal, or did he just realise he had to reform Russia, not only for the stability of the vast Empire, but also for it to get back on it's feet and keep its status as one of the powerful nations of Europe. 

The abolition of the serfs: this is a subject of huge controversy: why did Alexander II abolish serfdom in 1861?

(Serfs were people owned by the nobility or landlords. Their owners could essentially do anything they wanted with the serfs, including torturing them and I'll-feeding them)

I shall leave you to decide, however these are the most likely reasons: 

The economy- serfdom could no longer support the economy. This was because not enough was being produced and industrialisation was not taking place as the serfs weren't allowed to move to the cities. 

AII was liberal and saw that it was morally wrong- maybe Alexander II, having toured the country and who was said to sympathise with the people saw how wrong it was for a person to be "owned" by another, and believed that this should be changed. 

The failing military- one couldn't reform the military with out reforming the serfdom system. This is because the military would select serfs who would then be in service for 25 years and then would be free (many died before owing to low life expectancy anyways). This 25 years system simply didn't work and had to be changed as soldiers lacked enthusiasm. However, if it was shortened , serfdom would be abolished within 3 to 5 generations.

The many revolts throughout the country- AII may have seen the unrest in the country at the time and known that the only way he would not be overthrown was to abolish serfdom. There was a lot of unrest as the serfs had fought for the country throughout the war, throughout the country side (not the Crimean war; the war against Napoleon), expecting to be rewarded by their freedom, however, this did not occur, causing a lot of anger. 

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