On this day, 144 years ago, on March 13, 1881 (February 14, 1881 in the lunar calendar), Russian Tsar Alexander II passed away. Alexander II Nikolaevich (April 17, 1818-March 13, 1881, reigned 1855 - 1881) was the emperor of the Russian Empire and the eldest son of Nicholas I. There is hostility between farmers and their landlords, and as a result, many things have happened that do not obey the control of landlords... Sooner or later we will solve this problem... It is much better to solve it from above than from below. The crown gave me a sense of power. If the crown was lost, it would be a disaster for my people and nation-Alexander II; Any further delay would only stir up anger and, under general circumstances, would only have harmful and disastrous consequences for the entire country, especially the landlords. -Alexander II talked about the need for serfdom reform. In 1814, when Alexander I led an army to gallop across the land of France, the glory of Tsar Russia, as the main force in defeating Napoleon, also reached its peak. For the next 40 years, Russia, as the backbone of the "Holy Alliance", played the role of "European Gendarmerie", including sending troops to suppress the Hungarian Revolution, which had nothing to do with it. However, the Crimean War of 1853-1856 caused Tsarist Russia to fall from the top of glory to the bottom of shame. It originally wanted to bite off another piece of fat from Turkey, its defeated opponent for many years, but did not expect to encounter excessive interference from Britain and France. In this war, Tsarist Russia's backwardness and corruption were fully exposed. From gun to ship to road, it was far behind Britain and France. Tsar Nicholas I suffered a mental breakdown despite repeated defeats in battle and committed suicide by taking poison. The task of revitalizing the eldest empire fell to his son, Alexander II. Alexander II was trained as an heir to the throne since he was a child. Under the influence of his teacher, Zhukovsky, who advocated a more relaxed monarchy, he was also able to accept some democratic ideas. In his youth, he traveled around European countries, broadening his horizons and allowing him to reflect more on the reality of Russia. Alexander II understood that backward serfdom had become the root cause of Russia's backwardness. At that time, 90% of Russia's population were serfs, completely bound to the land, and production efficiency was very low. It also seriously hindered the development of capitalism based on free wage labor. However, serfdom has been closely integrated with the foundation of Tsar Russia for hundreds of years, so that many far-sighted masters in the past, including Peter I and Catherine II, dare not open this Pandora's box. However, history has placed the responsibility inexorably before Alexander II. After the Crimean War, the Russian serf resistance movement rose year by year. If reform is delayed, the problem will become more serious. In fact, Alexander had been determined to implement reforms from the day he ascended the throne. In 1857, he established the "General Committee for Farmers Affairs" and began to prepare for reforms. In March 1861, the tsar finally issued an edict to reform. There are two core points of the reform: first, it announced the abolition of serfdom, and all serfs were given personal freedom, including migration, marriage, change of occupation, ownership of property, and conclusion of contracts; The second is to stipulate that all land is owned by landlords. Farmers buy a small piece of land according to regulations. The ransom amount is two or three times the actual price of the land. Farmers pay part of it, and the rest is paid by the government in the form of paid bonds. Farmers must pay the principal and interest within 49 years. There are other aspects of the reform, such as organizing free farmers into communes, whose public officials are elected by farmers but must obey the management of local administrative agencies. From Alexander's reform articles, we can fully see his good intentions. The key after the liberation of serfs was the land issue. It is impossible in a reform (not a revolution) to liberate serfs along with the land and allow serfs to obtain the land they have been operating for free. Because the property rights of the land were originally owned by the serf owners, the serfs 'management rights were combined with their serf obligations. Alexander wanted to satisfy both feudal aristocrats and serfs to the greatest extent possible, and maintain stability in the domestic situation while undergoing great changes. Letting serfs obtain land through redemption may be the best choice. To say that Russia's 1861 reform was just a plunder of farmers by feudal lords is obviously an irresponsible interpretation of history. After liberation, many serfs were still unable to stand on their own economically due to reasons such as land reduction and had to accept exploitation by landlords through feudal land rent. The reform was not complete, but after all, the most difficult step had been taken. The most far-reaching impact of the reform was the promotion of the development of capitalism. A large number of farmers who had gained free identities but lacked land poured into cities to work. In order to adapt to the changes in the economic foundation, the superstructure also made some reforms, such as the establishment of local self-government agencies and urban self-government bureaus, the introduction of the jury system in the judiciary, and the granting of extensive autonomy to universities. Military reform began in 1874. However, in the later period of Alexander's rule, his thoughts became increasingly conservative, and Russia was still far from being a true constitutionalism. The liberated farmers became more intense as the loss of land, the payment of ransoms, and the chaos brought about by the reform undermined their previous sense of stability. In 1860, there were 126 peasant riots, and the number increased to 1176 in the year of the reform in 1861. However, Russia's political situation remained generally stable, and finally passed through this period of chaos and pain to move into a new era. Alexander himself became a victim of opening Pandora's Box, and he became one of the most assassinated emperors in European history. From 1866 to 1880, Alexander II was subjected to at least five carefully planned assassination attempts. In 1879, the radical organization Public Opinion Party sentenced Alexander II to death and formed an assassination organization to train specialized assassins. After two attempted assassinations, the Public Opinion Party's unremitting efforts finally paid off. On March 1, 1881, assassins ambushed at the corner of the Winter Palace threw bombs at the passing Tsar's carriage, seriously injuring the Tsar's guards. The tsar thought he had escaped another assassination attempt. He got out of the carriage, wanting to check the injured person's injuries and say a few words of comfort. At this time, another bomb flew over. The tsar fell in a pool of blood and eventually bled to death. His reforms became an important inducement for his murder, which may have been unexpected to him. During the era of Alexander II, Russia was once shut out of Europe due to the defeat of the Crimean War and turned its aggressive ambitions to the East. Tsarist Russia took advantage of the opportunity when the Qing government of China was trapped in the Second Opium War, used deception and threat of force to seize a large area of northeastern China through the "China-Russia Treaty of Aihui" and the "China-Russia Beijing Treaty." 60-70 In the 1990s, Russia successively conquered the three khanates of Khokand, Bukhara, and Khiva in Central Asia, and basically established its rule over Central Asia. After the Franco-Prussian War, Russia became active again in Europe, forming the "Three Emperors Alliance" with Prussia and Austria in 1873. Alexander II's influence on history was mainly through the 1861 reform, which finally broke through the biggest bottleneck hindering Russia's development. The development of capitalism in Russia accelerated significantly in the late 19th century. History is the fairest judgment. Although Alexander II's reforms had various side effects, they ultimately proved to promote historical progress. He ranks 61st in this ranking. Comments: Although Alexander's reform was not voluntary, the situation at that time was not yet imminent. Alexander could, like some tyrants in history, strengthen suppression to maintain his rule. This would be a misfortune for the entire country. Perhaps no reform in history was more difficult than Russia's 1861 reform, because it almost meant taking on the fundamental interests of the country's vested interests. Alexander II chose to open Pandora's Box, and because of this, the problems that arose in his reforms should be fully understood.