The government reforms imposed by Tsar Alexander II of Russia, often called the Great Reforms () by historians, were a series of major social, political, legal and governmental reforms in the Russian Empire carried out in the 1860s.

By far the most important was the emancipation reform of 1861 which freed the 23 million serfs from an inferior legal and social status, and helped them buy farmland. Many other reforms took place, including the: Relaxation of censorship of the media Judicial reform of Alexander II Modernization of the army and navy Zemstva and other innovations in local government Educational innovations including the expansion and reform of universities, elementary schools and secondary schools Reform of the Russian Orthodox Church Economic modernization impacting banking, railways, mining, manufacturing Emancipation of the peasants in Poland Improved the status of Jews. By 1865 reaction began, and some reforms were cut back. After the tsar's assassination in 1881, his successor Alexander III reversed many reforms.

Background

The Russian Empire in the 19th century was characterized by very conservative and reactionary policies issued by the autocratic tsars. The great exception came during the reign of Alexander II (1855–1881), especially the 1860s. By far the greatest and most unexpected was the abolition of serfdom, which affected 23 million of the Empire's population of 74 million. They belonged to the state, to monasteries and to 104,000 rich gentry landowners—it was the last group that was emancipated first.Wayne Vucinich, ed. The Peasant in Nineteenth-Century Russia (1968) p 41.

As soon as he became tsar Alexander set up numerous commissions that studied various proposals for reforms in practically every area. Experts debated in draft of the proposals, but Alexander made all the final decisions.

While the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was the most famous and dramatic reform, a host of new reforms affected diverse areas.W. Bruce Lincoln, The great reforms: Autocracy, bureaucracy, and the politics of change in imperial Russia (Northern Illinois UP, 1990).Ben Eklof, John Bushnell, and Larisa Georgievna Zakharova, eds. Russia's great reforms, 1855–1881 (Indiana UP, 1994). The tsar appointed Dmitry Milyutin to carry out significant reforms in the Russian armed forces. Further important changes were made concerning industry and commerce, and the new freedom thus afforded produced a large number of limited liability companies. Plans were formed for building a great network of railways, partly to develop the natural resources of the country, and partly to increase its power for defense and attack.Donald Mackenzie Wallace, "Alexander II (1818–1881)". The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1910). 1:pp. 559–61

A new judicial administration (1864), based on the French model, introduced security of tenure.An Introduction to Russian History (1976), edited by Robert Auty and Dimitri Obolensky, chapter by John Keep, p. 238 A new penal code and a greatly simplified system of civil and criminal procedure also came into operation.Wallace, "Alexander II" (1910) pp. 559–61. Reorganisation of the judiciary occurred to include trial in open court, with judges appointed for life, a jury system and the creation of justices of the peace to deal with minor offences at local level. Legal historian Sir Henry Maine credited Alexander II with the first great attempt since the time of Grotius to codify and humanise the usages of war.

Role of Tsar Alexander II

When Alexander II ascended the throne in 1855, the largely peasant conscripted army in the Crimean War was a national disgrace, and clearly demonstrated that despite its large size, the Russian army was no longer competitive to smaller industrial powers such as Britain and France. The demand for reform was widespread, but unorganized. There had been little consideration of how the complex economic, social, political, and legal roles of the service would be ended. The Tsar decided to abolish serfdom from above, setting up a new system whereby the state would be able to purchase farmland from the landowners and sell it to the freed serfs. The Tsar told Moscow nobles: "Better that the reform should come from above than wait until serfdom is abolished from below." Historians have debated Alexander's role. Soviet-era historians downplayed him, as they believed social forces caused history not individuals. Non-Marxist critics say he did not go far enough, especially since he rejected any parliament or duma.

His top advisors included Count Michael von Reutern, Finance Minister 1862–1878, and the brothers Nikolay Milyutin (1818–1872)W. Bruce Lincoln, Nikolai Miliutin, an enlightened Russian Bureaucrat (1977). and Field Marshal Dmitry Milyutin. Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin (1861–81) was responsible for sweeping military reforms. He was also instrumental in creating the framework for the Circassian genocide that led to the deaths of large numbers of Circassian refugees from 1861 to 1865.Forrest A. Miller, Dmitrii Miliutin and the Reform Era in Russia (1968)Walter Richmond, The Circassian Genocide (Rutgers UP, 2013), pp. 70–71, 131–34.online

Boris Chicherin (1828–1904) was a political philosopher who believed that Russia needed a strong, authoritative government by Alexander to make possible all the important reforms that did take place. He praised Alexander for the range of his fundamental reforms, arguing that the tsar was: called upon to execute one of the hardest tasks which can confront an autocratic ruler: to completely remodel the enormous state which had been entrusted to his care, to abolish an age-old order founded on slavery, to replace it with civic decency and freedom, to establish justice in a country which had never known the meaning of legality, to redesign the entire administration, to introduce freedom of the press in the context of untrammeled authority, to call new forces to life at every turn and set them on firm legal foundations, to put a repressed and humiliated society on its feet and to give it the chance to flex its muscles.Quoted in David Saunders, Russia in the age of reaction and reform: 1801–1881 (1992) p. 213

Censorship and glasnost In 1858 he removed most of the censorship restrictions on the media—newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets, resulting in an explosion of new publications. Thus Alexander achieved a degree of "glasnost" or open discussion, as the new media were often filled with discussions of reforms that were urgently needed.Seton-Watson, The Russian Empire 1801-1917 p 358.W. Bruce Lincoln, "The Problem of Glasnost'in Mid-Nineteenth Century Russian Politics." European Studies Review 11.2 (1981): 171-188.

Serfdom

Emancipation of the serfs 1861 The emancipation reform of 1861 that freed 23 million serfs was the single most important event in 19th-century Russian history, and the beginning of the end for the landed aristocracy's monopoly of power.Rieber ed. The politics of autocracy p 15. The decree ended the feudal obligations owed by serfs and allotted them land. The owners received Treasury bonds, which amounted to liquid capital. The peasants who stayed on the land were obliged to make redemption payments to their obshchina (the village mir, or commune) over a 49-year period.David Moon, The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: 1762-1907 (2001) pp 70-83.

Besides liberating the serfs from tight control by the gentry, emancipation brought a supply of free labour to the cities—including both peasants and gentry. This stimulated industry by providing a working class and the middle class grew in number and influence. All the land and property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir, the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and supervised the various holdings. Revolutionaries were not satisfied. They believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery by the bourgeoisie. Revolutionaries calling themselves Narodnaya Volya (the People's Will) made multiple attempts to assassinate Alexander II, and they succeeded in 1881.

Role of gentry

While most of the landowning gentry were conservative, the strong liberal element was more articulate. They vigorously argued that serfdom was severely restricting the entrepreneurial opportunities of the gentry. They proposed that emancipation of the serfs, financed by the government, would provide the gentry and the nobles with capital to invest in the sort of economic opportunities that were being demonstrated in Western Europe. These innovative schemes came especially from the liberal gentry in Tver province. The plan was to use government loan so that freed serfs could purchase farms from the gentry. The gentry would then have the capital to begin entirely new enterprises not restricted by the low returns to farming in the cold Russian climate. In late 1858 Alexander II set up a commission to study emancipation and the liberal ideas proved attractive. However the government bureaucrats shut out the liberals from the actual planning, much to their dismay. A compromise was reached whereby the gentry was given extensive new roles in zemstvos created to operate local government.Terrence Emmons, The Russian Landed Gentry and the Peasant Emancipation of 1861 (1968).

State serfs

The national government also owned serfs, called state serfs until they were emancipated in November 1866. The tsar promulgated a law "On the Land Device State Peasants", allowing the rural society to maintain land in their possession with the rights of "ownership". Redemption from the government of the property holdings was regulated by the law of 12 June 1886. After the implementation of these reforms, plots of state peasants were reduced by 10% in the central provinces and 44% – in the northern. Payments were calculated for 49½ years, and in some cases had to be made before 1931, but were canceled on 1 January 1907 as part of the Stolypin agrarian reform under the influence of the revolution in 1905.Roger Bartlett, "Serfdom and state power in imperial Russia." European History Quarterly 33.1 (2003): 29-64.

Judiciary

The judicial reforms were among the most successful and consistent of all his reforms.Ben Eklof, John Bushnell, and Larisa Georgievna Zakharova, eds. Russia's great reforms, 1855-1881 (Indiana UP, 1994) pp 214-46. A completely new court system and order of legal proceedings were established. The main results were the introduction of a unified judicial system instead of a cumbersome set of estates of the realm courts, and fundamental changes in criminal trials. The latter included the establishment of the principle of equality of the parties involved, the introduction of public hearings, the jury trial, and a professional advocate that had never existed in Russia. However, there were also problems, as certain obsolete institutions were not covered by the reform. Also, the reform was hindered by extrajudicial punishment, introduced on a widespread scale during the reigns of his successors – Alexander III and Nicholas II.Richard Wortman, "Russian monarchy and the rule of law: New considerations of the court reform of 1864." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 6.1 (2005): 145-170.