Alexander II vs Alexander III

In 1917 the Russian revolution had began, this was the biggest factor in the fall of the Romanov dynasty. The white Russians arrested the tsarist and abdicated him from his throne putting Nicholas and his family on house arrest and he was no longer known as the Tsar, replacing him with a Bolshevik government. The red Russians had captured Nicholas and his family causing a civil war between the white and red Russians. In July 1918 Lenin and his red Russian squad had won the civil war, and shot Nicholas and his family, leaving Russia a communist country until the 1990’s.

By 1881, Alexander destroyed the proposals of reform that his father had created. He forced the reforming ministers to resign and made it very clear that his rule was one of autocracy. Met by many with dislike, however, Alexander did crush any hope of a peaceful reform by the Russian people and by doing so made it less likely that there would be opposition to him, as the people were unwilling to use violence for their cause.

The eventual growth of extreme dislike toward the Romanov dynasty was stimulated by Tsar Alexander II and his

Taking control of autocratic Russia in 1855, Alexander II was the successor to his father Tsar Nicolas I having been trained his entire life to take on the role. During his reign as Tsar, Alexander passed many reforms all of which varied in political, social and economic stance. His most famous reform was deemed to be that of the emancipation of the Serfs, gaining him the title ‘Tsar Liberator’ as many believed that his effort to free those who had be bound by slavery, made him a hero. However some question whether he truly deserved this title as many reforms became reactional and many initially liberating reforms were revoked in order to ensure the security of the autocracy. As

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority” (Acton Institute 1). Alexander the Great was and absolute ruler that had both influence and authority; he abused both which is why many of his subjects followed him out of fear and not loyalty. Rulers are defined by how they use their power, the decisions’ they make; and how those decisions will affect the people. In my essay, I will analyze two viewpoints’ made by two professors and their viewpoints about Alexander III and whether or not he was deserving of the title “The Great”.

In many respects, there is no doubt that Alexander III was the most effective Tsar in such the short reign that he had. He was referred to as a reactionary, unlike his father Alexander II who was known as a reformer. He managed to please the people with his Russian figure and attitude, he changed their attitude and he made tsarism look all the better, all in a short period of time. Despite their different policies, they had the same goals/ambitions inside their head in the long run, and that was to strengthen Autocracy in the Russian empire but Alexander III did this by reversing what his father had done as he felt he knew

Both Peter the Great and Catherine the Great were the former Emperors of Russia. They were the Russians ruler before the 17th century and also they were followers of Ivan IV. They used mysteries, dishonesty, etc for the foundation of their time, and they never thought that the Russia will have modernization. Mostly, the change came when Peter the Great and Catherine the Great came to power. Also, She expanded the territory of the Russian Empire and had improved as time pass by, and policy was following from the Westernization.

In order to actually understand how Alexander the Great came to power, we must first explore into his background. He was born around 356 B.C.E in July within the capital city of Macedonia. When he was just a small child, he spent his time observing his father, Phillip the II, who during that time was the current leader of Macedonia. His father was a force to be reckoned with, and scholars like to link this to Alexander’s future success within the empire. Along with watching his father, little Alexander at the age of 13, eventually gained a very smart and intelligent tutor by the name of Aristotle. Of which, was a very successful philosopher that taught him literature and rhetoric. It would later serve a purpose in increasing Alexander’s interest in many subjects such as science, medicine and philosophy. This process of his training would continue on until he reached the age of 16. Later

It is particularly difficult to assess Alexander as a statesman, for his views as a statesman were in a state of flux when he died. His political creations were still in a developmental stage and had as yet take definite shape, but Alexander did display political wisdom by separating financial, civil and military power. One of his great achievements was his financial measure in reforming the coinage and bringing into line with each other the decimal currency of Persia with the duodecimal system of Macedonia. This was not only a great contribution to economic prosperity throughout the empire, but also impeded Athens as competition and involved her as a trading partner instead. Alexander also entertained a grandiose plan for uniting the East and the West in a world empire of racial equality. Unfortunately, this did not succeed as he planned. Nevertheless, the King's conquest and findings of

On the 20th October 1894 Nicholas II ascended the throne as tsar of Russia. He idolised the concept of continuing to rule Russia under the autocratic system, in the same way his father and predecessor Alexander III had done so. However, Nicholas lacked the qualities and characters of the autocratic style of leadership. The

Alexander II and Alexander III were both Tsars of Russia and they both believed in the divine will to rule the people. However Alexander II is said to be more liberal than Alexander III though they were both conservative in one way or the other in their social and economic policies because they both wanted to remain with the power over the people. Alexander II was more relaxed in his polices ‘’Great Reformer’’ and Alexander III was more strict ‘’great reactionary’’. After the defeat in the Crimean defeat Alexander II introduced very many reforms in Russia because he had seen how backward Russia was and how all the other

1855 was a tough time for Alexander II to take the throne. Russia was in the middle of a costly war

Romm did go into much detail about Alexander: he explained Alexander’s family history, his top advisors, his love life, his illness, and over all Alexander’s personality. Romm describes Alexander’s family history and how he came to assume the throne after his father was assassinated. Romm provided historical evidence of Alexander’s family through the opening of Alexander’s tombs and sculptures found of other members of his family. Also mentioned were Alexander’s top military advisors and closest friends, known as the “Successors.” Detail was provided that they did not try to succeed the king for the first seven years after Alexander’s death. They wanted his power, but not the throne. This supported the author’s idea of people desiring power but how they were conflicted with their respect for Alexander. Romm discussed Alexander’s marriages as well as his quest to conquer, showing a different side of Alexander. Alexander is mostly portrayed with a great work ethic, imbued with a great desire. Through his last days, however, Romm expresses more of

Tsar Alexander II and III while father and son had very different ambitions as Tsar and different view for the future of the empire. Alexander III succeeded to his father’s throne in 1894. His reign is looked upon by most historians as a time of repression that saw the undoing of many of the reforms carried out by his father. Certainly that was a time of great economic and social change but these had led, in the West of the nation, great pressure on political system. However Alexander was deeply suspicious of the direction in which his father had taken Russia and the internal reforms that he instituted were designed to correct what he saw as the too-liberal tendencies of his father's reign.

Alexander the Great is remembered as a conquering man who built one of the largest empires. Some describe him as a man with a vision of world harmony. Others see him as a blood thirsty man with a mental illness. One thing that cannot be argued is that he and his empire are fascinating studies. From his rise to power to his mysterious death is interesting, but even after he died the story is fascinating. Due to his death, his empire was divided and a long power-struggle began starting with his generals. Each account has its own story of war and betrayal. These days must have been hard for those in power; they never knew who they could trust. Only the ones who were skilled in the strategy of war and ruthless enough to maintain their power