There is a monument to Alexander II opposite the National Assembly in Sofia. It was erected as a sign of recognition for his decision to declare war on Turkey after the bloody suppression of the April Uprising. The inscription on the monument reads: “To the Tsar - liberator”. Alexander II is known by the same title in Russia. His nickname Tsar Liberator is not because he liberated Bulgaria from Turkish slavery, but because during his 26-year reign he freed Russian peasants from serfdom and gave them land.
At the same time, he suppressed the rebellions in Poland and the Baltics with imperial cruelty. Despite the reforms he carried out, Alexander II continued the policy of suppressing the Polish national movement. The January Uprising of 1863-1864 was suppressed after eight months of fighting, with thousands of Poles being executed and tens of thousands more being deported to Siberia. The martial law introduced in Lithuania remained in place for nearly half a century. Publications in local languages were prohibited - Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish was permitted only in private conversations. At the same time, the parliament was restored in Finland, a local currency (Finnish mark) was introduced, and the Finnish language was given equal status with Swedish.
Alexander II Nikolaevich was Emperor of Russia and Grand Duke of Finland from 1855 to 1881 from the Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp dynasty. He is known for the liberal reforms he carried out in Russia.
Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov was born on March 2, 1818 in Moscow. He was the son of the future Emperor Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. During his father's reign, the atmosphere in the country was based on conservative principles, with freedom of thought suppressed and censorship extremely strict.
Alexander inherited the throne after his father's death in 1855. During the first year of his reign, he continued the Crimean War, and after the fall of Sevastopol, he concluded peace. In the following years, Alexander II carried out a number of reforms aimed at modernizing the country and restoring its position as an important factor in European politics. Alexander II's reforms aimed at liberalizing economic life, which led to the creation of many new enterprises. The most important transformation was the abolition by law in 1861 of serfdom, which had been holding back the country's economic development for decades. Other important reforms were also carried out during Alexander II's reign. Censorship was weakened, restrictions on travel abroad were removed, and state interference in the management of universities was reduced. The judicial system was transformed according to the French model, court procedures were simplified and a new penal code was introduced, the death penalty was abolished, and a system of local self-government was created. In 1874, the army was seriously reformed, and universal military service was introduced.
In 1867, Alexander II sold the Russian rights to Alaska to the United States for 100 years, which had been exploited jointly by both countries since 1799. Russia conquered significant territories in Central Asia - Bukhara, Khiva, Kokand. In the field of foreign policy, Emperor Alexander II paid particular attention to the so-called Eastern Question and the abrogation of the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856. In order to strengthen Russian influence in the Balkans, he started a war with the Ottoman Empire (1877 - 1878), known in Bulgaria as the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation. Alexander II signed the Manifesto to start the war, although he had strong doubts about the success of this mission. At that time, Europe was not friendly towards Russia, because it feared that it would wish to strengthen its positions in the Balkans. Alexander II personally attended the theater of hostilities, his brother - Grand Duke Nicholas, was the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops, and three of the emperor's sons commanded detachments. Thus, the entire family of Alexander II participated in the liberation of Bulgaria. The war ended with the successful Treaty of San Stefano (1878) for Russia, with which Bulgaria became an autonomous state. The Berlin Congress (1878) consolidated Russia's political position in Europe as a Great Power.
After 1866, 8 assassination attempts were made against Alexander II, the last few of which were organized by the radical organization Narodno Volya. In 1879 Narodno Volya blew up the emperor's train on the railway from Livadia to Moscow, but Alexander II was not on it. On February 5, 1880, they managed to blow up the dining room of the Winter Palace on the eve of a gala dinner in honor of the Bulgarian prince Alexander Battenberg. The two were not injured, as they were late for the dinner, but 67 people were killed or wounded.
Alexander II was assassinated on March 13, 1881, in an assassination attempt organized by the People's Will. As his carriage passed through the central square in St. Petersburg, a bomb was detonated. After he got out of the car, one of the bombers blew himself and the emperor up with a hand grenade. The 63-year-old emperor was buried in the Cathedral of “St. Peter and Paul”.