Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II has been criticized for being only a half-hearted reformer and for failing to modify the autocratic system by introducing a constitution or creating an elected representative assembly at national level. Certainly his policies pleased neither radicals nor conservatives, but the peasantry undoubtedly benefited from the abolition of serfdom. In relation to the modernization of Russia, his “great reforms” laid solid foundations on which his successors failed to build.