Alexander III inherited many problems in 1881 following his father’s death. Alexander III was known to have been extremely conservative and reversed many of the reforms and liberal measures of which his father (Alexander II) had begun before his death. Alexander III returned conservatism in Russia and despite Russia’s attempts of becoming a modern European state by the 1870s
Many amongst the educated classes felt that the emancipation of the serfs and political and judicial reform would be the beginning of a major change in Russia. The reforms also included the creation of an elective local government in 1864 and trial by jury in 1870. However the failures of moderate reform in Russia lead to radicals believing that the state could only modernize if the Tsar and his officials were to be eradicated. …show more content…
The liberals wanted to allow freedom of the press and a national parliament elected by the educated and wealthy. Extremists such as the People’s Will were ‘nihilists’ they wanted to completely destroy the Tsar’s rule and create a democracy by giving power to the people however they had no official plan of how this would work in practice. Others wanted to political and economic power given to the peasants. In countries such as Poland, nationalists wanted to create their own national state, outside the Russian Empire. Despite the levels of change, all these groups had something in common and that was to change the political system. Therefore, Alexander III wanted to repress all those who supported political