March 13th 1881: Alexander II assassinated
On this day in 1881, the Russian Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in St. Petersburg aged 62. He had ascended to the Russian throne in 1855 after the death of his father Tsar Nicholas I during the Crimean War. Decades before the Bolshevik communist revolution would successfully overthrow the Russian monarchy under Alexander’s grandson Nicholas II, there was already a significant anti-tsarist movement in Russia. While Alexander had initiated some liberal and modernising reforms - including the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and the expansion of the nation’s railroads - he had brutally repressed political dissidents. In 1879, a group called the People’s Will was organised and began their attempts to violently overthrow the Tsar. After waging a prolonged campaign in which they assassinated government officials and made attempts on the Tsar’s life, the movement was finally successful in killing Alexander in 1881. The Tsar was killed in St. Petersburg after two bombs were thrown at his carriage by Nikolai Rysakov and Ignacy Hryniewiecki, who were members of the People’s Will. He was succeeded by his son Tsar Alexander III, who punished the people and group behind his father’s assassination. In 1883, work began on the Church of the Savior on Blood, which was built on the spot of Alexander’s assassination and dedicated to his memory.
“Amid the smoke and snowy fog, I heard His Majesty’s weak voice cry, ‘Help!’ Gathering what strength I had, I jumped up and rushed to the emperor. His Majesty was half-lying, half-sitting, leaning on his right arm. Thinking he was merely wounded heavily, I tried to lift him but the czar’s legs were shattered, and the blood poured out of them“
- Police chief Dvorzhitsky’s account of the assassination
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