How Far Do You Agree That Alexander Ii Was the Most Successful of the Tsars

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How far do you agree that Alexander II was the most successful of the Tsars? Although Alexander II was the most successful in modernising Russia, the most successful in achieving their aims, closest to their ideology, was Alexander III. He improved the economy of Russia quite substantially, as well as upholding the autocracy. His reign, unlike both Alexander II and Nicholas II’s reign, saw virtually no open opposition, The reason why he was so successful is partly due to the fact that his reign was the most repressive of the three, and war and revolution did not hinder the development of Russia or jeopardise the traditional autocratic system of government. Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II all had similar ideologies and wanted to uphold the traditional values, “Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality”. Their main aims were to create a strong and modern Russia while keeping a traditional autocratic government, and they tried to do so in their own way with the co-operation of the Orthodox Church, who advocated the tsarist regime. To limit the amount of opposition they received, all three Tsars enforced a number of repressive domestic policies. A common method was censorship. Alexander III was the most successful in keeping to his aims, as he enforced this from the start of his reign to ensure there were no open criticisms of the regime. Nicholas and Alexander II on the other hand suffered growing discontent from the population. Alexander II had initially relaxed censorship and allowed the press to discuss government policy (1865), thereby encouraging criticism of the tsarist regime. This grew when censorship was tightened again, and may have been a contribution as to why so many concessions were made. Similarly, in Nicholas II’s reign, political parties were allowed their own newspapers e.g. Social Revolutionaries - ‘Revolutionary Russia’. Although any
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