Question

The "Emancipation Manifesto" signed by Czar Alexander II _____.

Answer 1

The Emancipation Manifesto (supposedly) freed the Russian serfs from being bound to the land on which they worked. Sort of. In actuality, some land was taken from its owners and given to a "mir", which consisted of a group of serfs collectively. The Russian government paid the landowners for the land taken from them and charged the "mir" for repayment. The usual length of time for repayment was 49 years, so in effect the serfs remained bound to their land for 49 years or until they could pay off the debt to the government sooner, which was hardly likely. Not only that, but the newly "freed" serfs usually got the worst pieces of land from the landowners. Just about no one was happy with this arrangement for freeing the serfs, especially the serfs themselves. The resentment they felt at this sham by Tsar Nicholas I was a beginning of their feeling that the Tsars weren't so benevolent after all. The Tsar was later assassinated but it wasn't clear which side did it.