The attempt on Alexander 2 is brief. Attempts and murder of Alexander II

Narodnaya Volya terrorists made 10 attempts on the life of Emperor Alexander II.
The most significant of them are listed and described below.

1866 assassination attempt

• April 4, 1866- the first attempt on the life of Alexander II. Committed by revolutionary terrorist Dmitry Karakozov. The thought of killing the Tsar had been spinning in Karakozov’s head for a long time when he was in his village, and he longed for the fulfillment of his plan. When he arrived in St. Petersburg, he stayed at a hotel and began to wait for an opportune moment to commit an assassination attempt on the Tsar. A convenient opportunity presented itself when the Emperor, after a walk, with his nephew, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and his niece, the Princess of Baden, sat in a carriage. Karakozov was nearby and, having successfully squeezed into the crowd, fired almost point-blank. Everything could have ended fatally for the emperor if master Osip Komissarov, who happened to be nearby, instinctively hit Karakozov on the arm, causing the bullet to fly past the target. People standing around rushed at Karakozov and if not for the police he could have been torn to pieces. A contemporary says the following about this:

Quite by accident, a terrible shedding of blood was prevented, which could have brought incalculable evil to Russia, restoring the peasantry, just liberated by the tsar, against the privileged classes, which in the murder of the tsar-liberator would easily mark an act of revenge of the nobility on the tsar precisely for the deprivation of his slave-owning rights.

After Karakozov was detained, he resisted and shouted to the standing people:

Fools! After all, I am for you, but you don’t understand!

When Karakozov was brought to the emperor and he asked if he was Russian, Karakozov answered in the affirmative and, after a pause, said:

Your Majesty, you have offended the peasants.

After this, Karakazov was searched and interrogated, after which he was sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Then a trial was held, which decided to execute Karakozov by hanging. The sentence was carried out on September 3, 1866.

1867 assassination attempt

• May 25, 1867- the second most significant attempt on the life of the tsar was made by Anton Berezovsky, a leader of the Polish national liberation movement. In May 1867, the Russian emperor arrived on an official visit to France. On June 6, when, after a military review at the hippodrome, he was returning in an open carriage with children and the French Emperor Napoleon III, in the area of ​​​​the Bois de Boulogne, a young man, Pole by origin, stood out from the jubilant crowd and, when the carriage with the emperors appeared nearby, he twice point-blank fired a pistol at Alexander. It was possible to avoid the bullets hitting the emperor only thanks to the courage of one of Napoleon III’s security officers, who noticed a man with a weapon in the crowd and pushed his hand away, as a result of which the bullets hit the horse. This time the reason for the assassination attempt was the desire to take revenge on the Tsar for the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863. During the assassination attempt, Berezovsky's pistol exploded and injured his hand: this helped the crowd instantly capture the terrorist. After his arrest, Berezovsky stated:

I confess that today I shot at the emperor during his return from the review, two weeks ago I had the thought of regicide, however, or rather, I nurtured this thought since I began to realize myself, having in mind the liberation of my homeland

On July 15, Berezovsky's trial took place, the jury considered the case. The court decided to send Berezovsky to lifelong hard labor in New Caledonia. Subsequently, hard labor was replaced by lifelong exile, and in 1906, 40 years after the assassination attempt, Berezovsky was amnestied. However, he remained to live in New Caledonia until his death.

• April 2, 1879- the assassination attempt was committed by Alexander Solovyov, a teacher and member of the “Land and Freedom” society. On April 2, the emperor was walking near his palace. Suddenly he noticed a young man walking quickly towards him. He managed to shoot five times, and then was captured by the royal guards, although not a single bullet hit the target: Alexander II managed to successfully evade them. During the judicial investigation, Solovyov stated:

The idea of ​​an attempt on His Majesty’s life came to me after becoming acquainted with the teachings of the Socialist Revolutionaries. I belong to the Russian section of this party, which believes that the majority suffers so that the minority can enjoy the fruits of the people's labor and all the benefits of civilization that are inaccessible to the majority.

As a result, Solovyov was sentenced to death by hanging.

• November 19, 1879- an attempt to blow up a train on which the emperor and members of his family were traveling. In the summer of 1879, the People's Will organization was created, breaking away from the populist Land and Freedom. The main goal of the organization was the murder of the tsar, who was accused of repressive measures, bad reforms and suppression of the democratic opposition. In order not to repeat old mistakes, members of the organization planned to kill the Tsar in a new way: by blowing up the train on which the Tsar and his family were supposed to return from their vacation in Crimea. The first group operated near Odessa. Here, Narodnaya Volya member Mikhail Frolenko got a job as a railway guard 14 km from the city. At first everything went well: the mine was laid, there was no suspicion on the part of the authorities. But then the plan to blow up here failed when the royal train changed its route, traveling through Aleksandrovsk. The Narodnaya Volya had such an option, and therefore at the beginning of November 1879, the Narodnaya Volya member Andrei Zhelyabov came to Aleksandrovsk, introducing himself as the merchant Cheremisov. He bought a plot of land near the railway with the intention of allegedly building a tannery there. Working at night, Zhelyabov drilled a hole under the railroad and planted a mine there. On November 18, when the royal train appeared in the distance, Zhelyabov took a position near the railway and, when the train caught up with him, he tried to activate the mine, but after connecting the wires nothing happened: the electrical circuit had a malfunction. Now the hope of the Narodnaya Volya was only in the third group, led by Sofia Perovskaya, whose task was to plant a bomb at the Rogozhsko-Simonova outpost, near Moscow. Here the work was somewhat complicated by the guarding of the outpost: this did not make it possible to lay a mine on the railway. To get out of the situation, a tunnel was made, which was dug despite difficult weather conditions and the constant danger of being exposed. After everything was ready, the conspirators planted the bomb. They knew that the royal train consisted of two trains: one of which contained Alexander II, and the second contained his luggage; the train with luggage is half an hour ahead of the train with the king. But fate protected the emperor: in Kharkov, one of the locomotives of the baggage train broke down and the royal train was launched first. The conspirators did not know about this and let the first train pass, detonating a mine at the moment when the fourth carriage of the second train was passing over it. Alexander II was annoyed by what happened and said:

What do they have against me, these unfortunate people? Why are they chasing me like a wild animal? After all, I have always strived to do everything in my power for the good of the people!

After the failure of this attempt, the Narodnaya Volya began to develop a new plan.

• February 5, 1880 An explosion was carried out in the Winter Palace. Through friends, Sofya Perovskaya learned that the basements in the Winter Palace were being renovated, which included a wine cellar, which was located directly under the royal dining room and was a very convenient place for a bomb. The implementation of the plan was entrusted to a new member of the People's Will, the peasant Stepan Khalturin. Having settled in the palace, the “carpenter” lined the walls of the wine cellar during the day, and at night he went to his colleagues, who handed him bags of dynamite. The explosives were skillfully disguised among building materials. During the work, Khalturin had a chance to kill the emperor when he was renovating his office and was face to face with the tsar, but Khalturin did not raise his hand to do this: despite the fact that he considered the tsar a great criminal and an enemy of the people, he was broken by the kind and Alexander’s courteous treatment of the workers. In February 1880, Perovskaya received information that a gala dinner was scheduled for the 5th at the palace, which would be attended by the tsar and all members of the imperial family. The explosion was scheduled for 6:20 pm, when, presumably, Alexander should have already been in the dining room. But the plans of the conspirators were not destined to come true: the train of the Prince of Hesse, a member of the imperial family, was half an hour late and delayed the time of the gala dinner. The explosion caught Alexander II not far from the security room, which was located near the dining room. The Prince of Hesse spoke about what happened

The floor rose as if under the influence of an earthquake, the gas in the gallery went out, complete darkness fell, and an unbearable smell of gunpowder or dynamite spread through the air.

No high-ranking persons were injured, but 10 soldiers from the Finnish Guard Regiment were killed and 80 wounded.

• March 1, 1881- the last attempt on Alexander II's life, which led to his death. Initially, the Narodnaya Volya plans included laying a mine in St. Petersburg under the Stone Bridge, which stretched across the Catherine Canal. However, they soon abandoned this idea and settled on another option - to lay a mine under the roadway on Malaya Sadovaya. If the mine suddenly did not go off, then four Narodnaya Volya members who were on the street should have thrown bombs at the Tsar’s carriage, and if Alexander II was still alive, then Zhelyabov would personally jump into the carriage and stab the Tsar with a dagger. Not everything went smoothly during the preparation of the operation: either a search was carried out in the “cheese shop” where the conspirators were gathering, then arrests of important Narodnaya Volya members began, among whom were Mikhailov, and already at the end of February 1881 Zhelyabov himself. The arrest of the latter prompted the conspirators to take action. After Zhelyabov’s arrest, the emperor was warned about the possibility of a new assassination attempt, but he took it calmly, saying that he was under divine protection, which had already allowed him to survive 5 assassination attempts. On March 1, 1881, Alexander II left the Winter Palace for Manezh, accompanied by a rather small guard (in the face of a new assassination attempt). After attending the changing of the guards and drinking tea with his cousin, the emperor went back to the Winter Palace through the Catherine Canal. This turn of events completely disrupted the plans of the conspirators. In the current emergency situation, Perovskaya, who headed the organization after Zhelyabov’s arrest, hastily reworks the details of the operation. According to the new plan, 4 Narodnaya Volya members (Grinevitsky, Rysakov, Emelyanov, Mikhailov) took up positions along the embankment of the Catherine Canal and waited for a signal (wave of a scarf) from Perovskaya, according to which they should throw bombs at the royal carriage. When the royal cortege drove onto the embankment, Sofya gave a signal and Rysakov threw his bomb towards the royal carriage: a strong explosion was heard, after traveling some distance, the royal carriage stopped and the emperor was once again not injured. But the further expected favorable outcome for Alexander was spoiled by himself: instead of hastily leaving the scene of the assassination attempt, the king wished to see the captured criminal. When he approached Rysakov, unnoticed by the guards, Grinevitsky threw a second bomb at the Tsar’s feet. The blast wave threw Alexander II to the ground, bleeding profusely from his crushed legs. The fallen emperor whispered:

Take me to the palace... I want to die there...

Then came the consequences for the conspirators: Grinevitsky died from the consequences of the explosion of his bomb in the prison hospital, and almost simultaneously with his victim. Sofya Perovskaya, who tried to go on the run, was caught by the police, and on April 3, 1881, she was hanged along with the main functionaries of Narodnaya Volya (Zhelyabov, Kibalchich, Mikhailov, Rysakov) on the Semyonovsky parade ground.

Two hundred years ago, on April 29 (April 17, old style), 1818, Emperor Alexander II was born. The fate of this monarch was tragic: on March 1, 1881, he was killed by Narodnaya Volya terrorists. And experts still have not come to a consensus on how many assassination attempts the Tsar Liberator survived. According to the generally accepted version - six. But historian Ekaterina Bautina believes that there were ten of them. It's just that not all of them are known.

DISCONTENT WITH THE PEASANT REFORM

Before we talk about these assassination attempts, let us ask ourselves a question: what caused the wave of terror that swept Russia in the sixties and seventies of the nineteenth century? After all, terrorists attempted not only on the life of the emperor.

In February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia - perhaps the most important thing in the life of Alexander II.

The much-delayed peasant reform is a compromise between various political forces,” Doctor of Historical Sciences Roman Sokolov told a Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent. “And neither the landowners nor the peasants were happy with its result. The latter, because they freed them without land, essentially doomed them to poverty.

The serfs were granted personal freedom, and the landowners retained all the lands that belonged to them, but were obliged to provide the peasants with plots of land for use, says writer and historian Elena Prudnikova. - For the use of them, peasants must continue to serve corvee or pay quitrent - until they redeem their land.

According to Roman Sokolov, dissatisfaction with the results of the reform became one of the main reasons for terrorism. However, a significant part of the terrorists were not peasants, but the so-called commoners.

The majority of peasants, in modern terms, adhered to traditional values, Sokolov believes. “And the assassination of the emperor on March 1, 1881 caused them anger and indignation. Yes, the Narodnaya Volya committed a terrible crime. But we must say this: unlike modern terrorists, none of them was looking for personal gain. They were blindly confident that they were sacrificing themselves for the sake of the people's good.

The Narodnaya Volya members did not have any political program; they naively believed that the murder of the Tsar would lead to revolutionary uprisings.

The liberation of the peasants was not accompanied by political changes, says Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Zhukov. - At that time in Russia there were no political parties, democratic institutions, in particular, parliament. And therefore terror remained the only form of political struggle.

“YOU HAVE OFFENSED THE PEASANTS”

The first attempt on the sovereign's life occurred on April 4, 1866 in the Summer Garden. Dmitry Karakozov, by the way, a peasant by birth, but who had already managed to study and be expelled from the university, as well as participate in one of the revolutionary organizations, decided to kill the tsar on his own. The Emperor got into the carriage with the guests - his relatives, the Duke of Leuchtenberg and the Princess of Baden. Karakozov wormed his way into the crowd and aimed his pistol. But hatmaker Osip Komissarov, who was standing next to him, hit the terrorist on the hand. The shot went into the milk. Karakozov was captured and would have been torn to pieces, but the police intercepted him, taking him away from the crowd, to whom the desperately fighting terrorist shouted: “Fool! After all, I am for you, but you don’t understand!” The Emperor approached the arrested terrorist, and he said: “Your Majesty, you offended the peasants!”

ALL YOUR LIFE I DREAMED OF KILLING THE RUSSIAN TSAR

We didn’t have to wait long for the next assassination attempt. On May 25, 1867, during the sovereign's visit to France, the Polish revolutionary Anton Berezovsky tried to kill him. After a walk through the Bois de Boulogne in the company of the French Emperor Napoleon III, Alexander II of Russia was returning to Paris. Berezovsky jumped up to the open carriage and fired. But one of the security officers managed to push the attacker, and the bullets hit the horse. After his arrest, Berezovsky stated that his entire adult life he had dreamed of killing the Russian Tsar. He was sentenced to life in hard labor and sent to New Caledonia. He stayed there for forty years, then he was amnestied. But he did not return to Europe, preferring to live out his life at the end of the world.

The first militant revolutionary organization in Russia was “Land and Freedom”. On April 2, 1878, a member of this organization, Alexander Solovyov, carried out another attempt on the life of the Tsar. Alexander II was walking near the Winter Palace when a man came out to meet him, pulled out a revolver and started firing. From five meters he managed to shoot five (!) times. And I never hit it. Some historians express the opinion that Solovyov did not know how to shoot at all and picked up a weapon for the first time in his life. When asked what prompted him to take this crazy step, he answered with a quote from the works of Karl Marx: “I believe that the majority suffers so that the minority enjoys the fruits of the people’s labor and all the benefits of civilization that are inaccessible to the minority.” Solovyov was hanged.

“PEOPLE’S WILL” TOOK THE CASE

Photo: KP archive. Narodnaya Volya members Sofya Perovskaya and Andrei Zhelyabov in the dock

On November 19, 1879, an assassination attempt took place, prepared by the Narodnaya Volya organization, which had separated from Land and Freedom. On that day, terrorists attempted to blow up the royal train, on which the monarch and his family were returning from Crimea. A group led by the daughter of the actual state councilor and governor of St. Petersburg, Sofia Perovskaya, planted a bomb under the rails near Moscow. The terrorists knew that the baggage train was coming first, and the sovereigns were coming second. But for technical reasons, the passenger train was sent first. He drove through safely, but it exploded under the second train. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Let us note that all the activists of Narodnaya Volya were young and relatively educated people. And engineer Nikolai Kibalchich, who designed and prepared the charges for killing the sovereign, was even keen on the ideas of space exploration.

It was these youth who carried out two more attempts on the emperor’s life.

Sofya Perovskaya learned about the upcoming renovation of the Winter Palace from her father. One of the Narodnaya Volya members, Stepan Khalturin, easily found a job as a carpenter at the royal residence. While working, every day he carried baskets and bales of explosives to the palace. I hid them among construction debris (!) and accumulated a charge of enormous power. However, one day he had the opportunity to distinguish himself in front of his comrades and without an explosion: Khalturin was called to repair the royal office! The terrorist was left alone with the emperor. But he did not find the strength to kill the sovereign.

On February 5, 1880, the Prince of Hesse visited Russia. On this occasion, the emperor gave a dinner, which was to be attended by all members of the royal family. The train was late, Alexander II was waiting for his guest at the entrance to the Winter Palace. He appeared, and together they went up to the second floor. At that moment an explosion occurred: the floor shook and plaster fell down. Neither the sovereign nor the prince were injured. Ten guard soldiers, veterans of the Crimean War, were killed and eighty were seriously wounded.

The last, alas, successful attempt took place on the embankment of the Catherine Canal. A lot has been written about this tragedy; there is no point in repeating it. Let's just say that as a result of the assassination attempt, twenty people were wounded and killed, including a fourteen-year-old boy.

TOLD!

Emperor Alexander II: “What do they have against me, these unfortunates? Why are they chasing me like a wild animal? After all, I have always strived to do everything in my power for the good of the people?”

BY THE WAY

Leo Tolstoy asked not to execute the murderers

After the assassination of Alexander II, the great writer Count Leo Tolstoy addressed the new Emperor Alexander III with a letter in which he asked not to execute the criminals:

“Only one word of forgiveness and Christian love, spoken and fulfilled from the height of the throne, and the path of Christian kingship that you are about to embark on, can destroy the evil that is plaguing Russia. Every revolutionary struggle will melt away like wax before the fire before the Tsar, the man who fulfills the law of Christ.”

INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD

On April 3, 1881, five participants in the assassination attempt on Alexander II were hanged on the parade ground of the Semenovsky regiment. A correspondent for the German newspaper Kölnische Zeitung, who was present at the public execution, wrote: “Sofya Perovskaya shows amazing fortitude. Her cheeks even retain their pink color, and her face, invariably serious, without the slightest trace of anything feigned, is full of true courage and boundless self-sacrifice. Her gaze is clear and calm; there is not even a shadow of panache in it"

Why did they want to kill the emperor? After all, he abolished serfdom, receiving the name Liberator, and carried out many progressive reforms. So why was Alexander II persecuted for decades “like a wild beast” and, in the end, killed?

Something went wrong?

Alexander II ascended the throne in 1855. Already the first steps of the sovereign (the conclusion of the Paris Peace, the “dual alliance” with Germany) led to the fact that a “thaw” began in the country. Subsequently, Alexander confirmed his authority as a transformer, and his reign was spoken of as a time of “great reforms.” Indeed, he abolished military settlements and serfdom, carried out financial, zemstvo, judicial, and military reforms, rebuilt local government, higher and secondary education. Nothing like this has ever been done before. Thus, the road was cleared for the development of capitalism in Russia, the boundaries of civil society and the rule of law were expanded. The Tsar and his like-minded people believed that this would be the beginning of the country's economic development, but everything went completely wrong.

The main target is the emperor

Alexander II carried out many progressive reforms. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

At this time, national liberation uprisings began in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. One of them in May 1864 was brutally suppressed by Russian troops. An economic crisis also broke out in the country. By the way, a number of experts attribute this to the growth of corruption and massive abuses of officials. Thus, during the construction of railways, huge funds from the budget went to support private companies. Contracts for supplying troops were given for bribes, and as a result, the military received rotten cloth and rotten provisions. Alexander’s sympathy for Germany also played a negative role. He loved everything German so much that he ordered the Kaiser's officers to be awarded St. George's Crosses, which caused indignation in the army.

At the same time, Alexander actively annexed new territories to Russia, especially in Central Asia, but the meaning of these achievements was then unclear to society. For such a policy, he was sharply criticized by Saltykov-Shchedrin and other progressive figures. Moreover, widespread discontent grew in the country, including among the knowledgeable, enlightened layers. In the 60s, many protest groups appeared among the intelligentsia and workers. Entire “societies of popular reprisals” arose.

The secret organization “Land and Freedom,” headed by Herzen, Chernyshevsky and Obruchev, numbered at least 3 thousand people. In 1873-1874 hundreds of educated people went to the countryside to propagate revolutionary ideas among the peasants. This movement was called “going to the people.” As a result, a wave of terrorism swept across Russia, where Emperor Alexander II became the main target.

There is a legend that in 1867 a Parisian gypsy told the Russian emperor: “Six times your life will be in the balance, but will not end, and on the seventh time death will overtake you.” Moreover, a sign of certain death for him will be a fair-haired woman with a white headscarf and a man in red boots. The prediction came true.

“I am for you, but you don’t understand!”

When the killer was brought to the emperor, Karakozov said: “Your Majesty, you offended the peasants.” The man was tried and hanged. For his courageous act, Osip Komissarov was “granted hereditary nobility” and an estate in the Poltava province.

The second time they wanted to kill the Russian Tsar was a year later - June 6, 1867. The Russian autocrat arrived on an official visit to France. When, after a military review, he was returning in an open carriage with children and Napoleon III, a young man stood out from the jubilant crowd and shot at Alexander twice. It was Pole Anton Berezovsky. He longed to take revenge on the Tsar for the suppression of the Polish uprising. Alexander was not injured this time either - one of the security officers pushed the criminal away, and the bullets hit the horse. Berezovsky was sent to lifelong hard labor in New Caledonia. After 40 years he was amnestied, but he remained in this distant land.

The third fatal day could have been April 4, 1879 for Alexander II. The king was walking in the vicinity of his palace when he suddenly noticed a young man quickly heading towards him. The stranger managed to shoot five times before he was captured by security. And again the lead flew past. The killer tried to swallow potassium cyanide, but the poison had no effect. It turned out that the attacker was teacher Alexander Solovyov. During the investigation, he stated that the idea of ​​the assassination arose “after becoming acquainted with the teachings of the Socialist Revolutionaries.”

At the trial he behaved calmly and explained in detail the reasons that led him to the murder. The court sentenced him to death by hanging.

Doesn't the bullet hit?

Time “X” became November 19, 1879. The conspirators knew that the train with luggage was coming first, and the royal “letter” was coming second, and they blew it up. However, fate saved Alexander again. The freight locomotive suddenly broke down and the railway workers were the first to let through the “suites” with the emperor and his retinue... Then, standing in front of the torn cars, the king bitterly uttered the famous words: “What do they have against me, these unfortunates? Why are they chasing me like a wild animal?

And the Narodnaya Volya members were preparing a new blow. Perovskaya, the daughter of the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, learned that the basements in the Winter Palace were being renovated, including the rooms located directly under the royal dining room. Thus a daring idea was born. Stepan Khalturin, a peasant son and a member of the People's Will, got a job in the Winter Palace under the name of carpenter Batyshkov. He believed that the king should die at the hands of a representative of the people.

The terrorist acted simply: he brought dynamite to the palace in small packs and put it in his personal chest. Why the security or police didn’t look into it is a big question. When “about 3 poods” of explosives had accumulated, Khalturin planted a mine under the dining room where the crowned family was supposed to dine.

February 5th exploded with enormous force - and passed by again! The Emperor was 20 minutes late for dinner - he was meeting distinguished guests. As a result of the attack, nineteen soldiers were killed and another forty-eight were injured. Khalturin managed to escape.

We prepared for the next attempt for six months. The plan was developed by the same Sofya Perovskaya. Deadly bombs were to be thrown with a wave of her white scarf.

The prediction came true...

The revolutionaries figured out that every week the emperor went to the Mikhailovsky Manege to review his troops. There are only two ways from Zimny. The first is through the arch to Nevsky, along Malaya Sadovaya and to the Manege. Here the terrorists made a tunnel and mined the road.

The second led across the entire Palace Square, to the Pevchesky Bridge along the Catherine Canal and to the left. It was decided to deploy bomb throwers along this route. The shells, which easily fit into a box and exploded upon impact with the ground, were made by the talented chemist Nikolai Kibalchich.

The operation was scheduled for March 1 (13). Perovskaya was in charge of everything that was happening. Nikolai Rysakov was the first to throw the bomb. The explosion maimed and killed people nearby and damaged the carriage, but the king was alive. He came out and approached the terrorist. Then, perhaps in shock, he walked along the embankment, although the police chief asked him to return to the carriage. At this time, Ignatius Grinevitsky, unnoticed by anyone, stood at the iron bars with a second bomb. Perovskaya waved her handkerchief (the prediction came true!) and the terrorist threw a shell at the feet (here they are, red boots) of Alexander II. This turned out to be fatal for him. He died from multiple severe wounds on the same day.

Alexander II died on March 13. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The organizers of the crime were tried and hanged on Semyonovsky Parade Ground (now Pionerskaya Square) in St. Petersburg on April 3, 1881. 26 years later, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, one of the most beautiful in the city, was built at the site of the assassination attempt. It preserved a fragment of paving stones on which the mortally wounded emperor lay. Contrary to the expectations of the Narodnaya Volya members, the bloody action did not find support among the broad masses. There was no popular uprising. And soon Alexander III came and curtailed most of the liberal reforms.

Alexander II can be considered a record holder in Russian and even world history for the number of attempts on his life. The Russian emperor found himself on the brink of death six times, as a Parisian gypsy had once predicted to him.

"Your Majesty, you offended the peasants..."

On April 4, 1866, Alexander II was walking with his nephews in the Summer Garden. A large crowd of onlookers watched the emperor's promenade through the fence. When the walk ended, and Alexander II was getting into the carriage, a shot was heard. For the first time in Russian history, an attacker shot at the Tsar! The crowd almost tore the terrorist to pieces. "Fools! - he shouted, fighting back - I’m doing this for you! It was a member of a secret revolutionary organization, Dmitry Karakozov.

To the emperor’s question “why did you shoot at me?” he answered boldly: “Your Majesty, you offended the peasants!” However, it was the peasant, Osip Komissarov, who pushed the hapless killer's arm and saved the sovereign from certain death. Karakozov was executed, and in the Summer Garden, in memory of the salvation of Alexander II, a chapel was erected with the inscription on the pediment: “Do not touch My Anointed One.” In 1930, the victorious revolutionaries demolished the chapel.

"Meaning the liberation of the homeland"

On May 25, 1867, in Paris, Alexander II and the French Emperor Napoleon III were traveling in an open carriage. Suddenly a man jumped out of the enthusiastic crowd and shot twice at the Russian monarch. Past! The identity of the criminal was quickly established: the Pole Anton Berezovsky was trying to take revenge for the suppression of the Polish uprising by Russian troops in 1863. “Two weeks ago I had the idea of ​​regicide, however, I had this thought since I began to recognize myself, meaning liberation homeland,” the Pole explained confusingly during interrogation. A French jury sentenced Berezovsky to life in hard labor in New Caledonia.

Five bullets of teacher Solovyov

The next assassination attempt on the emperor occurred on April 14, 1879. While walking in the palace park, Alexander II drew attention to a young man quickly walking in his direction. The stranger managed to fire five bullets at the emperor (and where were the guards looking?!) until he was disarmed. It was only a miracle that saved Alexander II, who did not receive a scratch. The terrorist turned out to be a school teacher, and “part-time” - a member of the revolutionary organization “Land and Freedom” Alexander Solovyov. He was executed on the Smolensk field in front of a large crowd of people.

"Why are they chasing me like a wild animal?"

In the summer of 1879, an even more radical organization emerged from the depths of “Land and Freedom” - “People's Will”. From now on, in the hunt for the emperor there will be no place for the “handicraft” of individuals: professionals have taken up the matter. Remembering the failure of previous attempts, the Narodnaya Volya members abandoned small arms, choosing a more “reliable” means - a mine. They decided to blow up the imperial train on the route between St. Petersburg and Crimea, where Alexander II vacationed every year. The terrorists, led by Sofia Perovskaya, knew that a freight train with luggage was coming first, and Alexander II and his retinue were traveling in the second. But fate again saved the emperor: on November 19, 1879, the locomotive of the “truck” broke down, so Alexander II’s train went first. Not knowing about this, the terrorists let it through and blew up another train. “What do they have against me, these unfortunate people? - the emperor said sadly. “Why are they chasing me like a wild animal?”

"In the Lair of the Beast"

And the “unlucky ones” were preparing a new blow, deciding to blow up Alexander II in his own house. Sofya Perovskaya learned that the Winter Palace was renovating the basements, including the wine cellar, “successfully” located directly under the imperial dining room. And soon a new carpenter appeared in the palace - Narodnaya Volya member Stepan Khalturin. Taking advantage of the amazing carelessness of the guards, he carried dynamite into the cellar every day, hiding it among the building materials. On the evening of February 17, 1880, a gala dinner was planned in the palace in honor of the arrival of the Prince of Hesse in St. Petersburg. Khalturin set the bomb timer for 18.20. But chance intervened again: the prince’s train was half an hour late, dinner was postponed. The terrible explosion claimed the lives of 10 soldiers and injured another 80 people, but Alexander II remained unharmed. It was as if some mysterious force was taking death away from him.

"The honor of the party demands that the Tsar be killed"