Assess the Relative Importance of the Factors which persuaded the Tsar to liberate the Serfs in 1861

... Assess the Relative Importance of the Factors which persuaded the Tsar to liberate the Serfs in 1861 Alexander II was crowned Tsar of Russia in 1855, towards the end of the Crimean war. At the subsequent settlement known as the "Peace of Paris", Alexander, after less than a year as Tsar, first declared his ideas of reform for Russia and his resolve to tackle the question of serfdom. The Crimean War seemed to have acted as a catalyst in increasing Alexander's resolve to deal with the problems facing the country he had inherited, which had fallen behind much of Europe in its development. Whilst the threat of "revolution from below", external development in Eastern Europe and a general apathy from his own subjects also contributed to his policy of reform, it was the Crimean conflict which highlighted Russia's fundamental need for change; a change that it could be argued was long

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