The End of Serfdom in Russia

The publication is devoted to a turning point in the history of Russia – the socio-political crisis between the 1850s and 1860s, the most important event of which was the abolition of serfdom (1861). The book includes official notes, drafts, and reports, intelligence data on the public sentiments, extracts from legislative acts, publicist materials and proclamations. This book contains diaries and memoirs of people of different social and political views, including major state figures (P. Valuyev, N. Milyutin, S. Lanskiy, V. Cherkassky), writers and scientists (L.N. Tolstoy, A. Engelhardt, A. Koshelev, P. Semenov-Tian-Shansky). Finally, it presents the most important rescripts and public speeches of Alexander II.