" Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II of Russia should be praised not criticized for his reforms." To what extent do you agree with this judgment?
Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II should be praised for his reforms, should be agreed to a certain extent since he was the first Tsar who actually listened to his people and gave them what they wanted, but he was still a monarch and took some liberty away when it got to dangerous to his power. One of Alexander’s great reforms was his military reform, which stoped oppression and capital punishment on the peasants. After the Crimean war, which caused embarrassment and exhaustion of the Russian country, Alexander II decided that it was finally time for reforms or a civil war would outbreak. The war made the Tsar realize that Russia was no longer a great military power, so his reforms would start in changing that first. “…cancellation of oppressions in laws concerning military service…” (Russia The Great) This reform was a good idea, because he would stop the oppression and actually give military training to those who would be willing to fight for the country. That way the army would stop being full of arbitrary peasants that went there because of fear of being punished if they didn’t go and actually enlist men who were trained to fight. It was a good move, the reform gave more liberty to the peasants, however, even with that reform Russia still could not keep pace with the Western military technology and failed to modernize its navy in 1980. The judicial reforms of Alexander II have been counted as the most successful reforms, in which completely new customs and completely new legal systems were established. “In major towns, it established Western-style courts with juries. ” (History Russia Abroad) Why was that important?