Aleksandr II Nikolayevich was born on 29th of April 1818 he was eventualy assassinated at the hands of a bomber on 13th of March 1881).
Alexander's most significant reform as Emperor was the emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861, for which he became known as Alexander the Liberator
The tsar was responsible for a number of other reforms, including reorganising the judicial system, setting up a system of elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoted local self-government through the zemstvo system, instituted universal military service, removed some privileges of the nobility, and established university education.
He quelled an uprising in Poland in 1863, then stripped the country of its separate constitution and incorporated it directly into Russia.
Aleksandr became less active as a reformer following an assassination attempt in 1866, but sold Alaska to the United States in 1867.
He sought peace in post Napoleonic Europe and in 1872 joined with Germany and Austria in the League of the Three Emperors an alliance that more or less stabilised the European political situation for the ensuing 14 years.
Alexander was proposing additional parliamentary reforms to counter the rise of nascent revolutionary and anarchistic movements when he was assassinated in 1881, he was about to celebrate his 63rd birthday. At the time he was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland and had 18 children, 2 of whom were illegitimate (a further 9 children born out of wedlock were rumoured).
