Emancipation reform of 1861
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The emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia, also known as the Edict of Emancipation of Russia, was the first and most important of the liberal reforms enacted during the reign of Emperor Alexander II o
A 1907 painting by Boris Kustodiev depicting Russian serfs listening to the proclamation of the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861
Peasants Reading the Emancipation Manifesto, an 1873 painting by Grigory Myasoyedov
The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: Work in Freedom is the Foundation of a State (1914), by Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic
Serfdom in Russia
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In tsarist Russia, the term serf meant an unfree peasant who, unlike a slave, originally could be sold only together with the land to which they were "attached". However, this had stopped being a requ
Emancipation reform of 1861
…was the first and most important of the liberal reforms enacted during the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic (household…
A Peasant Leaving His Landlord on Yuriev Day, painting by Sergei V. Ivanov
Darya Saltykova punishing one of her serfs
Vengeance of Serfs. Engraving by Charles Michel Geoffroy, 1845
Punishment with a knout