What if the Russian Tsar Alexander II. had been killed in the assassination attempt of 1866?
His agrarian reforms / emancipation of the peasantry should have been entrenched enough by then not to be reversed...?
What about Alex2's military reforms? Would Alexander III., ascending to the throne at the age of 21, be able to strengthen the Russian Army to the extent that Alex2 did, which enabled the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War, which changed the landscape on the Balkans with far-reaching consequences?
Alex2 ended his moderate liberalisation policies after the failed assassination attempt and instituted radical censorship and toughened up on political oppression. How would things have developed under a younger Alex3, who certainly was a reactionary, too, but much less experienced?
Does it change anything at all, or is the course of Russian policy in the later 19th century predetermined by structural factors to the extent that the man at the helm has little influence over it?
His agrarian reforms / emancipation of the peasantry should have been entrenched enough by then not to be reversed...?
What about Alex2's military reforms? Would Alexander III., ascending to the throne at the age of 21, be able to strengthen the Russian Army to the extent that Alex2 did, which enabled the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War, which changed the landscape on the Balkans with far-reaching consequences?
Alex2 ended his moderate liberalisation policies after the failed assassination attempt and instituted radical censorship and toughened up on political oppression. How would things have developed under a younger Alex3, who certainly was a reactionary, too, but much less experienced?
Does it change anything at all, or is the course of Russian policy in the later 19th century predetermined by structural factors to the extent that the man at the helm has little influence over it?