Between 1868 and HSI, the armies of Alexan der were advancing the Russian frontiers in Cen tral Asia. In 1868 Samarkand was occupied: in 1873 the Khan of Khiva was reduced to vassal age; in 1S76 Khokand was annexed: and in 1881, just before the assassination of the Emperor, Geok-Tepe, the stronghold of the Teke Turko mans, was taken. The vigorous policy adopted after 1870 brought on a war with Turkey in 1S77 78, in which the Russian standards were carried almost to Constantinople. This war appealed to the chivalric spirit of Alexander. who wished to be known as the Liberator Czar. because it was in a sense a crusade in behalf of the oppressed Christian peoples of the Balkans. The hopes of a Russian hegemony in the Balkan Peninsula. en tertained by the Pan-Slavists, were overthrown, however, at the Congress of Berlin (q.v.).
The existence of the liberal and reactionary parties side by side in Russia explains some of the inconsistencies in Alexander's character. It is because of these opposing influences, both patri otic. that progressive and oppressive measures were often simultaneously enacted. Personally, Alexander seems to have tended always to the liberal side, although somewhat embittered by the spread of the revolutionary agitation. His
life. during the years 1579-81. was never safe from the conspiracies of the extreme revolution ists, who pursued him with a remarkable persist ence of hatred. After the terrible explosion of 1850. in the Winter Palace. Alexander gave Gen eral Lo•is-Melikoff, a distinguished officer of lib eral tendencies, an extraordinary dictatorial commission for six months, and it is said that under Loris-Melikoff's advice, lie was considering the question of the promulgation of a constitution by ukase when he was assassinated in Saint Petersburg by the explosion of a bomb while driv ing from the parade to the Winter Palace on Sunday. March 13, 1881. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III.
Consult: Haumant. in Lavisse et Ramband, Ristaire generale, vol. xi. (Paris. 1900) : Car donne, L'empereur Alexandre 11. (Paris, 1883) ; Golovin, nusRhoui u»ter Alexander 11. (Leipzig. 1870) : Lafe•ti> (pseudonym of the Princess Dol gorouki). Alexandre 11.. Details inedits stir so vie intime et sa mart (Basel, 1882).