Reform, war and revolution in Russian empire from Cambridge history of Russia, volume 2

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The abolition of serfdom in 1861, under Alexander II, and the reforms which followed (local government reforms, the judicial reform, the abolition of cor­poral punishment, the reform of the military, public education, censorship and others), were a 'watershed', 'a turning point' in the history of Russia. This is the verdict of the reformers themselves and their opponents, people who lived at the time in Russia as well as beyond its borders, and many researchers. This theme remains crucial for historians. But in particular periods such as during the 1905 Revolution or Gorbachev's perestroika, interest in the his­tory of Alexander II's reforms has acquired a particular topicality and political colouring. At such times instead of the already established term 'the Great Reforms', new terminology emerges particularly in the academic literature for wider audiences such as 'revolution from above', 'a revolutionary break with the past' and 'coup d'etat'.1

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