TSAR ALEXANDER II HAS A LUCKY ESCAPE
One of the more modern Tsars, Alexander II abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire – but this wasn’t enough to quash resentment against the monarchy. Dmitry Karakozov, a minor noble, sent a manifesto to the governor of St Petersburg that blamed the Tsar for the suffering of the poor and announced his intention to kill Alexander. It got lost in the mail.
Karakozov tried to shoot Alexander at the gates of the Summer Garden in St Petersburg, but missed, was captured and, later, executed. He was the first revolutionary to make an attempt on Alexander’s life, but not the last. The Tsar survived four more assassination plots, succumbing to the fifth in March 1881.