Throughout the reign of the three Russian leaders mentioned in the title, the Russian countryside was backward often not being able provide enough export capital to remove this backwardness. In each reign on occasions the Russian countryside failed to feed the population. It was sometimes rebellious and desperately poor and miserable -although historians debate to what extent.
Alexander the 2nd, like his father before him saw Russia's agricultural backwardness as a great if not the greatest problem of Russia, the solution to which was the abolition of serfdom. Alexander hopped for product…
