Terrorism and the fall of imperial Russia∗

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Abstract
This article examines the role of terrorism in the decline and fall of Imperial Russia. It analyzes the struggle between terrorists and the Tsarist government during three stages: (1) 1861–66, amidst the ‘Great Reforms’ and radicalization of students; (2) 1877–81, a confrontation between populist terrorists and government; and (3) the crisis of 1904–7, which witnessed open battles between terrorists on the one side and police and military on the other. These periods resemble one another in a number of ways. Government efforts to reform were repudiated by radicals as insufficient and grounds for renewed terrorist attacks. The terrorist response was then used by government officials in order to resist or abrogate the reforms earlier thought so necessary. Liberals initially sympathized with the radicals and offered them moral and financial support. But as terrorism became increasingly bloody and the government increasingly repressive, they withdrew from the confrontation. All three periods ended with a perceptible shudder of fear and a desperate longing for normality.