Assassination of Alexander II of Russia

"Five times your people tried to kill my father before he fell. Five times!"

―Alexander III to Nikolai Orelov.

The assassination of Alexander II of Russia was an act of regicide on Tsar Alexander II of Russia committed by Ignacy Hryniewiecki and Nikolai Rysakov, two radical Assassins of the Narodnaya Volya faction of the Russian Brotherhood, in response to the emperor's reforms and affiliation with the Templar Order.

Previous attempts

Following a crushing defeat in the Crimean War in 1856, Tsar Alexander II enacted a series of laws attempting to put an end to serfdom in Russia, drawing criticism from both the nobility and those who believed that the reforms were not going far enough. These measures would lead to several attempts on his life.

In 1866, Alexander II, known as a Templar ally, was nearly assassinated by the Russian Assassin Dmitry Karakozov, but the attempt failed, and Karakozov was captured and eventually executed. Before his death, he asked Simeon Price, a fellow Assassin of the British Brotherhood, to make sure his family was protected from the Russian secret police. As a consequence of Karakozov's attempt on the Tsar's life, twenty-four of his friends were sent to prison, hard labor, or exile in Siberia. The Russian Brotherhood would subsequently conduct four more assassination attempts against Alexander II, all of which similarly failed.

Assassination of Alexander II

On 13 March 1881, the Narodnaya Volya plotted their assassination of the Tsar with a pair of bombs entrusted to the Assassins Ignacy Hryniewiecki and Nikolai Rysakov. They planned to ambush the Tsar at the Madaya Sadovaya Street in Saint Petersburg while he was in his carriage surrounded by pedestrians. When Alexander II was driven onto the street, Nikolai threw his bomb and destroyed the carriage. The Tsar had to leave his carriage and was injured by the second bomb thrown by Ignacy. The Tsar would ultimately succumb to his injuries not long after.

Aftermath

Despite Simeon's attempt to save Nikolai, the latter was captured by the Russian police, who chased him down, and subsequently executed for his crime. As a result of Alexander II's death, Russian Jewish residents were unjustly held responsible and persecuted by the government and hatemongers. Meanwhile, the Tsar was succeeded by his son Alexander III, who stopped all ongoing reforms started by his father and allied himself with the Templars anew.

Behind the scenes

Historically, Alexander died thirty minutes after the explosion which mortally wounded him, away from the public streets and inside the Winter Palace.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
• Who's In Your Blood? (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot (first appearance)