Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections

Czar Alexander II

Alexander II, Emperor of Russia. The Illustrated London News.

March 11, 1855

Portrait of Czar Alexander IIThis mounted portrait appeared in The Illustrated London News shortly after Czar Alexander II assumed the throne of Russia.

John Tenniel. Cartoon. Punch.

March 11, 1855

The Young Czar Coming into his PropertyAfter Czar Nicholas I died on March 2, 1855, his son, Alexander II, succeeded him on the throne. Here Alexander is shown inheriting the war started by his father.

Honoré Daumier. Actualités, no. 249. Le Charivari.

November 25, 1855

Daumier cartoon of Czar Alexander the II saying: They say that I will soon be reduced to exchanging my crown for a simple hat!LD 2554.

“They say that I will soon be reduced to exchanging my crown for a simple hat!”

Czar Alexander I contemplates his possible fate after the Russians suffer severe losses on the battlefield.

Honoré Daumier. Actualités, no. 251. Le Charivari.

September 6, 1855

LD 2558.

“THE CZAR AT SEVASTOPOL It’s vexing—they know that I don’t like the tricolor flag, yet they have put it everywhere!”“THE CZAR AT SEVASTOPOL

It’s vexing—they know that I don’t like the tricolor flag, yet they have put it everywhere!” 

The Russians lost Sebastopol to the Allied Army on September 11, 1855. A frustrated Czar Alexander II looks over the Russian naval port, only to see it occupied by the French.