1866 and reversal of the reforms by Alexander II

Alexander's first assassination attempt occured in 1866. Dmitrii Karakozov tried to shoot the infamous Tsar but failed because a peasant pushed his arm. Dmitrii Karakozov was a part of the nobility. To secure himself, Alexander reversed reforms. He also distanced himself from his family, and spent most of his time with his mistress.

From 1866, the following people were in charge:

• Dmitry Tolstoy became minister of public education.
• Shuvalov became head of the Secret Police (Third Section).
• Timashov became minister of internal affairs.
• Pahlen became minister of justice.

In 1871, students could only go to university if they studied at an original "gymnazii". Tolstoy had a very right-wing view of education and censorship.

In 1873, the ministry of internal affairs were given the right to forbid topics. There was a re-tightening of strict survaillance and monitoring of their activities. He removed the subjects, like History and Russian Literature, but kept subjects, like Maths and Diviny.

He tightened censorship law in the late 1870s again.

Repression

Shuvalov strengthened the police and the Third Section, who were responsible for rooting subdivision. Radicals who fled to Switzerland were still vulnerable to the Third Section and the judiciary system.

Judicial reversal

Pahlen made some court trials that dealt with political unrest "open shows", which were used to deter the public from similar activity. This backfired as the "Trial of 193" held many defendants and only 40 were given light sentences while others were acquitted because of an over-sympathetic jury. The press quoted this in the newspapers and gave the 'revolutionaries' lots of publicity. Therefore, Pahlen made it so that political infringement would be heard in secret and with the military.

These didn't really change, because they both were major advantages to the Tsar. They also kept their social and economic status, while the other policies were reversed because of political crimes and the problems with the public and press.