In the second half of the XIX century, the Russian Empire fought against many leading world powers. However, no less dangerous enemy was not the external rival, but the inner one - the revolutionaries. In the 1860s in Russian social thought, there was a special direction - Narodnichestvo, whose representatives believed that in Russia it was possible to build socialism based on peasant, communal traditions. At the initial stage, the Narodnik organizations adhered to propaganda tactics ("Walking to the people"). However, it did not bring success, so the Narodniks moved on to more decisive methods of struggle, which resulted in the appearance in the late 1870s organizations like "Narodnaya Volya", propagandizing political terror. The apogee of the activities of the Narodnaya Volya was the assassination of Emperor Alexander II on March 1, 1881.
