The crisis of the feudal system and peasant unrests prompted the Emperor Alexander II to sign on February 19, 1861, the Emancipation Manifesto and the Regulations Concerning Peasants Leaving Serf Dependence, consisting of 17 legislative acts. The adoption of these decrees, abolishing serfdom - the main brake on technical progress, also initiated other reforms that went down in history under the name of "Great Reforms".
