The abolition of serfdom in 1861, under Alexander II, and the reforms which followed, local government reforms, the judicial reform, the abolition of corporal punishment, the reform of the military, public education, and censorship, were a 'watershed', 'a turning point' in the history of Russia. This chapter discusses the reasons and preconditions for the abolition of serfdom. Tsar Alexander II himself was the initiator of the transformations in Russia. Alexander II embarked on the emancipation reforms not because he was a reformer in principle but as a military man who recognised the lessons of the Crimean War, and as an emperor for whom the prestige and greatness of the state took precedence over everything. The weakest link in the chain of reforms was finances, and it was only after the war of 1877-78, against a background of financial crisis, social and political discontent, and terrorist acts, that Alexander II and the government acknowledged the need to continue the Great Reforms.