The situation of the peasants in "enlightened and freedom-loving" Europe was not much different from Russia, and even worse were laws like "the right of the first night", and were canceled by historical standards almost simultaneously. But what is absolutely certain - they were exported to Russia.
Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst comes from the Holstein family. In Schleswig-Holstein, serfdom was abolished in 1804. In Mecklenburg: 1820. In Prussia: in 1823. To Saxony: in 1832. In Hanover: 1831. In Denmark: 1788. In Austria: 1848. In Hungary: in 1853. etc. And it continued incomparably longer than in Russia in time - from the early Middle Ages. Of course, all this can be attributed to the historical lack of freedom and the slavish mentality of the Russian people, accustomed to slavery. But if you look closely, all these feudal ideas and the laws that secure them are copied from the West. And they came from the west, along with the reforms of Peter and the accession of Catherine.
Some figures of that time even denied Russians the right to “personality”, to “personify”, suggesting that they should be assigned the status of eternal slaves. That even Catherine was forced to answer like this: “If a serf cannot be recognized as a person, then he is not a man; so please admit him with cattle that we will be attributed to no small glory and philanthropy from the whole world. " Actually, with Catherine begins that very period of "serfdom" and the absolute lack of rights of the Russian people. It should be noted that all "foreigners" on the territory of Russia were "free" and were not subject to serfdom laws.
The liberation of the nobility took place a hundred years earlier than the “liberation” of the peasants. It was rumored that at the same time Peter III was determined to abolish serfdom among the peasants. But, I did not have time for all known reasons. Catherine II, who usurped power, signed laws giving landowners the right to exile peasants not only to Siberia, but also to hard labor, and in 1767 peasants were strictly forbidden to file complaints (petitions) against their landowners, to which they had the right before. All enslavement gradually took place exclusively during the reign of the Romanov dynasty, the tsars, in which there was little Russian blood, and finally formed under Peter I. Under him, even the nobility was enslaved, which Peter III “liberated” on February 18, 1762. The king, who sat on the throne for only six months,suddenly grants freedom to the Russian nobility, and what is curious - historians say - his actions caused a negative attitude towards him in the officer corps. It somehow looks illogical, but it explains the subsequent coup with his renunciation of the crown. Peter gives freedom to the nobility, and they give him a snuffbox in the forehead. Almost exactly the same, with the same outcome, they thanked Alexander II - the "Liberator".
In fact, in Russia, serfdom in its pure form has existed for less than 200 years (- that is, for three to four generations), since the Sobornoye Ulozhenie abolished fixed-term summers, thus securing an indefinite search for fugitive peasants. And maybe even later, from 1721 - when the tax reform was introduced, which finally fixed the peasants to the land. Today they are "celebrating" 150 years of the abolition of serfdom. On this basis, many leaders again started a mournful song about slave psychology and serfdom, which had entered the mentality of the Russian people, as a purely Russian phenomenon.
Alphonse Mucha "Abolition of serfdom in Russia"
