In the wake of the disastrous Crimean War, the Russian autocracy completely renovated its most basic social, political and economic systems by emancipating some 23 million privately-owned serfs. This had massive and far-reaching consequences for all aspects of life in Russia, and had profound implications for the course of Russian history. This book examines the emancipation of the serfs, focusing in particular on the mechanisms used to enact the reforms and the implications for Russian politics and society more generally. It provides a detailed picture of how the state-instigated reforms operated in practice, and how, because the autocracy lacked the necessary resources, it was forced to create new institutions with real powers and autonomy, such as the "mirovoi posrednik", or 'peace arbitrator', which often had very different results in practice from those originally intended by the authorities, forever changing the nature of the Russian autocracy and political system.It shows how these institutions invigorated political life in Russia, introducing new norms that challenged centuries-old customs and traditions, fostered the emergence of a nascent civil society, and thus channelled Russia along the basic trajectory of Western European socio-political development.