The Assassination of the Czar

The s r combat organization had succeeded in killing the minister of the interior in early 19 o two. To replace him, the czar appointed a guy named vicisla von plef who cracked down hard on revolutionaries and liberal reform types. Plef earned international enmity by doing nothing to stop a wave of attack on jews that left 50 dead. He was hardly mourned or lamented, even inside the government. But most of all, it spoke to little support there was for the czar continuing his hard line, conservative tactics. A different approach was needed. The dashed expectations of an easy military triumph had now been replaced by expect ations of political reform.