Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov

Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov

Have you ever heard of Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov? Probably not, but you are not the only one. Most people have heard of Alexander's brother, Vladimir, more commonly known as the great Russian revolutionary Lenin. Vladimir is credited as the man responsible for the Russian Revolution, but his revolutionary cause may have been sparked because of his older brother's death. Therefore Alexander may be just as responsible for the Russian Revolution as Vladimir.

Alexander was born in 1866. His father, Iyla Nikolaeyich Ulyanov, was an inspector of public schools, credited with the construction of 450 schoolhouses. His mother, Maria, was the daughter of surgeon and landowner. Alexander, nicknamed Sasha, was the oldest of six children. Vladimir was the third of the six, and four years younger than Alexander. Vladimir looked up to his older brother from a young age. When Alexander came home from school in a new students' uniform, Vladimir asked his brother for the same type of uniform.

The two brothers differed in personalities. Alexander was very serious, reserved, and rather quiet. On the other hand, Vladimir was noisy, boisterous, sharp of the tongue, and a player of practical jokes.

Both Alexander and Vladimir were top students in their classes. Each won gold medals for being the best student. Alexander excelled at science while his younger brother excelled at Latin, History, and Literature. Alexander's favorite author was Dostoevsky while Vladimir preferred Turneniev and Tolstoy. In 1883, Alexander went to St. Petersburg to attend the university. At the school, he was initially absorbed in scientific research. He won a gold medal for his zoological study of earthworms.

In January 1886, Alexander's father died of cerebral hemourage. A few months after his father's death, Alexander began to get involved in student causes. Alexander participated in illegal meetings, demonstrations and ran propaganda activities among other students and working class people. He joined his fellow student's at a memorial service for officials who had brought about the peasant emancipation. Shortly thereafter, he took part in a student demonstration and some of his fellow students were expelled for their participation in the act. Alexander was deeply upset by their expulsion, and he felt very guilty.

In the laboratory, Alexander began experimenting with explosives along with doing research on sea spiders and worms. Because of his knowledge of explosives, he was drawn into a terrorist plot to assassinate Alexander III. He was one of seven students who called themselves "The Terrorist Section of the Narodnaya Volya." The student radicals believed in Socialism. He was not the leader of the group, but he was the official chemist. The student terrorists pooled their "meagor resources" to buy some nitric acid for use in making a bomb. The nitric acid proved too weak to be usable. The bombs that Alexander made were completely ineffective. When one of the students threw one of Alexander's bombs at a police officer, the bomb did not even explode. In order to help one of his fellow students escape from the police, Alexander even pawned his gold medal that he had won years ago as a top student.

By pure accident, the Russian police discovered Alexander's involvement in the plot to murder the Czar. On March 1, 1887, police apprehended a young man, carrying a huge book. Inside the book was a "crude dynamite bomb." The student was not Alexander, but his arrest led the police to Alexander because he was the bomb maker. Even though Alexander had not been the organizer of the conspiracy, he took responsibility for the plot, since the original organizer had fled St. Petersburg.

At his trial, Alexander spoke up for his radical beliefs: "We are encouraged to develop out intellectual powers, but we are not allowed to use them for the benefit of the people." He told the judges, "There is no finer death, than death for one country's sake. Such