Herzen was an illegitimate child of a rich Russian landowner, Ivan Yakovlev, by a young German Protestant woman, Henriette Wilhelmina Luisa Haag from Stuttgart. Yakovlev supposedly gave his son the surname Herzen because he was a "child of his heart" (German herz).

He was first cousin to Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (1819 – 1898, Moscow, Russian: Сергей Львович Львов-Левицкий), considered the patriarch of Russian photography and one of Europe's most important early photographic pioneers, inventors and innovators. In 1860, Levitsky would immortalize Herzen in a famous photo capturing the writer's essence and being.

Herzen was born in Moscow shortly before Napoleon's invasion of Russia and brief occupation of the city. His father, after a personal interview with Napoleon, was allowed to leave Moscow after agreeing to bear a letter from the French to the Russian emperor in St. Petersburg. His family accompanied him to the Russian lines.

A year later the family returned to Moscow, remaining there after Herzen completed his studies at Moscow University, until 1834, when Herzen was arrested and tried on charges of having attended a festival during which verses by Sokolovsky that were uncomplimentary to the tsar, were sung. He was found guilty, and in 1835 banished to Vyatka, now Kirov, in north eastern Russia. He remained there until the tsar's son, Alexander (later to become Alexander II) visited the city, accompanied by the poet Zhukovsky; Herzen was allowed to leave Vyatka for Vladimir, where he was appointed editor of the city's official gazette.

In 1840 he returned to Moscow, where he met literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, who was strongly influenced by him. He then obtained a post in the ministry of the interior at St Petersburg; but as a consequence of complaining about a death caused by a police officer, was sent to Novgorod, where he was a state councillor until 1842. In 1846 his father died, leaving him a large amount of property. In 1837 he eloped with Natalya Zakharina (Letters from France and Italy, 1847 - 1851), his cousin, secretly marrying her. She accompanied his emigration abroad in 1847, never returning to Russia. She bore him four children, before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1852 (Letters from France and Italy, 1847 - 1851). Herzen was eventually joined in France by his lifelong friend Nikolay Ogarev. By then Natalya was in the final stages of tuberculosis, and soon died. Ogarev was in poor health, having suffered a number of strokes. Herzen began an affair with Ogarev's common law wife Natalia Tuchkova, the daughter of the general Tuchkov (the hero of the War of 1812). Tuchkova bore Herzen 3 more children. His assets were frozen because of his emigration, however Baron Rothschild with whom his family had business relationship, negotiated the release of Herzen's assets which were nominally transferred to Rothschild.

From Italy, on hearing of the revolution of 1848, he hastened to Paris, and then to Switzerland. He supported the revolutions of 1848, but was bitterly disillusioned with European socialist movements after their failure. In 1852 he left Geneva for London, where he settled for many years. He promoted socialism and individualism, arguing that the full flowering of the individual could best be realized in a socialist order. In 1864 he returned to Geneva, and after some time went to Paris, where he died on the 21st of January 1870 of tuberculosis complications. Originally buried in Paris, his remains were taken to Nice.

His literary career began in 1842 with the publication of an essay, in Russian, on Dilettantism in Science, under the pseudonym of Iskander, the Turkish form of his Christian name. His second work, also in Russian, was his Letters on the Study of Nature (1845 – 46). In 1847 appeared his novel Kto Vinovat? (Who is to blame?), and about the same time were published in Russian periodicals the stories which were afterwards collected and printed in London in 1854, under the title of Prervannye Razskazy (Interrupted Tales). In 1850 two works appeared, translated from the Russian manuscripts, From Another Shore and Lettres de France et d'Italie. In French also appeared his essay Du Developpement des idées revolutionnaires en Russie, and his Memoirs, which, after being printed in Russian, were translated under the title of Le Monde russe et la Révolution (3 vols., 1860 – 1862), and were in part translated into English as My Exile to Siberia (2 vols., 1855).

His Who is to blame? is a story about how the domestic happiness of a young tutor, who marries the unacknowledged daughter of a Russian sensualist of the old type, dull, ignorant and genial, is troubled by a Russian sensualist of the new school, intelligent, accomplished, and callous, with there being no possibility of saying who is most to blame for the tragic ending.

It was as a political writer that Herzen gained his reputation. Having founded in London his Free Russian Press, the fortunes of which he gave an interesting account in a book published (in Russian) in 1863, he published a large number of Russian works, all against the system of government prevailing in Russia. Some of these were essays, such as his Baptized Property (1853), an attack on serfdom; others were periodical publications, the Polyarnaya Zvyezda (or Polar Star), the Kolokol (or Bell), and the Golosa iz Rossii (or Voices from Russia). The Kolokol soon obtained an immense circulation, and exercised an extraordinary influence.

As the first independent Russian political publisher Herzen began publishing The Polar Star, a review which appeared infrequently and was later joined by The Bell in 1857, a journal issued between 1857 and 1867 at Herzen's personal expense. Both publications acquired great influence via an illegal circulation in Russian territory; it was said the Emperor himself read them. Both publications gave Herzen influence in Russia reporting from a liberal perspective about the incompetence of the Tsar and the Russian bureaucracy.

Writing in 1857 Herzen became excited by the possibility of social change under Alexander II, “A new Life is unmistakably boiling up in Russia, even the government is being carried away by it”. Herzen used his skill for popular writing to expose the injustices of the ruling elite.

Herzen fought a propaganda war through the journals that had the goal of attaining individual liberty for Russians. Herzen understood the competing claims to power, and was aware of the failings of the doctrines that guided the 1848 revolutionary failures. Herzen wrote of the inhumanity of the ruling monarchies of Europe but also the excesses perpetrated by revolutionary governments. Herzen constantly fought for social change and felt his journals would contribute to the winds of change,

“The storm is approaching, it is impossible to be mistaken about that. Revolutionaries and Reactionaries are at one about that. All men's heads are going round; a weighty question, a question of life and death, lies heavy on men's chests”

Herzen refused to trust any government, and he believed in the right to make your own choices, with minimal state intervention.

For three years the Russian Free Press went on printing without selling a single copy, and scarcely being able to get a single copy introduced into Russia; so when at last a bookseller bought ten shillings worth of Baptized Property, the half - sovereign was set aside by the surprised editors in a special place of honor. But the death of the emperor Nicholas in 1855 led to a complete change. Herzen's writings, and the magazines he edited, were smuggled wholesale into Russia, and their words resounded throughout the country, as well as all over Europe. Their influence grew.

1855 gave Herzen reason to be optimistic; Alexander II had ascended the throne and reforms seemed possible. The Bell broke the story that the government was considering serf emancipation in July 1857, adding that the government lacked the ability to resolve the issue. Herzen urged the Tsarist regime 'Onward, onward' towards reform in The Polar Star in 1856, yet by 1858 full serf emancipation had not been achieved. Herzen grew impatient with reform and by May 1858 The Bell restarted its campaign to comprehensively emancipate the serfs. Once Serf emancipation was achieved in 1861 The Bell's campaign changed to 'Liberty and Land', a program that tried to achieve further social change in support of serf rights. Alexander II granted serfs their freedom, the law courts were remodelled, trial by jury was established, and liberty was to a great extent conceded to the press. When the Polish insurrection of 1863 broke out however, and Herzen pleaded the insurgents' cause, his reputation in Russia declined.

In 1852 Herzen arrived in Britain where he would reside until 1864. Herzen was disillusioned with the 1848 revolutions but not disillusioned with revolutionary thought. Herzen had always admired the French Revolution and broadly adopted its values. In his early writings he viewed the French Revolution as the end of history, the final stage in social development of a society based on humanism and harmony. Through his early life Herzen saw himself as a revolutionary radical called to fight the political oppression of Nicholas I of Russia. Essentially Herzen fought against Christian hypocrisy and in favour of individual self - expression.

Herzen spent time in London organising with the International Workingmen's Association, becoming well acquainted with revolutionary circles including the likes of Bakunin and Marx. It was during his time in London that Herzen began to make a name for himself for "scandal - mongering" when he told Bakunin, freshly arrived having escaped imprisonment in Siberia, that Marx had accused him of being a Russian agent; in reality the two were on very good terms.

It was revolutionary failures coupled with the tragedies of his wife, children's and mother's deaths that drove Herzen to Britain, and he fell into emotional despair for several years. From London he found his despair had revived new energy for political and literary work to help the Russian peasantry he idolised. Herzen became critical of those 1848 revolutionaries who were “so revolted by the Reaction after 1848, so exasperated by everything European, that they hastened on to Kansas or California”. Herzen found a new desire to influence and win the appreciation of his countrymen as he established the Russian Printing Press.

In London he hired Malwida von Meysenbug to give an education to his daughters. In 1862, Malwida von Meysenbug went to Italy with Olga, his daughter. Meysenbug would later become an acquaintance of Friedrich Nietzsche, while Olga married Gabriel Monod in 1873.

Herzen drew criticism from both liberals who were against violence and from radicals who thought Herzen was too soft. Liberals led by Chicherin and Kavelin believed individual freedom would be achieved through the rationalisation of social relations. Their etatist variety of liberalism was opposed by Herzen as it supposed that Russian society would evolve to an ideal state based on a Hegelian view of reason. They believed the revolutionaries would merely postpone the establishment of the ideal state, while Herzen thought that, on the contrary, they were blind to historical reality. Herzen would always reject grand narratives such as a predestined position for a society to arrive at, and his writings in exile promoted small scale communal living with the protection of individual liberty by a non - interventionist government.

Herzen aggravated Russian radicals by appearing too moderate. Radicals such as Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov wanted more commitment towards violent revolution from Herzen, and to withdraw from any hope in the reformist Tsar. Radicals asked Herzen to use The Bell as a mouthpiece for violent radical revolution, however Herzen rejected these requests. He argued that the Russian Radicals were not united and strong enough to seek successful political change, stating “You want happiness, I suppose? I dare say you do! Happiness has to be conquered. If you are strong, take it. If you are weak, hold your tongue”. Herzen feared the new revolutionary government would merely replace the dictatorship with another dictatorship.

The radicals describe Herzen as a liberal for not wanting immediate change, but Herzen rejects their pleas arguing for change at a pace that will ensure success. Herzen briefly joined with other Russian liberals such as Kavelin to promote the peasant 'awakening' in Russia. Herzen continued to use The Bell as an outlet to promote unity with all sections of the Russian society behind a demand for a national parliament. However his hope as acting as a uniting force were ended by the Polish revolt of 1863, when the liberal support for Tsarist revenge against the Poles ended Herzen's link with them. This breach resulted a declining readership for The Bell, which ceased publication in 1867. By his death in 1870 Herzen was almost forgotten.

Herzen opposed the aristocracy that ruled 19th Century Russia. A rise in populism by 1880 led to a favorable re-evaluation of his writings. Herzen sided with the agrarian collectivist model of social structure.

Alongside populism Herzen will be remembered for his rejection of corrupt government of any political persuasion, and for his support for individual rights. A Hegelian in his youth, this translated into no specific theory or single doctrine dominating his thought. Herzen came to believe the complex questions of society could not be answered and Russians must live for the moment and not a cause, essentially life is an end in itself. Herzen found greater understanding by not committing himself to an extreme but rather lived impartially enabling him to equally criticise competing ideologies. Herzen believed that grand doctrines ultimately result in enslavement, sacrifice and tyranny.

Herzen was a hero of the 20th century philosopher Isaiah Berlin. The words of Herzen that Berlin repeated most insistently were those condemning the sacrifice of human beings on the altar of abstractions, the subordination of the realities of individual happiness or unhappiness in the present to glorious dreams of the future. Berlin, like Herzen, believed that ‘the end of life is life itself’, and that each life and each age should be regarded as its own end and not as a means to some future goal.

Tolstoy declared that he had never met another man "with so rare a combination of scintillating brilliance and depth". Berlin called his autobiography "one of the great monuments to Russian literary and psychological genius.….a literary masterpiece to be placed by the side of the novels of his contemporaries and countrymen, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky ..."

Russian Thinkers a collection of Berlin's essays in which Herzen features, was the inspiration for Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy of plays performed at London's National Theatre in 2002 and at New York's Lincoln Center in 2006 - 2007. Set against the background of the early development of Russian socialist thought, the Revolutions of 1848 and later exile, the plays examine the lives and intellectual development of, among other Russians, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, the literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, the novelistIvan Turgenev and Alexander Herzen, whose character dominates the plays.