What happened in the reign of Alexander 3. Tsar Alexander Alexandrovich III (biography). Strengthening the positions of the nobility

Successors of Alexander II

§ 171. Emperor Alexander III Alexandrovich (1881-1894)

Portrait of Emperor Alexander III

In particular, the following important events of the time of Emperor Alexander III should be noted.

1. Regarding estates a number of measures were taken to bring order to their upset situation. Nobility experienced a severe economic crisis after the peasant reform. His economy fell into disarray with the loss of gratuitous peasant labor. The lands left the hands of the nobles with considerable speed, and at the same time, with the sale of estates, the nobles themselves left the districts. The government tried by a number of measures to support the declining class in every possible way. The nobles were granted predominance in the zemstvos (by means of a corresponding change in the order of the zemstvo elections). The position of "zemstvo district chiefs" was established in the counties. They replaced the justices of the peace and at the same time received great administrative power over the peasant societies. Granted by law to local nobles, the position of Zemstvo chief was, of course, supposed to raise the importance of the nobility in the counties. At the same time, the government came to the aid of the material needs of the nobility. A "noble land bank" was established to issue loans to nobles secured by their land on very favorable terms.

At the same time, the government made attempts to improve material life peasants . In many places, the peasant allotments were insufficient to provide for the increased peasant population. There was an urgent need for land. In view of this, a “peasant land bank” was established for the peasants, which issued loans to the peasants for the acquisition of land by purchase. Another means of combating land shortages was the peasant resettlement to free lands in Siberia and Central Asia. The government tried to streamline the resettlement movement and direct it; it came to the aid of the settlers, pointing out to them land plots and easing the hardships of their long journey. Lack of land drove the peasants from the villages to the cities and factories. The growth of factory production in Russia in the second half of the XIX century. led to the fact that in the cities and factory centers a crowded working class , cut off from the earth and provided with nothing but factory labor. Relations between manufacturers and workers sometimes became aggravated, leading to clashes and strikes. The authorities were forced to regulate these relations by law. Under Emperor Alexander III, not only factory legislation began, but also the position of factory inspectors was established to monitor factory procedures in order to introduce discipline among the workers and protect their legitimate interests from exploitation of the owners.

Reception of volost foremen by Alexander III. Painting by I. Repin, 1885-1886

2. Regarding finance and public economy under Emperor Alexander III, important measures were taken. The financial position of Russia after the war of 1877-1878, due to various reasons (§163), was unsatisfactory. The rate of credit notes was low (up to 60 kopecks per ruble or even less) and constantly fluctuated. There were deficits in the budget every year. Emperor Alexander III resorted to extreme frugality and adopted a system of protective duties, heavily taxing imported goods and encouraging Russian production. The ministers of finance (N. Kh. Bunge, I. A. Vyshnegradsky, S. Yu. Witte), one after the other, consistently pursued this financial policy and not only achieved an end to deficits, but, moreover, managed to form a significant stock of gold cash. With her help, a reform of monetary circulation was prepared, already carried out under Emperor Nicholas II. In view of the economic upsurge of the eastern outskirts and their closer connection with the state center, the construction of the great Siberian railway was undertaken, which connected European Russia with the Pacific Ocean, and the Transcaspian railways, which connected Central Asia with Russia.

Nikolai Khristoforovich Bunge, Minister of Finance during the reign of Alexander III. Portrait by I. Tyurin, 1887

3. Foreign policy Emperor Alexander III was distinguished by certainty and stability. Strictly protecting Russian national interests, he resolutely avoided interfering in European affairs and always displayed an unfailing peacefulness. At the first manifestations of dissatisfaction with the Russian protectorate on the part of the southern Slavs, Emperor Alexander III retreated from him and left Bulgaria and Serbia to their own forces. He did not maintain old connections with the Prussian Hohenzollerns, being very dissatisfied with the German policy at the Berlin Congress (§169). Founded in those years under the hegemony of Germany, the "tripartite alliance" with Austria and Italy, Emperor Alexander III considered a threat to European peace and the interests of Russia and France. Therefore, he became close to France and entered into a defensive alliance with her, which restored the political balance in Europe and became a stronghold of the European world for a long time. The constancy of the Russian sovereign in maintaining the common peace and the sincerity of his peacefulness gave him the title of "peacemaker". During the entire reign of Alexander III, Russia had only one minor armed clash with the Afghans (1885) on the river. Kushk on the occasion of the accession to Russia of the Merv oasis and the Pende oasis. The defeat of the Afghan detachment by General Komarov did not cause any further complications either with Afghanistan or with its patroness England, and the disputed lands remained with Russia.

4. Being a representative of a strictly national foreign policy, Emperor Alexander was the bearer of Russian national idea . He strove for a close unification of the foreign outskirts with the state center and for the possible Russification of the foreigners. The unification policy particularly affected the Ostsee region. There, instead of the old German forms of government and self-government, national institutions with the Russian language were introduced; and the German university in the city of Yuriev (before 1893 bearing the name of Dorpat) was transformed into Russian. In the Polish provinces, steps were also taken to strengthen Russian influence. With regard to Finland, drastic measures were taken. During the reign of Emperor Alexander II, the Finns managed to achieve such forms of self-government that turned Finland from an autonomous Russian province, as it were, into a separate country. The Finnish population was allowed to have its own coins (marks and pennies), its own post office, its own customs system, its own railways, even its own army. There is no doubt that all these signs of internal independence and isolation should have instilled in the Finns a view of their homeland as a separate state, which is only in union with Russia. By the time of Emperor Alexander III, this view had already led to many inconveniences and misunderstandings between the government and the Finnish Diet and Senate. Not sympathizing with the Finnish isolation, the sovereign announced (1890) that the Grand Duchy of Finland was “in the ownership and sovereign possession of the Russian Empire” and that it should be returned to closer unity with other parts of the Russian state. In accordance with this principle, government control over Finnish administration was strengthened and measures were outlined, and partly implemented, to limit Finnish autonomy.

After the death of Emperor Alexander II in March 1881, his second son became the ruler of Russia. Initially, he was supposed to make a career in the military sphere, but after the death of the heir (older brother) Nikolai, he had to forget about a military career and take a place on the throne.

Historians paint this ruler as a typical Russian powerful man, who was more inclined towards war than to subtle and careful planning of the state course. The features of his reign are the preservation of autocracy and the signing of peace agreements.

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Main events

The reign of Alexander 3 was remembered as one of the most peaceful, because the emperor sought to preserve friendly relations with all neighbors and, if possible, act as a peacemaker in conflicts. Although not without military victories. The main events of the emperor's reign by years are briefly as follows:

• 1881: the capture of Ashgabat, the resumption of the "Union of the Three Emperors";
• 1882: A.F. Mozhaisky designed and launched an airplane on its first flight, factory legislation is being developed;
• 1883: Creation by Plekhanov of the Emancipation of Labor group in Geneva;
• 1884: introduction of a new charter for universities and the opening of parochial schools in the villages;
• 1885: annexation of Central Asia and the Russo-Afghan conflict;
• 1887: Russo-German peace treaty concluded;
• 1888: University in Tomsk was opened;
• 1889: positions of judges in rural districts were abolished, the position of zemstvo chief was introduced;
• 1891: beginning construction of the Great Siberian Route;
• 1891-1892: Volga famine;
• 1892: a new Customs Charter was adopted, a new "City Regulation" was approved, a secret Russian-French military convention was concluded;
• 1893: the law "On the customs tariff" is adopted, the beginning of the Russian-German "customs war".

The main events show that the activities of the king were mainly aimed at the counter-reforms of his father.

The years of the reign of Alexander III

Domestic politics

Russia under Alexander 3 was divided into supporters of two parties: the liberal, advocating reforms, and the monarchist, opposing democracy. Unlike his father, the son took a course on strengthening of autocracy and rejected the very model of constitutional Russia.

Main directions

In Russia, the administrative regulation of the social sphere has been preserved. All enemies of the monarchy were persecuted, arrested and expelled. Despite the counter-reforms, the state developed dynamically, and its social and economic indicators grew. The main directions of the domestic policy of Alexander 3 were:

1. Taxation - new increased duties on imported goods, direct taxes were introduced, and the rates of the old ones increased. An inheritance tax was introduced and the tax on industrial enterprises, land and real estate was increased, which affected the wealthy in the first place. In turn, serious concessions were introduced for the peasants: the size of the annual redemption was reduced, the poll tax was abolished, and the Peasant Land Bank was established.
2. Social sphere - the promotion of the industrial industry increased the number of workers in factories, the number of hired workers increased.
3. Labor legislation - in 1882, the Factory Inspectorate was created, a law on child labor was adopted (it became prohibited until the age of 12), a reduction in the working day for adolescents was introduced, ban on night work for minors. Acts were approved on the rules for hiring and on the relations of workers in the team. Relations between the employer and the worker were settled by mandatory signing of a work contract and paybook payments.
4. Local self-government - zemstvos and cities were endowed with great rights, the zemstvo chief became at the same time a justice of the peace.
5. Judicial proceedings - juveniles and students were not allowed to attend court hearings. It was forbidden to publish transcripts and reports, as well as to let the public into trials in which religious and moral feelings could be offended. Serious crimes were sent to the judicial chambers for consideration.
6. Education - universities were deprived of the right to be autonomous due to the frequent revolutionary views and movements that originated here. A new edition of the University Charter began to operate.

Thus, the main directions of Alexander's domestic policy were reduced to the settlement of social issues, taxation and education.

Tasks

Many progressive citizens of Russia saw in the tsar someone who would continue the reforms and lead Russia to a constitution. However, the reforms of Alexander 3 destroyed these hopes. His first speech was marked by the fact that the tsar declared the senselessness of constitutional plans, which clearly indicated the course of autocracy.

He set himself the task of preventing the development of a revolutionary movement in Russia. The emperor did not recognize the reforms, dismissed some officials who advocated reforms, and adopted the Manifesto on autocratic power. At the same time, Russian governors were endowed with special rights in the struggle for imperial power. An equally important task was the introduction of counter-reforms of the zemstvo persuasion and refereeing.

The policy of autocracy and reactionary reforms also touched the educational sphere. According to the adopted circular, the children of lackeys and other servants were forbidden to attend gymnasiums, and schools in the villages were replaced by parochial institutions. Was conducted strict censorship of all printed publications.

Important! The harsh reforms of the domestic policy of Alexander III became the main cause of deep discontent in Russian society, which created excellent ground for the growth and aggravation of social contradictions.

Counter-reforms

All the reforms of the previous emperor were aimed at constitutional politics and gave greater rights to peasants and other ordinary people. His son was categorically against such changes in society, and as soon as he took the throne, he began to carry out counter-reforms, including:

• Zemskaya - the position of Zemstvo chief is introduced, they are appointed by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Only people of noble origin had the right to take such a position, and their job was to control the peasants in the administrative part.
• City - the number of voters is reduced due to an increase in property qualifications, and any law in the Duma must be approved by the governor. The number of Duma meetings was limited, which in fact led to the management of the city by the government.
• Judicial - jurors had to have sufficient educational qualifications to occupy such a position, which increased the number of nobles among them.
• Printed and educational – introduced tight control over educational institutions, the autonomy of universities is prohibited, the academic staff was controlled by the government. A special police force was created to supervise schoolchildren and students.

Thus, economic reforms, adopted laws, acts and manifestos brought the Russian Empire to the level of 1861, which could not favorably affect the mood in society.

Monument to Alexander III in St. Petersburg near the Marble Palace

Foreign policy

The peaceful foreign policy of Alexander 3, despite the short period of his reign, led to the assignment of the unofficial title of "Peacemaker" to him.

He set the main external task maintaining peace with neighbors and other states, as well as finding and strengthening relationships with prospective allies. Despite the peaceful course, the emperor planned to strengthen Russia's influence in all areas.

Main directions

The main directions of the foreign policy of Alexander 3 concentrated on several directions, which is clearly seen in the table.

Directions	Actions
Europe	A peace treaty was concluded with Germany in 1887 and a customs war with Germany began in 1890. Peace treaty with France in 1891. The Russo-French Convention in 1892 and the formation of an official union in 1893.
Balkans	Support for Bulgaria after the declaration of its independence in 1879. Secret relations between Romania and Bulgaria led to the severance of all diplomatic relations with the latter. Restoration of an alliance with Turkey. The signing of a peace treaty with Austria and Germany, which in a year will turn into the Triple Alliance. The beginning of a rapprochement with France to prevent war with Germany in the late 1880s.
Asia	The area of ​​the state was increased by more than 400,000 sq. km.
East	Due to the upcoming treaties and the unification of a number of countries against Japan, the Russian Empire is turning into its enemy in the Far East. In order to build up power and, in case of danger, to resist aggressive Japan, Russia begins to build the Siberian Railway.

Russia's peaceful actions have not always ended successfully, but not because of wrong actions, but because of hostile neighbors. The main directions of the foreign policy of Alexander 3 led to increase the area of ​​the state peacefully and 13 peaceful years of the country.

Foreign policy of Alexander 3

Board results

Alexander 3 was called "the most Russian tsar", who put all his strength into protecting the Russian people, strengthening the outskirts and state unity. His reign was short, only 14 years, as he died at 49 from kidney failure. The pros and cons of Alexander's reign make it possible to assess his activities on the throne.

The pros and cons of ruling

The results of Alexander's reign include both advantages and disadvantages, like any other policy. The advantages of the reign of this emperor include:

• providing peasants with multiple benefits and the opportunity to take loans and credits;
• creation of factory legislation;
• the beginning of the work of the Peasants' Bank;
• the sharp growth of the industry;
• the growth of the ruble and the strengthening of its exchange rate;
• restoration of the significance and authority of the Orthodox Church;
• peaceful foreign policy and strengthening state power;
• expansion of the state by joining the Asian khanates.

The disadvantages include:

• counter-reforms of Alexander 3, which crossed out all the achievements of Alexander II;
• preservation of autocracy;
• severe limitation of the power of local self-government;
• press censorship, lack of publicity;
• restrictions in the field of education.

Alexander III. Personality. Domestic and foreign policy of Russia in 1881-1894.

Video lesson on the history of "Foreign policy of Alexander III"

Conclusion

The domestic and foreign policy of Alexander, despite their peaceful course, ensured the emergence of a revolutionary spirit among the people, which ultimately led to. Russia under Alexander 3 took a step back in its social development.

The All-Russian Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov was born on February 26 (old style) 1845 in St. Petersburg in the Anichkov Palace. His father was a reforming emperor, and his mother was a queen. The boy was the third child in a family, in which five children were later born. His older brother Nikolai was preparing to reign, and Alexander was destined for the fate of a military man.

As a child, the Tsarevich studied without much zeal, and the teachers were undemanding to him. In the memoirs of his contemporaries, young Alexander was not very smart, but he had a sound mind and the gift of reasoning.

In temperament, Alexander was kind and a little shy, although he turned out to be a noble figure: with a height of 193 cm, his weight reached 120 kg. Despite his stern appearance, the young man loved art. He took painting lessons from Professor Tikhobrazov and studied music. Alexander mastered playing brass and woodwind instruments. Subsequently, he will support Russian art in every possible way and, with sufficient unpretentiousness in everyday life, will collect a good collection of works by Russian artists. And in opera houses, with his light hand, Russian operas and ballets will be staged much more often than European ones.

Tsarevich Nicholas and Alexander were very close to each other. The younger brother even claimed that there was no one closer and more beloved to him than Nikolai. Therefore, when in 1865 the heir to the throne, while traveling in Italy, suddenly felt ill and died suddenly of tuberculosis of the spine, Alexander could not accept this loss for a long time. In addition, it turned out that it was he who became the contender for the throne, for which Alexander was completely unprepared.

The young men's teachers were horrified for a moment. The young man was urgently assigned a course of special lectures, which were read to him by mentor Konstantin Pobedonostsev. After ascending to the kingdom, Alexander will make his teacher an adviser and will refer to him until the end of his life. Nikolai Alexandrovich Kachalov was appointed another assistant to the Tsarevich, with whom the young man traveled around Russia.

Crowning the throne

In early March 1881, after another assassination attempt, Emperor Alexander II died from his wounds, and his son immediately ascended the throne. Two months later, the new emperor published the "Manifesto on the Inviolability of Autocracy", which stopped all liberal changes in the structure of the state, established by his father.

The sacrament of the wedding to the kingdom took place later - on May 15, 1883 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. During the reign, the royal family moved to the palace in Gatchina.

Domestic policy of Alexander III

Alexander III adhered to pronounced monarchist and nationalist principles, his actions in domestic politics could be called a counter-reformation. The emperor first of all signed the decrees by which he sent liberal ministers to rest. Among them were Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich, M. T. Loris-Melikova, D. A. Milyutin, A. A. Abaza. He made K. P. Pobedonostsev, N. Ignatiev, D. A. Tolstoy, M. N. Katkov the key figures of his entourage.

In 1889, a talented politician and financier S. Yu. Witte appeared at the court, whom Alexander Alexandrovich soon appointed Minister of Finance and Minister of Communications. Sergei Yulievich did a lot for Great Russia. He introduced the provision of the ruble with the country's gold reserves, which contributed to the strengthening of the Russian currency on the international market. This led to the fact that the flow of foreign capital to the Russian Empire increased, and the economy began to develop at an accelerated pace. In addition, he did a lot for the development and construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is still the only road linking Vladivostok with Moscow.

Despite the fact that for the peasants, Alexander III tightened the right to receive education and vote in zemstvo elections, he gave them the opportunity to take loans at low interest rates in order to expand their economy and strengthen their position on earth. For the nobles, the emperor also introduced restrictions. Already in the first year of his reign, he canceled all additional payments from the royal treasury to those close to him, and also did a lot to eradicate corruption.

Alexander III tightened control over students, set a limit on the number of Jewish students in all educational institutions, and tightened censorship. His slogan was the phrase: "Russia for the Russians." On the outskirts of the Empire, he proclaimed active Russification.

Alexander III did a lot for the metallurgical industry and the development of oil and gas production. Under him, a real boom in improving the welfare of the people began, and terrorist threats completely stopped. The autocrat also did a lot for Orthodoxy. Under his rule, the number of dioceses increased, new monasteries and churches were built. In 1883, one of the most majestic buildings, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, was erected.

As a legacy after his reign, Alexander III left a country with a strong economy.

Foreign policy of Alexander III

Emperor Alexander III, with his wisdom in foreign policy actions and the prevention of wars, went down in history as the Peacemaker Tsar. But at the same time, he did not forget to strengthen the power of the army. Under Alexander III, the Russian fleet became the third after the fleets of France and Great Britain.

The emperor managed to maintain calm relations with all the main rivals. He signed peace agreements with Germany, England, and also significantly strengthened Franco-Russian friendship on the world stage.

During his reign, the practice of open negotiations was established, and the rulers of the European powers began to trust the Russian Tsar, as a wise arbiter, in resolving all disputes between states.

Personal life

After the death of the heir Nicholas, he was left with a bride, the Danish Princess Maria Dagmar. It suddenly turned out that young Alexander was also in love with her. And even despite the fact that for some time he courted the maid of honor, Princess Maria Meshcherskaya, Alexander, at the age of 21, proposes to Maria Sophia Frederica. So in a short time, Alexander's personal life changed, which he did not regret later even once.

After the sacrament of the wedding, which took place in the large church of the Winter Palace, the young couple moved to the Anichkov Palace, where they lived until Alexander came to the throne.

In the family of Alexander Alexandrovich and his wife Maria Feodorovna, who, like all overseas princesses, converted to Orthodoxy before marriage, six children were born, of which five survived to adulthood.

The elder Nicholas would be the last Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty. Of the younger children - Alexander, George, Xenia, Mikhail, Olga - only sisters will live to old age. Alexander will die at the age of one year, George will die in his youth from tuberculosis, and Mikhail will share the fate of his brother - he will be shot by the Bolsheviks.

The emperor raised his children in strictness. Their clothes and food were the simplest. The royal offspring were engaged in physical exercises, and received a good education. Peace and harmony reigned in the family, spouses with children often traveled to Denmark to visit relatives.

Failed assassination attempt

On March 1, 1887, an unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of the emperor. Students Vasily Osipanov, Vasily Generalov, Pakhomiy Andreyushkin and Alexander Ulyanov became participants in the conspiracy. Despite many months of preparations for a terrorist act under the leadership of Pyotr Shevyrev, the young people did not manage to carry out their plan to the end. All four were captured by the police and two months after the trial they were executed by hanging in the fortress of Shlisselburg.

Several members of the revolutionary circle, who were also arrested after the terrorists, were sent into exile for a long time.

Death

A year after the assassination attempt, an unpleasant event occurred in the life of the royal family: the train in which Alexander and his family traveled crashed near Kharkov. Part of the composition turned over, people died. The roof of the car, in which the royal people were, was held by the mighty emperor for a long time on his own for 30 minutes. By doing this, he saved everyone around him. But such an overstrain undermined the health of the king. Alexander Alexandrovich developed kidney disease, which slowly progressed.

In the first winter months of 1894, the emperor caught a bad cold and six months later felt very ill. Ernst Leiden, a professor of medicine from Germany, was called in and diagnosed Alexander Alexandrovich with nephropathy. On the recommendation of a doctor, the emperor was sent to Greece, but on the way he got worse, and his family decided to stop in Livadia in the Crimea.

Within a month of a heroic physique, the tsar faded away before everyone's eyes and, due to the complete failure of the kidneys, died on November 1, 1894. During the last month, his confessor John (Yanyshev), as well as Archpriest John Sergiev, in the future John of Kronstadt, was constantly by his side.

An hour and a half after the death of Alexander III, his son Nicholas swore allegiance to the kingdom. The coffin with the emperor's body was brought to St. Petersburg and solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

The image of the emperor in art

Not as many books have been written about Alexander III as about other conquering emperors. This happened because of his peacefulness and non-conflict. His person is mentioned in some historical books dedicated to the Romanov family.

In documentaries, information about him is presented in several tapes of journalists and. Feature films in which the character of Alexander III was present began to appear from 1925. A total of 5 paintings were published, including "Coast of Life", in which Lev Zolotukhin played the emperor-peacemaker, as well as "The Barber of Siberia", where he played this role.

The last film in which the hero of Alexander III appears was the 2017 film Matilda. He played the king in it.

Family of Emperor Alexander III

Spouse. His wife, as well as the title of Tsarevich, Alexander Alexandrovich received "inheritance" from his older brother, Tsarevich Nicholas. It was a Danish princess Maria Sophia Frederic Dagmar (1847-1928), in Orthodoxy Maria Fedorovna.

Nikolai Alexandrovich met his bride in 1864, when, having completed his home education, he went on a trip abroad. In Copenhagen, in the palace of the Danish king Christian XI, he was introduced to the royal daughter, Princess Dagmar. The young people liked each other, but even without this their marriage was a foregone conclusion, as it corresponded to the dynastic interests of the Danish royal house and the Romanov family. Danish kings had family ties to many of the royal houses of Europe. Their relatives ruled England, Germany, Greece and Norway. The marriage of the heir to the Russian throne with Dagmar strengthened the dynastic ties of the Romanovs with the European royal houses.

On September 20, the engagement of Nikolai and Dagmara took place in Denmark. After that, the groom was supposed to visit Italy and France. In Italy, the Tsarevich caught a cold, he began to have severe back pain. He got to Nice and there he finally took to his bed. Doctors declared his condition to be threatening, and Dagmara and her queen mother went to the south of France, accompanied by Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich. When they arrived in Nice, Nicholas was already dying. The Tsarevich understood that he was dying, and he himself joined the hands of his bride and brother, asking them to marry. On the night of April 13, Nikolai Alexandrovich died of tuberculous inflammation of the spinal cord.

Alexander, unlike his father and grandfather, was not a great lover of women and a connoisseur of female beauty. But Dagmara, an eighteen-year-old beautiful graceful brown-haired woman, made a great impression on him. The new heir's falling in love with the bride of his deceased brother suited both the Russian imperial and Danish royal families. This means that he will not have to be persuaded into this dynastic union. But still they decided not to rush, to wait a little for decency with a new matchmaking. Nevertheless, the Romanov family often remembered the sweet and unhappy Minnie (as Dagmar was called at home - Maria Fedorovna), and Alexander did not stop thinking about her.

In the summer of 1866, the Tsarevich began his journey through Europe with a visit to Copenhagen, where he hoped to see his dear princess. Even on the way to Denmark, he wrote to his parents: “I feel that I can and even love dear Minnie very much, especially since she is so dear to us. God grant that everything will be arranged as I wish. I really don't know what dear Minnie will say to all this; I don't know her feelings for me, and it really torments me. I'm sure we can be so happy together. I earnestly pray to God to bless me and arrange my happiness.”

The royal family and Dagmar received Alexander Alexandrovich cordially. Later, already in St. Petersburg, the courtiers said that the Danish princess did not want to miss the Russian imperial crown, so she quickly put up with the replacement of the handsome Nikolai, whom she was in love with, with the clumsy, but kind and looking at her with adoration Alexander. But what was she to do when her parents decided everything for her a long time ago!

The explanation between Alexander and Dagmara took place on June 11, about which the newly-made groom wrote home the same day: “I was already going to talk to her several times, but I didn’t dare, although we were together several times. When we looked at the photographic album together, my thoughts were not in the pictures at all; I only thought about how to proceed with my request. Finally, I made up my mind and did not even have time to say everything I wanted to. Minnie threw herself on my neck and cried. Of course, I couldn't stop myself from crying too. I told her that our dear Nix prays a lot for us and, of course, at this moment rejoices with us. Tears were flowing from me. I asked her if she could love anyone else but dear Nix. She answered me that no one but his brother, and again we hugged tightly. Much was said and remembered about Nix and his death. Then the queen, the king and the brothers came, everyone hugged us and congratulated us. Everyone had tears in their eyes."

On July 17, 1866, the young people were engaged in Copenhagen. Three months later, the bride of the heir arrived in St. Petersburg. On October 13, she converted to Orthodoxy with the new name Maria Fedorovna, and the grand ducal couple became engaged, and two weeks later, on October 28, they got married.

Maria Fedorovna quickly learned Russian, but until the end of her life she retained a slight peculiar accent. Together with her husband, they made up a slightly strange couple: he is tall, overweight, “masculine”; she is small, light, graceful, with medium-sized features of a pretty face. Alexander called her "beautiful Minnie", was very attached to her and only allowed her to command him. It is difficult to judge whether she truly loved her husband, but she was also very attached to him and became his most devoted friend.

The Grand Duchess had a cheerful, cheerful character, and at first many courtiers considered her frivolous. But it soon turned out that Maria Fedorovna was extremely intelligent, well versed in people and able to judge politics sensibly. She proved to be a faithful wife and a wonderful mother to her children.

In the friendly family of Alexander Alexandrovich and Maria Feodorovna, six children were born: Nikolai, Alexander, Georgy, Mikhail, Xenia, Olga. The childhood of the Grand Dukes and Princesses was happy. They grew up surrounded by parental love and the care of specially trained nannies and governesses discharged from Europe. At their service were the best toys and books, summer holidays in the Crimea and the Baltic Sea, as well as in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.

But from this it did not follow at all that the children turned out to be spoiled sissies. Education in the Romanov family was traditionally strict and rationally organized. Emperor Alexander III considered it his duty to personally instruct the governesses of his offspring: “They should pray well to God, study, play, play pranks in moderation. Teach well, do not give indulgence, ask according to the full severity of the laws, do not encourage laziness in particular. If anything, then address directly to me, I know what needs to be done, I repeat, I don’t need porcelain, I need normal, healthy, Russian children.

All children, especially boys, were brought up in Spartan conditions: they slept on hard beds, washed in cold water in the morning, and received simple porridge for breakfast. Older children could be present with their parents and their guests at the dinner table, but the food was served to them last, after everyone else, so they did not get the best pieces.

The education of imperial children was designed for 12 years, 8 of which took a course similar to the gymnasium. But Alexander III ordered not to torment the grand dukes and princesses with unnecessary ancient languages. Instead, courses were given in the natural sciences, including anatomy and physiology. Russian literature, the three main European languages ​​(English, French and German) and world and Russian history were compulsory. For physical development, children were offered gymnastics and dancing.

The emperor himself taught children traditional Russian outdoor games and the usual activities of a simple Russian person in organizing his life. His heir Nikolai Alexandrovich, being the emperor, sawed firewood with pleasure and could kindle the stove himself.

Taking care of his wife and children, Alexander Alexandrovich did not know what a dramatic future awaited them. The fate of all the boys was tragic.

Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich (05/06/1868-16 (17) 07/1918)- the heir to the throne, the future emperor Nicholas II the Bloody (1894-1917), became the last Russian tsar. He was overthrown from the throne during the February bourgeois revolution of 1917 and in 1918, together with his entire family, he was shot in Yekaterinburg.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (1869-1870)- died in infancy.

Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich (1871-1899)- the heir-tsarevich under the elder brother Nicholas II in the absence of male children. He died of consumption (tuberculosis).

Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1878-1918)- heir-tsesarevich under the elder brother Nicholas II after the death of his brother George Alexandrovich and before the birth of Grand Duke Alexei Nikolaevich. In his favor, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated in 1917. Shot in Perm in 1918.

Wife of Alexander III Maria Feodorovna and daughters Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960) who was married to her cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, And Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882-1960) managed to escape abroad.

But in those days when Alexander Alexandrovich and Maria Feodorovna were happy with each other, nothing foreshadowed such a tragic denouement. Parental care brought joy, and family life was so harmonious that it was in striking contrast with the life of Alexander II.

The heir-tsarevich managed to look convincing when he demonstrated an even, respectful attitude towards his father, although in his heart he could not forgive him for betraying his sick mother for the sake of Princess Yuryevskaya. In addition, the presence of a second family in Alexander II could not but unnerve his eldest son, as it threatened to violate the order of succession to the throne in the Romanov dynasty. And although Alexander Alexandrovich could not condemn his father openly and even promised that after his death he would take care of Princess Yuryevskaya and her children, after the death of his parent he tried to get rid of the morganatic family as soon as possible by sending him abroad.

According to the status of the heir, Alexander Alexandrovich had to engage in various state activities. He himself most of all liked the affairs connected with charity. His mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, a well-known philanthropist, managed to instill in her son a positive attitude towards helping the suffering.

By coincidence, the first position of the heir was the post of chairman of the Special Committee for the collection and distribution of benefits to the starving during the terrible crop failure of 1868, which befell a number of provinces in central Russia. The activity and diligence of Alexander in this position immediately brought him popularity among the people. Even near his residence, the Anichkov Palace, a special mug for donations was put up, into which Petersburgers daily dropped from three to four thousand rubles, and on Alexander's birthday it turned out to be about six thousand. All these funds went to the starving.

Later, mercy towards the lower strata of society and sympathy for the hardships of their lives would find expression in the labor legislation of Emperor Alexander III, which stood out for its liberal spirit against the background of other political and social initiatives of his time.

The mercy of the Grand Duke impressed many. F. M. Dostoevsky wrote about him in 1868: “How glad I am that the heir appeared before Russia in such a kind and majestic form, and that Russia so testifies to her hopes for him and her love for him. Yes, at least half of that love, as for a father, and that would be enough.

Mercy, perhaps, was also dictated by the peacefulness of the Tsarevich, unusual for a member of the Romanov family. He participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Alexander did not show special talents in the theater of operations, but he acquired a strong conviction that the war brings incredible hardships and death to a simple soldier. Having become emperor, Alexander pursued a peacekeeping foreign policy and in every possible way avoided armed conflicts with other countries so as not to shed blood in vain.

At the same time, some of Alexander's actions are an excellent illustration of the fact that loving and pitying all of humanity is often easier and easier than respecting an individual. Even before the start of the Russian-Turkish war, there was an unpleasant quarrel between the heir and the Russian officer of Swedish origin K. I. Gunius, who was sent by the government to America to purchase guns. The brought samples did not please Alexander Alexandrovich. He harshly and rudely criticized the choice. The officer tried to object, then the Grand Duke shouted at him using vulgar expressions. After his departure from the palace, Gunius sent a note to the Tsarevich demanding an apology, otherwise he threatened to commit suicide in 24 hours. Alexander considered all this nonsense and did not think to apologize. A day later, the officer was dead.

Alexander II, wanting to punish his son for callousness, ordered him to follow the coffin of Gunius to the very grave. But the Grand Duke did not understand why he should have felt guilty for the suicide of a too scrupulous officer, because rudeness and insults towards subordinates were practiced by the male part of the Romanov family.

Of the personal interests of Alexander Alexandrovich, one can single out a love for Russian history. He contributed in every possible way to the foundation of the Imperial Historical Society, which he himself headed until his accession to the throne. Alexander possessed an excellent historical library, which he replenished throughout his life. He gladly accepted the historical works presented to him by the authors themselves, but, carefully placing them on the shelves, he rarely read. He preferred the historical novels of M. N. Zagoskin and I. I. Lazhechnikov to scientific and popular books on history and judged the past of Russia by them. Alexander Alexandrovich had a special curiosity about the past of his family and wanted to know how much Russian blood flows in his veins, since it turned out that he was more likely a German in the female line. The information extracted from the memoirs of Catherine II that her son Paul I could have been born not from her legal husband Peter III, but from the Russian nobleman Saltykov, oddly enough, pleased Alexander. This meant that he, Alexander Alexandrovich, was more Russian in origin than he had previously thought.

From fiction, the Tsarevich preferred the prose of Russian writers of the past and his contemporaries. The list of books he read in 1879 includes works by Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Goncharov and Dostoevsky. Read the future emperor and "What to do?" Chernyshevsky, got acquainted with illegal journalism, published in foreign emigre magazines. But in general, Alexander was not an avid book reader, reading only what a very averagely educated person of his time could not do without. In his leisure hours, he was occupied not with books, but with theater and music.

Alexander Alexandrovich and Maria Fedorovna visited the theater almost weekly. Alexander preferred musical performances (opera, ballet), and did not disdain operetta, where he went alone, since Maria Fedorovna did not like her. In the Anichkov Palace of the Grand Duke, amateur performances were often staged, in which family members, guests, governesses of children played. The directors were professional actors who considered it an honor to work with the troupe of the heir. Alexander Alexandrovich himself often played music at home concerts, performing simple works on the horn and bass.

The crown prince was also famous as a passionate collector of works of art. He himself was not very well versed in art and preferred portraits and paintings of the battle genre. But in his collections, which filled the Anichkov Palace and chambers in the imperial residences that belonged to him, there were works by Wanderers he did not like, and works by old European masters and contemporary Western artists. As a collector, the future emperor relied on the taste and knowledge of connoisseurs. On the advice of Pobedonostsev, Alexander also collected ancient Russian icons, which constituted a separate, very valuable collection. In the 1880s The Grand Duke bought a collection of Russian paintings by the gold miner V. A. Kokorev for 70 thousand rubles. Subsequently, the collections of Alexander III formed the basis of the collection of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

The serene life of the Tsarevich's family, slightly overshadowed only by the presence of a morganatic family in his father, was cut short on March 1, 1881. Alexander III, from the age of twenty, had been preparing to reign for sixteen years, but did not imagine that he would get the throne so unexpectedly and in such tragic circumstances.

Already on March 1, 1881, Alexander received a letter from his teacher and friend, Chief Prosecutor of the Synod K.P. The authorities saw clearly and knew firmly what they wanted and what they did not want and would not allow in any way. But the new emperor was not yet ready for firm, decisive action and, according to the same Pobedonostsev, in the first days and weeks of his reign, he looked more like a "poor, sick, stunned child" than a formidable autocrat. He vacillated between his desire to fulfill his earlier promises to his father to continue the reforms and his own conservative ideas about what the emperor's power should look like in autocratic Russia. He was haunted by the anonymous message received immediately after the terrorist attack that ended the life of Alexander II, which stood out among sympathetic condolences, in which, in particular, it was stated: “Your father is not a martyr and not a saint, because he did not suffer for the church, not for the cross, not for the Christian faith, not for Orthodoxy, but for the sole reason that he dissolved the people, and this dissolute people killed him.

The fluctuations ended by April 30, 1881, when a manifesto appeared that determined the conservative-protective policy of the new reign. Conservative journalist M. N. Katkov wrote about this document in the following way: “Like manna from heaven, the people's feeling was waiting for this regal word. It is our salvation: it returns to the Russian people the Russian autocratic tsar. One of the main compilers of the manifesto was Pobedonostsev, who took the Manifesto of Nicholas I of December 19, 1815 as a model. People versed in politics again saw the shadow of the reign of Nicholas, only the place of the temporary worker, which Arakcheev and Benkendorf had once been, was now taken by another person . As A. Blok wrote, “Pobedonostsev spread owl wings over Russia.” The modern researcher V. A. Tvardovskaya even saw a special symbolism in the fact that the beginning of the reign of Alexander III was marked by the execution of five Narodnaya Volya members, while the reign of Nicholas I began with the execution of five Decembrists.

The manifesto was followed by a series of measures repealing or restricting the reform edicts of the previous reign. In 1882, new "Provisional Rules on the Press" were approved, which lasted until 1905, putting all the press and book publishing in the country under government control. In 1884, a new university charter was introduced, which effectively destroyed the autonomy of these educational institutions and made the fate of teachers and students dependent on their loyalty to the authorities. At the same time, the fee for higher education doubled at once, from 50 to 100 rubles a year. In 1887, the infamous circular on "cook's children" was adopted, which recommended limiting the admission to the gymnasium of children of domestic servants, small shopkeepers, artisans and other representatives of the lower classes. In order to maintain public peace, even the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom was banned.

All these measures did not give the imperial family confidence in their own safety. The public regicide, organized by the Narodnaya Volya, instilled fear in the Winter Palace, from which its inhabitants and their inner circle could not get rid of.

On the first night after the death of his father, Alexander III was able to fall asleep only because he was very drunk. In the following days, the entire royal family was in great anxiety for their fate. Pobedonostsev advised the emperor to personally lock the door not only to the bedroom at night, but also to the rooms adjacent to it, and before going to bed, check if anyone was hiding in closets, behind screens, under furniture. The spectacle of the emperor crawling under his own bed with a candle in the evening in search of hidden terrorists did not inspire optimism in the Romanovs living in the Winter Palace, their courtiers and servants.

Alexander III was not a coward by nature, but the actions and words of the people he trusted instilled uncertainty and suspicion in his soul. So, in order to enhance the importance of his figure in the eyes of the tsar, the St. Petersburg mayor N.M. Baranov constantly invented non-existent conspiracies, caught some mythical conspirators and terrorists digging tunnels under the royal palaces. After some time, Baranov was exposed in a lie, but a shadow of fear of the assassination attempts he invented remained in the emperor's soul.

Fear made Alexander III an unwitting criminal. One day he unexpectedly entered the room of the palace guard on duty. The officer, Baron Reitern, who was there, smoked, which the tsar did not like. In order not to irritate the sovereign, Reitern quickly removed his hand with a lighted cigarette behind his back. Alexander decided that with this movement the officer was hiding the weapon with which he intended to kill him, and he struck down the baron on the spot with a shot from his own pistol.

Pobedonostsev wanted to take advantage of Alexander III's dislike for Petersburg and his fear of Petersburgers in order to fulfill his dream of recreating an Orthodox autocratic kingdom with its capital in ancient Moscow. In the very first days of the new reign, when the body of Emperor Alexander II was still lying in the Winter Palace, he repeated to his son: “Run away from Petersburg, this accursed city. Move to Moscow and move the government to the Kremlin.” But Alexander III was also afraid of Moscow with its provincial freethinking, which grew in it without constant supervision by the city authorities. He believed that he could hide from danger in his St. Petersburg and suburban palaces.

For two years, the atmosphere of general fear forced the official coronation ceremony of the emperor to be postponed. It took place only in May 1883, when police measures managed to stabilize the situation in the country: stop the wave of terrorist attacks against government officials, calm the peasants, and shut the mouth of the liberal press.

Pobedonostsev called the coronation celebrations in Moscow "a coronation poem". In these May days, the people were able to see their new emperor for the first time. Only the elected representatives of aristocratic families and foreign diplomats invited by the Ministry of the Court were admitted to the Kremlin for the ceremony itself. M. N. Katkov, who received a pass with difficulty, wrote that nature itself welcomed the coronation: “When the tsar appeared, the sun appeared before the people in all the guise of its rays, the tsar hid from the eyes of the people, the sky was covered with clouds and it was raining. When the shots of the guns announced the fulfillment of the sacrament, the clouds instantly dispersed. The artist V. I. Surikov, who was present at the ceremony in the Assumption Cathedral, described with admiration his impression of the tall, powerful figure of the fair-haired and blue-eyed sovereign, who, in his opinion, seemed at that moment “a true representative of the people.” It should be noted that the king threw a brocade coronation mantle over his usual clothes. Even at the moment of his highest triumph, he did not change his habit of dressing simply and comfortably.

On the days of the coronation, a festivity was organized for the common people on the Khodynka field. About 300 thousand inhabitants of the surrounding villages and towns gathered there, but this time everything went smoothly. The bloody "glory" of Khodynka was yet to come.

The peasants, as was customary, were forgiven arrears and fines in honor of the coronation. Officials received awards, orders, some nobles were awarded new titles. The courtiers were given many gifts: about 120,000 rubles were spent on diamonds alone for ladies-in-waiting and officials of the court. But, contrary to custom, there were no amnesties for political criminals. Only N. G. Chernyshevsky was transferred from Vilyuisk to a settlement in Astrakhan.

On May 18, 1883, another remarkable event took place - the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, built according to the project of architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton. This building was conceived as a monument to the victory in the war of 1812 and was built for several decades (the temple was designed under Nicholas I). In the manifesto for the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, signed by Alexander III, it was noted that it should serve as "a monument to peace after a fierce battle undertaken not to conquer, but to protect the Fatherland from a threatening conqueror." The emperor hoped that this temple would stand "for many centuries." He could not know that the church, founded by his ancestor as a warning to future generations, would not long survive the autocratic monarchy of the Romanovs and would be one of the many silent victims of the revolutionary reorganization of the world.

But the pacification of society and the unity of the monarchy and the people, which seemed to have been achieved during the coronation in Moscow, was illusory, and the victory over terrorism was temporary. Already in 1886, a new underground organization was created at St. Petersburg University to fight the autocracy, into which student revolutionary circles of higher educational institutions of the capital joined. On the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, young revolutionaries planned a terrorist attack against Alexander III. On the morning of March 1, 1887, the emperor was to attend the annual memorial service at the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The terrorists were preparing to throw a bomb under the sled when the emperor was driving along Nevsky Prospekt. The attempt failed only because there was a traitor in the group who reported everything to the authorities. The perpetrators of the attack, students of St. Petersburg University Vasily Generalov, Pakhom Andreyushkin and Vasily Osipanov, were arrested on the day appointed for the assassination of the tsar, at 11 o'clock in the morning on Nevsky. Explosive shells were found on them. They also detained the organizers of the attack - Alexander Ulyanov, the elder brother of V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin), and Pyotr Shevyrev, as well as other members of the organization. A total of 15 people were arrested.

The case of the assassination attempt on Alexander III was considered at a closed meeting of the Special Presence of the Senate. Five terrorists (Ulyanov, Shevyrev, Osipanov, Generalov and Andreyushkin) were sentenced to death, the rest were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg fortress or twenty years hard labor in Siberia.

The failed assassination attempt made a deep impression on the emperor himself. On the margins of the case of the "First March" he made a pessimistic note: "This time God saved, but for how long?"

A strange incident happened to the royal family in October next, 1888. The royal train, on which the Romanovs were returning from the south, derailed 50 kilometers from Kharkov. Seven wagons were shattered, 20 servants and guards were killed, 17 were seriously injured. No one from the imperial family died, but some of the children of Alexander III suffered, especially the Grand Duchess Xenia, who remained hunchbacked until the end of her life.

The wounding of children by order of the emperor was hidden. Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, the royal family arranged a "feast of the crash", during which prayers of thanksgiving were offered to God for miraculous salvation. The king, with his wife and children, traveled through the streets of the capital to show the people that everyone was safe and sound.

The cause of the crash also remains unclear. The Minister of Railways, K. N. Posyet, was allegedly fired because the sleepers on that section of the road turned out to be rotten and could not withstand the weight of the train moving at high speed. But in society they said that this was another attempt on the emperor and his family, which ended in failure only by a lucky chance.

Rather, the family on that ill-fated day was saved not only by chance, but also by the courage of the emperor, who was ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of his wife and children (a rare case for the autocrat of the Romanov dynasty). At the time of the crash, the tsar and his relatives were in the dining car. They had just been served pudding for dessert. From a terrible blow, the roof of the car began to fall inward. Alexander, distinguished by heroic strength, took her on his shoulders and held her until his wife and children got out. At first, the king did not feel anything, except for severe muscle fatigue from inhuman tension. But after a while he began to complain of back pain. Doctors determined that the tsar's kidneys were damaged from the strain and blow during the accident, which later became one of the causes of his fatal illness.

An alarming feeling of constant danger was fueled by police reports of real and imaginary conspiracies, anonymous letters from well-wishers and adventurers. In the same 1888, during a performance at the Mariinsky Theater, the artist Alexander Benois accidentally met the eyes of Alexander III. Benois saw the eyes of a man driven into a corner: irritated and at the same time forced to constantly fear for himself and his loved ones.

Unlike his father, Alexander III was serious about the possibility of the destruction of his own person and members of his family by terrorists. He took every security measure that was available at the time.

The emperor did not move to Moscow, but even in St. Petersburg he felt more like a guest than a permanent resident. "The Gatchina prisoner" - that's what his contemporaries called him. Gatchina was located far from the capital. This suburban imperial residence was fortified under Paul I and resembled a castle.

The Gatchina Palace was designed by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi in 1766 for the favorite of Catherine II, Grigory Orlov. It had all the attributes of a palace building with dance halls and luxurious apartments. But the royal family occupied small rooms in it, intended for courtiers and servants. Pavel I once lived in them with his wife and children.

The location of the palace would do honor to any fortification. It stands on a wooded hill surrounded by three lakes (White, Black and Silver). Moats were dug around it and walls were built with watchtowers, with underground passages connecting the palace and fortifications with lakes. In this castle with an underground prison, Alexander III imprisoned himself voluntarily, hoping in this way to ensure a quiet life for his family.

Military guards were placed around Gatchina for several kilometers, allowing only those who had written permission from the palace administration to enter the residence. True, in summer and autumn the royal family often rested in the more cheerful and elegant Peterhof and in Tsarskoye Selo, traveled to the Crimea, to Livadia, which the Empress especially loved, to Danish Fredensborg. In St. Petersburg, the emperor lived mainly in the Anichkov Palace. The winter one reminded him too much of the last minutes of his beloved father's life and inspired fear because of the impossibility of effectively controlling this huge structure with many doors, windows, nooks and stairways.

In the 1880s the royal family left the palaces almost secretly, imperceptibly to prying eyes. Later, the move of the Romanovs generally began to resemble a special police operation. The family always gathered quickly and left the house suddenly, the day and hour were never appointed or discussed in advance. The exit from the palace was covered by a thick chain of guards, the policemen dispersed passers-by and onlookers from the sidewalk.

It no longer occurred to Alexander III to take a walk alone or with two or three officers in the Summer Garden or on the embankment. The subjects in this reign rarely had the pleasure of seeing their sovereign and members of his family. Usually this happened only during large state celebrations, when the royal family was at a considerable distance from the public, separated from it by several rows of guards.

Being an involuntary recluse of Gatchina, Alexander III became more and more interested in the personality and history of the reign of Paul I, his great-grandfather. In the palace for almost a century, the office of this deposed and murdered emperor with his belongings was kept intact. There hung a large, full-length portrait of Pavel dressed as a Grand Master of the Order of Malta, and there was his personal Gospel. Alexander often came to this room, prayed and thought about his fate.

The emperor collected historical evidence about the life and death of his great-grandfather. One day, he fell into the hands of papers relating to a conspiracy against Paul I. They were brought by Princess M. A. Panina-Meshcherskaya to refute the opinion that her great-grandfather I. P. Panin was involved in a conspiracy against the Tsar. Alexander III carefully read the documents, but Meshcherskaya did not return them, but included them in his own archive.

Alexander III's interest in Paul I was no secret to his contemporaries. Some saw this as a secret sign of fate. The writers I. S. Leskov and P. A. Kropotkin (also a revolutionary anarchist) with their vivid imagination predicted the same death for the tsar at the hands of their entourage.

Under the influence of such prophecies and his own thoughts about the impossibility of hiding behind the walls of residences from all people, the emperor became more and more suspicious. He couldn't even trust the palace servants. The emperor always remembered that the terrorist Zhelyabov once lived quietly in the palace under the guise of a court carpenter. At the door of the royal office there was always a guard of Life Cossacks. The premises where the royal family gathered were always checked and guarded.

Alexander was haunted by the fear of being poisoned. Each time, provisions for the royal table were bought in a new place, and the merchant was carefully concealed for whom the purchases were made. Chefs also changed daily and were appointed at the last moment. Before entering the kitchen, the cook and his assistants were thoroughly searched, and during cooking, someone from the royal family and an official of the court was constantly with them.

At the same time, Alexander III can hardly be called an unfortunate sovereign. In many ways, his constant concern for himself and his family was explained by the fact that he was happy in his personal life and did not want to lose this happiness. Unlike his ancestors, Alexander was an almost perfect husband and father. His conservatism extended to family values. He was faithful to his wife, and in relations with children he skillfully combined parental rigor and kindness.

Falling in love with “dear Minnie” (as he continued to call Empress Maria Feodorovna) over the years turned into deep respect and strong affection. Spouses almost did not part. Alexander III loved his wife to accompany him everywhere: in the theater, at the ball, on trips to holy places and to military parades, reviews and divorces. Maria Fedorovna eventually became well versed in politics, but she never aspired to independent state activity, preferring traditional female occupations - raising children and managing the household. Nevertheless, Alexander himself often turned to her for advice on various issues, and gradually it became clear to everyone around him that in complex matters it was better to rely on the help of the empress, who had such a great influence on the emperor.

Alexander III was distinguished by very modest needs, so it was difficult to “buy” his favor with some rare trifle, but he always favored people who knew how to please the empress - a sublime nature and adoring everything beautiful. Historians love to tell the case that happened to the military engineer-inventor S. K. Dzhevetsky, who offered the Russian military department a new model of a submarine. In those days, submarines were a novelty, and the military hesitated whether to adopt Drzewiecki's invention. The decision was to be made by the king himself, who, as always, relied on the mind and taste of his wife. A sample of the boat was brought to Gatchina, to Silver Lake, which was famous for the exceptional transparency of its water. For the royal couple they staged a whole performance. The boat floated under water, and the emperor and the empress watched her from the boat. When the tsar and the tsarina went to the pier, a boat suddenly surfaced, Dzhevetsky got out of it with a bouquet of beautiful orchids, which he presented to Maria Feodorovna "as a gift from Neptune." The queen was delighted, Alexander III was moved and immediately signed an order to start building 50 submarines with a generous reward paid to the inventor. Drzewiecki's model was objectively a good development, but it was thanks to the gallant trick of the engineer that the decision to use it in the Russian navy was made easily and quickly.

Alexander III loved all his children very much. He sincerely rejoiced at the success of his sons in studies, sports, horseback riding and shooting exercises.

Especially in the imperial family, the eldest of the daughters, Grand Duchess Xenia, was pitied and spoiled. She suffered more than other children during the catastrophe of the royal train and grew up disabled. Her father spent a lot of time with her, and she was very attached to him. Not being able to play and frolic with her brothers and sister for health reasons, Xenia took on the duties of a family secretary and chronicler, and during her father's absence at home she wrote him detailed letters about how everyone lives without him, what they do.

Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna gave some preference to the heir to the throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich - Nika and Mikhail Alexandrovich, who bore the not-so-elegant family nickname Mimishkin-Pipishkin-Kakashkin. Their upbringing was handled by K. P. Pobedonostsev, who by this time had turned from a moderate conservative into a gloomy retrograde. But the emperor, who was under his influence, believed that he could not find a better mentor for his sons.

While still a Grand Duke, Alexander III paid great attention to the education of his boys. But over time, including under the influence of fear for the life and safety of the family, it began to seem to him that education is not so important - the main thing is that children are healthy and happy. He himself did not have deep knowledge, but meanwhile, as he believed, he coped well with the management of a huge empire. The level of educational preparation in the royal family under Alexander III declined and was not much different from the level of home education that children in wealthy Russian families with not very high cultural demands received. The artist A. N. Benois, who often visited the palace, noted that the upbringing and education of the heir-prince, the future Nicholas II, did not correspond to the "superhuman role of the autocrat."

Love for his wife and children is probably the most attractive personality trait of Alexander III. Most of his energy was spent on family life and building good relationships with his family; he spent his time and the best qualities of his soul on his family. Obviously, he would have been a good landowner - the father of a large family, diligent and hospitable. But the country expected much more from the sovereign - political accomplishments and deeds that Alexander Alexandrovich was not capable of.

He was kind and fair to his own children. But his attention and mercy to strangers was limited to the framework of Christian virtue, which he understood too narrowly and primitively. So, the tsar was sincerely touched by the story of the little daughter of one of the cool ladies of the Smolny Institute, told to him by Pobedonostsev. The emperor gave a girl named Olya Ushakova and her poor mother 500 rubles from her own funds for a summer vacation. True, then he chose to forget about her. Alexander III was generally annoyed by conversations and publications in the press that there were many homeless children and juvenile beggars in Russia. In his empire, as in his family, order had to be observed, and what could not be corrected (like the injury of Grand Duchess Xenia) should not be made public.

Where order was violated, it was brought with all due severity. Almost not applying physical punishment to his own children, the emperor approved of the reasoning of Prince V.P. Meshchersky, his courtier, about the need for rods in educating the common people, since without them the offspring of peasants and philistines would face promiscuity and drunkenness in the future. The upbringing in the families of ordinary citizens of the empire was supposed to be strictly religious; extramarital forms of family existence were not recognized. Alexander III ordered to forcefully take away the children from the Tolstoyan nobleman D. A. Khilkov and his common-law wife Ts. V. Viner and hand them over for adoption to Khilkov’s mother. The reason was that the Khilkovs were unmarried, and their children were not baptized. The emperor was not interested in what were the true relations within this family, he had enough of the petition of Pobedonostsev, who acted on the denunciation of Khilkova Sr.

Under Alexander III, the highest state activity in Russia acquired an increasingly obvious clan character. Already from the time of Nicholas I, many important posts in the empire were occupied by representatives of the Romanov dynasty. Large marriages of the Romanovs by the end of the 19th century. led to the fact that the number of grand dukes: uncles, nephews, relatives, cousins ​​and second cousins ​​​​of the emperor - increased significantly. All of them crowded at the foot of the throne and craved money, fame and honorary positions. Among them were well-educated, educated and capable people, but there were also many whose main talent was belonging to the Romanov family. But, as is often the case in other family clans, it was they who, more than others, wanted to rule and govern.

Unfortunately, during the time of Alexander III, among the Romanovs, there was no longer such an effective statesman as Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich was under his father Alexander II. On the contrary, the Emperor's uncles and brothers did more damage to the cause they served than benefited the empire. Under the chairmanship of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, the State Council turned from an effective advisory body under the tsar into a debating club, where each of its members expressed to others everything that came to mind, paying no attention to the demands of the present political moment. The younger brother of the sovereign, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, actually ruined the work of the naval department headed by him. General-Admiral A. A. Romanov replaced in this post his uncle, the liberal and clever Konstantin Nikolayevich, who was objectionable to Alexander III, and managed in a few years of his “work” to level everything that was achieved under his predecessor in the development of the Russian fleet. Russia saw the fruits of the activity of Grand Duke Alexei Romanov with all sad evidence during the years of the Russo-Japanese War, during which the heroism of the sailors was powerless against the combat power of enemy ships and coastal artillery. Irritation of contemporaries was also caused by another brother of the tsar, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who in 1891 became the Moscow governor-general. He was a tough, harsh and proud man, harassed his subordinates with petty regulation, and frightened the population under his jurisdiction with a quick and thoughtless application of punitive measures. It is no coincidence that he became one of the objects of hunting for revolutionary terrorists.

As far as Alexander III was modest and respectable in everyday life, his closest relatives were just as dissolute. They seemed to be striving to take advantage of those “destined” Romanov benefits and privileges that the emperor did not want or was not able to use. The Grand Dukes traveled with pleasure to foreign resorts, spending a lot, without limiting their means, on gambling, entertainment, women, outfits and decorations, furnishings for their palaces. Aleksey Alexandrovich was famous for his revelry, which mainly spent the funds of the naval department. Sergei Alexandrovich had a reputation as one of the dirtiest debauchees of his time, known for his connections with people of the same sex as him. In any European country of that time, this would have excluded him from big politics for a long time, but in Russia everything that had to do with the Romanov family could not be openly discussed and condemned in society. Even the best of the great princes - the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, philanthropist and famous art collector Vladimir Alexandrovich - was a lazy person, a glutton and a drunkard who arranged ugly tricks in the capital's restaurants.

Embezzlement, embezzlement of public money, bribery Romanovs did not consider serious misconduct. Alexander III became angry with his brothers only when their behavior and vices became public knowledge. Even when the St. Petersburg police chief had to intervene in a fight started by one of the Grand Dukes in a restaurant or other entertainment institution in the capital, the scandal was hushed up, and the matter was limited to an intra-family reprimand. Seriously, by the standards of the family clan, only Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich was punished, who became entangled in debt and stole diamonds from the Empress's casket. He was first exiled to Turkestan, and in 1882 he was sent to settle in the state estate Smolenskoye in the Vladimir province, where he spent several years under house arrest, not having the right to appear in the capitals.

As emperor, Alexander III controlled the fate of not only his own children, but also all members of the Romanov dynasty, rudely interfering in their personal lives. The Romanovs lived according to the laws of the 18th century, which excluded the possibility of penetration into the family of persons who did not belong to the ruling clans of Europe. This norm was strictly observed, despite its absurdity for the end of the 19th century, especially in relation to those members of the dynasty who would never have had to inherit the throne (the emperor's cousins ​​and second cousins). Alexander III categorically forbade his nephew Nikolai Nikolaevich to marry a divorced noblewoman Burenina. Such a marriage, in his opinion, caused the royal family much more damage than the homosexuality of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Such trifles as a broken heart and the unfortunate fate of a nephew were not taken into account.

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Death of Emperor Alexander II At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on March 1, 1881, when I was driving along Mikhailovskaya in a sleigh, I heard a voice calling me. It was my sister, just coming out of the gates of the Mikhailovsky Palace. She said to me quite calmly: “We were told that

Alexander Alexandrovich was the second son in the imperial family. His older brother Nikolay was preparing to inherit the throne, and he received the appropriate education.

Childhood, education and upbringing

In May 1883, Alexander III proclaimed a course called "counter-reforms" in historical-materialist literature, and "adjustment of reforms" in liberal-historical literature. He expressed himself as follows.

In 1889, to strengthen supervision over the peasants, the positions of zemstvo chiefs with broad rights were introduced. They were appointed from local landowning nobles. The clerks and small merchants, other poor sections of the city, lost their suffrage. Judicial reform has undergone a change. In the new regulation on the zemstvos of 1890, the representation of estates and nobility was strengthened. In 1882-1884. many publications were closed, the autonomy of universities was abolished. Primary schools were transferred to the church department - the Synod.

In these events, the idea of ​​“official nationality” from the time of Nicholas I was manifested - the slogan “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Spirit of Humility” was in tune with the slogans of a bygone era. The new official ideologists K. P. Pobedonostsev (chief prosecutor of the Synod), M. N. Katkov (editor of Moskovskie Vedomosti), Prince V. Meshchersky (publisher of the Grazhdanin newspaper) were omitted from the old formula "Orthodoxy, autocracy and the people" the word "people" as "dangerous"; they preached the humility of his spirit before the autocracy and the church. In practice, the new policy resulted in an attempt to strengthen the state by relying on the nobility traditionally loyal to the throne. Administrative measures were supported by the economic support of the landowners.

On October 20, 1894, in the Crimea, 49-year-old Alexander III died suddenly from acute inflammation of the kidneys. Nicholas II ascended the imperial throne.

In January 1895, at the first meeting of representatives of the nobility, the tops of the zemstvos, cities and Cossack troops with the new tsar, Nicholas II declared his readiness to “guard the beginnings of autocracy as firmly and steadily as his father guarded”. During these years, representatives of the royal family often intervened in government, which by the beginning of the 20th century had up to 60 members. Most of the Grand Dukes held important administrative and military posts. The uncles of the tsar, the brothers of Alexander III - the Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexei, Sergei and cousins ​​Nikolai Nikolaevich, Alexander Mikhailovich, had a particularly great influence on politics.

Domestic politics

His departure was a real escape. On the day he was due to leave, four imperial trains stood ready at four different stations in St. Petersburg, and while they were waiting, the emperor left with a train that was standing on a siding.

Nothing, even the need for a coronation, could force the tsar to leave the Gatchina palace - for two years he ruled uncrowned. Fear of the "People's Will" and hesitation in choosing a political course determined this time for the emperor.

Economic poverty was accompanied by a delay in the mental and legal development of the mass of the population, education under Alexander III was again taken into blinders, from which it escaped after the abolition of serfdom. Alexander III expressed the attitude of tsarism to education in a litter on a report that literacy is very low in the Tobolsk province: “And thank God!”

In the 1980s and 1990s, Alexander III encouraged unprecedented persecution of Jews. They were evicted to the Pale of Settlement (only 20,000 Jews were evicted from Moscow), a percentage rate was set for them in secondary and then higher educational institutions (in the Pale of Settlement - 10%, outside the Pale - 5, in the capitals - 3%) .

A new period in the history of Russia, which began with the reforms of the 1860s, ended by the end of the 19th century with counter-reforms. For thirteen years, Alexander III, in the words of G. V. Plekhanov, "sowed the wind." His successor - Nicholas II - fell to the lot to reap the storm.

For thirteen years Alexander III sowed the wind. Nicholas II will have to prevent the storm broke. Will he succeed?

Professor S. S. Oldenburg, in his scientific work on the history of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, referring to the domestic policy of his father, testified that during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, among others, the following main tendency of power manifested itself: the desire to give Russia more internal unity by asserting primacy Russian country elements.

Foreign policy

The reign of Emperor Alexander III brought serious changes in foreign policy. Proximity with Germany and Prussia, so characteristic of the periods of the reign of Catherine the Great, Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, was replaced by a noticeable cooling, especially after the resignation of Bismarck, with whom Alexander III signed a special three-year Russian-German treaty on "benevolent neutrality" in in the event of an attack by any of the third countries on Russia or Germany.

N. K. Girs became the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Experienced diplomats of the Gorchakov school remained at the head of many departments of the ministry and in the Russian embassies of the leading countries of the world. The main directions of the foreign policy of Alexander III were as follows.

1. Strengthening influence in the Balkans;
2. Search for reliable allies;
3. Maintaining peaceful relations with all countries;
4. Establishment of borders in the south of Central Asia;
5. Consolidation of Russia in the new territories of the Far East.

Russian policy in the Balkans. After the Berlin Congress, Austria-Hungary significantly strengthened its influence in the Balkans. Having occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, she began to seek to extend her influence to other Balkan countries. Germany supported Austria-Hungary in its aspirations. Austria-Hungary began to try to weaken Russia's influence in the Balkans. Bulgaria became the center of the struggle between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

By this time, an uprising broke out in Eastern Rumelia (Southern Bulgaria as part of Turkey) against Turkish rule. Turkish officials were expelled from Eastern Rumelia. The accession of Eastern Rumelia to Bulgaria was announced.

The unification of Bulgaria caused an acute Balkan crisis. The war between Bulgaria and Turkey, with the involvement of Russia and other countries in it, could break out at any moment. Alexander III was angry. The unification of Bulgaria took place without the knowledge of Russia, this led to the complication of Russia's relations with Turkey and Austria-Hungary. Russia suffered the heaviest human losses in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. and was not ready for a new war. And Alexander III for the first time retreated from the traditions of solidarity with the Balkan peoples: he advocated strict observance of the articles of the Berlin Treaty. Alexander III invited Bulgaria to solve its own foreign policy problems, recalled Russian officers and generals, and did not interfere in Bulgarian-Turkish affairs. Nevertheless, the Russian ambassador to Turkey announced to the Sultan that Russia would not allow a Turkish invasion of Eastern Rumelia.

In the Balkans, Russia has turned from an opponent of Turkey into its de facto ally. Russia's positions were undermined in Bulgaria, as well as in Serbia and Romania. In 1886 diplomatic relations between Russia and Bulgaria were severed. In the city, Ferdinand I, Prince of Coburg, who had previously been an officer in the Austrian service, became the new Bulgarian prince. The new Bulgarian prince understood that he was the ruler of an Orthodox country. He tried to reckon with the deep Russophile sentiments of the broad masses of the people, and even in 1894 he elected the Russian Tsar Nicholas II as godfather to his heir, son Boris. But the former officer of the Austrian army was never able to overcome in relation to Russia "a feeling of insurmountable antipathy and a certain fear." Russia's relations with Bulgaria remained strained.

Looking for allies. At the same time, in the 1980s complicated relations between Russia and England. The clash of interests of the two European states takes place in the Balkans, Turkey, and Central Asia. At the same time, relations between Germany and France are becoming more complicated. Both states were on the brink of war with each other. In this situation, both Germany and France began to seek an alliance with Russia in case of war with each other. In the city, German Chancellor O. Bismarck proposed to Russia and Austria-Hungary to renew the "Union of Three Emperors" for six years. The essence of this alliance was that the three states pledged to comply with the decisions of the Berlin Congress, not to change the situation in the Balkans without the consent of each other and to remain neutral in relation to each other in case of war. It should be noted that the effectiveness of this union for Russia was insignificant. At the same time, O. Bismarck, secretly from Russia, concluded the Tripartite Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) against Russia and France, which provided for the provision of military assistance by the participating countries to each other in case of hostilities with Russia or France. The conclusion of the Triple Alliance did not remain a secret for Alexander III. The Russian Tsar began to look for other allies.

Far Eastern direction. At the end of the XIX century. Japan expanded rapidly in the Far East. Japan before the 60s 19th century was a feudal country, but in - gg. a bourgeois revolution took place there, and the Japanese economy began to develop dynamically. With the help of Germany, Japan created a modern army, with the help of England and the United States, it actively built its fleet. At the same time, Japan pursued an aggressive policy in the Far East.

Private life

The main seat of the emperor (because of the threat of terrorism) was Gatchina. For a long time he lived in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, and when he came to St. Petersburg, he stayed at the Anichkov Palace. He did not like winter.

Court etiquette and ceremonial became much simpler under Alexander. He greatly reduced the staff of the Ministry of the Court, reduced the number of servants and introduced strict control over the spending of money. Expensive foreign wines have been replaced by Crimean and Caucasian ones, and the number of points is limited to four per year.

At the same time, huge sums of money were spent on the acquisition of art objects. The emperor was a passionate collector, second only to Catherine II in this respect. Gatchina Castle literally turned into a storehouse of priceless treasures. Acquisitions of Alexander - paintings, art objects, carpets and the like - no longer fit in the galleries of the Winter Palace, Anichkov and other palaces. However, in this passion, the emperor did not show either fine taste or great understanding. Among his acquisitions there were many ordinary things, but there were also many masterpieces, which later became the true national treasure of Russia.

Unlike all his predecessors on the Russian throne, Alexander adhered to strict family morality. He was an exemplary family man - a loving husband and a good father, never had mistresses or connections on the side. At the same time, he was also one of the most pious Russian sovereigns. The simple and direct soul of Alexander knew neither religious doubts, nor religious pretense, nor the temptations of mysticism. He firmly adhered to the Orthodox canons, always stood up to the end of the service, prayed earnestly and enjoyed church singing. The sovereign willingly donated to monasteries, to the construction of new churches and the restoration of ancient ones. Under him, church life noticeably revived.

Alexander's hobbies were also simple and artless. He was passionate about hunting and fishing. Often in the summer the royal family went to the Finnish skerries. Here, among the picturesque semi-wild nature, in the labyrinths of numerous islands and canals, freed from palace etiquette, the august family felt like an ordinary and happy family, devoting most of their time to long walks, fishing and boating. The Emperor's favorite hunting ground was Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Sometimes the imperial family, instead of relaxing in skerries, went to Poland to the Principality of Loviche, and there they enthusiastically indulged in hunting amusements, especially deer hunting, and most often ended their vacation with a trip to Denmark, to Bernstorf Castle - Dagmara's family castle, where they often gathered from all over Europe her crowned relatives.

During the summer holidays, the ministers could distract the emperor only in cases of emergency. True, during the rest of the year, Alexander devoted himself entirely to business. He was a very hardworking sovereign. Every morning I got up at 7 o'clock, washed my face with cold water, made myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the desk. Often the working day ended late at night.

Death

Train wreck with the royal family

And yet, despite a relatively healthy lifestyle, Alexander died quite young, before reaching the age of 50, quite unexpectedly for both relatives and subjects. In October, a royal train coming from the south crashed near the Borki station, 50 kilometers from Kharkov. Seven wagons were smashed to smithereens, there were many victims, but the royal family remained intact. At that moment they were eating pudding in the dining car. The roof of the wagon collapsed during the crash. Alexander with incredible efforts kept her on his shoulders until help arrived.

However, shortly after this incident, the emperor began to complain of back pain. Professor Trube, who examined Alexander, came to the conclusion that a terrible concussion during the fall marked the onset of kidney disease. The disease progressed steadily. The emperor increasingly felt unwell. His complexion became sallow, his appetite was gone, and his heart was not working well. In winter, he caught a cold, and in September, while hunting in Belovezhye, he felt completely bad. The Berlin professor Leiden, who urgently arrived on a call to Russia, found nephritis in the emperor - an acute inflammation of the kidneys. At his insistence, Alexander was sent to