The reign of Alexander III (briefly)

The reign of Alexander III (briefly)

After the assassination of Alexander II, power is concentrated in the hands of his son Alexander III, who was shocked by the death of his father and therefore feared the intensification of revolutionary manifestations in Russia. Having fallen under the influence of such reactionaries as P. Tolstoy and K. Pobedonostsev, the tsar strove with all his might to strengthen the autocracy and the class stratum, as well as the very Russian social foundations and traditions.

At the same time, only public opinion could influence the policy of this ruler. But with the accession of Alexander, the expected revolutionary upsurge does not occur. On the contrary, the people moved away from senseless terror, and the strengthened police repression was able to finally change the balance in favor of the conservative forces.

In such conditions, it becomes possible to turn to the so-called counter-reforms of Alexander III. In the Manifesto of April twenty-ninth, 1881, the tsar declares his desire to preserve the autocracy at any cost.

To strengthen the autocracy, the tsar subject to changes the zemstvo self-government. According to the "Regulations on Institutions ..." published in 1890, the position of the nobility was significantly strengthened, thanks to the introduction of a high property qualification.

Considering the intelligentsia as a threat, the emperor issued in 1881 a certain document representing the multiple repressive rights of the local administration, which was now allowed to be expelled without trial, to impose a state of emergency, to close educational institutions, and also to be brought to court-martial.

In 1892, the so-called "City Statute" was published, which infringed on the identity of the organs. local government... Thus, the government managed to take control of them by including them in a single system of state institutions.

Very important direction domestic policy Alexander III was the strengthening of the peasant community. By law of 1893, the tsar prohibits the pledge and sale of peasant lands.

Back in 1884, the ruler was carrying out a university counter-reform, the main goal of which was to educate a humble intelligentsia. At this time, the autonomy of universities was significantly limited.

Under Alexander III, the development of the so-called factory legislation began, restraining the owner's initiative in the enterprise and excluding any possibility of fighting for the workers' own rights.

He was on the throne for thirteen and a half years and died 49 years old, earning the title of "Tsar-Peacemaker" during his lifetime, since during his reign not a drop of Russian blood was shed on the battlefields ...

Soon after his death, the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “Science will give Emperor Alexander III a proper place not only in the history of Russia and all of Europe, but also in Russian historiography, and will say that He won a victory in the area where it is most difficult to achieve victory, defeated the prejudice of peoples and thereby contributed to their rapprochement, conquered the public conscience in the name of peace and truth, increased the amount of goodness in the moral turn of mankind, encouraged and raised Russian historical thought, Russian national consciousness, and did all this so quietly and silently that only now, when He is no longer there, Europe understood what He was for her. "

The venerable professor was mistaken in his predictions. For more than a hundred years, the figure of the penultimate Russian Tsar has been the target of the most impartial assessments; his personality is the object of unbridled attacks and tendentious criticism.

The fake image of Alexander III is being recreated to this day. Why? The reason is simple: the Emperor did not admire the West, did not worship liberal-egalitarian ideas, believing that the literal imposition of foreign orders would not be a boon for Russia. Hence - the irreconcilable hatred of this Tsar on the part of Western lovers of all stripes.

However, Alexander III was not a narrow-minded Western-hater, rejecting from the start everything that did not have the generic stigma: "made in Russia." For him, Russian was primary and especially significant not because it is the best in the world, but because it is dear, close, his own. During the reign of Emperor Alexander III, the words "Russia is for the Russians" were first spoken throughout the country. And although he was perfectly aware of the problems and absurdities in Russian life, he did not for a moment doubt that they should be overcome only relying on own feeling understanding of duty and responsibility, not paying attention to what some "Princess Marya Aleksevna" says about it.

For almost two hundred years, he was the first ruler who not only did not covet "the love of Europe", but was not even interested in what they say and write about him there. However, it was Alexander III who became the ruler under whom, without a single weapon shot, Russia began to win the moral authority of a great world power. The imposing bridge across the Seine in the very center of Paris, bearing the name of the Russian Tsar, has forever remained a vivid confirmation of this ...

Alexander Alexandrovich ascended the throne at the age of 36 on March 1, 1881. On that day, his father was mortally wounded by a terrorist's bomb, who soon died, and Alexander Alexandrovich became the "Autocrat of All Russia". He did not dream of a crown, but when death took his father away, he showed amazing composure and humility, accepting what was given only by the will of the Almighty.

With great spiritual trepidation, with tears in his eyes, he read the will of his father, the words and instructions of the murdered man. "I am sure that my son, Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich, will understand the importance and difficulty of his high calling and will continue in all respects worthy of the nickname of an honest man ... May God help him justify my hopes and complete what I failed to do to improve the prosperity of our dear Fatherland. I implore him not to get carried away with fashionable theories, to think about its constant development, based on love for God and on the law. He must not forget that the power of Russia is based on the unity of the State, and therefore everything that can lean to the shocks of all unity and to the separate development of various nationalities, for her it is pernicious and should not be tolerated.Thank him, for the last time, from the depths of his tenderly loving heart, for his friendship, for the diligence with which he performed his official duties and helped me in State Affairs. "

Tsar Alexander III inherited a heavy inheritance. He was well aware that improvements in different areas life and government are necessary, they are long overdue, no one argued with this. He also knew that the "bold transformations" carried out in the 60s and 70s by Alexander II often gave rise to even more acute problems.

Since the end of the 70s, the social situation in the country had become so tense that some concluded that a collapse would soon come. Some tried to leave Petersburg as far away as possible: some went to the estate, and some went abroad.

The bleakness of the social situation was felt everywhere. Finances were upset, economic development slowed, and agriculture stagnated. The zemstvos did a poor job of local improvement, all the time they asked for money from the treasury, and some zemstvo meetings turned into centers for public discussions of political issues that did not concern them in any way.

The universities were almost anarchy: anti-government publications were almost openly distributed, student gatherings were organized, where attacks on the government were heard. And most importantly, there were constant murders and attempts on the life of officials, and the authorities could not cope with the terror. The monarch himself became the object of these villainous intentions and fell at the hands of terrorists!

Alexander III had an extremely difficult time. There were plenty of advisers: every relative and dignitary dreamed that the tsar would "invite to a conversation." But the young Emperor knew that these recommendations were often too biased, too selfless to trust them without looking back. The late father sometimes brought unprincipled people, devoid of will and strong monarchical convictions closer to him.

Business must be handled differently, of which he had no doubt. First of all, it is not necessary to draw up new laws, but to ensure that the existing ones are observed. This conviction matured in him in the spring days of 1881. Earlier, in January, speaking at a meeting with the main patron of the "constitutionalists", Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the future Tsar definitely stated that "he sees no need to impose on Russia all the inconveniences of constitutionalism that impede good legislation and governance." Such a statement was immediately interpreted by the liberal public as a manifestation of "reactionary convictions."

Alexander III never sought popularity, did not curry favor with entrepreneurs and regulars of Petersburg salons, either before he became Tsar, or after. A few years after accession to the throne, talking with those close to him, Alexander III said that he would consider "the constitution very peaceful for himself, but very dangerous for Russia." In fact, he repeated the thought expressed more than once by his father.

Long before his death, Alexander II realized that it was unacceptable to give broad public freedoms, to which some of his most Europeanized compatriots urged him. In the empire of the two-headed eagle, the historical conditions for the establishment of the social order that existed in England or France had not yet developed. More than once he spoke about this both in a narrow circle and outside the royal palaces. In September 1865, accepting in Ilyinsky, near Moscow, the Zvenigorod district marshal of the nobility, P. D. Golokhvastov, Alexander II outlined his political credo:

"I give you my word that now, on this table, I am ready to sign whatever constitution you want, if I were convinced that it is useful for Russia. But I know that if I do it today, and tomorrow Russia will fall to pieces." ... And until his death, he did not change his conviction, although then completely unsubstantiated statements circulated that allegedly Alexander II intended to introduce constitutional rule ...

Alexander III fully shared this conviction and was ready to change and improve a lot, without breaking or rejecting what seemed to be reliable and historically justified. The main political value of Russia was autocracy - a sovereign rule, independent of written norms and state institutions, limited only by the dependence of the earthly king on the Heavenly King.

Talking at the end of March 1881 with the poet's daughter Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva, the wife of the famous Slavophile I. S. Aksakov, who published the popular newspaper Rus in Moscow, the Tsar said: “I have read all of your husband’s articles lately. Tell him that I’m satisfied with them. word. He is an honest and truthful person, and most importantly, he is a real Russian, which, unfortunately, are few, and even these few have been eliminated recently, but this will no longer be. "

Soon the word of the new Monarch sounded to the whole world. On April 29, 1881, the Imperial Manifesto appeared, thundering like the thunder of an alarm bell.

"In the midst of Our great sorrow, the voice of God commands Us to become cheerfully in the work of government, in hope in Divine Providence, with faith in the power and truth of Autocratic power, which We are called to establish and protect for the good of the people from all encroachments."

Further, the new Tsar called on all the faithful sons of the Fatherland to take courage and help "to eradicate the vile sedition that dishonor the Russian land, to the establishment of faith and morality, to the good upbringing of children, to the extermination of untruth and embezzlement, to the establishment of order and truth in the operation of institutions granted to Russia by her benefactor. , beloved Parent. "

The manifesto was unexpected for many. It became clear that the days of liberal smiles were over. It was only a matter of time before the fall of the political projectors - losers.

Alexander III considered this outcome logical. I wrote to my brother Sergei on June 11, 1881: “Appointing new people almost everywhere, we all started hard work and, thank God, with difficulty and little by little we move forward, and things are going much more successfully than under the previous ministers, who by their behavior forced me to fire They wanted to take me into their clutches and enslave me, but they did not succeed ... I cannot hide that even now we are still far from being in a normal state and there will still be many disappointments and anxieties, but everything has to be ready to go straight and boldly towards the goal, not deviating to the side, and most importantly - not to despair and hope in God! "

Although there were no persecutions, arrests, deportations of objectionable dignitaries (almost all of them were removed with honor, received appointments to the State Council), it seemed to some that at the top of power "an earthquake began." The bureaucratic ear has always subtly caught the impulses and moods in the highest corridors of power, which determined the behavior and diligence of officials.

As soon as Alexander III was on the Throne, it quickly became clear that jokes were bad with the new government, that the young Emperor is a tough man, even harsh, and his will must be obeyed unquestioningly. Immediately, everything began to spin, the discussions subsided, and the state machine suddenly started working with renewed vigor, although in the last years of the reign of Alexander II it seemed to many that it no longer had the strength.

Alexander III did not create any emergency bodies (in general, during his reign, few new subdivisions appeared in the system of government), did not carry out any "special cleansing" of the bureaucratic apparatus, but the atmosphere in the country and in the corridors of power changed.

The salon talkers, who had only recently passionately defended freedom-loving principles, suddenly became almost numb and no longer dared to popularize Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite not only at open meetings, but even among their own people, for tight closed doors metropolitan living rooms. Gradually, the dignitaries who were reputed to be liberal were replaced by others who were ready to serve the Tsar and the Fatherland unquestioningly, without looking into European cribs and not afraid to be branded as "reactionaries."

Alexander III boldly and decisively began to fight the enemies of the state order. The arrests of the direct perpetrators of the regicide and some other persons who did not personally participate in the first March atrocity, but were preparing other terrorist acts. In total, about fifty people were arrested, and five regicides were hanged by court verdict.

The emperor had no doubt that an irreconcilable struggle should be waged against the enemies of Russia. But not only by police methods, but also by mercy. It is necessary to distinguish where the true, irreconcilable opponents are, and where are the lost souls, who, through thoughtlessness, allowed themselves to be drawn into anti-government actions. The emperor himself always followed the progress of the inquiry in political matters. In the end, all court decisions were left to his discretion, many asked for royal favor, and he should have known the details. Sometimes he decided not to bring the matter to court.

When a circle of revolutionaries was discovered in Kronstadt in 1884, the tsar, having learned from the testimony of the accused that the midshipman of the naval crew Grigory Skvortsov was shedding tears, repented and gave frank testimony, ordered that the midshipman be released and not prosecuted.

Alexander III always had sympathy for those people who professed traditional values. Conformism, conciliation, apostasy did not evoke anything in his soul, except disgust. His political principle was simple and in line with the Russian management tradition. Malfunctions in the state must be corrected, proposals must be heard, but for this it is absolutely not necessary to convene some kind of people's assembly.

It is necessary to invite experts, experts on a particular issue, listen, discuss, weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision. Everything should be done according to the law, and if it turns out that the law is outdated, then it must be revised, relying on tradition and only after discussion in the Council of State. This became the rule of state life.

The tsar told his entourage and ministers more than once that "bureaucracy is a strength in the state if it is kept in strict discipline." Indeed, under Alexander III, the administrative apparatus of the empire worked in a tough regime: the decisions of the authorities were strictly carried out, and the tsar personally followed this. He could not stand indifference, neglect of official duties.

The emperor introduced an innovation unprecedented in Russia: he demanded that he be presented with a list of all unfulfilled orders and decisions, indicating the persons responsible for them. This news greatly increased the "labor enthusiasm" of the bureaucracy, and the red tape became much less.

He was especially intransigent towards those who used their official position for personal gain. To such, there was no condescension.

The reign of Alexander III was distinguished by a simply amazing phenomenon: bribery and corruption, which used to be a sad Russian reality, have almost completely disappeared. Russian history of this period did not reveal a single high-profile case of this kind, and numerous professional "exposers of tsarism" did not find a single corruption fact, although they were persistently looking for them for many decades ...

During the reign of Alexander III, strict administrative regulation of social life remained in Russia. Enemies of the state power were subjected to persecution, arrest, and deportation. Such facts existed both before and after Alexander III, however, in justification of the immutable thesis about a certain "course of reaction", it is the period of his reign that is often characterized as a particularly gloomy and hopeless period of history. Nothing of the kind has actually been observed.

In total, 17 people were executed for political crimes (there was no death penalty for criminal acts in Russia) during the "period of reaction". All of them either participated in the regicide, or prepared for it, and none of them repented. In total, less than 4 thousand people were interrogated and detained for anti-state acts (for almost fourteen years). If we take into account that the population of Russia then exceeded 120 million people, then these data convincingly refute the stereotyped thesis of the "regime of terror" that was allegedly established in Russia during the reign of Alexander III.

Forensic and prison "reprisals" are only part of the "gloomy picture of Russian life" that is so often depicted. Its essential moment is the "oppression of censorship", allegedly "strangling" any "freedom of thought".

In the 19th century, in Russia, as in all other, even "most" democratic states, censorship existed. In the tsarist empire, she not only protected moral principles, religious traditions and beliefs, but also performed the function of protecting state interests.

Under Alexander III, as a result of an administrative ban or for other reasons, mainly of a financial nature, several dozen newspapers and magazines ceased to exist. However, this did not mean that the voice of the independent press had "died out" in the country. Many new editions appeared, but many old ones continued to be issued.

A number of liberal-oriented publications (the most famous are the newspaper "Russkie vedomosti" and the magazine "Vestnik Evropy"), although they did not allow direct attacks on the authorities and their representatives, did not get rid of the critical ("skeptical") tone and successfully survived the "era of repression" ...

In 1894, the year of the death of Alexander III, 804 periodicals in Russian and other languages ​​were published in Russia. About 15% of them were state ("state"), and the rest belonged to various societies and individuals. There were socio-political, literary, theological, reference, satirical, scientific, educational, sports newspapers and magazines.

During the reign of Alexander III, the number of printing houses grew steadily; the range of published book products also increased annually. In 1894, the list of titles of published books reached almost 11,000 thousand (in 1890 - 8638). Many thousands of books were imported from abroad. During the entire period of his reign, less than 200 books were not allowed to circulate in Russia. (This number included, for example, the notorious "Capital" of Karl Marx.) Most were banned not for political, but for spiritual and moral reasons: insulting the feelings of believers, promoting obscenity.

Alexander III died early, not yet an old man. His death was mourned by millions of Russian people, not out of duress, but at the call of the hearts of those who respected and loved this crowned sovereign - a big, strong, Christ-loving, so understandable, just, so "their own".
Alexander Bokhanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

Alexander Alexandrovich was the second son of the imperial family. His elder brother Nikolai was preparing to inherit the throne, and he received an appropriate upbringing.

Childhood, education and upbringing

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

In 1889, in order to strengthen the supervision of the peasants, the positions of zemstvo chiefs with broad rights were introduced. They were appointed from the local noble landowners. Clerks and small traders, other poor strata of the city lost the right to vote. The judicial reform has undergone changes. In the new regulation on the zemstvos in 1890, the estate-nobility representation was strengthened. In 1882-1884. many publications were closed, and the autonomy of universities was abolished. Primary schools transferred to the church department - the Synod.

These events revealed the idea of ​​an “official nationality” of the times of Nicholas I - the slogan “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. The spirit of humility ”was consonant with the slogans of a bygone era. The new official ideologists K.P. Pobedonostsev (Chief Prosecutor of the Synod), M.N. 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 traditionally loyal nobility to the throne. Administrative measures were supported by the economic support of the landlord households.

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 top of the zemstvos, cities and Cossack troops with the new tsar, Nicholas II declared his readiness to “protect the beginnings of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as his father did”. During these years, representatives of the royal family, which by the beginning of the 20th century had up to 60 members, often interfered in the government. Most of the Grand Dukes held important administrative and military posts. The Tsar's uncles, the brothers of Alexander III - the Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexei, Sergei, and his cousins ​​Nikolai Nikolaevich, Alexander Mikhailovich, had a particularly great influence on politics.

Domestic policy

His departure was a real escape. On the day he was supposed to leave, four imperial trains stood in full readiness at four different stations in St. Petersburg, and while they waited, the emperor left with the train, which was on the siding.

Nothing, not even the need for a coronation, could force the tsar to leave the Gatchina palace - he ruled uncrowned for two years. Fear of "Narodnaya Volya" and fluctuations in the choice of a political course determined this time for the emperor.

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

Alexander III encouraged unprecedented persecution of Jews in the 1980s and 1990s. They were evicted within the Pale of Settlement (only 20 thousand Jews were evicted from Moscow), a percentage was set for them in secondary and then higher educational institutions (within 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 counterreforms. For thirteen years, Alexander III, in the words of G.V. Plekhanov, "sowed the wind." His successor, Nicholas II, was to reap the whirlwind.

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

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, the following main tendency of power was manifested, among others: the desire to give Russia more internal unity by affirming primacy Russian elements of the country.

Foreign policy

The reign of Emperor Alexander III in foreign policy brought serious changes. The closeness with Germany and Prussia, so characteristic of the reigns 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 agreement on "benevolent neutrality" in in the event of an attack by any third country 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 Alexander III's foreign policy 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 in the Balkans, Austria-Hungary significantly strengthened its influence. Having occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, she began to strive to extend her influence to other Balkan countries. Germany supported Austria-Hungary in its aspirations. Austria-Hungary began to try to weaken the influence of Russia in the Balkans. Bulgaria became the center of the struggle between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

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

The unification of Bulgaria caused an acute Balkan crisis. A war between Bulgaria and Turkey involving Russia and other countries 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 heavy 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 departed from the traditions of solidarity with the Balkan peoples: he spoke for strict observance articles of the Berlin Treaty. Alexander III offered Bulgaria to solve its foreign policy problems on its own, 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 adversary to 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 served as 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 and even elected the Russian Tsar Nicholas II as godfathers to his heir son Boris in 1894. But the former officer of the Austrian army could not overcome "a feeling of overwhelming antipathy and a certain fear" towards Russia. Russia's relations with Bulgaria remained strained.

Search for allies... At the same time, in the 80s. complicates relations between Russia and England. The clash of interests of the two European states is taking 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 of 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 abide by the decisions of the Berlin Congress, not to change the situation in the Balkans without each other's consent, and to maintain neutrality 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 in the city concluded the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) against Russia and France, which provided for the provision of military assistance to each other by the participating countries 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 East direction... V late XIX v. on Far East the expansion of Japan rapidly intensified. Japan before the 60s XIX century. was a feudal country, but in years. 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

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

Court etiquette and ceremonial under Alexander became much easier. He greatly reduced the staff of the court ministry, reduced the number of servants and introduced strict supervision over the spending of money. Expensive foreign wines were replaced by Crimean and Caucasian ones, and the number of balls is limited to four per year.

At the same time, huge sums of money were spent on the purchase of art objects. The Emperor was a passionate collector, second only to Catherine II in this respect. The Gatchina Castle has literally turned into a warehouse of priceless treasures. Alexander's acquisitions - paintings, art objects, carpets and the like - no longer fit in the galleries of Zimny, Anichkov and other palaces. However, in this hobby, the emperor did not show either fine taste or great understanding. Among his acquisitions were many ordinary things, but there were also many masterpieces that later became a 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 devout Russian sovereigns. Alexander's simple and straightforward soul knew neither religious doubts, nor religious pretense, nor the temptations of mysticism. He firmly adhered to the Orthodox canons, always stood the service to the end, prayed earnestly and enjoyed church singing. The sovereign willingly donated to monasteries, to build new churches and restore the ancients. Under him, church life was noticeably revitalized.

Alexander's hobbies were also simple and artless. He was passionate about hunting and fishing. Often in the summer, the royal family left for 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 time for long walks, fishing and boating. Belovezhskaya Pushcha was the favorite hunting place of the Emperor. Sometimes the imperial family, instead of resting in the skerries, left for Poland to the Principality of Lovichesk, and there they indulged in hunting fun, especially hunting deer, and ended their vacation most often with a trip to Denmark, to Bernstorf Castle - the ancestral castle of Dagmara, where they often gathered from all over Europe her crowned kinsmen.

During the summer holidays, ministers could distract the emperor only in urgent cases. True, for 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 cold water, made himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk. Quite often the working day ended in the middle of the night.

Death

Train wreck with the royal family

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

However, soon after this incident, the emperor began to complain of lower back pain. Professor Trube, who examined Alexander, came to the conclusion that the terrible concussion during the fall initiated the kidney disease. The disease developed steadily. The sovereign increasingly felt unwell. His complexion became sallow, his appetite was gone, his heart was not working well. In the winter he caught a cold, and in September, while hunting in Belovezhie, he felt completely nasty. 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

Emperor Alexander II was married twice. His first wife was Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of the Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse. True, the Tsarevich's mother was against marriage, suspecting that the princess was actually born of the duke's chamberlain, but Nicholas I simply adored his daughter-in-law. In the marriage of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna, eight children were born. However, soon relations in the family went wrong and the emperor began to make his own favorites.

So in 1866 he became close to the 18-year-old princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova. She became the closest person to the king and moved to the Winter Palace. She gave birth to four illegitimate children from Alexander II. After the death of the Empress, Alexander and Catherine got married, which legalized their common children. Who were the descendants of the emperor - you will learn from our material.

Alexandra Alexandrovna

Alexandra was the first and long-awaited child of the grand ducal couple. She was born on August 30, 1842. Tsar Nicholas I especially expected the birth of a granddaughter. The next day, the happy parents received congratulations. On the ninth day, the Grand Duchess was moved to the chambers prepared for her and the child. Maria Alexandrovna expressed a desire to feed her daughter on her own, but the emperor forbade this.

On August 30, the girl was baptized in the Tsarskoye Selo church. But unfortunately, the little Grand Duchess did not live long. She fell ill with meningitis and died suddenly on June 28, 1849, before she was 7 years old. Since then, the girls were no longer called Alexandra in the imperial family. All princesses with this name died in a mysterious way before they even reached 20 years old.

Nikolay Alexandrovich

Tsarevich Nicholas was born on September 20, 1843 and was named after his grandfather. The emperor was so excited about the birth of the heir to the throne that he ordered his sons - the great princes Constantine and Mikhail - to kneel before the cradle and take an oath of allegiance to the future Russian emperor. But the Tsarevich was not destined to become a ruler.

Nicholas grew up as a universal favorite: his grandfather and grandmother doted on him, but the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna was most attached to him. Nikolai was well-mannered, polite, courteous. He was friends with his second cousin, Princess of Oldenburg. There were even negotiations about their wedding, but in the end, the princess's mother refused.

In 1864 the Tsarevich went abroad. There, on the day of his 21st birthday, he became engaged to Princess Dagmar, who would later become the wife of Alexander III. Everything was fine until, while traveling in Italy, the heir suddenly fell ill. He was treated in Nice, but in the spring of 1865, Nikolai's condition began to deteriorate.

On April 10, Tsar Alexander II arrived in Nice, and already at night on the 12th Grand Duke died after four hours of agony from tuberculous meningitis. The body of the heir was taken to Russia on the frigate "Alexander Nevsky". Mother was inconsolable and, it seems, could not fully recover from the tragedy. Years later, Emperor Alexander III named his eldest son after his brother, whom he "loved more than anything else."

Alexander Alexandrovich

Alexander III was two years younger than his older brother and, by the will of fate, it was he who was destined to ascend the Russian throne. Since Nicholas was being prepared for the reign, Alexander did not receive the appropriate education, and after the death of his brother, he had to take an additional course of science necessary for the ruler.

In 1866, he became engaged to Princess Dagmar. His ascension to the throne was also overshadowed by death - in 1881, Emperor Alexander II died as a result of a terrorist act. After this, the son did not support his father's liberal ideas, his goal was to suppress the protests. Alexander adhered to a conservative policy. So, instead of the draft "constitution of Loris-Melikov" supported by his father, the new emperor adopted the "Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy" drawn up by Pobedonostsev, which had a great influence on the emperor.

Administrative pressure was increased, the rudiments of peasant and city self-government were eliminated, censorship was strengthened, military power was strengthened, it was not for nothing that the emperor said that "Russia has only two allies - the army and the navy." Indeed, during the reign of Alexander III, there was a sharp decrease in protests, so characteristic of the second half of his father's reign. Terrorist activity also declined, and since 1887 there have been no terrorist attacks in the country until the beginning of the 20th century.

Despite the buildup of military power, during the reign of Alexander III, Russia did not wage a single war; for maintaining peace, he received the nickname Peacemaker. He bequeathed his ideals to the heir and the last Russian emperor Nicholas II.

Vladimir Alexandrovich

The Grand Duke was born in 1847 and dedicated his life to a military career. He took part in the Russian-Turkish war, since 1884 he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. In 1881, his brother appointed him regent in the event of his death before the age of majority of Tsarevich Nicholas, or in the event of the latter's death.

Known for his participation in the tragic events of January 1905, known as "Bloody Sunday". It was the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich who gave the order to Prince Vasilchikov to use force against the procession of workers and residents of the city, which was heading for the Winter Palace.

He was forced to leave his post as Commander of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District after a scandal with the marriage of his son. His eldest son Cyril married the former wife of the brother of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - Princess Victoria-Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Highest permission was not given for the marriage, even despite the blessing of Kirill's mother Maria Pavlovna. Vladimir was a well-known philanthropist and even was the president of the Academy of Arts. In protest against his role in the execution of workers and townspeople, artists Serov and Polenov resigned from the Academy.

Aleksey Aleksandrovich

The fifth child in the grand-ducal family was already registered in the military service- in the Guards crew and Life Guards Regiments Preobrazhensky and Jaegersky. His fate was sealed.

In 1866, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was promoted to lieutenant of the fleet and lieutenant of the guard. Participated in the voyage of the frigate "Alexander Nevsky", which on the night of 12-13 September 1868 crashed in the Strait of Jutland. The captain of the ship noted the courage and nobility of Alexei, who refused to be one of the first to leave the ship. Four days later he was promoted to staff captains and aide-de-camp.

In 1871 he was a senior officer of the frigate "Svetlana", on which he reached North America, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and, having visited China and Japan, arrived in Vladivostok, from where he reached home across Siberia by land.

In 1881 he was appointed a member of the State Council, and in the summer of the same year - Chief of the Fleet and the Naval Department with the rights of an admiral general and chairman of the Admiralty Council. During the management of the fleet, he carried out a number of reforms, introduced a naval qualification, increased the number of crews, established the ports of Sevastopol, Port Arthur and others, expanded the docks in Kronstadt and Vladivostok.

At the end of the Russo-Japanese War, after the Tsushima defeat, he resigned and was dismissed from all naval posts. He was considered one of those responsible for Russia's defeat in the war. He died in Paris in 1908.

Maria Alexandrovna

Princess Maria was born in 1853. She grew up as a "weak" girl and suffered from worms in childhood. Despite the prescriptions of the doctors, the father wanted to ride with her everywhere, he doted on his daughter. In 1874, she married Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of the British Queen Victoria. Alexander gave her an unimaginable dowry of 100,000 pounds and an annual allowance of 20,000 pounds.

Alexander insisted that in London his daughter should be addressed as "Her Imperial Highness" and that she should have primacy over the Princess of Wales. This infuriated Queen Victoria. However, after marriage, the requirements of the Russian emperor were met.

In 1893, her husband became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as his older brother Edward renounced his claim to the throne. Mary became Duchess, retaining the title of Duchess of Edinburgh. However, their family suffered a tragedy.

Their son, Crown Prince Alfred, was engaged to the Duchess Elsa of Württemberg. However, Alfred was convicted of extramarital affairs and in 1898 he began to show severe symptoms of syphilis. The illness is believed to have shaken his mind.

In 1899, he shot himself with a revolver during a solemn family meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of his parents' marriage. He passed away on February 6 at the age of 24. A year later, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha died of cancer. The Dowager Duchess Maria remained to live in Coburg.

Sergey Aleksandrovich

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich became the Moscow governor-general. On his initiative, the creation of a portrait gallery of former governors general began. Under him, the Public Art Theater was opened, in order to take care of the students, he ordered the construction of a hostel at Moscow University. A dark episode of his reign was the tragedy on the Khodynskoye field. According to official figures, 1,389 people died in the stampede and another 1,300 were seriously injured. The public found Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich guilty and nicknamed him "Prince Khodynsky."

Sergei Alexandrovich supported monarchist organizations and was a fighter against the revolutionary movement. He died in a terrorist attack in 1905. At the entrance to the Nikolaev tower, a bomb was thrown into his carriage, which tore apart the prince's carriage. He died on the spot, the coachman was mortally wounded.

The terrorist attack was carried out by Ivan Kalyaev from the "Combat Organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party". He had planned to commit it two days earlier, but was unable to throw a bomb into the carriage in which the governor-general's wife and nephews were. It is known that the widow of Prince Elizabeth visited her husband's killer in prison and forgave him on behalf of her husband.

Pavel Alexandrovich

Pavel Alexandrovich made a military career, possessed not only Russian, but also foreign orders and signs of honor. He was married twice. He entered into his first marriage in 1889 with his cousin, the Greek princess Alexandra Georgievna. She bore him two children - Maria and Dmitry. But the girl died at the age of 20 during a premature birth. The children were brought up in the family of their brother, Moscow Governor-General Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

10 years after the death of his wife, he married a second time, to Olga Pistolkors, she was the ex-wife of the subordinate prince Pavel Alexandrovich. Since the marriage was unequal, they could not return to Russia. In 1915, Olga Valerievna received for herself and the children of the prince the Russian title of princes Paley. They had three children: Vladimir, Irina and Natalya.

Soon after the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, the Provisional Government took action against the Romanovs. Vladimir Paley was exiled to the Urals in 1918 and executed at the same time. Pavel Alexandrovich himself was arrested in August 1918 and sent to prison.

In January of the following year, together with his cousins, Grand Dukes Dmitry Konstantinovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich and Georgy Mikhailovich, they were shot in the Peter and Paul fortress in response to the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in Germany.

Georgy Alexandrovich

Georgy Alexandrovich was born out of wedlock in 1872 and after the wedding of Alexander II with Princess Dolgorukova received the title of His Serene Highness Prince and the surname Yuryevsky. The emperor wanted to equate illegitimate children with the heirs from the alliance with the Empress Maria Alexandrovna. After the assassination of his father, the emperor, he left for France with his sisters and mother.

In 1891 he graduated from the Sorbonne with a bachelor's degree, then returned to Russia, where he continued his studies. He served in the Baltic Fleet, studied at the dragoon branch of the Officer Cavalry School. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment, in 1908 he retired. Died 4 years later of jade in Magburg, German Empire. Buried in Wiesbaden at the Russian cemetery. Brother Boris, as his father jokingly called him, was at Goga's. But the boy did not live even a year, and was posthumously legalized as Yuryevsky.

Olga Alexandrovna

She was born a year after her older brother, and was also legalized as the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya. It is interesting that the emperor chose the title for children for a reason. It was believed that the princely family of his second wife Dolgorukova took its origins from Rurik and had Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in the ancestors. In fact, this is not the case. The ancestor of the Dolgorukovs was Prince Ivan Obolensky, who received the nickname Dolgoruky for his vengefulness. It originated from the second cousin of Yuri Dolgoruky - Vsevolod Olgovich.

The Most Serene Princess in 1895 married the grandson of Alexander Pushkin - Count Georg-Nicholas von Merenberg and became known as Countess von Merenberg. In marriage, she gave birth to her husband 12 children.

Ekaterina Aleksandrovna

But the youngest daughter of Alexander II, Ekaterina Yurievskaya, twice unsuccessfully married and became a singer in order to earn her bread. After the accession of Nicholas II, she returned to Russia with her mother, brother and sister. In 1901, Catherine married the richest prince Alexander Baryatinsky. She was smart and talented, but she was not lucky with her husband. He was a rather extravagant character, led a wild life and adored the beautiful Lina Cavalieri. The husband demanded that his wife also share his love for the favorite.

The Serene Princess, loving her husband, tried to win his attention. But it was all in vain. The three of them went everywhere - performances, operas, dinners, some even lived together in a hotel. But the triangle broke up with the death of the prince, the inheritance went to the children of Catherine - princes Andrei and Alexander. Since they were minors, their mother became their guardian.

After the First World War, they moved from Bavaria to the Baryatinsky estate in Ivanovsky. Soon, Catherine met a young guards officer, Prince Sergei Obolensky, and jumped out to marry him. After the revolution, they lost everything and left, using forged documents, to Kiev, and then to Vienna and further to England. For the sake of earning money, the Most Serene Princess began to sing in living rooms and at concerts. The death of her mother did not improve the financial situation of the princess.

In the same 1922, Obolensky left his wife for another rich lady, Miss Alice Astor, the daughter of millionaire John Astor. The abandoned Catherine became a professional singer. For many years she lived on an allowance from Queen Mary, widow of George V, but after her death in 1953 she was left without a livelihood. She sold her property and died in 1959 at a nursing home on Hailing Island.

It is about such kings that the current monarchists sigh. They may be right. Alexander III was really great. Both a man and an emperor.

"It bites at me!"

However, some dissidents of that time, including Vladimir Lenin, quite evil joked about the emperor. In particular, they nicknamed him "Pineapple". True, Alexander himself gave a reason. In the manifesto "On Our Ascension to the Throne" dated April 29, 1881, it was clearly stated: "And on Us to entrust the Sacred Duty." So when the document was announced, the tsar inevitably turned into an exotic fruit.

In fact, this is unfair and dishonest. Alexander was distinguished by amazing strength. He could easily break a horseshoe. He could easily bend silver coins in the palm of his hand. He could lift a horse on his shoulders. And even to make him sit like a dog - this is recorded in the memoirs of his contemporaries. At a dinner in the Winter Palace, when the Austrian ambassador started talking about the fact that his country was ready to form three corps of soldiers against Russia, he bent and tied a fork in a knot. Threw it in the direction of the ambassador. And he said: "This is what I will do with your corps."

The heir to the Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich with his wife the Tsarevich and Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna, St. Petersburg, late 1860s. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Height - 193 cm.Weight - over 120 kg. It is not surprising that a peasant who accidentally saw the emperor at the railway station exclaimed: "This is a tsar so tsar, damn me!" The wicked peasant was immediately seized for "uttering obscene words in the presence of the sovereign." However, Alexander ordered to let go of the foul language. Moreover, he rewarded him with a ruble with his own image: "Here's my portrait for you!"

And his look? Beard? Crown? Remember the cartoon "The Magic Ring"? “Ampirator drink tea. The samovar is mattere! Each appliance has three pounds of sieve bread! " It's all about him. He really could eat 3 pounds of sieve bread for tea, that is, about 1.5 kg.

At home he liked to wear a simple Russian shirt. But always with sewing on the sleeves. He tucked his pants into his boots, like a soldier. Even at official receptions he allowed himself to go out in shabby trousers, a jacket or a sheepskin coat.

His phrase is often repeated: "While the Russian Tsar is fishing, Europe can wait." In reality, it was like that. Alexander was very correct. But he was very fond of fishing and hunting. Therefore, when the German ambassador demanded an immediate meeting, Alexander said: “Biting! It bites at me! Germany can wait. I'll take it tomorrow at noon. "

Correct soul

During his reign, conflicts began with Great Britain. Dr. Watson, the hero of the famous novel about Sherlock Holmes, was wounded in Afghanistan. And, apparently, in a battle with the Russians. There is a documented episode. A Cossack patrol detained a group of Afghan smugglers. They had two Englishmen - instructors. The commander of the patrol, Esaul Pankratov, shot the Afghans. And he ordered the British to be expelled from the Russian Empire. True, he had previously whipped them with whips.

In an audience with the British ambassador, Alexander said:

I will not allow encroachment on our people and our territory.

The ambassador replied:

This could cause an armed clash with England!

The king calmly remarked:

Well ... Probably we can do it.

And mobilized the Baltic Fleet. It was 5 times less than the forces that the British had at sea. And yet the war did not happen. The British calmed down and surrendered their positions in Central Asia.

After that English Interior Minister Disraeli called Russia “a huge, monstrous, terrible bear hanging over Afghanistan and India. And our interests in the world. "

Death of Alexander III in Livadia. Hood. M. Zichy, 1895. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In order to list the deeds of Alexander III, you need not a newspaper strip, but a scroll 25 meters long. The Pacific Ocean gave a real exit - the Trans-Siberian Railway. Gave civil liberties to the Old Believers. He gave real freedom to the peasants - the former serfs under him were given the opportunity to take solid loans, buy out their lands and farms. He made it clear that everyone is equal before the supreme power - he deprived some of the great princes of privileges, reduced their payments from the treasury. By the way, each of them was entitled to a "allowance" in the amount of 250 thousand rubles. gold.

One can indeed yearn for such a sovereign. Alexander's elder brother Nikolai(he died without ascending to the throne) said about the future emperor as follows: “Pure, truthful, crystal soul. There is something wrong with the rest of us, fox. Alexander alone is truthful and correct in soul. "

In Europe, they said about his death in about the same way: "We are losing an arbiter who has always been guided by the idea of ​​justice."

The largest deeds of Alexander III

The Emperor is credited, and, apparently, not without reason, the invention of the flat flask. And not just flat, but bent, the so-called "boot". Alexander loved to drink, but did not want those around him to know about his addictions. A flask of this shape is ideal for secret use.

It was he who owns the slogan, for which today you can seriously pay: "Russia - for the Russians." However, his nationalism was not aimed at bullying national minorities. In any case, the Jewish deputation headed by Baron Gunzburg expressed to the emperor "boundless gratitude for the measures taken to protect the Jewish population at this difficult time."

The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway has begun - until now it is almost the only transport artery that somehow connects the whole of Russia. The Emperor also instituted the Day of the Railroad Worker. Even the Soviet regime did not abolish it, despite the fact that Alexander set the date of the holiday for the birthday of his grandfather Nicholas I, under whom they began to build railways.

He actively fought against corruption. Not in words, but in deeds. The Minister of Railways Krivoshein, Minister of Finance Abaza were sent to shameful resignation for bribes. He did not bypass his relatives either - because of corruption, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich were deprived of their posts.