How to evaluate a statesman? It's very simple - if a civil war broke out under him, this is a bad politician. If under him the state was defeated in an external conflict and lost territories, this is the one whose mistakes need to be studied, but you don’t need to take yourself as an example.

There have been many leaders in the history of our country. But future generations need to be educated on the best examples. Not forgetting the worst examples, such as Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The best leader of the Soviet period is undoubtedly Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

The best emperor in the history of the Russian Empire was Alexander III. He is one of the most unknown kings. There are two reasons for this: Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov was a peacemaker tsar. Under him, Russia did not fight, there were no resounding victories, but our influence in the world did not decrease at all, and peace made it possible for industry and the entire economy to develop. The second reason is the collapse of the country in 1917 (the tsar died in 1894), they did not have time to realize his greatness and wisdom. Due to its obscurity, we have to give a "hint". Alexander III was the son of the sovereign liberator killed by terrorists Alexandra II and father of Nicholas II, which, due to the tragedy of the royal family and all of Russia, is known to anyone in our country.

"On November 1, 1894, a man named Alexander died in the Crimea. He was called the Third. But for his deeds he was worthy to be called the First. Or maybe even the only one.

It is about such kings that today's monarchists sigh. Perhaps they are right. Alexander III was truly great. Both human and emperor.

However, some dissidents of that time, including Vladimir Lenin, joked rather evilly at the emperor. In particular, they nicknamed him "Pineapple". True, Alexander himself gave a reason for this. In the manifesto "On Our Ascension to the Throne" dated April 29, 1881, it was clearly stated: "And on Us to impose a Sacred Duty." So when the document was read out, the king inevitably turned into an exotic fruit.

Reception of volost elders by Alexander III in the courtyard of the Petrovsky Palace in Moscow. Painting by I. Repin (1885-1886)

In fact, this is unfair and dishonest. Alexander was remarkable for his amazing strength. He could easily break a horseshoe. He could easily bend silver coins in the palm of his hand. I could lift a horse on my shoulders. And even 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. Threw it towards the ambassador. And he said, "That's what I'll do with your hulls."

Height - 193 cm. Weight - more than 120 kg. It is not surprising that a peasant who accidentally saw the emperor on railway station, exclaimed: “This is the king, so the king, damn me!” The wicked peasant was immediately seized for "uttering indecent words in the presence of the sovereign." However, Alexander ordered the foul language to be released. Moreover, he rewarded him with a ruble with his own image: “Here is my portrait for you!”

What about his look? Beard? Crown? Remember the cartoon "Magic Ring"? “Ampirator drink tea. Motherly samovar! Each appliance of sieve bread has three pounds! It's all about him. He really could eat 3 pounds of sieve bread with 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 boots, like a soldier. Even at official receptions, he allowed himself to go out in worn trousers, a jacket or a sheepskin coat.

Alexander III on the hunt. Slept (Kingdom of Poland). Late 1880s - early 1890s Photographer K. Beh. RGAKFD. Al. 958. Sn. nineteen.

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 loved fishing and hunting. Therefore, when the German ambassador demanded an immediate meeting, Alexander said: “Pecking! It pecks at me! Germany can wait. I'll take it tomorrow at noon."

At an audience with the British ambassador, Alexander said:

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

The ambassador replied:

- This can cause an armed clash with England!

The king calmly remarked:

- Well, well ... Probably, we can do it.

And mobilized the Baltic Fleet. It was 5 times smaller than the forces that the British had at sea. And yet there was no war. The British calmed down and surrendered their positions in Central Asia.

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

In order to list the affairs of Alexander III, we need not a newspaper page, but a scroll 25 meters long. Pacific Ocean gave a real way out - the Trans-Siberian Railway. He gave civil liberties to the Old Believers. He gave real freedom to the peasants - the former serfs under him got the opportunity to take solid loans, redeem their lands and farms. He made it clear that everyone is equal before the supreme power - he deprived some of the grand dukes of their 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.

Indeed, one can yearn for such a sovereign. Alexander's older brother Nikolay(he died without ascending the throne) said about the future emperor: “Pure, truthful, crystal soul. There's something wrong with the rest of us, fox. Alexander alone is truthful and correct in soul.

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

Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Alexander III Alexandrovich Romanov

The biggest deeds of Alexander III

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

It is he who owns the slogan, for which now you can seriously pay: "Russia is for the Russians." Nevertheless, his nationalism was not aimed at the treatment of 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 all of Russia. The Emperor also instituted the Railwayman's Day. Even the Soviet authorities did not cancel it, despite the fact that Alexander set the date of the holiday for the birthday of his grandfather Nicholas I, under which we began to build railways.

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

Emperor Alexander III with his family in the Private Garden of the Grand Gatchina Palace.

History of the patch

Despite his more than noble position, conducive to luxury, extravagance and a cheerful lifestyle, which, for example, Catherine II managed to combine with reforms and decrees, Emperor Alexander III was so modest that this trait of his character became a favorite topic of conversation for his subjects. .

For example, there was an incident that one of the king's associates wrote down in his diary. He happened to be next to the emperor one of the days, and then some object suddenly fell from the table. Alexander III bent down to the floor to pick it up, and the courtier, with horror and shame, from which even the top of his head turns beet-colored, notices that in a place that is not commonly called in society, the king flaunts a rough patch!

It should be noted here that the tsar did not wear pants made of expensive materials, preferring coarse, military cut, not at all because he wanted to save money, as did the future wife of his son, Alexandra Fedorovna, who gave her daughters' dresses to junk dealers for sale, previously expensive disputes buttons. The emperor in everyday life was simple and undemanding, wearing a uniform, which it was high time to throw away, and giving the torn clothes to his batman to mend and mend where necessary.

Non-royal preferences

Alexander III was a categorical person and it was not for nothing that he was nicknamed a monarchist and an ardent defender of autocracy. He never allowed his subjects to contradict him. However, there were plenty of reasons for this: the emperor significantly reduced the staff of the Ministry of the Court, and reduced the balls that were given regularly in St. Petersburg to four a year.

Emperor Alexander III with his wife Maria Feodorovna 1892

The emperor not only showed indifference to secular fun, but also showed a rare neglect of what many enjoyed and served as an object of worship. For example, food. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he preferred simple Russian food: cabbage soup, fish soup and fried fish, which he caught himself, leaving with his family to rest in Finnish skerries.

One of Alexander's favorite delicacies was "Guryev's" porridge, invented by Zakhar Kuzmin, the serf cook of the retired major Yurisovsky. Porridge was prepared simply: semolina was boiled in milk and nuts were added there - walnuts, almonds, hazel, then creamy foam was poured in and dried fruits were poured with a generous hand.

The tsar always preferred this simple dish to gourmet French desserts and Italian delicacies, which he ate at tea in his Annichkov Palace. The Tsar did not like the Winter Palace with its pompous luxury. However, against the backdrop of mended pants and porridge, this is not surprising.

The force that saved the family

The emperor had one fatal passion, which, although he fought with it, sometimes prevailed. Alexander III liked to drink vodka or strong Georgian or Crimean wine - it was with them that he replaced expensive foreign varieties. In order not to injure the tender feelings of his beloved wife Maria Feodorovna, he secretly put a flask with a strong drink in the top of his wide tarpaulin boots and applied to it when the empress could not see it.

Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Petersburg. 1886

Speaking about the relationship of spouses, it should be noted that they can serve as an example of reverent treatment and mutual understanding. For thirty years they lived soul in spirit - the timid emperor, who did not like crowded gatherings, and the cheerful cheerful Danish princess Maria Sophia Friederika Dagmar.

It was rumored that in her youth she loved to do gymnastics and performed virtuoso somersaults in front of the future emperor. However, the king also loved physical activity and was famous throughout the state as a heroic man. 193 centimeters tall, with a large figure and broad shoulders, he bent coins with his fingers and bent horseshoes. His amazing strength even once saved the life of him and his family.

In the autumn of 1888, the tsar's train crashed near the Borki station, 50 kilometers from Kharkov. Seven wagons were broken, there were seriously wounded and dead among the servants, but the members of the royal family remained unharmed: at that time they were in the dining car. However, the roof of the car nevertheless collapsed, and, according to eyewitnesses, Alexander held it on his shoulders until help arrived in time. Investigators, who were investigating the causes of the crash, concluded that the family had miraculously escaped, and if the royal train continues to travel at such a speed, then a miracle may not happen a second time.

In the autumn of 1888, the tsar's train crashed near the Borki station. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Tsar-artist and admirer of the arts

Despite the fact that in everyday life he was simple and unpretentious, thrifty and even economical, huge amounts of money were spent on the acquisition of art objects. Even in his youth, the future emperor was fond of painting and even studied drawing with the famous professor Tikhobrazov. However, the royal chores took a lot of time and effort, and the emperor was forced to leave classes. But he retained his love for the elegant until the last days and transferred it to collecting. Not without reason, his son Nicholas II, after the death of his parent, founded the Russian Museum in his honor.

The emperor provided patronage to artists and even such a seditious canvas as “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581” by Repin, although it caused discontent, it did not cause persecution of the Wanderers. Also, the tsar, who was devoid of external gloss and aristocracy, was unexpectedly well versed in music, loved the works of Tchaikovsky and contributed to the fact that not Italian opera and ballets sounded on the theater stage, but the works of domestic composers. Until his death, he supported Russian opera and Russian ballet, which received worldwide recognition and reverence.

After the death of his parent, his son Nicholas II founded the Russian Museum in his honor.

Emperor's Legacy

During the reign of Alexander III, Russia was not drawn into any serious political conflict, and the revolutionary movement became a dead end, which was nonsense, since the murder of the previous tsar was seen as a sure pretext for starting a new round of terrorist acts and changing the state order.

The emperor introduced a number of measures that made life easier for the common people. He gradually abolished the poll tax, paid special attention to the Orthodox Church and influenced the completion of the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Alexander III loved Russia and, wanting to fence it off from an unexpected invasion, strengthened the army. His expression "Russia has only two allies: the army and the navy" became winged.

The emperor also owns another phrase "Russia for the Russians." However, there is no reason to blame the tsar for nationalism: Minister Witte, whose wife was of Jewish origin, recalled that Alexander's activities were never aimed at treating national minorities, which, by the way, changed during the reign of Nicholas II, when the Black Hundred movement found support in the state level.

About forty monuments were erected in honor of Emperor Alexander III in the Russian Empire

Only 49 years fate measured this autocrat. The memory of him is alive in the name of the bridge in Paris, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, in the village of Aleksandrovsky, which laid the foundation for the city of Novosibirsk. And in these troubled days, Russia remembers catchphrase Alexander III: “In the whole world we have only two faithful allies - the army and the navy. All the rest, at the first opportunity, will take up arms against us.”

Next, we offer you to see the rarest photographs of Emperor Alexander III

Grand Dukes Vladimir Alexandrovich (standing), Alexander Alexandrovich (second from right) and others. Koenigsberg (Germany). 1862
Photographer G. Hessau. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich. Petersburg. Mid 1860s Photographer S. Levitsky.
Alexander III on the deck of the yacht. Finnish skerries. Late 1880s
Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna with their children George, Xenia and Mikhail and others on the deck of the yacht. Finnish skerries. Late 1880s...
Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna with their children Xenia and Mikhail on the porch of the house. Livadia. Late 1880s
Alexander III, Empress Maria Feodorovna, their children George, Mikhail, Alexander and Xenia, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and others at a tea table in the forest. Khalila. Early 1890s
Alexander III with children watering the trees in the garden. Late 1880s Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna with their eldest son Nikolai. Petersburg. 1870
Photographer S. Levitsky. Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna with their son Mikhail (on horseback) and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich for a walk in the forest. Mid 1880s Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich in the uniform of the Life Guards Rifle Battalion of the Imperial Family. 1865
Photographer I. Nostits. Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna and her sister, Princess Alexandra of Wales. London. 1880s
Photo studio Maul & Co.
On the veranda - Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna and children George, Xenia and Mikhail, Count I. I. Vorontsov-Dashkov, Countess E. A. Vorontsova-Dashkova and others. Red Village. Late 1880s Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich with Tsarevich Maria Feodorovna, her sister, Princess Alexandra of Wales (second from right), their brother, Danish Crown Prince Frederick (far right), and others. Denmark. Mid 1870s Russell & Sons Photo Studio.

He was on the throne for thirteen and a half years and died 49 years old, having earned 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, will say that He won in the area where it is most difficult to achieve victory, defeated the prejudice of peoples and thereby contributed to their rapprochement, subjugated the public conscience in the name of peace and truth, increased the amount of goodness in the moral circulation of mankind, encouraged and uplifted Russian historical thought, Russian national consciousness, and did all this so quietly and silently that only now, when He no longer exists, Europe understood what He was for her."

The venerable professor was wrong 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 false 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 good for Russia. Hence - the irreconcilable hatred of this Tsar from the Westerners of all stripes.

However, Alexander III was not a narrow-minded Western-hater, from the threshold rejecting everything that did not have a generic stigma: "made in Russia." For him, Russian was primary and especially significant, not because it was the best in the world, but because it was native, close, and his own. Under Emperor Alexander III, the words "Russia for the Russians" were heard throughout the country for the first time. And although he was well aware of the malfunctions and absurdities in Russian life, he did not doubt for a minute that they should be overcome only relying on own feeling understanding of duty and responsibility, not paying attention to what some "princess Marya Aleksevna" would say about this.

For almost two hundred years, this 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 gun shot, Russia began to gain the moral authority of a great world power. The imposing bridge over 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 bomb, who soon died, and Alexander Alexandrovich became the "Autocrat of All Russia." He did not dream of a crown, but when death took away his father, he showed amazing self-control and humility, accepting what was given only by the will of the Almighty.

With great spiritual trepidation, with tears in his eyes, he read his father's testament, the words and instructions of the murdered. “I am sure that my son, Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich, will understand the importance and difficulty of his high calling and will continue to be worthy of the title of an honest man in every respect ... May God help him to justify my hopes and complete what I failed to do to improve the well-being of our dear Fatherland. I conjure him not to get carried away by fashionable theories, take care of his 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 tend to the upheavals of the entire unity and to the separate development of various nationalities, is detrimental to her and should not be allowed.I thank him, for the last time, from the depths of his tenderly loving heart, for his friendship, for the zeal with which he performed his official duties and helped me in state affairs."

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

Already from the end of the 70s, the social situation in the country became so tense that some concluded that collapse would soon come. Others tried to move away from Petersburg: some to the estate, and some abroad.

The bleakness of the social situation was felt everywhere. Finances were upset, economic development slowed down, and agriculture stagnated. The zemstvos did not cope well with the affairs 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.

Almost anarchy reigned in the universities: anti-government publications were almost openly distributed, student meetings were held, where attacks on the government were heard. And most importantly: murders and attempts on officials were constantly taking place, and the authorities could not cope with 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 "invited to the conversation." But the young Emperor knew that these recommendations were often too biased, too self-serving, to be trusted without looking back. The late father sometimes brought unscrupulous people closer to him, devoid of will and firm monarchical convictions.

Things had to be done differently, he was sure of that. First of all, it is not necessary to draw up new laws, but to ensure that existing ones are respected. This conviction matured in him in the spring days of 1881. Even earlier, in January, speaking at a meeting with the main patron of the "constitutionalists" Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the future Tsar clearly stated that "he does not see the need to impose on Russia all the inconveniences of constitutionalism that impedes 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 in St. Petersburg salons, either before he became Tsar or after. A few years after accession, talking with close associates, Alexander III said that he would consider "the constitution to be very calm for himself, but very dangerous for Russia." As a matter of fact, he repeated the thought expressed more than once by his father.

Long before his death, Alexander II realized that to give broad public freedoms, to which some of the most Europeanized compatriots urged him, was an unacceptable thing. In the empire of the double-headed eagle, the historical conditions for establishing the social order that existed in England or France had not yet taken shape. More than once he spoke about this both in a narrow circle and outside the royal palaces. In September 1865, receiving 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 any kind of constitution, 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 allegations circulated that allegedly Alexander II intended to introduce constitutional government ...

Alexander III fully shared this conviction and was ready to change and improve a lot, without breaking or rejecting what seemed reliable and historically justified. The main political value of Russia was autocracy - 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 daughter of the poet Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva, wife of the famous Slavophile I.S. Aksakov, who published the popular newspaper Rus in Moscow, the Tsar said: “I have read all the articles of your husband lately. Tell him that I satisfied with them. In my grief, I was very relieved to hear the word of honor. 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 lately, but this will no longer be " .

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

"In the midst of Our great sorrow, the voice of God commands Us to stand up cheerfully for the cause of government, in the hope of Divine Providence, with faith in the strength and truth of the 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 contribute to "the eradication of vile sedition that dishonors the Russian land, to the establishment of faith and morality, to the good upbringing of children, to the extermination of untruth and theft, to establish 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. The fall of political projectors? losers was only a matter of time.

Alexander III considered this outcome to be logical. On June 11, 1881, he wrote to his brother Sergey: “Having appointed new people almost everywhere, we have unanimously set to hard work and, thank God, we are moving forward with difficulty and little by little, 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... 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, expulsions of objectionable dignitaries (almost all of them retired with honor, received appointments to the State Council), it seemed to some that an earthquake had begun at the top of power. The bureaucratic ear has always subtly caught the impulses and moods in the highest corridors of power, which determined the behavior and official zeal of officials.

As soon as Alexander III was on the Throne, it quickly became clear that the new government was no joke, that the young Emperor was a tough man, even harsh, and his will must be obeyed implicitly. Immediately everything began to spin, 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 there were few new divisions in the state administration system), he did not carry out any “special purge” of the bureaucracy, but the atmosphere in the country and in the corridors of power changed.

Salon talkers, who had only recently passionately defended freedom-loving principles, suddenly became almost speechless and no longer dared to popularize "Liberte", "Egalite", "Fraternite" not only at open meetings, but even in the circle of "their own", behind the tightly closed doors of the capital's living rooms. Gradually, dignitaries who were known as liberals 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 against the enemies of the state order. There were arrests of direct perpetrators of regicide and some other persons who did not personally participate in the March 1 atrocity, but were preparing other terrorist acts. In total, about fifty people were arrested, and five regicides were hanged by the court's verdict.

The Emperor had no doubt that Russia's enemies had to be fought uncompromisingly. But not only by police methods, but also by mercy. It is necessary to distinguish where are the true, irreconcilable opponents, and where are the lost souls, who, through thoughtlessness, allowed themselves to be drawn into anti-government actions. The emperor himself always followed the course of the inquiry on political matters. In the end, all judicial decisions were left to his discretion, many asked for royal favor, and it was up to him to know the details. Sometimes he decided not to bring the case to court.

When in 1884 a circle of revolutionaries was opened in Kronstadt, the tsar, having learned from the testimony of the accused that midshipman of the naval crew Grigory Skvortsov sheds tears, repents and gives frank testimony, ordered: the midshipman be released and not prosecuted.

Alexander III always had sympathy for those people who professed traditional values. Conformism, conciliation, apostasy caused nothing in his soul but disgust. His political principle was simple and consistent with the Russian administrative tradition. Malfunctions in the state must be corrected, proposals must be listened to, 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, to 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 State Council. It became the rule of state life.

The tsar repeatedly told his associates and ministers that "officialdom is a force in the state, if it is kept in strict discipline." And indeed, under Alexander III, the administrative apparatus of the empire worked in a strict regime: the decisions of the authorities were strictly implemented, and the tsar personally monitored this. Inefficiency, neglect of official duties, he could not stand.

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

He was especially implacable towards those who used their official position for personal gain. There was no mercy for such people.

The reign of Alexander III was distinguished by a simply amazing phenomenon: bribery and corruption, which used to be a sad Russian reality, almost completely disappeared. The 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 searched for for many decades ...

In the era of the reign of Alexander III in Russia, strict administrative regulation of social life was maintained. Enemies state power subjected to persecution, arrests, deportations. Such facts existed both before and after Alexander III, however, in order to justify the immutable thesis about a certain "course of reaction", it is precisely the period of his reign that is often characterized as a particularly gloomy and hopeless period of history. Nothing of the sort 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 "reaction period". All of them either participated in the regicide, or prepared for it, and not one of them repented. In total, less than 4 thousand people were interrogated and detained for anti-state acts (almost fourteen years). Considering that Russia's population at that time exceeded 120 million people, these data convincingly refute the stereotyped thesis about the "terror regime" that was allegedly established in Russia during the reign of Alexander III.

Judicial-prison "reprisals" are only a part of the "gloomy picture of Russian life" that is so often painted. Its essential point is the "oppression of censorship", which allegedly "strangled" any "freedom of thought".

In the 19th century, in Russia, as in all other, even the "most-most" democratic states, censorship existed. In the tsarist empire, it not only protected the moral foundations, 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 has died out" in the country. Many new editions appeared, but many old ones continued to appear.

A number of liberally oriented publications (the most famous are the Russkiye Vedomosti newspaper and the Vestnik Evropy magazine), although they did not allow direct attacks on the government and its 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. Approximately 15% of them were state ("state"), and the rest belonged to various companies 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 nomenclature of produced 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 reign, less than 200 books were not allowed to circulate in Russia. (This number included, for example, the notorious "Capital" by Karl Marx.) The majority was forbidden not for political, but for spiritual and moral reasons: insulting the feelings of believers, propaganda of obscenity.

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

"Golden" century of the Romanov dynasty. Between the empire and the family Sukina Lyudmila Borisovna

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 family. 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 lose the Russian imperial crown, so she quickly put up with replacing 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 indulgences, 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 led 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, a little 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 arranged 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 royal family organized a “holiday of ruin”, 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. Level educational training in the royal family under Alexander III decreased 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 quite a few 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, which, under his father Alexander II, was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. 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

III deserved, albeit a little controversial, but mostly positive feedback. The people associated him with good deeds and called him a peacemaker. And why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker can be found in this article.

Ascension to the throne

Due to the fact that Alexander was only the second child in the family, no one considered him as a contender for the throne. He was not prepared for the reign, but only given military education base level. The death of his brother Nicholas completely changed the course of history. After this event, Alexander had to devote a lot of time to study. He re-mastered almost all subjects, from the basics of economics and the Russian language to world history and foreign policy. After the murder of his father, he became a full-fledged emperor of a great power. The reign of Alexander 3 lasted from 1881 to 1894. What kind of ruler he was, we will consider further.

Why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker

To strengthen his position on the throne at the beginning of his reign, Alexander abandoned his father's idea of ​​the constitutionality of the country. This is the answer to the question of why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker. Thanks to the choice of such a strategy of government, he managed to stop the unrest. To a greater extent due to the creation of a secret police. Under Alexander III, the state strengthened its borders quite strongly. The most powerful army and its reserve reserves appeared in the country. Thanks to this, Western influence on the country came to a minimum. This made it possible to exclude all kinds of bloodshed throughout the entire period of his reign. One of the main reasons why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker is that he often participated in the elimination of military conflicts in his country and abroad.

Board results

As a result of the reign of Alexander the 3rd, they were awarded the honorary title of peacemaker. Historians also call him the most Russian tsar. He threw all his strength to the defense of the Russian people. It was his forces that restored the prestige of the country on the world stage and raised the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander III allocated a lot of time and money to the development of industries and Agriculture in Russia. He improved the well-being of the inhabitants of his country. Thanks to his efforts and love for his country and people, Russia achieved the highest results for that period in economics and politics. In addition to the title of peacemaker, Alexander III is also given the title of reformer. According to many historians, it was he who planted the germs of communism in the minds of the people.