There is little direct information about the relationship between the father, Alexander III, and the son, Nicholas II, but they allow us to reconstruct these relationships in their essential features. Indirect circumstances are also important, which greatly complement the overall picture.
Nicholas II became the first-born in a family where only 6 children were born - 4 boys and 2 girls. But one of the boys, Alexander, died at the age of one from meningitis. Later, at the age of 28, George died of tuberculosis, who even managed to be a crown prince while Nicholas had no children.
Outwardly and in character, Nikolai turned out to be in his mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna, nee Danish Princess Dagmar - with mild manners, indecisive, secretive, but at the same time vengeful and hypocritical.
The then Minister of Finance (in those conditions, in fact, the head of government) S. Witte spoke out precisely on this subject in a confidential conversation with Nicholas' maternal grandfather, King Christian IX of Denmark, in Copenhagen in 1900, when the latter asked a dignitary close to the throne to tell about his grandson Mikhail, whom he had not yet seen: "... Emperor Nikolai is the son of his mother both in character and in nature, and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich is more the son of his father."
Open, resolute, firm in his words and deeds, Alexander could not help but see and feel this inner alienation with the heir. While there is no known evidence to indicate any hostility towards his son, there is equally no evidence of close association. True, Nikolai respected his father, saw authority in him and in this sense was afraid, he honored his memory all his life, which at least indicates that Alexander did not push his son away from him.
In a conversation with the French ambassador M. Paleolog on March 13, 1916, Nicholas II says: “... In difficult times, and I have so many of them, I always consult with my father, and he always inspires me.”
Alexander still had no other options - Nikolai had to someday replace him on the throne. But here's what is strange: Alexander, who was zealous about the interests of the state, does not show concern about the unpreparedness of the heir to the duties of the head of state, which become more complicated almost every year.
In the family, not only is it not customary to talk about politics - this topic is directly excluded. There was an unspoken agreement among family members not to discuss state issues, so as not to disturb the emperor at home.
One cannot, of course, say that Alexander did nothing at all in this direction: Nikolai received a good, although home-made, without exams, education; having become Tsarevich, on behalf of his father, he participates, usually with reluctance, in meetings of the State Council (twice a week), some committees.
Perhaps Alexander III was somewhat hampered by his personal life experience - he was also not particularly prepared for the activities of the emperor, since, being the second son of Alexander II, he should not have been on the Russian throne. But his older brother, Tsarevich Nikolai, who shared his father's liberal views, tragically died in 1865 at the age of 20 after he fell while riding a horse while on vacation in Nice, which provoked an exacerbation of tuberculosis. Alexander III became the heir.
When Alexander III died suddenly in 1894, the 26-year-old Nicholas II confessed to his confidante Sandro (Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich) that he was completely unprepared to fulfill the duties of the emperor. Here is how Sandro describes this moment in his Memoirs of the Grand Duke:
“On October 20, 1894, Nicky and I stood on the veranda of the wonderful Livadia Palace with bags of oxygen in our hands: we were present at the last minutes of Alexander III ... Being a staunch enemy of sonorous phrases and melodramatic effects, the tsar, at the approach of the last minute, only muttered a short prayer and said goodbye to empress ... (Niki) took me by the arm and led me down to his room. We hugged and cried together. He couldn't collect his thoughts. He realized that he had become emperor, and this terrible burden of power weighed heavily on him.
- Sandro, what am I going to do! he exclaimed pathetically. - What will happen to Russia now? I'm not ready to be king yet! I can't run an empire. I don't even know how to talk to ministers. Help me, Sandro!
This was known to his relatives - members of the dynasty, and senior officials.
Alexander III himself knew this. When the same S. Witte, about 2-3 years before Alexander's death, suggested that he make Nikolai the chairman of the committee for the construction ("construction") of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Alexander sharply and with considerable surprise asks the Minister of Finance: "How? Tell me, please, do you know the prince, did you discuss anything serious with him?
“No, your Majesty,” S. Witte answers, “I have never had the happiness of talking about anything with the heir.”
Then Alexander tells him: “Why, he is just a child, he has completely childish judgments. How can he be chairman of the committee?”
“Yes, your majesty,” says S. Witte, “he is a young man ... But nevertheless, if you, your majesty, do not start accustoming him to state affairs, he will never understand them.”
Alexander, apparently, heeded Witte's advice: in 1892, Nikolai headed the committee for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, his father took him with him on several trips to the Russian provinces, and then Nikolai was sent on a long, 9-month, familiarization trip to the Far East and South Asia, during which he also performed official functions.
Many participants and witnesses of the events of those years say that nothing foreshadowed the imminent death of Alexander, and that in the early 1890s he expected to rule Russia for the next 20-30 years, i.e. until 1910-1920. Apparently, he believed that during this time he would have time to prepare Nicholas for the duties of the emperor.
The authoritative modern researcher Dmitry Alexandrovich Andreev, in his article “Emperor Nicholas II in the first months of his reign: external influences and independent decisions”, writes the following on this subject:
“Of course, the level of competence and practical skills of the Tsarevich as a future autocrat left much to be desired. This was largely the result of the fact that Alexander III, right up to the last day of his life, avoided instructing his son about his future duties. And this despite the fact that the heir himself, contrary to popular belief about his alleged "fear of power", in the autumn of 1894 repeatedly turned to his father, asking him to transfer at least some functions to him. So, on September 26, Pobedonostsev wrote to the Moscow Governor-General led. book. Sergei Alexandrovich about the conversation with the Tsarevich that took place on the same day. The chief procurator urged the heir to the throne that now he "needed to speak," i.e. the sovereign "to be removed from the current affairs of administration", and "to be in St. Petersburg and deal with these matters" himself. To this the heir replied: "I am ready."
On October 14, the son of the Minister of the Court, who was in Livadia, the same age and friend of the Tsarevich, Count. Ivan Vorontsov-Dashkov made an entry in his diary about a conversation with the Englishman Charles Heath, an educator and teacher in English children of Alexander III. Heath expressed his conviction that "the sovereign should have transferred at least some of the affairs to the heir before." He spoke about this personally. book. Nikolai Alexandrovich, who "twice asked the sovereign, but the sovereign did not want to." Of course, the fact that Heath dared to turn to the Tsarevich with such advice is puzzling. However, it is possible that the Englishman, who had been with his pupils since 1877, had a trusting relationship with them, and therefore considered it possible to give such a recommendation.
At the end of October, Nicholas II complained. book. Vladimir Alexandrovich to a difficult situation due to the lack of proper preparation, as well as "removal from the affairs in which he was hitherto kept." More than a month and a half after the death of Alexander III led. book. Konstantin Konstantinovich asked Nicholas II if his father gave him any advice before his death. The Emperor replied in the negative. Moreover, the late sovereign even "never even hinted" to the heir "about the upcoming duties." Father Ioann Yanyshev asked the dying emperor before confession, "did he speak with the heir." To this, Alexander III said: "No, he knows everything himself." By the way, even before, when sending the crown prince on trips abroad, "his father never gave him instructions and left him to act as he pleased." From such freedom to the Tsarevich "it was both easier and more difficult." True, on October 20, close to the emperor, gr. S. D. Sheremetev wrote in his diary that before his death, Alexander III "spoke for a long time with the heir and saw Vorontsov."
Thus, there was no panic, no wailing like those that the vel recalled. book. Alexander Mikhailovich (both this and many other information in his extremely tendentious memoirs need additional verification). There was rather annoyance because of their unjustified remoteness from state affairs, even when the father's days were already numbered.
(Andreev D.A. Emperor Nicholas II in the first months of his reign: external influences and independent decisions // Russian history. 2011. No. 4. P. 115–116).
Answer©Fotodom.ru/REX
“Science will give the Sovereign Emperor a proper place not only in the history of Russia and all of Europe, but also in Russian historiography, 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 circulation of mankind, sharpened 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 understands what he was for her. .
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky
During the sacrament of anointing, which took place on October 12, 1866 in the Great Cathedral of the Savior Not Made by Hands (Great Church) of the Winter Palace, Danish Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar received a new name - Maria Feodorovna and a new title - Grand Duchess. “There is intelligence and character in facial expression,” wrote a contemporary of the future Russian empress. - Beautiful poems. Vyazemsky is a match for that dear Dagmar, whose name he rightly calls a sweet word. Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov echoes him: “The image of Dagmara, a 16-year-old girl, combining tenderness and energy, acted especially gracefully and sympathetically. She absolutely captivated everyone with her childish simplicity of heart and the naturalness of all her spiritual movements. Alas, the clever and beautiful woman outlived all four of her sons.
Thirteen and a half years of the reign of Alexander III were extremely calm. Russia did not wage wars. For this, the sovereign received the official title of Tsar-Peacemaker. Although under him 114 new warships were launched, including 17 battleships and 10 armored cruisers. After the rampage of terrorists under his father Alexander II and before the revolutionary turmoil that swept away his son Nicholas II, the reign of Alexander Alexandrovich seemed to be lost in the annals of history. Although it was he who became one of the initiators of the creation in May 1866 of the Imperial Russian Historical Society and its honorary chairman. The last public execution of the "People's Volunteers" and terrorists, the perpetrators of the assassination attempt on Alexander II, took place under Alexander III. There were 4 sons and 2 daughters in his family.
Alexander Alexandrovich - the Russian Grand Duke, the second child and son, did not live even a year. He died in April 1870, 10 days after the birth of Volodya Ulyanov in Simbirsk. It is unlikely that the fate of the "angel Alexander" would have been happier than that of his elder brother Nikolai Alexandrovich. Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, the third child and son, died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 in the summer of 1899. In the Memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov, when it comes to the three sons (Nicholas, George and Mikhail) of Alexander III, it is written: “George was the most gifted of all three, but he died too young to have time to develop his brilliant abilities.”
The fate of the eldest in the family of Emperor Alexander, the last Russian Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, is the most tragic. Tragic is the fate of his entire family and tragic is the fate of all of Russia.
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov recalled that the youngest son of Alexander III, Mikhail Alexandrovich, “charmed everyone with the captivating simplicity of his manners. A favorite of family, fellow soldiers, and countless friends, he had a methodical mind and would have been promoted to any position had he not entered into his morganatic marriage. This happened when the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich had already reached maturity, and put the Sovereign in a very difficult position. The emperor wished his brother complete happiness, but, as the Head of the Imperial Family, he had to follow the prescriptions of the Basic Laws. Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich married Mrs. Wulfert (the divorced wife of Captain Wulfert) in Vienna and settled in London. Thus, for many years preceding the war, Mikhail Alexandrovich was separated from his brother and, because of this, had nothing to do with management affairs. Shot in 1918
Protopresbyter Georgy Shavelsky left the following entry about the last Grand Duchess and the youngest in the Tsar's family: “Among all the members of the imperial family, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was distinguished by her extraordinary simplicity, accessibility, and democracy. In his estate of the Voronezh province. she completely undressed herself: she walked around village huts, nursed peasant children, etc. In St. Petersburg, she often walked, drove simple cabs, and she loved to talk with the latter very much. She died the same year as her older sister Xenia.
Ksenia Alexandrovna was her mother's favorite, and outwardly she looked like her "dear Mama." Prince Felix Feliksovich Yusupov later wrote about Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna: “The greatest dignity - personal charm - she inherited from her mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna. The look of her marvelous eyes penetrated into the soul, her grace, kindness and modesty conquered everyone.
Ivan KRAMSKOY. Portrait of Alexander III
Alexander III Aleksandrovich (1845-1894), Russian emperor since 1881. Second son of Alexander II. In the first half of the 1980s, in the conditions of the growth of capitalist relations, he abolished the poll tax and lowered redemption payments. Since the 2nd half of the 80s. carried out counter-reforms. Suppressed the revolutionary-democratic and workers' movement, strengthened the role of the police and administrative arbitrariness. In the reign of Alexander III, the accession to Russia was basically completed Central Asia(1885), the Russian-French alliance was concluded (1891-1893).
Nikolay SVERCHKOV. Alexander III
Nikolai DMITRIEV-ORENBURG. Portrait of Emperor Alexander III.
Nicholas Schilder. Portrait of Alexander III
Zabolotsky P.P. Alexander III
A.Sokolov_Alexander III and his wife Maria-Sophia-Frederica-Dagmar,
in Orthodoxy Maria Fedorovna(1847-1928)
Initially, she was the bride of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Alexander II, who died in 1865. After his death, affection arose between Dagmar and Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, who together looked after the dying crown prince. On June 11, 1866, crown prince Alexander decided to make an offer, about which he wrote to his father on the same day. And on October 28 (November 9), 1866, the marriage took place .Mary, cheerful and cheerful by nature, was warmly received by the court and capital society. Her marriage to Alexander, despite the fact that their relationship began under such mournful circumstances, turned out to be successful; in the course of almost thirty years of living together, the spouses retained sincere affection for each other.
Coronation.
Vladimir MAKOVSKY. Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna
Ivan KRAMSKOY. Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna
Maria Fyodorovna_Heinrich von Angeli
Konstantin Makovsky. Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna
Reception of volost elders by Alexander III in the courtyard of the Petrovsky Palace in Moscow. Painting by I. Repin.
Sermon on the Mount 1889. Alexander III with his family. Ivan Makarov.
"God's blessing upon you" The family of Alexander III before Christ. Makarov I.K.
Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna had 6 children:
Nikolai Alexandrovich(1868-1918) future emperor of Russia.
Alexander Alexandrovich(1869-1870)
Georgy Alexandrovich (1871-1899)
Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960)
Mikhail Alexandrovich (1878-1918)
Olga Alexandrovna (1882-1960)
Last family photo. Livadia, Crimea, 1893
From left to right: Tsarevich Nicholas, Grand Duke George, Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duke Mikhail, Grand Duchess Xenia and Emperor Alexander III.
Alexander Alexandrovich was the second son in the imperial family. His older brother Nikolay was preparing to inherit the throne, and he received the appropriate education.
Childhood, education and upbringing
In May 1883, Alexander III proclaimed a course called "counter-reforms" in historical-materialist literature, and "adjustment of reforms" in liberal-historical literature. He expressed himself as follows.
In 1889, to strengthen supervision over the peasants, the positions of zemstvo chiefs with broad rights were introduced. They were appointed from local landowning nobles. The clerks and small merchants, other poor sections of the city, lost their suffrage. Has undergone a change judicial reform. In the new regulation on the zemstvos of 1890, the representation of estates and nobility was strengthened. In 1882-1884. many publications were closed, the autonomy of universities was abolished. primary schools were transferred to the church department - the Synod.
In these events, the idea of “official nationality” from the time of Nicholas I was manifested - the slogan “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Spirit of Humility” was in tune with the slogans of a bygone era. The new official ideologists K. P. Pobedonostsev (chief prosecutor of the Synod), M. N. Katkov (editor of Moskovskie Vedomosti), Prince V. Meshchersky (publisher of the Grazhdanin newspaper) were omitted from the old formula "Orthodoxy, autocracy and the people" the word "people" as "dangerous"; they preached the humility of his spirit before the autocracy and the church. In practice, the new policy resulted in an attempt to strengthen the state by relying on the nobility traditionally loyal to the throne. Administrative measures were supported by the economic support of the landowners.
On October 20, 1894, in the Crimea, 49-year-old Alexander III died suddenly from acute inflammation of the kidneys. Nicholas II ascended the imperial throne.
In January 1895, at the first meeting of representatives of the nobility, the tops of the zemstvos, cities and Cossack troops with the new tsar, Nicholas II declared his readiness to “guard the beginnings of autocracy as firmly and steadily as his father guarded”. During these years, representatives of the royal family often intervened in government, which by the beginning of the 20th century had up to 60 members. Most of the Grand Dukes held important administrative and military posts. The uncles of the tsar, the brothers of Alexander III - the Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexei, Sergei and cousins Nikolai Nikolaevich, Alexander Mikhailovich, had a particularly great influence on politics.
Domestic politics
His departure was a real escape. On the day he was due to leave, four imperial trains stood ready at four different stations in St. Petersburg, and while they were waiting, the emperor left with a train that was standing on a siding.
Nothing, even the need for a coronation, could force the tsar to leave the Gatchina palace - for two years he ruled uncrowned. Fear of the "People's Will" and hesitation in choosing a political course determined this time for the emperor.
Economic poverty was accompanied by a delay in the mental and legal development of the mass of the population, education under Alexander III was again taken into blinders, from which it escaped after the abolition of serfdom. Alexander III expressed the attitude of tsarism to education in a litter on a report that literacy is very low in the Tobolsk province: “And thank God!”
In the 1980s and 1990s, Alexander III encouraged unprecedented persecution of Jews. They were evicted to the Pale of Settlement (only 20,000 Jews were evicted from Moscow), a percentage rate was set for them in secondary and then higher educational institutions (in the Pale of Settlement - 10%, outside the Pale - 5, in the capitals - 3%) .
A new period in the history of Russia, which began with the reforms of the 1860s, ended by the end of the 19th century with counter-reforms. For thirteen years, Alexander III, in the words of G. V. Plekhanov, "sowed the wind." His successor - Nicholas II - fell to the lot to reap the storm.
For thirteen years Alexander III sowed the wind. Nicholas II will have to prevent the storm broke. Will he succeed?
Professor S. S. Oldenburg in his scientific work on the history of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, touching domestic policy his father, testified that during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, among others, the following main tendency of power manifested itself: the desire to give Russia more internal unity by asserting the primacy of the Russian elements of the country.
Foreign policy
The reign of Emperor Alexander III brought serious changes in foreign policy. Proximity with Germany and Prussia, so characteristic of the periods of the reign of Catherine the Great, Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, was replaced by a noticeable cooling, especially after the resignation of Bismarck, with whom Alexander III signed a special three-year Russian-German treaty on "benevolent neutrality" in in the event of an attack by any of the third countries on Russia or Germany.
N. K. Girs became the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Experienced diplomats of the Gorchakov school remained at the head of many departments of the ministry and in the Russian embassies of the leading countries of the world. The main directions of the foreign policy of Alexander III were as follows.
- Strengthening influence in the Balkans;
- Search for reliable allies;
- Maintaining peaceful relations with all countries;
- Establishment of borders in the south of Central Asia;
- Consolidation of Russia in the new territories of the Far East.
Russian policy in the Balkans. After the Berlin Congress, Austria-Hungary significantly strengthened its influence in the Balkans. Having occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, she began to seek to extend her influence to other Balkan countries. Germany supported Austria-Hungary in its aspirations. Austria-Hungary began to try to weaken Russia's influence in the Balkans. Bulgaria became the center of the struggle between Austria-Hungary and Russia.
By this time, an uprising broke out in Eastern Rumelia (Southern Bulgaria as part of Turkey) against Turkish rule. Turkish officials were expelled from Eastern Rumelia. The accession of Eastern Rumelia to Bulgaria was announced.
The unification of Bulgaria caused an acute Balkan crisis. The war between Bulgaria and Turkey, with the involvement of Russia and other countries in it, could break out at any moment. Alexander III was angry. The unification of Bulgaria took place without the knowledge of Russia, this led to the complication of Russia's relations with Turkey and Austria-Hungary. Russia suffered the heaviest human losses in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. and was not ready for a new war. And Alexander III for the first time retreated from the traditions of solidarity with the Balkan peoples: he advocated strict observance of the articles of the Berlin Treaty. Alexander III invited Bulgaria to solve its own foreign policy problems, recalled Russian officers and generals, and did not interfere in Bulgarian-Turkish affairs. Nevertheless, the Russian ambassador to Turkey announced to the Sultan that Russia would not allow a Turkish invasion of Eastern Rumelia.
In the Balkans, Russia has turned from an opponent of Turkey into its de facto ally. Russia's positions were undermined in Bulgaria, as well as in Serbia and Romania. In 1886 diplomatic relations between Russia and Bulgaria were severed. In the city, Ferdinand I, Prince of Coburg, who had previously been an officer in the Austrian service, became the new Bulgarian prince. The new Bulgarian prince understood that he was the ruler of an Orthodox country. He tried to reckon with the deep Russophile sentiments of the broad masses of the people, and even in 1894 he elected the Russian Tsar Nicholas II as godfather to his heir, son Boris. But former officer The Austrian army was never able to overcome in relation to Russia "a feeling of insurmountable antipathy and a certain fear." Russia's relations with Bulgaria remained strained.
Looking for allies. At the same time, in the 1980s complicated relations between Russia and England. The clash of interests of the two European states takes place in the Balkans, Turkey, and Central Asia. At the same time, relations between Germany and France are becoming more complicated. Both states were on the brink of war with each other. In this situation, both Germany and France began to seek an alliance with Russia in case of war with each other. In the city, German Chancellor O. Bismarck proposed to Russia and Austria-Hungary to renew the "Union of Three Emperors" for six years. The essence of this alliance was that the three states pledged to comply with the decisions of the Berlin Congress, not to change the situation in the Balkans without the consent of each other and to remain neutral in relation to each other in case of war. It should be noted that the effectiveness of this union for Russia was insignificant. At the same time, O. Bismarck, secretly from Russia, concluded the Tripartite Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) against Russia and France, which provided for the provision of military assistance by the participating countries to each other in case of hostilities with Russia or France. The conclusion of the Triple Alliance did not remain a secret for Alexander III. The Russian Tsar began to look for other allies.
Far Eastern direction. At the end of the XIX century. on Far East Japan expanded rapidly. Japan before the 60s 19th century was a feudal country, but in - gg. a bourgeois revolution took place there, and the Japanese economy began to develop dynamically. With the help of Germany, Japan created a modern army, with the help of England and the United States, it actively built its fleet. At the same time, Japan pursued an aggressive policy in the Far East.
Private life
The main seat of the emperor (because of the threat of terrorism) was Gatchina. For a long time he lived in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, and when he came to St. Petersburg, he stayed at the Anichkov Palace. He did not like winter.
Court etiquette and ceremonial became much simpler under Alexander. He greatly reduced the staff of the Ministry of the Court, reduced the number of servants and introduced strict control over the spending of money. Expensive foreign wines have been replaced by Crimean and Caucasian ones, and the number of points is limited to four per year.
At the same time, huge sums of money were spent on the acquisition of art objects. The emperor was a passionate collector, second only to Catherine II in this respect. Gatchina Castle literally turned into a storehouse of priceless treasures. Acquisitions of Alexander - paintings, art objects, carpets and the like - no longer fit in the galleries of the Winter Palace, Anichkov and other palaces. However, in this passion, the emperor did not show either fine taste or great understanding. Among his acquisitions there were many ordinary things, but there were also many masterpieces, which later became the true national treasure of Russia.
Unlike all his predecessors on the Russian throne, Alexander adhered to strict family morality. He was an exemplary family man - a loving husband and a good father, never had mistresses or connections on the side. At the same time, he was also one of the most pious Russian sovereigns. The simple and direct soul of Alexander knew neither religious doubts, nor religious pretense, nor the temptations of mysticism. He firmly adhered to the Orthodox canons, always stood up to the end of the service, prayed earnestly and enjoyed church singing. The sovereign willingly donated to monasteries, to the construction of new churches and the restoration of ancient ones. Under him, church life noticeably revived.
Alexander's hobbies were also simple and artless. He was passionate about hunting and fishing. Often in the summer the royal family went to the Finnish skerries. Here, among the picturesque semi-wild nature, in the labyrinths of numerous islands and canals, freed from palace etiquette, the august family felt like an ordinary and happy family, devoting most of their time to long walks, fishing and boating. The Emperor's favorite hunting ground was Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Sometimes the imperial family, instead of relaxing in skerries, went to Poland to the Principality of Loviche, and there they enthusiastically indulged in hunting amusements, especially deer hunting, and most often ended their vacation with a trip to Denmark, to Bernstorf Castle - Dagmara's family castle, where they often gathered from all over Europe her crowned relatives.
During the summer holidays, the ministers could distract the emperor only in cases of emergency. True, during the rest of the year, Alexander devoted himself entirely to business. He was a very hardworking sovereign. Every morning I got up at 7 o'clock, washed my face with cold water, made myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the desk. Often the working day ended late at night.
Death
train wreck with royal family
And yet, despite a relatively healthy lifestyle, Alexander died quite young, before reaching the age of 50, quite unexpectedly for both relatives and subjects. In October, a royal train coming from the south crashed near the Borki station, 50 kilometers from Kharkov. Seven wagons were smashed to smithereens, there were many victims, but the royal family remained intact. At that moment they were eating pudding in the dining car. The roof of the wagon collapsed during the crash. Alexander with incredible efforts kept her on his shoulders until help arrived.
However, shortly after this incident, the emperor began to complain of back pain. Professor Trube, who examined Alexander, came to the conclusion that a terrible concussion during the fall marked the onset of kidney disease. The disease progressed steadily. The emperor increasingly felt unwell. His complexion became sallow, his appetite was gone, and his heart was not working well. In winter, he caught a cold, and in September, while hunting in Belovezhye, he felt completely bad. The Berlin professor Leiden, who urgently arrived on a call to Russia, found nephritis in the emperor - an acute inflammation of the kidneys. At his insistence, Alexander was sent to
Emperor of All Russia, the second son of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Alexander III was born on February 26, 1845, ascended the royal throne on March 2, 1881, died November 1, 1894)
He received his upbringing from his tutor, Adjutant General Perovsky and immediate supervisor, the famous professor of Moscow University, economist Chivilev. In addition to general and special military education, Alexander was taught political and legal sciences by invited professors from St. Petersburg and Moscow universities.
After the untimely death of his elder brother, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, on April 12, 1865, who was deeply mourned by the royal family and all the Russian people, Alexander Alexandrovich, having become the Tsarevich, began to continue both theoretical studies and to fulfill many duties in state affairs. .
marriage
1866, October 28 - Alexander married the daughter of the Danish king Christian IX and Queen Louise Sophia Frederica Dagmar, who was named Maria Feodorovna at marriage. The happy family life of the sovereign-heir fastened the bonds of good hopes between the Russian people and the royal family. God blessed the marriage: on May 6, 1868, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich was born. In addition to the heir-tsarevich, their august children: Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, born April 27, 1871; grand duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, born March 25, 1875, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, born November 22, 1878, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, born June 1, 1882
Ascension to the throne
The accession to the royal throne of Alexander III followed on March 2, 1881, after the martyrdom of his father, the Tsar-Liberator, on March 1.
The seventeenth Romanov was a man of strong will and exceptionally purposeful. He was remarkable for his amazing capacity for work, he could calmly think over every question, in his resolutions he was direct and sincere, did not tolerate deception. Being an unusually truthful person himself, he hated liars. “He never had a word at odds with his deed, and he was an outstanding person in terms of nobility and purity of heart,” the people who were in his service described Alexander III in this way. Over the years, the philosophy of his life was formed: to be for his subjects a model of moral purity, honesty, justice and diligence.
Reign of Alexander III
Under Alexander III, military service was reduced to 5 years of active service, and the life of soldiers improved significantly. He himself could not stand the military spirit, did not tolerate parades, and was even a bad rider.
The solution of economic and social issues - this is what Alexander III saw as his main task. And he devoted himself, first of all, to the cause of state development.
In order to get acquainted with different regions of Russia, the tsar often made trips to cities and villages and could see for himself the difficult life of the Russian people. In general, the emperor was distinguished by his commitment to everything Russian - in this he was not like the previous Romanovs. He was called a truly Russian tsar not only in appearance, but also in spirit, forgetting that he was rather a German by blood.
During the reign of this tsar, the words “Russia for the Russians” were first heard. A decree was issued forbidding foreigners to buy real estate in the western regions of Russia, there was a newspaper hype against the dependence of Russian industry on the Germans, the first Jewish pogroms began, and “temporary” rules for Jews were issued, severely infringing on their rights. Jews were not accepted in gymnasiums, universities and other educational institutions. And in some provinces, they were simply forbidden to live or enter the public service.
Alexander III in his youth
This tsar, incapable of cunning or fawning, had his own specific attitude towards foreigners. First of all, he did not like the Germans and did not have any kindred feelings for the German House at all. After all, his wife was not a German princess, but belonged to the royal house of Denmark, which was not on friendly terms with Germany. The mother of this first Dane on the Russian throne, the smart and intelligent wife of the King of Denmark, Christian IX, was nicknamed "the mother of all Europe", as she was able to wonderfully accommodate her 4 children: Dagmara became the Russian queen; Alexandra, the eldest daughter, married the Prince of Wales, who during the life of Queen Victoria played an active role in the state, and then became the king of Great Britain; son Frederick after the death of his father ascended the Danish throne, the youngest, George, became the Greek king; the grandchildren, on the other hand, related almost all the royal houses of Europe.
Alexander III was also distinguished by the fact that he did not like excessive luxury and was absolutely indifferent to etiquette. For almost all the years of his reign, he lived in Gatchina, 49 kilometers from St. Petersburg, in the beloved palace of his great-grandfather, to whose personality he especially gravitated, keeping his office intact. And the front halls of the palace were empty. And although there were 900 rooms in the Gatchina Palace, the emperor's family was not accommodated in luxurious apartments, but in the former premises for guests and servants.
The king with his wife, sons and two daughters lived in narrow small rooms with low ceilings, the windows of which overlooked a wonderful park. Big beautiful park - what could be better for children! Outdoor games, visits of numerous peers - relatives of a large Romanov family. Empress Maria, however, still preferred the city and every winter begged the emperor to move to the capital. Agreeing sometimes to the requests of his wife, the king, however, refused to live in the Winter Palace, finding it unfriendly and too luxurious. The imperial couple made the Anichkov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt their residence.
Noisy court life and secular bustle quickly annoyed the tsar, and the family moved to Gatchina again with the first days of spring. The enemies of the emperor tried to claim that the tsar, frightened by the massacre of his father, locked himself in Gatchina, as in a fortress, becoming, in fact, its prisoner.
Petersburg, the emperor really did not like and was afraid. The shadow of his murdered father haunted him all his life, and he led a reclusive life, rarely visited the capital and only on especially important occasions, preferring a lifestyle in the family circle, away from the "light". And secular life at the court really somehow died out. Only the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, the tsar's brother, the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, gave receptions and arranged balls in her luxurious St. Petersburg palace. They were willingly visited by members of the government, the highest dignitaries of the court and the diplomatic corps. Thanks to this, Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife were considered, as it were, representatives of the tsar in St. Petersburg, and the life of the court was actually concentrated around them.
And the emperor himself with his wife and children stayed at a distance, fearing assassination attempts. The ministers had to come to Gatchina for the report, and foreign ambassadors sometimes could not see the emperor for months. Yes, and the arrivals of guests - crowned persons during the reign of Alexander III were extremely rare.
Gatchina, in fact, was reliable: for several miles around, soldiers were on duty day and night, and they stood at all the entrances and exits of the palace and park. Even at the door of the emperor's bedroom there were sentries.
Personal life
In marriage with the daughter of the Danish king, Alexander III was happy. He did not just "rest" with his family, but, in his words, "enjoyed family life." The emperor was a good family man, and his main motto was constancy. Unlike his father, he adhered to strict morality, he was not tempted by the pretty faces of court ladies. With his Minnie, as he affectionately called his wife, he was inseparable. The Empress accompanied him at balls and trips to the theater or to concerts, on trips to holy places, at military parades, while visiting various institutions.
Over the years, he increasingly reckoned with her opinion, but Maria Fedorovna did not use this, did not interfere in state affairs and did not attempt to somehow influence her husband or contradict him in some way. She was an obedient wife and treated her husband with great respect. And she couldn't help it.
The emperor held his family in unconditional obedience. The teacher of his eldest sons, Madame Allengren, Alexander, while still a crown prince, gave the following instruction: “Neither I nor the Grand Duchess want to make greenhouse flowers out of them. “They should pray well to God, study the sciences, play the usual children's games, be naughty in moderation. Teach well, do not give concessions, ask with all severity, and most importantly, do not encourage laziness. If anything, then address directly to me, and I know what to do. I repeat that I do not need porcelain. I need normal Russian children. Fight - please. But the prover has the first whip. This is my very first requirement.”
Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna
Alexander, having become king, demanded obedience from all the great princes and princesses, although among them there were persons much older than him. In this respect he was in fact the head of all the Romanovs. He was not only revered, but also feared. The seventeenth Romanov on the Russian throne developed a special "family status" for the Russian royal House. According to this status, from now on only direct descendants of Russian tsars in the male line, as well as brothers and sisters of the tsar, were entitled to the title of Grand Duke with the addition of Imperial Highness. The great-grandchildren of the reigning emperor and their eldest sons had the right only to the title of prince with the addition of highness.
Every morning the emperor got up at 7 o'clock in the morning, washed himself with cold water, dressed in simple comfortable clothes, made himself a cup of coffee, ate a few pieces of black bread and a couple of hard-boiled eggs. After a modest breakfast, he sat down at his desk. The whole family gathered for the second breakfast.
One of the king's favorite recreational activities was hunting and fishing. Getting up before dawn and taking a gun, he went for the whole day to the swamps or to the forest. For hours he could stand in high knee-high boots in the water and fish with a bait in the Gatchina pond. Sometimes this occupation relegated even state affairs to the background. Alexander's famous aphorism: "Europe can wait until the Russian Tsar is fishing" went around the newspapers of many countries. Sometimes the emperor gathered a small society in his Gatchina house to perform chamber music. He himself played the bassoon, and played with feeling and quite well. From time to time, amateur performances were staged, artists were invited.
Assassination attempts on the emperor
With his not so frequent trips, the emperor forbade the escort of his crew, considering this measure to be absolutely unnecessary. But along the whole road the soldiers stood in an unbreakable chain - to the surprise of foreigners. Departures by rail - to St. Petersburg or to the Crimea - were also furnished with all sorts of precautions. Long before the passage of Alexander III, soldiers with rifles loaded with live ammunition were placed along the entire route. Railroad switches were tightly clogged. Passenger trains were diverted to sidings in advance.
No one knew in which train the sovereign would travel. There was no one "royal" train at all, but there were several trains of "extreme importance." All of them were disguised as royal ones, and no one could know which train the emperor and his family were on. It was a secret. The soldiers standing in the chain saluted each such train.
But all this could not prevent the wreck of the train, which followed from Yalta to St. Petersburg. It was staged by terrorists at the Borki station, not far from Kharkov, in 1888: the train derailed and almost all the cars crashed. The emperor and his family were having lunch in the dining car at that time. The roof collapsed, but the king, thanks to his gigantic strength, with an incredible effort was able to hold her on his shoulders and held until his wife and children got out of the train. The emperor himself received several injuries, which, apparently, led to a fatal kidney disease for him. But, getting out from under the rubble, he, without losing his composure, ordered immediately to help the wounded and those who were still under the rubble.
And what about the royal family?
The Empress received only bruises and bruises, but the eldest daughter, Xenia, injured her spine and remained hunchbacked - perhaps that is why she was married to a relative. Other family members received only minor injuries.
In official reports, this event was referred to as a train derailment for an unknown reason. Despite all the efforts, the police and gendarmes did not manage to solve this crime. As for the salvation of the emperor and his family, they talked about it as a miracle.
A year before the train crash, an assassination attempt on Alexander III was already being prepared, fortunately, it did not take place. On Nevsky Prospekt, the street along which the tsar had to travel to attend the memorial service at the Peter and Paul Cathedral on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of his father's death, young people were arrested holding bombs made in the form of ordinary books. reported to the emperor. He ordered to deal with the participants in the assassination without too much publicity. Among those arrested and then executed was Alexander Ulyanov, the elder brother of the future leader of the October Bolshevik Revolution, Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin, who even then set himself the goal of fighting against the autocracy, but not through terror, like his older brother.
Alexander III himself, the father of the last Russian emperor, during all 13 years of his reign mercilessly crushed the opponents of autocracy. Hundreds of his political enemies were sent into exile. Ruthless censorship controlled the press. The powerful police reduced the zeal of the terrorists and kept the revolutionaries under surveillance.
Domestic and foreign policy
The situation in the state was sad and difficult. Already the first manifesto on accession to the throne, and in particular the manifesto of April 29, 1881, expressed the exact program of both foreign and domestic policy: maintaining order and power, observing the strictest justice and economy, returning to the original Russian principles and ensuring Russian interests everywhere .
In external affairs, this calm firmness of the emperor immediately gave rise to convincing confidence in Europe that, with a complete unwillingness to make any conquests, Russian interests would be inexorably protected. This largely secured European peace. The firmness expressed by the government with regard to Central Asia and Bulgaria, as well as the visits of the sovereign with the emperors of Germany and Austria, served only to strengthen the conviction that had been created in Europe that the direction of Russian policy was completely determined.
He entered into an alliance with France in order to obtain loans that were necessary for the construction of railways in Russia, begun by his grandfather, Nicholas I. Not liking the Germans, the emperor began to support German industrialists in order to attract their capital to develop the economy of the state, in every possible way promote the expansion of trade relations. And in his reign, much has changed in Russia for the better.
Not wanting war or any acquisitions, Emperor Alexander III had to increase his possessions during clashes in the east. Russian Empire, and, moreover, without military action, since the victory of General A.V. Komarov over the Afghans at the Kushka River was an accidental, completely unforeseen clash.
But this brilliant victory had a tremendous impact on the peaceful annexation of the Turkmens, and then on the expansion of Russia's possessions in the south to the borders of Afghanistan, when in 1887 the boundary line between the Murghab River and the Amu Darya River was established on the side of Afghanistan, which has since become an Asian border with Russia. state.
In this vast area that has recently entered the borders of Russia, they laid railway, which connected the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea with the center of Russian Central Asian possessions - Samarkand and the Amu Darya River.
In internal affairs, many new laws were issued.
Alexander III with children and wife
The development of the great cause of the economic organization of the multimillion-strong peasantry in Russia, as well as the increase in the number of peasants who lack land allotment as a result of an increasing population, caused the establishment of a government Peasant Land Bank with its branches. The bank was assigned important mission- to assist in the issuance of loans for the purchase of land both to entire peasant societies and to peasant associations and individual peasants. With the same purpose, to assist the noble landowners who were in difficult economic conditions, in 1885 the government Noble Bank was opened.
Substantial reforms have taken place in public education.
In the military department, military gymnasiums were transformed into cadet corps.
Another great desire overwhelmed Alexander: to strengthen the religious education of the people. After all, what were the majority of the Orthodox masses like? In their souls, many were still pagans, and if they worshiped Christ, they did it, rather, out of habit, and as a rule, because it was so customary in Rus' from time immemorial. And what a disappointment it was for a believing commoner to find out that Jesus was, it turns out, a Jew ... By decree of the king, who himself was distinguished by deep religiosity, three-year parochial schools began to open at churches, where parishioners studied not only the Law of God, but also studied literacy. And this was extremely important for Russia, where only 2.5% of the population were literate.
The Holy Governing Synod was instructed to assist the Ministry of Public Education in the field of public schools by opening parish schools at churches.
The general university charter of 1863 was replaced by a new charter on August 1, 1884, which completely changed the position of the universities: the direct leadership of the universities and the direct command of the widely placed inspection were entrusted to the trustee of the educational district, the rectors were elected by the minister and approved by the highest authority, the appointment of professors was provided to the minister, the candidate's degree and the title of a real student are destroyed, which is why the final examinations in universities are destroyed and replaced by examinations in government commissions.
At the same time, we began to revise the regulation on gymnasiums, and it is the highest command to take care of the expansion of vocational education.
The area of the court was also not ignored. The procedure for the administration of a trial with jurors was replenished with new rules in 1889, and in the same year the judicial reform extended to the Baltic provinces, in relation to which a firm decision was made to implement in the matter of local government the general principles of government that are available in the whole of Russia, with the introduction of office work Russian language.
Emperor's death
It seemed that the king-peacemaker, this hero, would reign for a long time. A month before the death of the king, no one imagined that his body was already “wearing out”. Alexander III died unexpectedly for everyone, not having lived one year to 50 years old. The cause of his premature death was kidney disease, which worsened due to the dampness of the premises in Gatchina. The sovereign did not like to be treated and in general almost never spoke about his illness.
1894, summer - hunting in the swamps further weakened his health: headaches, insomnia and weakness in the legs appeared. He had to turn to doctors. He was advised to rest, preferably in the warm climate of the Crimea. But the emperor was not the kind of person who could disrupt his plans just because he was not feeling well. After all, at the beginning of the year, a trip was planned in September with the family to Poland to spend a couple of weeks in a hunting lodge in Spala.
The state of the sovereign remained unimportant. The leading specialist in kidney diseases, Professor Leiden, was urgently summoned from Vienna. After carefully examining the patient, he diagnosed nephritis. At his insistence, the family immediately left for the Crimea, to the summer Livadia Palace. Dry warm Crimean air had a beneficial effect on the king. His appetite improved, his legs got stronger so that he could go ashore, enjoy the surf, take sunbaths. Surrounded by the cares of the best Russian and foreign doctors, as well as his relatives, the tsar began to feel much better. However, the improvement proved to be temporary. The change for the worse came abruptly, the forces began to fade rapidly ...
On the morning of the first day of November, the emperor insisted on being allowed to get out of bed and sit in an armchair by the window. He said to his wife: “I think my hour has come. Don't worry about me. I'm completely calm." A little later, they called the children and the bride of the eldest son. The king did not want to be put to bed. With a smile, he looked at his wife, kneeling in front of his chair, his lips whispered: “I have not died yet, but I have already seen an angel ...” Immediately after noon, the king-hero died, bowing his head on the shoulder of his beloved wife.
It was the most peaceful death in the last century of the Romanovs. Pavel was brutally murdered, his son Alexander passed away, leaving behind a still unsolved mystery, another son, Nikolai, having despaired and disappointed, most likely ceased his earthly existence of his own free will, but Alexander II - the father of the peacefully deceased giant - became a victim of terrorists who called themselves opponents of autocracy and executors of the people's will.
Alexander III died after reigning only 13 years. He fell asleep forever on a wonderful autumn day, sitting in a huge "Voltaire" chair.
Two days before his death, Alexander III told his eldest son, the future heir to the throne: “You have to take the heavy burden of state power from my shoulders and carry it to the grave just as I carried it and as our ancestors carried it ... Autocracy created a historical individuality Russia The autocracy will collapse, God forbid, then Russia will collapse with it. The fall of the original Russian power will open an endless era of unrest and bloody civil strife ... Be firm and courageous, never show weakness.
Yes! The seventeenth Romanov turned out to be a great visionary. His prophecy came true in a little less than a quarter of a century ...
