Alexander III (; 10 March 18451 November 1894)10 March [O.S. 26 February] 1845 – 1 November [O.S. 20 October] 1894 was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894.13 March [O.S. 1 March] 18811 November [O.S. 20 October] 1894. He was highly reactionary in domestic affairs and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II, a policy of "counter-reforms" ().

During his reign, Russia fought no major wars, and he came to be known as The Peacemaker ( ), a laudatory title enduring into 21st-century historiography. His major foreign policy achievement was the Franco-Russian Alliance, a major shift in international relations that eventually embroiled Russia in World War I. His political legacy represented a direct challenge to the European cultural order set forth by German statesman Otto von Bismarck, intermingling Russian influences with the shifting balances of power.

Early life

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was born on 10 March 1845 at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the second son and third child of Tsesarevich Alexander (the future Alexander II) and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna (née Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine). He was born during the reign of his grandfather Nicholas I.

Though he was destined to be a strongly counter-reforming emperor, Alexander had little prospect of succeeding to the throne during the first two decades of his life, as he had an elder brother, Nicholas, who seemed of robust constitution. Even when Nicholas first displayed symptoms of delicate health, the notion that he might die young was never taken seriously, and he was betrothed to Princess Dagmar of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Louise of Denmark, whose siblings included King Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and King George I of Greece. Great solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as tsesarevich, whereas Alexander received only the training of an ordinary Grand Duke of that period. This included acquaintance with French, English and German, and military drill.

As Tsesarevich Alexander became tsesarevich upon Nicholas's sudden death in 1865. He had been very close to his older brother, and he was devastated. When he became tsar, he reflected that "no one had such an impact on my life as my dear brother and friend Nixa [Nicholas]"Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 407 and lamented that "a terrible responsibility fell on my shoulders" when Nicholas died.

As tsesarevich, Alexander began to study the principles of law and administration under Konstantin Pobedonostsev, then a professor of civil law at Moscow State University and later (from 1880) chief procurator of the Most Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Russia. Pobedonostsev instilled into the young man's mind the belief that zeal for Russian Orthodox thought was an essential factor of Russian patriotism to be cultivated by every right-minded emperor. While he was heir apparent from 1865 to 1881 Alexander did not play a prominent part in public affairs, but allowed it to become known that he had ideas which did not coincide with the principles of the existing government.

On his deathbed, Nicholas allegedly expressed the wish that his fiancée, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, should marry Alexander. Alexander's parents encouraged the match. On 2 June 1866, Alexander went to Copenhagen to visit Dagmar. When they were looking at photographs of the deceased Nicholas, Alexander proposed to Dagmar.Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 409 On in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Alexander wed Dagmar, who converted to Orthodox Christianity and took the name Maria Feodorovna. The union proved a happy one to the end; unlike many of his predecessors since Peter I, there was no adultery in his marriage.

Alexander and his father became estranged due to their different political views. In 1870, Alexander II supported Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, which angered the younger Alexander. Influenced by his Danish wife, Dagmar, Alexander criticized the "shortsighted government" for helping the "Prussian pigs".Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 415

Alexander resented his father for having a long-standing relationship with Princess Catherine Dolgorukova (with whom he had several illegitimate children) while his mother, the Empress, was suffering from chronic ill-health.Van der Kiste, John The Romanovs: 1818–1959 (Sutton Publishing, 2003) p. 94 Two days after Empress Marie died, his father told him, "I shall live as I wish, and my union with Princess Dolgorukova is definite" but assured him that "your rights will be safeguarded."Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 441 Alexander was furious over his father's decision to marry Catherine a month after his mother's death, which he believed "forever ruined all the dear good memories of family life."Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 442 His father threatened to disinherit him if he left court out of protest against the marriage.Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 445 He privately denounced Catherine as "the outsider" and complained that she was "designing and immature".John Van der Kiste, The Romanovs 1818–1959, p. 86 After his father's assassination, he reflected that his father's marriage to Catherine had caused the tragedy: "All the scum burst out and swallowed all that was holy. The guardian angel flew away and everything turned to ashes, finally culminating in the dreadful incomprehensible 1 March."Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Romanovs, p. 451

Reign

On 13 March 1881 (N.S.) Alexander's father, Alexander II, was assassinated by members of the organization Narodnaya Volya. As a result, Alexander ascended to the Russian imperial throne in the village of Nennal. He and Maria Feodorovna were officially crowned and anointed at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow on 27 May 1883. Alexander's ascension to the throne was followed by an outbreak of anti-Jewish riots."Die Judenverfolgung in Rußland in der Krönungswoche" (in German), Das interessante Blatt, 7 June 1883."Rioting and Politics in Russia", The New York Times, 1 June 1883.

Alexander III disliked the extravagance of the rest of his family. It was also expensive for the Crown to pay so many grand dukes each year. Each one received an annual salary of 250,000 rubles, and grand duchesses received a dowry of a million rubles when they married. He limited the title of grand duke and duchess to only children and male-line grandchildren of emperors. The rest would bear a princely title and the style of Serene Highness. He also forbade morganatic marriages, as well as those outside of the Orthodox Church.Sebag Montefiore, p. 668

Domestic policies

On the day of his assassination, Alexander II signed an ukaz setting up consultative commissions to advise the monarch. On ascending to the throne, however, Alexander III took Pobedonostsev's advice and cancelled the policy before its publication. He made it clear that his autocracy would not be limited.

All of Alexander III's internal reforms aimed to reverse the liberalization from his father's reign. The new Emperor believed that the principles of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality, introduced by his grandfather Nicholas I, would quell revolutionary agitation and save Russia.

Alexander weakened the power of the zemstvo (elective local administrative bodies) and placed the administration of peasant communes under the supervision of land-owning proprietors appointed by his government, "land captains" (zemskiye nachalniki). This weakened the nobility and peasantry and strengthened the Emperor's personal control. In such policies Alexander III followed the advice of Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who retained control of the Church in Russia through his long tenure as Procurator of the Holy Synod (from 1880 to 1905) and who became tutor to Alexander's son and heir, Nicholas. (Pobedonostsev appears as "Toporov" in Tolstoy's novel Resurrection.) Other conservative advisors included Count Dmitry Tolstoy (as minister of education, and later of internal affairs) and Ivan Durnovo (Tolstoy's successor in the latter post). Journalists such as Mikhail Katkov supported the emperor's autocracy policies.

The government was overwhelmed in dealing with the Russian famine of 1891–92 and the ensuing cholera epidemic, which caused 375,000 to 500,000 deaths, and some liberal activity was tolerated, and the zemstvos were recruited to help with relief. Among others, Leo Tolstoy helped with relief efforts on his estate and through the British press, and Chekhov directed anti-cholera precautions in several villages.

Alexander had the political goal of Russification, which involved homogenizing the language and religion of Russia's people. He implemented changes such as teaching only the Russian language in Russian schools in Germany, Poland, and Finland. He also patronized Eastern Orthodoxy and dissolved German, Polish, and Swedish cultural and religious institutions.

Alexander was hostile to Jews, and his reign witnessed a sharp deterioration in their economic, social, and political condition. His policy was eagerly implemented by tsarist officials in the May Laws of 1882. These laws encouraged open anti-Jewish sentiment and dozens of pogroms across the western part of the empire. As a result, many Jews emigrated to Western Europe and the United States.I. Michael Aronson, "The Attitudes of Russian Officials in the 1880s toward Jewish Assimilation and Emigration." Slavic Review 34.1 (1975): 1–18. online The laws banned Jews from inhabiting rural areas and shtetls (even within the Pale of Settlement) and restricted the occupations in which they could engage.I. Michael Aronson, "The Prospects for the Emancipation of Russian Jewry during the 1880s." Slavonic and East European Review (1977): 348–369. online

Encouraged by its successful assassination of Alexander II, the Narodnaya Volya movement began planning the murder of Alexander III. The Okhrana uncovered the plot and five of the conspirators, including Aleksandr Ulyanov, the older brother of Vladimir Lenin, were captured and hanged in May 1887.

Foreign policy

The general negative consensus about the tsar's foreign policy follows the conclusions of the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury in 1885: It is very difficult to come to any satisfactory conclusion as to the real objects of Russian policy. I am more inclined to believe there are none; that the Emperor is really his own Minister, and so bad a Minister that no consequent or coherent policy is pursued; but that each influential person, military or civil, snatches from him as opportunity offers the decisions which such person at the moment wants and that the mutual effect of these decisions on each other is determined almost exclusively by chance.Margaret Maxwell, "A Re-examination of the Role of N. K. Giers as Russian Foreign Minister under Alexander III" pp. 352–353.