What happened under Alexander III. Sovereign Emperor Alexander III

The family of Alexander III can be called exemplary. Mutual love and respect between husband and wife, parents and children. Family comfort, which was doubly important for the autocrat of a huge empire, reigned in the Gatchina Palace, where they lived. And it was among the members of his family that the emperor found rest and tranquility from his hard work. The family idyll of Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna lasted 28 years and was cut short by the premature death of the emperor.

Below - Mikhail, from right to left - Alexander III, Ksenia, Olga, Maria Fedorovna, Georgy, Nikolai.

In general, Maria Fedorovna (or Dagmara - that was her name before accepting Orthodoxy) was the bride of her elder brother Alexander, heir to the throne Nicholas. They were already engaged, but suddenly Nikolai Alexandrovich became seriously ill and went to Nice for treatment. Both his bride and his most beloved brother Alexander went there. They met at the bedside of their dying brother. Tradition says that before his death, Nicholas himself took the hands of his bride and his brother and joined them together, as if blessing them for marriage. After the death of his brother, Alexander realized that he had fallen in love. He wrote to his father: “ I'm sure we can be so happy together. I earnestly pray to God to bless me and ensure my happiness.” Soon the Danish king, Dagmara's father, agreed to the marriage, and in October 1866 they got married.

It was a happy marriage. Maria Feodorovna loved her husband, and he reciprocated her feelings and was even afraid of his little empress. They felt absolutely happy on vacation when Alexander III caught fish that Maria Fedorovna herself cleaned and fried, or when they sailed on the family yacht with the whole family, or when they vacationed in their beloved Livadia in Crimea. There, the almighty emperor devoted himself completely to his wife and children: he spent time with them, played, had fun, walked, and rested.

The father raised the children in this family in strictness, but never used force on them: his father’s menacing gaze, which all the courtiers feared, was probably enough. But at the same time, Alexander III loved to amuse his children and their friends: he bent pokers in their presence, tore decks of cards in half, and once doused the most mischievous of his sons, Misha, with a garden hose. He also demanded a strict attitude from his children’s teachers, saying: “Teach well, don’t make concessions... If they fight, please. But the informer gets the first whip.”.

Death of Alexander III

On October 17, 1888, the entire royal family almost died. The imperial train, which was traveling at excessive speed from Crimea to St. Petersburg, derailed near Kharkov. The family was sitting in the dining car. At one moment the side walls collapsed, the lackeys in the doors died immediately. The roof, which almost fell with all its weight on the emperor, empress and children, was held by Alexander III. He stood at his full height until the family got out of the carriage.

Although no one was injured, from that moment the tragic decline of Emperor Alexander III began: his health was undermined. He became pale, lost a lot of weight, and complained of pain in the lower back and heart. The doctors couldn’t find anything, so they prescribed me to work harder, which only made the situation worse. In 1894, the emperor's condition became very bad. He went to Germany for treatment, but on the way he became ill, so the king was taken to Livadia. A German doctor was called there, who diagnosed him with nephritis of the kidneys with damage to the heart and lungs. But it was too late for treatment. Alexander III could neither walk, nor eat, nor sleep. On October 20, 1894, he died at the age of 49.

Children of Alexander III

In general, the children and wife of Alexander III had a difficult fate. The first son Nicholas, the heir to the throne and the future Nicholas II, as everyone knows, abdicated the throne and was shot along with his wife, five children and servants in Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks. The second son, Alexander, died a year after birth. The third son, George repeated the fate of his uncle, the deceased brother of Alexander III Nicholas. After the death of his father, he was the heir of Nicholas II (before the birth of his son), but died in 1899 at the age of 28 from severe tuberculosis. The fourth son, Mikhail, was a favorite in the Romanov family, in March 1917 he almost became the new emperor, and in June 1918 he was shot by the Bolsheviks in Perm (his grave has not been found).

The daughters of Alexander III were much more fortunate: the eldest Ksenia was unhappy in her marriage, but was able to leave Russia in 1919, which saved her by moving to live in England. The same fate awaited the youngest daughter Olga, who emigrated with her mother to Denmark in 1919, and then to Canada, fleeing persecution by the Soviet government, which declared her an “enemy of the people.”

Maria Feodorovna

A difficult fate awaited Maria Fedorovna after the death of her husband. Living in Gatchina, and then in Kyiv, she tried not to interfere in the personal affairs of her children and in government problems. True, she tried to influence the decisions of Nicholas II a couple of times, but she failed. The relationship with his daughter-in-law, the emperor’s wife Alexandra Feodorovna, was difficult. After the revolution, Maria Feodorovna moved to Crimea with her daughters, from where she was able to escape to her native Denmark in 1919. There she would die in 1928, never believing in the death of her sons, shot in Russia. She had to outlive her husband, all her sons and even her grandchildren.

Maria Feodorovna on the deck of the battleship Marlborough in 1919

The 28 years of marriage between Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were truly happy. And no one, probably, could have suspected that these were the last happy years in the Romanov family, that the mighty emperor was holding back a huge force that his son could not cope with later, which would sweep away himself, and all his relatives, and the great empire.

He was on the throne for thirteen and a half years and died at the age of 49, having earned the title “Tsar Peacemaker” during his lifetime, since during his reign not a drop of Russian blood was shed on the battlefields...

Soon after his death, historian V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “Science will give Emperor Alexander III his rightful place not only in the history of Russia and all of Europe, but also in Russian historiography, it will say that He won a victory in the area where it was 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 good in the moral circulation of humanity, encouraged and raised Russian historical thought, Russian national consciousness, and did all this so quietly and silently that only now, when He was no longer there, did Europe understand 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 on the part of Westerners of all stripes.

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

In almost two hundred years, this was the first ruler who not only did not seek the “love of Europe,” but was not even interested in what they said and wrote about him. However, it was Alexander III who became the ruler under whom, without firing a single weapon, Russia began to gain the moral authority of a great world power. The impressive 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 Rus'.” He did not dream of a crown, but when death took his father away, he showed amazing self-control and humility, accepting what was given only by the will of the Almighty.

With great emotional trepidation, with tears in his eyes, he read his father’s will, the words and instructions of the murdered man. “I am confident that my son, Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich, will understand the importance and difficulty of his high calling and will continue to be worthy in all respects of the title of an honest man... May God help him to justify my hopes and complete what I failed to do to improve the prosperity of our dear Fatherland. I implore him not to get carried away by fashionable theories, take care of its constant development, based on the love of God and the law. He must not forget that the power of Russia is based on the unity of the State, and therefore everything that can bend to upheavals of the entire unity and to the separate development of various nationalities, is detrimental for it and should not be allowed. I thank him, for the last time, from the depths of my 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 received a heavy inheritance. He understood perfectly well that improvements in various areas of life and government were necessary, they were 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 late 70s, the social situation in the country became so tense that some concluded that a collapse would soon come. Others tried to move away from St. Petersburg: some to the estate, and some abroad.

The bleakness of the social situation was felt everywhere. Finances were in disarray, economic development slowed, and agriculture stagnated. Zemstvos did a poor job of local improvement, constantly asking 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 gatherings were organized where attacks on the government were made. And most importantly: murders and attempts on the lives of officials constantly occurred, and the authorities could not cope with the terror. The monarch himself became the object of these villainous intentions and fell at the hands of terrorists!

Alexander III had an extremely difficult time. There were plenty of advisers: every relative and dignitary dreamed that the king would “invite him to a conversation.” But the young Emperor knew that these recommendations were often too biased, too disinterested to be trusted without caution. The late father sometimes brought people close to him who were unprincipled, devoid of will and firm monarchical convictions.

Things must be done differently, he had no doubt about that. The first thing to do is not to create 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 Nikolaevich, the future Tsar definitely stated that he “does not see the need to impose on Russia all the inconveniences of constitutionalism, which impede good legislation and governance.” Such a statement was immediately interpreted by the liberal public as a manifestation of “reactionary beliefs.”

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

Long before his death, Alexander II realized that giving broad public freedoms, as some of his most Europeanized compatriots called on him to do, was unacceptable. In the empire of the double-headed eagle, historical conditions had not yet developed for the establishment of social orders that existed in England or France. He spoke about this more than once 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 constitution if I were convinced that it was useful for Russia. But I know that if I do this today, and tomorrow Russia will fall into pieces.” . And until his death he did not change his conviction, although later completely unsubstantiated allegations circulated that Alexander II allegedly intended to introduce constitutional rule...

Alexander III fully shared this conviction and was ready to change and improve many things, 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 poet’s daughter Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva, the wife of the famous Slavophile I.S. Aksakov, who published the popular newspaper Rus in Moscow, the Tsar said: “I have read all your husband’s articles recently. Tell him that I "I am pleased with them. In my grief, it was a great relief to hear an honest word. He is an honest and truthful person, and most importantly, he is a real Russian, of which, unfortunately, there are few, and even these few have been eliminated recently, but this will not happen again." .

Soon the word of the new Monarch sounded throughout the 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 vigorously in the work of government, trusting in Divine Providence, with faith in the power and truth of Autocratic power, which We are called upon to affirm 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 heart and contribute to “the eradication of the vile sedition that disgraces the Russian land, to the establishment of faith and morality, to the good upbringing of children, to the extermination of untruth and theft, to the establishment of order and truth in the functioning of the institutions given to Russia by its benefactor , beloved Parent."

The manifesto came as a surprise to many. It became clear that the days of liberal smiles were over. The fall of the political projectors?losers was only a matter of time.

Alexander III considered this outcome logical. I wrote to my brother Sergei on June 11, 1881: “Having appointed new people almost everywhere, we set about hard work together 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 with their behavior forced me to fire them from their positions. They wanted to take me into their clutches and enslave me, but they failed... I cannot hide that even now we are still far from being in a normal state and there will still be many disappointments and worries, but we have to be ready to go straight and boldly towards the goal, without deviating to the side, and most importantly, do not despair and hope in God!”

Although no persecution, arrests, or expulsions of unwanted dignitaries occurred (almost all of them were removed with honor and received appointments to the State Council), it seemed to some that an “earthquake had begun” at the pinnacle of power. The bureaucratic ear has always subtly captured 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 not to be trifled with, that the young Emperor was a tough man, even harsh, and his will must be obeyed unquestioningly. Immediately everything started to turn around, discussions died down, and the state machine suddenly began to work with renewed vigor, although in the last years of the reign of Alexander II it seemed to many that it no longer had any strength.

Alexander III did not create any emergency bodies (in general, during his reign, few new units appeared in the public 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 only recently passionately defended freedom-loving principles, suddenly became almost numb and no longer dared to popularize “Liberte”, “Egalite”, “Fraternite” not only at open meetings, but even among “their own”, behind the tightly closed doors of the capital’s living rooms. Gradually, the dignitaries who were reputed to be liberal were replaced by others who were ready to serve the Tsar and the Fatherland unquestioningly, without looking at European crib sheets and without fear of being branded “reactionaries.”

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

The Emperor had no doubt that an irreconcilable struggle must be waged against the enemies of Russia. But not only by police methods, but also by mercy. We must distinguish between true, irreconcilable opponents and lost souls who, through thoughtlessness, allowed themselves to be drawn into anti-government actions. The Emperor himself always monitored the progress of inquiries into political matters. Ultimately, all judicial decisions were left to his discretion, many asked for royal mercy, and he had to know the details. Sometimes he decided not to bring the case to trial.

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

Alexander III always had sympathy for those people who professed traditional values. Conformism, compromise, and apostasy evoked nothing in his soul except disgust. His political principle was simple and consistent with the Russian managerial tradition. Problems 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 specialists, 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, based on tradition and only after discussion in the State Council. This became the rule of state life.

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

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 “work enthusiasm” of the bureaucrats, and red tape became significantly less.

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

The reign of Alexander III was distinguished by a simply amazing phenomenon: bribery and corruption, which had previously been a sad Russian reality, almost completely disappeared. Russian history of this period did not reveal a single high-profile case of this kind, and numerous professional “whistleblowers of tsarism” never discovered a single fact of corruption, although they persistently searched for them for many decades...

During the reign of Alexander III in Russia, strict administrative regulation of social life was maintained. Enemies of state power were persecuted, arrested, and expelled. Such facts existed both before and after Alexander III, however, in order to justify the immutable thesis about a certain “course of reaction,” it was the period of his reign that is often characterized as a particularly gloomy and hopeless period of history. Nothing like this was actually 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 (over almost fourteen years). If we take into account that the population of Russia then exceeded 120 million people, then these data convincingly refute the stereotyped thesis about the “regime of terror” that allegedly established itself in Russia during the reign of Alexander III.

Judicial and prison “massacres” are only part of that “gloomy picture of Russian life” that is so often painted. Its essential point is the “yoke of censorship,” which supposedly “stifled” all “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 moral principles, religious traditions and beliefs, but also performed the function of protecting state interests.

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

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

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

During the reign of Alexander III, the number of printing houses grew steadily; The range of book products produced also increased every year. In 1894, the list of published book titles reached almost 11,000 thousand (in 1890 - 8,638). Many thousands of books were imported from abroad. During the entire reign, less than 200 books were not allowed into circulation in Russia. (This number included, for example, the notorious “Capital” by Karl Marx.) Most were prohibited 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 - big, strong, Christ-loving, so understandable, fair, so “one of their own.”
Alexander Bokhanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

III has earned a slightly controversial, but mostly positive review. The people associated him with good deeds and called him a peacemaker. Why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker can be found out 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 to rule, but was only given a basic level of military education. 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 the 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 was Alexander 3 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 management strategy, he managed to stop the unrest. Largely due to the creation of the secret police. Under Alexander III, the state quite strongly strengthened its borders. The country now has a powerful army and its reserves. 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 rule. One of the most important reasons why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker is that he often participated in the elimination of military conflicts in his country and abroad.

Results of the board

Following the results of the reign of Alexander III, he was awarded the honorary title of peacemaker. Historians also call him the most Russian Tsar. He threw all his strength into protecting the Russian people. It was through his efforts that the country’s prestige on the world stage was restored and the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church was elevated. Alexander III devoted a lot of time and money to the development of industries and agriculture in Russia. He improved the welfare of the people of his country. Thanks to his efforts and love for his country and people, Russia achieved the highest results in economics and politics for that period. 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.

The tsar's domestic policy was autocratic in nature; it was a time of departure from the ideas of liberalizing Russian society and strengthening the control of the central government over all spheres of state life. In the war against revolutionary terrorism, waged by his father, Alexander III won.

He was born on February 26, 1845 and was the second son of Emperor Alexander II. Initially, no one prepared him to inherit the throne; he received the traditional military engineering education for grand dukes. However, Alexander's elder brother, heir to the throne Nicholas, fell ill and soon died. Despite the efforts of his father and outstanding teachers, the gaps in Alexander III’s education could not be filled.

In the summer of 1866, Alexander III went on a trip to Europe and met his late brother’s fiancee, Princess Dagmara. And already on June 17, 1866, their engagement took place in Copenhagen. A few months later, the princess arrived in Kronstadt and, having converted to Orthodoxy, became Maria Feodorovna. The couple had a warm relationship all their lives.

In March 1881, Alexander II was killed by Narodnaya Volya terrorists. The new emperor, Alexander III, had to decide what policy he would pursue: continue the development of his father's reforms or give preference to the autocratic policies of his grandfather. As a result, Alexander III issued a manifesto “On the Inviolability of Autocracy” and launched a whole series of counter-reforms that were aimed at partially curtailing the liberal initiatives of his father-reformer.

Alexander III made a significant contribution to the restructuring of the system of state and public relations: he eliminated the autonomy of universities and carried out reforms in the field of urban management. Under him, closed legal proceedings for political trials were restored, and he sought to strengthen the role of the local nobility in the life of society.

Alexander III went down in history as the Peacemaker Tsar, since during his reign Russia did not participate in any serious military-political conflict of that time. At the same time, the sovereign did not compromise the interests of Russia, and it was under him that Russia firmly established itself in Central Asia, coming as close as possible to the colonial possessions of Great Britain. The revolutionary wave also faded under him.

The personality of Alexander III is associated with the idea of ​​a real Russian tsar-father, a hero with iron health. On October 17, 1888, not far from the Borki station, 50 km from Kharkov, a train accident occurred, in which the royal family could have died. Saving the lives of his loved ones, Emperor Alexander held the collapsed roof of the carriage for about half an hour until help arrived. However, it is believed that as a result of this excessive stress, kidney disease began to progress. Rapidly developing, already on October 20, 1894, it led Alexander III to death.

Alexander III Alexandrovich (02/26/1845 - 10/20/1894) All-Russian Emperor (03/2/1881 - 10/20/1894)

Alexander III did not receive the education that was considered necessary for the heir to the throne. The teacher of Alexander III was the theorist of autocracy, chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev, who for the first time after the accession to the throne of his pupil was the most influential person in the government. Having ascended the throne, he made it his task to complete the reforms of Alexander II.

The emperor had enormous capacity for work and extraordinary physical strength. Unlike his father, Alexander III was not a brave man. Fearing assassination attempts, he retired to Gatchina, to the palace of his great-grandfather Paul I, designed like an ancient castle, surrounded by moats and protected by watchtowers.

In the conditions of developing capitalism, Alexander III, expressing the interests of the most conservative circles of the nobility, preserved the landlord way of life. However, in the field of economic policy, the emperor was forced to reckon with the growth of capitalist elements in the country.
In the first months of his reign, Alexander III pursued a policy of maneuvering between liberalism and reaction, which determined the struggle of factions within the government camp (M. T. Loris-Melikov, A. A. Abaza, D. A. Milyutin - on the one hand, K. P. Pobedonostsev - on the other). On April 29, 1881, Alexander III issued a manifesto on the establishment of autocracy, which meant a transition to a reactionary course in domestic politics. However, in the first half of the 1880s, under the influence of economic development and the current political situation, the government of Alexander III was forced to carry out a number of reforms. In 1882, a peasant bank was established, with the help of which peasants could acquire land property. This decision was made by Speransky, but did not receive the support of Alexander I.

This decision was a natural step before the abolition of taxes and permission to buy back (redemption was allowed earlier) the land. In 1890, a new position was introduced - the zemstvo chief, who concentrated administrative and judicial power in their hands. This was a step back to autocracy, but it was necessary, since today’s Russia was not ready (and perhaps will never be ready for democracy). The year 1884 was marked by the introduction of a new university charter - military gymnasiums were transformed into cadet corps. With the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Count N.I. Ignatiev (1882) and the appointment of Count D.A. Tolstoy to this post, a period of open reaction began. During the reign of Alexander III, administrative arbitrariness increased significantly. Administrative arbitrariness was strengthened by a series of decrees in 1890. Basically, these decrees appointed new positions that limited the democratic beginning of the previous decrees - in particular, a new position of zemstvo chief was introduced, who had judicial and administrative power, which could not have a positive effect on Russian democracy.

In order to develop new lands, under Alexander III, the resettlement of peasant families to Siberia proceeded at a rapid pace. In total, during the reign of Alexander III, up to 400 thousand peasants were resettled to Siberia, and 60 thousand to Central Asia. The government to some extent cared about improving the living conditions of workers - rules were introduced on hiring for rural and factory work, the supervision of which was entrusted to factory workers inspectors (1882), the work of minors and women was limited.

In foreign policy, these years saw a deterioration in Russian-German relations and a gradual rapprochement between Russia and France, which ended with the conclusion of the Franco-Russian alliance (1891-1893).

Coronation of Alexander III

Alexander Alexandrovich, the second son of Emperor Alexander II and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, ascended the throne on March 1, 1881. Alexander III was crowned on March 15, 1881 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

The trial of the First Marchers

The regicide carried out by Narodnaya Volya on March 1, 1881 caused confusion and panic in Russian society. Mass raids and searches carried out by the police led to the arrest of the organizers of the assassination attempt on Alexander II. A trial was held over the emperor's murderers, and they were sentenced to death. On April 3, 1881, in St. Petersburg, five Narodnaya Volya members - noblewoman Sofya Perovskaya, son of a priest Nikolai Kibalchich, tradesman Nikolai Rysakov, peasants Andrei Zhelyabov and Timofey Mikhailov were publicly executed.

Annexation of Central Asia to Russia

By the time of Russia's widespread offensive, Central Asia had a diverse population. Of the feudal states of Central Asia, three stood out - the Kokand and Khiva khanates and the Bukhara Emirate. In 1864, Russian troops entered the Kokand Khanate. The cities of Turkestan and Chimkent were occupied. In June 1865, the largest commercial, handicraft and industrial city in Central Asia, Tashkent, with a population of 100 thousand people, was taken. In January 1868, a trade agreement beneficial for Russia was concluded with the Kokand Khan and Khudoyar Khan recognized himself as a vassal of the Russian Emperor. In May 1868, Samarkand was taken by Russian troops, the Emir of Bukhara stopped the fight and concluded an agreement with the tsarist government, according to which the emirate was placed in vassal dependence on Russia, and Russian merchants were given the right to free and preferential trade. In May 1873, the capital of the Khanate, Khiva, surrounded by Russian troops approaching from several directions, capitulated. The Khan of Khiva also recognized himself as a vassal of Russia. The annexation of Central Asia to Russia was completed in 1885.

Famine in the Volga region

In 1891, there was a crop failure in the Volga region due to drought. The eastern regions of the black earth zone - 20 provinces with a 40 million peasant population - suffered from a catastrophic famine. Famine was followed in 1892 by a cholera epidemic. A wide wave of government and public assistance to the hungry took place throughout Russia: funds were collected in cities to help the starving, canteens were organized in villages and grain was distributed, doctors worked for free in areas affected by the epidemic.

Tsar's train wreck

In October 1888, during one of his trips around the country, the imperial train derailed. The roof of the carriage in which the family of Alexander III was located began to collapse. The emperor, who possessed extraordinary physical strength, took the falling roof onto his shoulders and held it until his wife and children emerged alive and unharmed from the rubble. But due to kidney disease acquired as a result of this crash and excessive drinking, the Emperor died in 1894. He was buried in Pavlovsk Cathedral.

Counter-reforms. The era of Alexander III.

The abolition of serfdom in 1861 opened up a whole series of transformations in various spheres of life of Russian society: local self-government was introduced - zemstvo (1864) and city (1870); judicial reform (1864), democratization of education (1863-1864), press reform (1865), etc. were carried out. All these changes, accompanied by the social upsurge of the 60-70s, were in strong contradiction with tradition “state pressure” and the omnipotence of the bureaucracy. On the one hand, the opportunity to freely defend one’s interests through a system of representative institutions was unconventional for Russian society. It is accustomed to giving primacy to state interests to the detriment of private, human interests. On the other hand, conservative officials perceived any innovation as an attack on the very idea of ​​Russian statehood. It took both society and the state a lot of time to realize such radical changes, get used to them, and in some cases come to terms with them.

The reign of Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894) became a kind of historical pause - a time of comprehension of the great transformations of the previous reign and a time of reaction, which replaced the reformist onslaught of the previous 20 years. In historical science, this time was called the era of counter-reforms.

The Emperor's New Policy

The new government course was apparently different from the reform activities of Alexander II and his immediate circle - liberal-minded ministers. The latter were replaced by D. A. Tolstoy, K. P. Pobedonostsev, S. G. Stroganov, V. P. Meshchersky, who became the closest adviser to Alexander III. These were people with a different mindset, different views on the path of development of Russia and the role of the state. Such a replacement of key figures in the government meant a decisive departure from the previous course of government.

The previous, reformist period passed under the sign of modernization of the social system of Russia. Attempts were made to at least partially bring it into line with the requirements of the time, with Western European experience in providing civil liberties. The new era preferred to check time using its own historical clock. It was during this period that, thanks to the works of Pobedonostsev (1827-1907), one of the most influential figures of the new reign, the Russian state ideology, defending the inviolability of autocracy, acquired its most complete and perfect features.

The main reason for the sharp change in government policy in the early 80s. XIX century was not only the unique personality of Alexander III and his associates. The decisive role was played by the tense internal political situation caused by the terrorist activities of the People's Will, and, above all, by the assassination of Alexander II. The death of the emperor made a stunning impression on the country: Alexander II became not only a king-liberator, but also a king-martyr. The tragedy that took place on the Catherine Canal was connected by public consciousness with all the previous “liberal” activities of the sovereign, which “released dark forces,” which ultimately led to a terrible denouement. Memories of the regicide predetermined the attitude towards the revolutionary and liberal forces of the country not only on the part of those in power, but also on the part of most of the enlightened society, tuned to the need to “establish order.”

The future emperor was not inclined to continue the course begun by his father upon his accession to the throne, although on the second day after the death of his father, having gathered the highest ranks and retinue, Alexander said: “I accept the crown with determination. I will try to follow my father and finish the work he started. If the Almighty judged me the same fate as him, then I hope you will be as faithful to my son as to my father.” In dispatches sent on March 4 to Russian ambassadors at foreign courts, it was said that “the Emperor will devote himself, first of all, to the cause of internal state development, closely related to the success of citizenship and economic and social issues that are now the subject of special concerns of all governments.” In society, the new sovereign was perceived as a person of liberal views, not alien to constitutional ideas. This supported hopes for the continuation and development of those endeavors to which Alexander II returned in the last year of his reign. However, these hopes were not destined to come true.

The reign of his son was completely different from the reign of his father, whom Alexander III did not resemble in any way even outwardly. The late sovereign was handsome, possessed refined manners, natural kindness and gentleness in personal relationships. The new emperor, according to the memoirs of a major political figure S. Yu. Witte, “looked like a big Russian peasant from the central provinces; a suit would have suited him best: a sheepskin coat, a jacket and bast shoes... he was not handsome, in his manners he was rather more or less bearish; He was very tall, and for all his build, he was not particularly strong and muscular, but rather was somewhat thick and fat.”

Alexander Alexandrovich did not count on the Russian crown either in childhood or in his early youth. The legitimate heir to the throne, his older brother Nikolai Alexandrovich, died at the age of 22 from tuberculosis. Alexander Alexandrovich was declared crown prince at the age of 20, i.e. being already a fully formed person. Having grown up among officers, the Grand Duke did not receive the education that a future emperor should have. The peculiarities of the young man’s upbringing also left much to be desired. At one time, his father had excellent mentors, including the famous Russian poet V.A. Zhukovsky, who strove to ensure that his pupil would grow into a comprehensively educated, humane sovereign who cared about the well-being of the people. Pobedonostsev, Alexander Alexandrovich’s spiritual mentor, was at least suspicious of education in the spirit of the Enlightenment. And the student himself was not distinguished by any special talents. “Emperor Alexander III,” wrote Witte, “was of a completely ordinary mind, perhaps one could say below average intelligence, below average abilities, below average education...”. True, the emperor had “an enormous character, a wonderful heart,” but this is clearly not enough for a statesman. A kind family man and conservative, Alexander ΙΙΙ considered patriarchy the best way of life and thought for all citizens of his country. He himself tried to become a strict but fair father for his subjects and expected the same from officials, landowners, and the church. The shortcomings, however, were compensated for in a peculiar way by stubbornness, as well as by the strength and firmness of his character. These qualities made themselves felt in the very first months of his reign.

After brief hesitation and maneuvering between two opposing political groups - “liberal” and “protective” (they were headed respectively by M. T. Loris-Melikov and K. P. Pobedonostsev) - Alexander III leaned towards the latter. Already in March, the constitutional draft of the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov, which envisaged the introduction of an all-Russian representative body, was “buried”. (Alexander II agreed to consider the project a few hours before his tragic death.) The tsar’s manifesto, compiled by Pobedonostsev, published on April 29, 1881, declared the determination to “become vigorously to the cause of government, with faith in the power and truth of autocratic power,” which The emperor is called upon to “affirm and protect for the good of the people from any encroachments on it.” The basic principles of foreign and domestic policy were formulated: to maintain order and strong power, to observe justice and economy, to return to primordially Russian principles and to ensure primordially Russian interests everywhere. The constitutional dreams were over. It's getting cold in Russia.

Alexander II began his reign with the destruction of military settlements, allowing the free issuance of foreign passports, weakening censorship, amnesty for political prisoners, etc. The first measures of the government of Alexander III confirmed the determination of the authorities to firmly pursue the “protective” course proclaimed in the manifesto: August 14 In 1881, the “Regulations on measures to protect state security and public peace” were adopted. Now in any province it was allowed to introduce a state of emergency “to restore calm and eradicate sedition.” Any resident could be arrested, exiled without trial for five years, or brought before a military court. Governors received the right to close press organs, trade and industrial enterprises, and educational institutions; suspend the activities of zemstvos and city dumas. Published as “temporary” for a period of three years, this “Regulation” was constantly renewed and was in force until 1917.

The measures taken by the government of Alexander III, called counter-reforms, consisted of revising many of the achievements of the previous course in such important spheres of life of Russian society as zemstvo, city government, courts, education and the press.

Zemstvo

In 1864, the creation of zemstvo institutions began. This meant the revival of the ancient zemstvo with its idea of ​​popular representation and self-government bodies independent from the central government. The role of the latter was negated at the end of the 17th century.

According to the new “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions” of 1890, the zemstvo was transformed. The nobility received the opportunity to elect the majority of elected zemstvo officials - vowels (about 57%). The property qualification (the minimum level of income that gives the right to a representative of a particular class to participate in the activities of zemstvo institutions) was lowered for the nobles and increased for the urban population. The peasants generally lost the right to elect councilors, since they were now appointed by the governor from among the peasant electors - persons authorized by peasant societies to participate in elections.

The newly elected zemstvo councilors were approved by the governor, which placed zemstvo institutions under strict state control. In fact, this crossed out the main idea of ​​​​the zemstvo - independence from state authorities and the tsar in resolving issues of local self-government. The meaning of the zemstvo counter-reform was to nullify the possibility of participation in the work of zemstvo bodies by “random” (undesirable for the regime) people, to increase the representation of nobles - the support of the throne, and ultimately to make zemstvos loyal to the autocratic government. All these measures reflected the opposition of the tsar and the nobility to the democratic Russian zemstvo (“land”, “people”) - a confrontation that goes back to the very depths of Russian history.

City government

The urban counter-reform pursued exactly the same goals as the zemstvo one: to weaken the electoral principle, narrow the range of issues resolved by city governments, and expand the scope of government powers. According to the new city regulations of 1892, the property qualification that gave the right to participate in elections was increased. As a result, the number of voters in Moscow, for example, decreased threefold. The provision that city councils and councils act independently was removed from the legislation. The interference of the tsarist administration in their affairs was consolidated. The government received the right not to approve the officially elected mayor - the chairman of the city duma. The number of meetings of the latter was limited. Thus, city government was essentially turned into a type of public service.

The Russian judicial system - the most successful brainchild of the reformers removed from power - did not undergo any significant changes at this time. The judicial statutes of 1864 continued to operate successfully. However, in legal proceedings in political cases, openness was limited: publication of reports on political trials was prohibited. All cases of violent actions against officials were removed from jury trials.

Significant changes have occurred in the lower judiciary. The magistrates' courts, which, in addition to hearing minor cases, resolved controversial issues between peasants and landowners, were largely liquidated. They survived only in three large cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa. Justices of the peace were replaced by zemstvo district chiefs, whose positions were provided exclusively to nobles with a high property qualification. Unlike the magistrate's court, which was entrusted with achieving agreement between peasants and landowners, zemstvo leaders resolved all controversial issues individually, with an eye on the local state administration.

Education

Since students were considered the main source of freethinking, a breeding ground for republican ideas and all kinds of unrest, Russian universities became one of the first victims of the protective policy. The new university charter of 1884 abolished their autonomy. The university court was liquidated, and any student associations were prohibited. Teachers elected by academic councils were necessarily confirmed in office by the Minister of Education. The entire university life was now led by a government official - the trustee of the educational district: he appointed deans (one of the highest elected positions of the university), had the right to convene the academic council, attend its meetings, and oversee teaching. The state did not forget to remind students about the “obligation to fulfill military duty”: benefits for conscription into the army for those with a higher education were limited, and the minimum period of military service was increased.

The inspirer and main organizer of counter-reforms in the field of education, Count I. D. Delyanov (1818-1897), Minister of Public Education since 1882, also authored the notorious circular “about cooks’ children.” This document recommended limiting the admission to gymnasiums and pre-gymnasiums of “children of coachmen, footmen, cooks, laundresses, small shopkeepers and similar people, whose children, with the exception of those gifted with extraordinary abilities, should not be taken out of the environment to which they belong.” The enrollment of persons of Jewish nationality in secondary and higher educational institutions was reduced. The circular, however, did not have any real consequences, remaining in the history of Russian education as an example of the exceptional limitations of government officials.

Seal

The first experience of freedom of speech was interrupted after the approval in August 1882 of the new “Temporary Rules on the Press” (which became permanent). The administration received the right to close any newspapers and magazines and deprive publishers and editors of the right to continue their professional activities. The editors were obliged to disclose the pseudonyms of their authors at the request of the authorities. Censorship has increased.

In accordance with the new legislation, in 1884 the magazine Otechestvennye zapiski, hated by the government, whose editor was M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, ceased to exist. But the newspaper of M. N. Katkov (1818-1887) “Moskovskie Vedomosti” flourished. Precisely in the 80s. This marks the final period of the activity of this famous Russian publicist, who at one time was known as a liberal and did a lot to expand the range of issues allowed for discussion in the press. But from the mid-60s, and especially after the establishment of a new government course under Alexander III, Katkov contributed greatly to strengthening the protective spirit and intolerance of those in power in the country. Possessing great journalistic talent and a reputation as a liberal, he managed to instill doubt in the minds of his readers about the need to continue the reforms, which he declared in general as “unsuccessful”: “A few more months, perhaps weeks of the previous regime,” he wrote on the occasion of the manifesto on April 29 1881 - and the collapse would have been inevitable."

Counter-reforms in the socio-economic sphere

The reactionary nature of the government of Alexander III was also evident in the socio-economic sphere. An attempt to protect the interests of bankrupt landowners led to a tougher policy towards the peasantry, as a result of which, in order to prevent the emergence of a rural bourgeoisie, family divisions of peasants were limited and obstacles were raised to the alienation of peasant plots. However, in the context of a deteriorating international situation, the government could not help but encourage the development of capitalist relations, primarily in the field of industrial production, although it did not do this very consistently. Priority was given to enterprises and industries of strategic importance. A policy was pursued of their encouragement and state protection, which actually turned them into monopolists. As a result of these actions, threatening imbalances grew, which could lead to economic and social upheaval.