Alexander III, Emperor (1845-1894)

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ALEXANDER III (1845, St. Petersburg — 1894), Emperor (since 1881). Second son of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. From 1865, he was heir to the throne and Tsarevitch. He married the Dutch princess, Dagmar (see Maria Fedorovna). General of the Infantry (1874). He served in the Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment; later he commanded the 1st Guard Infantry Division, then, from 1874, the Guard Corps, and, from 1880, the Guard Forces and Petersburg Military District. As the heir, he lived in the Anichkov Palace. After ascending the throne, he moved to Gatchina and visited St. Petersburg only to participate in official ceremonies. His reign is characterised as an epoch of "counter-reforms", in particular, the New University Rules (1884) and City Regulations (1892). It was during Alexander III's reign that the country's economy started to recover, and St. Petersburg became one of the largest capitalist cities. The most important statesmen during Alexander III's reign were K.P. Pobedonostsev, Count D.A. Tolstoy, P.S. Vannovsky, Count I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov, and S.Y. Witte, among others. He died in the Crimea and was buried in the SS. Peter&Paul Cathedral. His owned the Anichkov Palace, Gatchina City, and Ropsha grange. In 1909, a monument to Alexander III was erected at Znamenskaya Square (sculptor P.P. Trubetskoy). In 1937, it was dismounted and moved to the courtyard of the State Russian Museum; in 1996, it was installed in the yard of the Marble Palace.

References: Чернуха В. Г. Александр III // ВИ. 1992. № 11/12. С. 46-64; Твардовская В. А. Александр III // Романовы: Ист. портреты. М., 1997. Кн. 2. С. 491-582; Александр III: Воспоминания. Дневники. Письма. СПб., 2001; Барковец О., Крылов-Толстикович А. Н. Неизвестный император Александр III: Очерки о жизни, любви и смерти. М., 2002; Великий князь Александр Александрович: Сб. док. М., 2002.

Y. A. Kuzmin. Alexander II, Emperor
Alexander III, Emperor
Maria Alexandrovna, Empress
Pobedonostsev Konstantin Petrovich
Tolstoy Dmitry Andreevich, Count
Trubetskoy Pavel (Paolo) Petrovich, Duke
Vannovsky Peter Semenovich
Vorontsov-Dashkov Illarion Ivanovich
Witte Sergey Yulievich, Count
Vosstaniya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Адександр III: Воспоминания. Дневники. Письма. СПб., 2001
Барковец О., Крылов-Толстикович А.Н. Неизвестный император Александр III: Очерки о жизни, любви и смерти. М., 2002
Великий князь Александр Александрович: Сб. док. М., 2002
Чернуха В. Г. Александр III // Вопр. истории, 1992
Твардовская В. А. Александр III // Романовы: Ист. портреты. М., 1997 Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment
Anichkov Palace
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral
1881
1894
1909
1937
1994