Alexander 3 was the 2nd son in the family. Family of Emperor Alexander III
He was on the throne for thirteen and a half years and died 49 years old, having earned the title of "Tsar-Peacemaker" during his lifetime, since during his reign not a drop of Russian blood was shed on the battlefields...
Soon after his death, the historian V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “Science will give Emperor Alexander III a proper place not only in the history of Russia and all of Europe, but also in Russian historiography, will say that He won in the area where it is most difficult to achieve victory, defeated the prejudice of peoples and thereby contributed to their rapprochement, subjugated the public conscience in the name of peace and truth, increased the amount of goodness in the moral circulation of mankind, encouraged and uplifted Russian historical thought, Russian national consciousness, and did all this so quietly and silently that only now, when He no longer exists, Europe understood what He was for her."
The venerable professor was wrong in his predictions. For more than a hundred years, the figure of the penultimate Russian Tsar has been the target of the most impartial assessments; his personality is the object of unbridled attacks and tendentious criticism.
fake image Alexander III recreated to this day. Why? The reason is simple: the Emperor did not admire the West, did not worship liberal-egalitarian ideas, believing that the literal imposition of foreign orders would not be good for Russia. Hence - the irreconcilable hatred of this Tsar from the Westerners of all stripes.
However, Alexander III was not a narrow-minded Western-hater, from the threshold rejecting everything that did not have a generic stigma: "made in Russia." For him, Russian was primary and especially significant, not because it was the best in the world, but because it was native, close, and his own. Under Emperor Alexander III, the words "Russia for the Russians" were heard throughout the country for the first time. And although he was well aware of the malfunctions and absurdities in Russian life, he never doubted for a minute that they should be overcome only relying on his own sense of understanding of duty and responsibility, not paying attention to what some "Princess Marya Aleksevna" would say about this. ".
For almost two hundred years, this was the first ruler who not only did not covet the "love of Europe", but was not even interested in what they say and write about him there. However, it was Alexander III who became the ruler under whom, without a single gun shot, Russia began to gain the moral authority of a great world power. The imposing bridge over the Seine in the very center of Paris, bearing the name of the Russian Tsar, has forever remained a vivid confirmation of this...
Alexander Alexandrovich ascended the throne at the age of 36 on March 1, 1881. On that day, his father was mortally wounded by a terrorist bomb, who soon died, and Alexander Alexandrovich became the "Autocrat of All Russia." He did not dream of a crown, but when death took away his father, he showed amazing self-control and humility, accepting what was given only by the will of the Almighty.
With great spiritual trepidation, with tears in his eyes, he read his father's testament, the words and instructions of the murdered. “I am sure that my son, Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich, will understand the importance and difficulty of his high calling and will continue to be worthy of the title of an honest man in every respect ... May God help him to justify my hopes and complete what I failed to do to improve the well-being of our dear Fatherland. I conjure him not to get carried away by fashionable theories, take care of his constant development, based on love for God and on the law. He must not forget that the power of Russia is based on the unity of the State, and therefore everything that can tend to the upheavals of the entire unity and to the separate development of various nationalities, is fatal for her and should not be allowed. last time, from the depths of his tenderly loving heart, for his friendship, for the zeal with which he performed his official duties and helped me in State affairs.
Tsar Alexander III inherited a heavy legacy. He was well aware that improvements in various areas of life and government controlled necessary, they are long overdue, no one argued with that. He also knew that the "bold transformations" that were carried out in the 60-70s by Alexander II often gave rise to even more acute problems.
Already from the end of the 70s, the social situation in the country became so tense that some concluded that collapse would soon come. Others tried to move away from Petersburg: some to the estate, and some abroad.
The bleakness of the social situation was felt everywhere. Finances were upset economic development slowed down, in agriculture there was a stagnation. The zemstvos did not cope well with the affairs of local improvement, they always asked for money from the treasury, and some zemstvo meetings turned into centers of public discussion political issues which had nothing to do with them.
Almost anarchy reigned in the universities: anti-government publications were almost openly distributed, student meetings were held, where attacks on the government were heard. And most importantly: murders and attempts on officials were constantly taking place, and the authorities could not cope with terror. The monarch himself became the object of these villainous intentions and fell at the hands of terrorists!
Alexander III had an extremely difficult time. There were plenty of advisers: every relative and dignitary dreamed that the tsar "invited to the conversation." But the young Emperor knew that these recommendations were often too biased, too self-serving, to be trusted without looking back. The late father sometimes brought unscrupulous people closer to him, devoid of will and firm monarchical convictions.
Things had to be done differently, he was sure of that. First of all, it is not necessary to draw up new laws, but to ensure that existing ones are respected. This conviction matured in him in the spring days of 1881. Even earlier, in January, speaking at a meeting with the main patron of the "constitutionalists" Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the future Tsar clearly stated that "he does not see the need to impose on Russia all the inconveniences of constitutionalism that impede good legislation and governance." Such a statement was immediately interpreted by the liberal public as a manifestation of "reactionary convictions."
Alexander III never sought popularity, did not curry favor with entrepreneurs and regulars in St. Petersburg salons, either before he became Tsar or after. A few years after accession, talking with close associates, Alexander III said that he would consider "the constitution to be very calm for himself, but very dangerous for Russia." As a matter of fact, he repeated the thought expressed more than once by his father.
Long before his death, Alexander II realized that to give broad public freedoms, to which some of the most Europeanized compatriots urged him, was an unacceptable thing. In the empire of the double-headed eagle, the historical conditions for establishing the social order that existed in England or France had not yet taken shape. More than once he spoke about this both in a narrow circle and outside the royal palaces. In September 1865, receiving in Ilyinsky, near Moscow, the Zvenigorod district marshal of the nobility P. D. Golokhvastov, Alexander II outlined his political credo:
"I give you my word that now, on this table, I am ready to sign any constitution, if I were convinced that it is useful for Russia. But I know that if I do it today, tomorrow Russia will fall to pieces" . And until his death, he did not change his conviction, although then completely unsubstantiated allegations circulated that allegedly Alexander II intended to introduce constitutional government ...
Alexander III fully shared this conviction and was ready to change and improve a lot, without breaking or rejecting what seemed reliable and historically justified. The main political value of Russia was the autocracy - sovereign rule, independent of written norms and public 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 Slavophil I.S. Aksakov, who published the popular newspaper "Rus" in Moscow, the Tsar said: "I read all the articles of your husband for recent times. Tell him I'm happy with them. In my grief, I was greatly relieved to hear the word of honor. 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 lately, but this will not happen again.
Soon the word of the new Monarch sounded to the whole world. On April 29, 1881, the Supreme Manifesto appeared, thundering like the thunder of an alarm bell.
"In the midst of Our great sorrow, the voice of God commands Us to stand up cheerfully for the cause of government, in the hope of Divine Providence, with faith in the strength and truth of the Autocratic power, which We are called to establish and protect for the good of the people from all encroachments."
Further, the new Tsar called on all the faithful sons of the Fatherland to take courage and contribute to "the eradication of vile sedition that dishonors the Russian land, to the establishment of faith and morality, to the good upbringing of children, to the extermination of untruth and theft, to establish order and truth in the operation of institutions granted to Russia by her benefactor beloved Parent."
The manifesto was unexpected for many. It became clear that the days of liberal smiles were over. The fall of political projectors? losers was only a matter of time.
Alexander III considered this outcome to be logical. On June 11, 1881, he wrote to his brother Sergey: “Having appointed new people almost everywhere, we have unanimously set to hard work and, thank God, we are moving forward with difficulty and little by little, and things are going much more successfully than under the previous ministers, who, by their behavior, forced me to fire They wanted to take me into their clutches and enslave me, but they did not succeed... ready to go straight and boldly towards the goal, not deviating to the side, and most importantly - not to despair and hope in God!
Although there were no persecutions, arrests, expulsions of objectionable dignitaries (almost all of them retired with honor, received appointments to the State Council), it seemed to some that an earthquake had begun at the top of power. The bureaucratic ear has always subtly caught the impulses and moods in the highest corridors of power, which determined the behavior and official zeal of officials.
As soon as Alexander III was on the Throne, it quickly became clear that the new government was no joke, that the young Emperor was a tough man, even harsh, and his will must be obeyed implicitly. Immediately everything began to spin, discussions subsided, and the state machine suddenly started working with renewed vigor, although in the last years of the reign of Alexander II it seemed to many that it no longer had the strength.
Alexander III did not create any emergency bodies (in general, during his reign there were few new divisions in the state administration system), he did not carry out any “special purge” of the bureaucracy, but the atmosphere in the country and in the corridors of power changed.
Salon talkers, who had only recently passionately defended freedom-loving principles, suddenly became almost speechless and no longer dared to popularize "Liberte", "Egalite", "Fraternite" not only at open meetings, but even among "their own", for close behind closed doors metropolitan living rooms. Gradually, dignitaries who were known as liberals were replaced by others who were ready to serve the Tsar and the Fatherland unquestioningly, without looking into European cribs and not afraid to be branded as "reactionaries".
Alexander III boldly and decisively began to fight against the enemies of the state order. There were arrests of direct perpetrators of regicide and some other persons who did not personally participate in the March 1 atrocity, but were preparing other terrorist acts. In total, about fifty people were arrested, and five regicides were hanged by the court's verdict.
The Emperor had no doubt that Russia's enemies had to be fought uncompromisingly. But not only by police methods, but also by mercy. It is necessary to distinguish where the true, irreconcilable opponents are, and where the lost souls, who, through thoughtlessness, allowed themselves to be drawn into anti-government actions. The emperor himself always followed the course of the inquiry on political matters. Ultimately everything judgments were left at his discretion, many asked for royal favor, and he should have known the details. Sometimes he decided not to bring the case to court.
When in 1884 a circle of revolutionaries was opened in Kronstadt, the tsar, having learned from the testimony of the accused that midshipman of the naval crew Grigory Skvortsov sheds tears, repents and gives frank testimony, ordered: the midshipman be released and not prosecuted.
Alexander III always had sympathy for those people who professed traditional values. Conformism, conciliation, apostasy caused nothing in his soul but disgust. His political principle was simple and consistent with the Russian administrative tradition. Malfunctions in the state must be corrected, proposals must be listened to, but for this it is absolutely not necessary to convene some kind of people's assembly.
It is necessary to invite experts, experts on a particular issue, to listen, discuss, weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision. Everything should be done according to the law, and if it turns out that the law is outdated, then it must be revised, relying on tradition and only after discussion in the State Council. It became the rule of state life.
The tsar repeatedly told his associates and ministers that "officialdom is a force in the state, if it is kept in strict discipline." Indeed, under Alexander III, the administrative apparatus of the empire worked in a strict regime: the decisions of the authorities were strictly implemented, and the tsar personally monitored this. Inefficiency, neglect of official duties, he could not stand.
The emperor introduced an innovation unprecedented in Russia: he demanded that he be presented with a statement of all outstanding orders and decisions, indicating the persons responsible for them. This news greatly increased the "labor enthusiasm" of the bureaucracy, and red tape became much less.
He was especially implacable towards those who used their official position for personal gain. There was no mercy for such people.
The reign of Alexander III was distinguished by a simply amazing phenomenon: bribery and corruption, which used to be a sad Russian reality, almost completely disappeared. Russian history of this period did not reveal a single high-profile case of this kind, and numerous professional "exposers of tsarism" did not find a single corruption fact, although they were persistently searched for for many decades ...
In the era of the reign of Alexander III in Russia, strict administrative regulation was maintained. social life. Enemies of state power were persecuted, arrested, and deported. Such facts existed both before and after Alexander III, however, in order to justify the immutable thesis about a certain "course of reaction", it is precisely the period of his reign that is often characterized as a particularly gloomy and hopeless period of history. Nothing of the sort has actually been observed.
In total, 17 people were executed for political crimes (there was no death penalty for criminal acts in Russia) during the "reaction period". All of them either participated in the regicide, or prepared for it, and not one of them repented. In total, less than 4 thousand people were interrogated and detained for anti-state acts (almost fourteen years). Considering that the population of Russia at that time exceeded 120 million people, these data convincingly refute the stereotyped thesis about the "terror regime" that was allegedly established in Russia during the reign of Alexander III.
Judicial-prison "reprisals" are only a part of the "gloomy picture of Russian life" that is so often painted. Its essential point is the "oppression of censorship", which allegedly "strangled" any "freedom of thought".
In the 19th century, in Russia, as in all other, even the "most-most" democratic states, censorship existed. AT 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 editions appeared, but many old ones continued to appear.
A number of liberally oriented publications (the most famous are the Russkiye Vedomosti newspaper and the Vestnik Evropy magazine), although they did not allow direct attacks on the government and its representatives, did not get rid of the critical ("skeptical") tone and successfully survived the "era of repression" .
In 1894, the year of the death of Alexander III, 804 periodicals in Russian and other languages were published in Russia. Approximately 15% of them were state ("state"), and the rest belonged to various companies and individuals. There were socio-political, literary, theological, reference, satirical, scientific, educational, sports newspapers and magazines.
During the reign of Alexander III, the number of printing houses grew steadily; The nomenclature of produced book products also increased annually. In 1894, the list of titles of published books reached almost 11,000 thousand (in 1890 - 8638). Many thousands of books were imported from abroad. During the entire reign, less than 200 books were not allowed to circulate in Russia. (This number included, for example, the notorious "Capital" by Karl Marx.) The majority was forbidden not for political, but for spiritual and moral reasons: insulting the feelings of believers, propaganda of obscenity.
Alexander III died early, not yet an old man. His death was mourned by millions of Russian people, not under compulsion, but at the call of their hearts, who honored and loved this crowned ruler - a big, strong, Christ-loving, so understandable, just, such "their own".
Alexander Bokhanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences
III deserved, albeit a little controversial, but mostly positive feedback. The people associated him with good deeds and called him a peacemaker. And why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker can be found in this article.
Ascension to the throne
Due to the fact that Alexander was only the second child in the family, no one considered him as a contender for the throne. He was not prepared to rule, but only given a military education basic level. The death of his brother Nicholas completely changed the course of history. After this event, Alexander had to devote a lot of time to study. He re-mastered almost all subjects, from the basics of economics and the Russian language to world history and foreign policy. After the murder of his father, he became a full-fledged emperor of a great power. The reign of Alexander 3 lasted from 1881 to 1894. What kind of ruler he was, we will consider further.
Why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker
To strengthen his position on the throne at the beginning of his reign, Alexander abandoned his father's idea of the constitutionality of the country. This is the answer to the question of why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker. Thanks to the choice of such a strategy of government, he managed to stop the unrest. To a greater extent due to the creation of a secret police. Under Alexander III, the state strengthened its borders quite strongly. appeared in the country the most 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 reign. One of the main reasons why Alexander 3 was called a peacemaker is that he often participated in the elimination of military conflicts in his country and abroad.
Board results
As a result of the reign of Alexander the 3rd, they were awarded the honorary title of peacemaker. Historians also call him the most Russian tsar. He threw all his strength to the defense of the Russian people. It was his forces that restored the prestige of the country on the world stage and raised the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander III allocated a lot of time and money to the development of industries and Agriculture in Russia. He improved the well-being of the inhabitants of his country. Thanks to his efforts and love for his country and people, Russia achieved the highest results for that period in economics and politics. In addition to the title of peacemaker, Alexander III is also given the title of reformer. According to many historians, it was he who planted the germs of communism in the minds of the people.
Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, second son of the Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Born on February 26, 1845. After the untimely death of his elder brother, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, on April 12, 1865, he was proclaimed heir to the throne; On October 28, 1866, he married the daughter of the Danish King Christian IX, Princess Sophia-Frederika-Dagmara, who was named Maria Feodorovna during holy chrismation. While still heir, Alexander took part in public affairs, as commander of the guards corps, ataman of all Cossack troops, member of the State Council. AT Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78 he commanded a separate Ruschuk detachment and successfully made a trip to Osman-Bazar, Razgrad and Eski-Juma. In 1877 he took an active part in the creation of a voluntary fleet.
Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894)
During the reign of Emperor Alexander III, important measures were taken in the field of the national economy, carried out mainly by the Minister of Finance N. X. Bunge: in 1882 redemption payments reduced , poll tax abolished , peasant bank established, the work of minors in factories and factories is limited, factory inspection established, the life of chinsheviks and some other categories of rural inhabitants is arranged. Even earlier, in 1881, and then in 1884, favorable conditions were established for the peasants to rent state lands; On June 15, 1882, a tax on inheritances and gifts was established, in 1885 additional fees were introduced from commercial and industrial enterprises, and a tax on money capital was established, and these financial reforms were to serve for the gradual introduction of an income tax in our country. AT subsequent time the largest facts in the financial policy of the state are: the achievement of a fairly stable balance between income and expenditure, the conversion of state debts carried out on a large scale; to increase the funds of the treasury, two new excises were established - on matches and kerosene, an apartment tax was introduced, in addition, in the form of experience , a drinking monopoly was introduced in the eastern provinces.
Russian tsars. Alexander III
Of the individual legislative acts of an economic nature, the most important are regulation of migratory movement peasants to the lands beyond the Urals (a harbinger resettlement policy of P. A. Stolypin) and the law on the inalienability of allotment lands. In the customs policy of the state, there was a significant increase in protectionism, which reached its apogee in the tariff of 1891, but then was somewhat softened by trade agreements with France and Germany; an agreement with the latter country was concluded in 1894 after a stubborn and very sharp customs war. In railway policy, it is especially important subjection of the tariff business to government control, increased redemption to the treasury of the railways and the opening of work on the construction Great Siberian Way.
A very prominent place in domestic politics occupied care of the nobility, about strengthening its importance in the state and public life In order to maintain noble land ownership, a state noble bank was established in 1885. In order to create more favorable conditions for large land ownership, the Regulation on hiring for rural work was issued in 1886. zemstvo district chiefs 1889 and the new Regulations on zemstvo institutions of 1890, the nobility was given a pre-eminent position in local government . Zemstvo chiefs, elected from local hereditary nobles, were supposed to be "close to the people, a firm government authority", combining "trusteeship over the village inhabitants with concerns for the completion of peasant affairs and with the duty to protect deanery and public order, security and the rights of private people in rural areas. In accordance with these tasks, the zemstvo chiefs were given, along with extensive administrative powers, judicial power. With the introduction of zemstvo chiefs, the institute of magistrates was abolished in most of the country.
General Judicial Institutions and Judicial Procedures Also changed: the jurisdiction of the jury is limited in favor of the court with the participation of estate representatives, the procedure for electing jurors is changed, the principles of irremovability and independence of judges are significantly limited, some significant exceptions are made to the general rule of publicity of the trial.
Russian Emperor Alexander III the Peacemaker (1845-1894) ascended the throne on March 2, 1881 after the death of his father Alexander II. He was killed as a result of a terrorist act committed in the center of St. Petersburg. Having come to power, the new sovereign began to implement a completely different policy, directly opposite to that pursued by his father.
The activity of the previous autocrat was assessed negatively, and the reforms carried out by him were called "criminal". Before the reign of Alexander II, peace and order reigned in the country. The population lived prosperously and quietly. However, general liberalization and thoughtlessly carried out reform to abolish serfdom plunged the country into chaos. A huge number of beggars appeared, drunkenness began to flourish, the nobles began to express sharp discontent, and the peasants took up pitchforks and axes.
Portrait of Alexander III
The situation was aggravated by mass terror. Feeling impunity, the radical intelligentsia created many revolutionary circles in which bloody terrorist acts became the norm. But during the commission of criminal acts, not only those who wanted to be killed died, but also absolutely strangers who happened to be at the scene of the tragedy. All this undisguised cynicism had to be resolutely combated.
The new emperor gathered extremely intelligent and strong-willed people around him. What is only Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915). He was an ardent opponent of the liberal economy, which gave rise to the collapse of industry and corruption. The Chief Prosecutor of the Governing Synod Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (1827-1907) took a tough and ruthless policy towards terrorism.
He was the author of the "Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy". He saw the light on April 30, 1881 and caused general rejoicing in the country. With the direct participation of Pobedonostsev, the terrorists who killed the previous emperor were sentenced to death, although many liberal-minded gentlemen demanded that the death penalty be replaced by imprisonment. Additional measures were taken in the country to combat revolutionary unrest.
All this has borne fruit. By the middle of the 1980s, the terrorist activities of the revolutionary elements had practically come to naught. During the entire reign of Alexander III, the Narodnaya Volya committed only one successful bloody action. In 1882, prosecutor Strelnikov Vasily Stepanovich was killed in the center of Odessa.
The perpetrators of the terrorist act Zhelvakov and Khalturin were arrested. They committed the crime on March 18, and on March 22, by the highest order, they were hanged. Vera Nikolaevna Figner (1852-1942) was later arrested in connection with this crime. She was also sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
All these harsh, uncompromising measures, of course, frightened the terrorists. And yet in 1887 they attempted to assassinate the new emperor. But the death of Alexander III came much later, and 1887 can be considered last year XIX century, when the revolutionaries tried to carry out a bloody action in the country.
Assassination attempt on Alexander III
The attempt was organized by members of the "Terrorist faction". It was created in December 1886 in St. Petersburg and was formally part of the People's Will party. Its organizers were Pyotr Shevyryov (1863-1887) and Alexander Ulyanov (1866-1887). They planned to kill the sovereign on the anniversary of the death of his father. That is, they decided to date the murder to March 1.
But it should be noted that the terrorists are no longer the same. They did not know the elementary foundations of conspiracy. They told their friends about the planned terrorist act. In addition, many of them were under the supervision of the police as unreliable. And yet, the young people managed to make bombs, but they never made a clear plan for the assassination.
The main organizer of the terrorist act, Pyotr Shevyryov, already in February was frightened of what he had planned. He urgently left the capital and went to the Crimea, informing his accomplices that he had tuberculosis and needed urgent treatment. After that, Alexander Ulyanov took over the functions of the head. He marked the site of the assassination attempt on Nevsky Prospekt not far from the Admiralty.
From February 26 to 28, the conspirators, having hung themselves with bombs, went there in a crowd and waited for the sovereign. But he never showed up. All these walks aroused close interest from the police. One of the conspirators, Andreyushkin, detailed the plan of the assassination attempt to his comrade in a letter. And this comrade had nothing to do with the organization.
It all ended in the most sad way for the members of the "Terrorist Faction". March 1, 1887, when the terrorists again appeared on Nevsky Prospekt, they were arrested, and Shevyryov was detained in the Crimea on March 7. A total of 15 people were involved in the case. Of these, 5 people were sentenced to death, and 8 were given hard labor with subsequent exile.
The trial of the conspirators began on April 15, 1887 and lasted 5 days. The verdict was read out on April 19, and already on May 8, Shevyryov, Ulyanov, Andreyushkin, Osipanov and Generalov were hanged in the Shlisselburg fortress.
Death of Alexander III
The death of Alexander III was preceded by the collapse of the imperial train on October 17, 1888. It should be noted that the sovereign had an athletic physique and possessed great strength. At the same time, his height was 1 meter 90 cm. That is, this man was a real Russian hero with a strong-willed strong character.
On the specified date royal family returned from the Crimea to the capital of the empire. Before reaching Kharkov, near the Borki station, near the village of Chervonny Veleten, a tragedy happened. The cars were pulled by 2 steam locomotives, and the train raced at a speed of almost 70 km / h. On the embankment, the height of which reached 10 meters, there was a derailment of wagons. At the time of the tragedy, there were 290 people on the train. Of these, 21 people died and 68 were injured.
Imperial train crash
At the time of the crash, the sovereign and his family were sitting in the dining room, as it was lunch time - 14 hours and 15 minutes. Their wagon was thrown onto the left side of the embankment. The walls collapsed, the floor collapsed, and everyone who was in the car ended up on the sleepers. The situation was aggravated by the collapsed roof. But the mighty emperor saved people from injuries. He put his shoulders up and held the roof on them until all the victims got out.
Thus, Empress Maria Feodorovna, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the third son of the sovereign Georgy Alexandrovich, daughter Xenia Alexandrovna, as well as representatives of the royal court, who dined with the crowned family, were saved. All of them escaped with bruises, abrasions and scratches. But if the emperor had not held the roof, people would have received much more serious injuries.
The train consisted of 15 wagons. But only 5 of them remained on the railway track. All the others have turned over. Most of all went to the car in which the attendants rode. Everything turned into a mess there. Terribly mutilated corpses were pulled out from under the rubble.
The dining room was not the youngest daughter Olga Alexandrovna and the 4th son of Mikhail Alexandrovich. They were in the royal carriage. When they crashed, they were thrown onto an embankment and sprinkled with debris. But the 10-year-old boy and the 6-year-old girl did not receive any serious injuries.
An investigation was carried out after the accident. It concluded that the cause of the tragedy was the poor quality of the track, as well as the high speed at which the train was traveling.
However, there was another version. Its supporters claimed that the disaster occurred as a result of a terrorist act. Allegedly, in the royal servants there was a person associated with the revolutionaries. He planted a bomb equipped with a clockwork, and he left the train at the last station before the explosion. However, no facts confirming the authenticity of this version were provided.
Alexander III with his wife and children
Emperor's death
The railway accident that happened was fatal for the emperor. huge physical and nervous tension caused kidney disease. The disease began to progress. Soon this affected the health of the sovereign in the most deplorable way. He began to eat poorly, there were problems with the heart. In 1894, the autocrat became very ill, as acute inflammation of the kidneys began.
Doctors strongly recommended to go south. In September of the same year, the royal family arrived at their southern residence, Livadia Palace, on the Black Sea coast. But the healthy Yalta climate did not save the emperor. Every day he got worse and worse. He lost a lot of weight and ate almost nothing. On October 20, 1894, at 2:15 pm, the All-Russian autocrat died of chronic nephritis, which caused complications in the heart and blood vessels.
The death of Alexander III caused nationwide despondency in the country. On October 27, the coffin with the body was delivered to Sevastopol, and from there railway sent to St. Petersburg. On November 1, the remains of the monarch were exhibited for farewell in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and on November 7, a funeral liturgy and funeral service were held. So ended life path 13th Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia.