In more ordinary cases Tsar Alexander III could be at once kind, simple, and even almost homely. In later years I came into contact with the Emperor on several occasions, and I felt not the slightest bit timid. The Tsar's gaze! The look of a man who stood above all others, but who carried a monstrous burden and who every minute had to fear for his life and the lives of those closest to him. It was a look as cold as steel, in which there was something threatening, even frightening, and it struck me like a blow. As he passed where I was standing, he raised his head for a second, and to this day I can remember what I felt as our eyes met. The look of his bright eyes made quite an impression on me. There was indeed something of the muzhik about him. I was struck by the size of the man, and although cumbersome and heavy, he was still a mighty figure. Īn account from the memoirs of the artist Alexander Benois gives one impression of Alexander III:Īfter a performance of the ballet Tsar Kandavl at the Mariinsky Theatre, I first caught sight of the Emperor. He immediately left the carriage and no amount of pleading from his wife could convince him to get back in. As he reluctantly entered the carriage, the ponies reared back. His wife once convinced him to go on a carriage ride with her. In his childhood, he had had an unpleasant experience on a bad-tempered mount. He would order each musician of the orchestra to leave and turn off the lights until the guests left. At palace balls, he was impatient for the events to end. Unlike his extroverted wife, Alexander disliked social functions and avoided St. He said, "That is what I am going to do to your two or three army corps." Petersburg said that Austria would mobilize two or three army corps against Russia, he twisted a silver fork into a knot and threw it onto the plate of the ambassador. He tore packs of cards in half with his bare hands to entertain his children. Īlexander was 190.5 cm (six foot three inches) tall. His education was not such as to soften these peculiarities. His straightforward, abrupt manner savoured sometimes of gruffness, while his direct, unadorned method of expressing himself harmonized well with his rough-hewn, immobile features and somewhat sluggish movements. Indeed, he rather relished the idea of being of the same rough texture as some of his subjects.
Although an enthusiastic amateur musician and patron of the ballet, Alexander was seen as lacking refinement and elegance.
In disposition, Alexander bore little resemblance to his soft-hearted, liberal father, and still less to his refined, philosophic, sentimental, chivalrous, yet cunning great-uncle Emperor Alexander I. He was born during the reign of his grandfather Nicholas I. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was born on 10 March 1845 at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the second son and third child of Tsesarevich Alexander (Future Alexander II) and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna (née Princess Marie of Hesse). It was he who helped forge the Russo-French Alliance.Īlexander III as Tsesarevich, by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, 1865
During his reign, Russia fought no major wars he was therefore styled " The Peacemaker" (Russian: Миротворец, tr. Under the influence of Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827–1907), he opposed any reform that limited his autocratic rule. This policy is known in Russia as "counter-reforms" (Russian: контрреформы). He was highly reactionary and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II. Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich 10 March 1845 – 1 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894.
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