Alexander III as tsar

Question 1

what did Alexander III believe?

Answer 1

-with god’s direction he could alone decide what was right for his country, the duty of his subjects not to question but to love + obey

Question 2

reign began with

Answer 2

hanging of conspirators involved in his father’s assassination
-1881 ‘manifesto of unshakeable Autocracy’
-issued law of exceptional measures- declared if necessary commander-in-chief could be appointed to take control of locality, using military police courts + arbitrary powers of imprisonment

Question 3

Konstantin Pobedonostev (1827-1907)

Answer 3

-chosen to tutor Alexander from 1865-> became very close to him + earned the nickname ‘the Black Tsar’
-probably wrote Alexander’s accession manifesto ‘on unshakable autocracy’
-as Over-Procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880, spoke out for absolutism, nationalism and anti-semitism
-tutored Nicholas II

Question 4

Alexander III(1845-1894)

Answer 4

-watched his father die and was so fearful of revolutionary activity that he refused to live in winter palace in St Petersburg + moved to a fortified fortress in Gatchina instead
-large but ungainly man, tall + very strong
-married danish princess Maria + had 6 children
-died of a kidney ailment due to heavy drinking 1894

Question 5

Empress Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928)

Answer 5

-adopted Orthodox religion and new name when she married future Alexander aII
-imposing, elegant empress

Question 6

What happened to The Loris-Melikov proposals

Answer 6

-abandoned and reforming ministers including Dmitry Milyutin resigned

Question 7

Who did Alexander III rely heavily on

Answer 7

-conservatives such as nationalist Nikolai Ignatiev (first internal minister replaced by Dmitry Tolstoy in 1882)
-Ivan Delyanov=minister for education
-Konstantin Pobedonostev = over-Procurator of the Holy Synod

Question 8

Mikhail Katkov

Answer 8

-influential right-winged journalist helped justify Alexander’s conservative views to the literate public
-edited Moscow news from 1863- his death in 1887
-gave him power over the literate public
-favoured by Alexander II for his conservative political views, support for Russian interests and opposition to Polish nationalism