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Reign of Alexander III


Impact of assassination of Alexander II.

  • Assassinated by the terror group 'People's Will'
  • He slowly bled to death
  • The terrorist organisation was formed
  • It was a major setback for any reforms that Alex II was trying to introduce
  • His son and grandson swore they would never suffer the same fate, which made them grow paranoid. Hence, the okhrana was introduced
  • People became much more frustrated, as Alexander III came into power, and he was a reactionary

Alexander III, Pobedonostsev and reaction.

  • Alexander III was a reactionary who was very critical of his father's policies and opposed any reform
  • He worked to undo as many of his father's policies as he could.
  • Pobedonostev, his tutor, had a heavy influence on him.
    • He thought that education should not be a fundamental right, because it meant that people could move out of their social classes
    • He believed everyone had their place in society, and thus, teaching a farmer, for example, how to read and write would be a waste of their time since they should learn their trade from an early age
    • This would put people in a cycle that is impossible to escape from
  • As a result, Alexander III raised university fees. All syllabi had to be pre-approved by the government and one needed a special pass to be taught History.


Restoration of autocracy, censorship and the policy of Russification.

  • Alexander II was going to introduce a representative assembly, but his plans came to a halt when he was killed. Alexander III came along and undid all of these plans.
    • He, along with Pobedonostev, thought democracy would undermine his 'God-given' right to rule
  • He repressed violently his political opponents
  • Increased the power of the nobility by taking away from the peasants
    • The result: the peasants hated him even more and there was a lot of unrest in the countryside.
  • Censorship, which had previously been limited, was restored.

  • There were ethnic minority majorities that were considered 'loyal' while others were considered 'disloyal'.
    • Finns, Armenians and those from the Baltic provinces were considered loyal
    • Poles, Ukranians, Tatars and Georgians were considered disloyal
  • Alexander III tried to introduce a policy known as russification to try to eliminate this problem of a minority majority
  • In 1889, 2000 land captains from the gentry were introduced. They could overrule the Zemstva's decisions and also repressed peasants
  • Land Commandants could also overrule the Zemstava and were from the nobility

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