"He leaves Russia greater than he received it," the press wrote about the ruler, who earned the nickname "peacemaker."
120 years ago, on November 1, 1894, the 13th Russian Emperor Alexander III died in the Livadia Palace in Crimea. The ruler, famous for his heroic strength, did not live a year before his 50th birthday.
The doctors' conclusion stated that the cause of death was chronic nephritis with successive damage to the heart and blood vessels, as well as a hemorrhagic infarction in the left lung. Experts agreed that the emperor developed kidney disease after a railway accident, which in 1888 involved a train with the royal family. The roof of the carriage in which Alexander III was riding collapsed and the tsar, according to eyewitnesses, held it on his shoulders until help arrived.
History of the patch
Despite his more than noble position, conducive to luxury, extravagance and a cheerful lifestyle, which, for example, Catherine II managed to combine with reforms and decrees, Emperor Alexander III was so modest that this trait of his character became a favorite topic of conversation for his subjects. .
For example, there was an incident that one of the king's associates wrote down in his diary. He happened to be next to the emperor one of the days, and then some object suddenly fell from the table. Alexander III bent down to the floor to pick it up, and the courtier, with horror and shame, from which even the top of his head turns beet-colored, notices that in a place that is not commonly called in society, the king flaunts a rough patch!
It should be noted here that the tsar did not wear pants made of expensive materials, preferring coarse, military cut, not at all because he wanted to save money, as did the future wife of his son, Alexandra Fedorovna, who gave her daughters' dresses to junk dealers for sale, previously expensive disputes buttons. The emperor in everyday life was simple and undemanding, wearing a uniform, which it was high time to throw away, and giving the torn clothes to his batman to mend and mend where necessary.
Non-royal preferences
Alexander III was a categorical person and it was not for nothing that he was nicknamed a monarchist and an ardent defender of autocracy. He never allowed his subjects to contradict him. However, there were plenty of reasons for this: the emperor significantly reduced the staff of the Ministry of the Court, and reduced the balls that were given regularly in St. Petersburg to four a year.
The emperor not only showed indifference to secular fun, but also showed a rare neglect of what many enjoyed and served as an object of worship. For example, food. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he preferred simple Russian food: cabbage soup, fish soup and fried fish, which he caught himself, leaving with his family to rest in Finnish skerries.
One of Alexander's favorite delicacies was "Guryev's" porridge, invented by Zakhar Kuzmin, the serf cook of the retired major Yurisovsky. Porridge was prepared simply: semolina was boiled in milk and nuts were added there - walnuts, almonds, hazel, then creamy foam was poured in and dried fruits were poured with a generous hand.
The tsar always preferred this simple dish to gourmet French desserts and Italian delicacies, which he ate at tea in his Annichkov Palace. The Tsar did not like the Winter Palace with its pompous luxury. However, against the backdrop of mended pants and porridge, this is not surprising.
The force that saved the family
The emperor had one fatal passion, which, although he fought with it, sometimes prevailed. Alexander III liked to drink vodka or strong Georgian or Crimean wine - it was with them that he replaced expensive foreign varieties. In order not to injure the tender feelings of his beloved wife Maria Feodorovna, he secretly put a flask with a strong drink in the top of his wide tarpaulin boots and applied to it when the empress could not see it.
Speaking about the relationship of spouses, it should be noted that they can serve as an example of reverent treatment and mutual understanding. For thirty years they lived soul in spirit - the timid emperor, who did not like crowded gatherings, and the cheerful cheerful Danish princess Maria Sophia Friederika Dagmar.
It was rumored that in her youth she loved to do gymnastics and performed virtuoso somersaults in front of the future emperor. However, the king also loved physical activity and was famous throughout the state as a heroic man. 193 centimeters tall, with a large figure and broad shoulders, he bent coins with his fingers and bent horseshoes. His amazing strength even once saved the life of him and his family.
In the autumn of 1888, the tsar's train crashed near the Borki station, 50 kilometers from Kharkov. Seven wagons were broken, there were seriously wounded and dead among the servants, but the members of the royal family remained unharmed: at that time they were in the dining car. However, the roof of the car nevertheless collapsed, and, according to eyewitnesses, Alexander held it on his shoulders until help arrived. Investigators who found out the causes of the crash concluded that the family had miraculously escaped, and if the royal train continues to travel at such a speed, then a miracle may not happen a second time.
"I also spit on him"
Curiously, although the emperor preferred the autocratic policy of his grandfather and did not support his father's reforms, he could not be called, despite his height and "basilisk look", a formidable king.
Once an ordinary soldier Oreshkin went over with alcohol in a tavern. He began to rage, shout and use foul language. When they tried to pacify and shame him, pointing to the portrait of the emperor hanging in the room, the soldier suddenly fell silent, and then, as if flying from a mountain, declared that he wanted to spit on the king. The brawler was arrested and reported to Alexander. The tsar listened to those who spoke, thought, and ordered that his portrait no longer be hung in drinking establishments, and the soldier was released from prison and told that the emperor “did not care about him either.”
Tsar-artist and admirer of the arts
Despite the fact that in everyday life he was simple and unpretentious, thrifty and even economical, huge amounts of money were spent on the acquisition of art objects. Even in his youth, the future emperor was fond of painting and even studied drawing with the famous professor Tikhobrazov. However, the royal chores took a lot of time and effort, and the emperor was forced to leave classes. But he retained his love for the elegant until the last days and transferred it to collecting. Not without reason, his son Nicholas II, after the death of his parent, founded the Russian Museum in his honor.
The emperor provided patronage to artists and even such a seditious canvas as “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581” by Repin, although it caused discontent, did not become a reason for the persecution of the Wanderers. Also, the tsar, who was devoid of external gloss and aristocracy, was unexpectedly well versed in music, loved the works of Tchaikovsky and contributed to the fact that not Italian opera and ballets sounded on the theater stage, but the works of domestic composers. Until his death, he supported Russian opera and Russian ballet, which received worldwide recognition and reverence.
Emperor's Legacy
During the reign of Alexander III, Russia was not drawn into any serious political conflict, and the revolutionary movement became at a standstill, which was nonsense, since the murder of the previous tsar was seen as a sure pretext for starting a new round of terrorist acts and changing the state order.
The emperor introduced a number of measures that made life easier for the common people. He gradually abolished the poll tax, paid special attention to the Orthodox Church and influenced the completion of the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Alexander III loved Russia and, wanting to fence it off from an unexpected invasion, strengthened the army. His expression "Russia has only two allies: the army and the navy" became winged.
The emperor also owns another phrase "Russia for the Russians." However, there is no reason to blame the tsar for nationalism: Minister Witte, whose wife was of Jewish origin, recalled that Alexander's activities were never aimed at treating national minorities, which, by the way, changed during the reign of Nicholas II, when the Black Hundred movement found support in the state level.
About forty monuments were erected in honor of Emperor Alexander III in the Russian Empire.
Time erases memory - the more we move away in time from the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire, the more difficult it is for us to understand what it was like. I offer an entertaining selection of scattered facts about tsarist Russia.
1. In tsarist Russia there was no ban on the free carrying of weapons. Up until the 1917 coup, gun shops were free to buy guns.
2. In the Russian Empire, the kilogram was not a measure of mass, this function was performed by the pood, the nominal weight of which is 16.38 kg.
3. The revolutionary coup made another adjustment to the traditions of the Russian Empire - before it, Russia was the least drinking country on the European continent. Russia was considered the most sober power in Europe, second only to Norway in these indicators, until the beginning of the 20th century.
4. The Russian Emperor Nicholas II was related to the Emperor of the British Empire George V, who was his cousin.
5. Emperor Peter III (named from birth Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp), whose reign fell on 1761 - 1762. was of German origin.
A great-nephew of the Swedish King Charles XII on his father's side, he was initially brought up as a likely heir to the throne of Sweden. There is historical evidence that in 1751, having learned that his uncle had become the Swedish king, the future emperor said: “They sent me to accursed Russia, where I feel like a state prisoner! Now, if they had left me free, then I would now rule over a civilized people.
6. The Russian Empire entered the twentieth century with the largest and most promising oil producing and refining industry in the world: the processing of all oil within the country then reached 94%.
7. 1904 - there are 21 million horses in the tsar's (for comparison, there are approximately 75 million in the rest of the world). It is noteworthy that 60% of peasant farms had 3 or more horses.
8. Chanel No. 5 was not invented by Coco Chanel. The author of the famous fragrance was a Russian emigrant perfumer by the name of Verigin, who worked with a native Muscovite Ernest Bo in the Chanel perfume department.
9. In 1913, Russia's income from the butter trade abroad was at the same level as from gold mining.
10. The most numerous estate in tsarist Russia was the peasantry.
Confessions in imperial Russia: Orthodox - 69.5%, Muslims - 11.1%, Catholics - 9.1%, Jews - 4.2%.
11. Emperor Nicholas II - the first head of state to announce the idea of world disarmament. His proposal was announced in The Hague (1898) and was intended for the heads of European states.
12. On the eve of the First World War, Russia supplied as much bread as the United States, Canada and Argentina combined.
They say that any power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts completely. Russian rulers of different eras were no exception to this rule, and they cannot be called ascetic people even with a big stretch. There are many historical anecdotes about Russian tsars and tsarinas. We offer you some of them.
Peter the Great and dwarfs
Emperor Peter I loved dwarfs since childhood, and during his reign it was common for noble nobles to keep Lilliputians as jesters. However, Peter himself brought this passion to the extreme. From time to time, he ordered to bake a naked midget in a pie, so that in the middle of dinner he would suddenly jump out of the pie to the fear of the guests and to the amusement of the emperor.
Peter even tried to breed dwarfs. More than seventy dwarfs, mostly poor peasants, were brought from all over Russia to the wedding of the royal jester Yakim Volkov and the dwarf who served with the tsarina. They were dressed in specially tailored European-style clothes, drunk with wine and forced to dance to entertain those present. The emperor was very pleased.
Catherine II and a collection of erotica
According to rumors, the office, furnished with custom-made furniture with frivolous carvings, adjoined the private chambers of the Empress in the Gatchina Palace. The room was filled with the best examples of erotic painting and sculpture, some of which were brought from the excavations of Pompeii. 
According to the official version, the collection was destroyed in 1950. A catalog issued in the 1930s has been preserved, and several photographs taken German officers During the Second World War. There is a version that the secret office Catherine II was located not in Gatchina, but in Peterhof, and can still be found.
Ivan the Terrible and the fake tsar
In 1575, Ivan IV unexpectedly abdicated and declared that from now on he would become a simple boyar, Vladimir of Moscow. He gave the throne to the baptized Tatar Simeon Bekbulatovich, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Simeon was officially crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral, and Ivan settled in Petrovka. From time to time, the retired tsar sent petitions to Simeon, in which he signed Ivanets Vasiliev. 
During the 11 months of Simeon's reign, Ivan, with his hands, returned to the treasury all the lands previously granted to monasteries and boyars, and in August 1576 he just as suddenly took the throne again. Simeon's relationship with subsequent kings was extremely unhappy. Boris Godunov ordered to blind him, False Dmitry I forced him to go to the monastery, Vasily Shuisky exiled to Solovki. The burial place of Simeon is located under the foundation of the house of culture of the Likhachev Plant, on the site where the necropolis of the Simonov Monastery was once located.
Alexander II and his sense of humor
One day, Alexander II, passing through a small provincial town, decided to attend a church service. The temple was full. The head of the local police, seeing the emperor, began to clear the way for him among the parishioners with punches and shouts: “Respectfully! With trepidation!" Alexander, hearing the words of the chief of police, laughed and said that he now understands exactly how humility and respect are taught in Russia. Another ironic phrase attributed to Alexander II: "It is not difficult to rule Russia, but it is pointless." 
Alexander III and genealogy
The penultimate emperor, nicknamed the Peacemaker (under him the Russian Empire did not participate in wars), loved everything Russian, wore a bushy beard and hardly put up with the fact that the royal family actually consisted of Germans. Shortly after the coronation, Alexander gathered the closest courtiers and asked them who really was the father of Paul I. The historian Barskov replied that, most likely, Count Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov was Alexander's great-great-grandfather. "God bless!" exclaimed the emperor, crossing himself. “So I have at least a little Russian blood in me!” 
Elizaveta Petrovna and female pride
Possessing a naturally gentle character, the daughter of Peter the Great did not make concessions only in matters fashion and beauty. No one was allowed to copy the style of clothing and hairstyle of the Empress or appear at the reception in an outfit that surpassed Elizabeth's in luxury. At one of the balls, the Empress personally cut along with hair ribbons and hairpins of the wife of Chief Chamberlain Naryshkin under the pretext that her hairstyle vaguely resembled the royal one. 
Once, after the ball, the court hairdresser was unable to wash and comb Elizabeth's hair, stuck together from hairdressing drugs. The Empress was forced to cut her hair. Immediately, the ladies of the court were ordered to shave their heads and wear black wigs until the order was canceled. Only the future Catherine II, who had recently suffered an illness and lost her hair during her time, avoided shaving her head. Moscow ladies were allowed not to shave their heads on the condition that they hide their hairstyles under black wigs.
Paul I and service zeal
From childhood, Pavel Petrovich was addicted to strict order, military uniform and maneuvers. Alexander Suvorov, according to rumors, was removed from command of the army due to statements about the inappropriateness of a German powdered wig and uncomfortable boots with buckles on a Russian soldier. One day, Paul conducted a mock siege of the fortress, the defenders of which were ordered to hold out by all means until noon. 
Two hours before the end of the exercises, the emperor, along with the regiments besieging the fortress, fell under a heavy downpour. The commandant of the fortress was ordered to immediately open the gate and let Paul in, but he flatly refused to obey the order. The emperor was soaked through. Exactly at twelve o'clock the gates opened, and Pavel, in anger, burst into the fortress, attacked the commandant with reproaches.
He calmly showed the emperor his hand signed order. Pavel had no choice but to praise the colonel for his diligence and discipline. The commandant immediately received the rank of major general and was sent to carry guard under the continued rain.
Alexander I and honesty
In the last years of his life, Alexander the First was a very God-fearing person. On Christmas Eve, while on a pilgrimage, the emperor stopped briefly at the post station. Entering the stationmaster's hut, Alexander saw a Bible on the table and asked if the stationmaster often read it. There is a legend that Alexander I did not die, but went to the skete under the name of Elder Fyodor KuzmichSeeing the book in the same place, the emperor again asked the caretaker if he had read the book since they saw each other. The caretaker assured him again ardently that he had read it, and more than once. Alexander leafed through the Bible - the banknotes were in place. He scolded the caretaker for deceit and ordered the money to be distributed to the orphans.
We invite you to read about the brightest love stories in the Russian imperial dynasty.
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Interesting historical facts about the rulers of Russia.
40 interesting facts about the Rurik dynasty.
The Rurik family was in power in Russia for seven centuries. He left behind noble descendants and a lot of mysteries.
1. The Ruriks ruled for 748 years - from 862 to 1610.
2. Practically nothing is known for certain about the founder of the dynasty - Rurik.
3. Until the 15th century, none of the Russian tsars called themselves "Rurik". A scientific debate about the personality of Rurik began only in the 18th century.
4. The common ancestors of all Rurikoviches are: Rurik himself, his son Igor, grandson Svyatoslav Igorevich and great-grandson Vladimir Svyatoslavich.
5. The use of a patronymic in Russia as part of a generic name is a confirmation of the relationship of a person with his father. Noble and ordinary people called themselves, for example, "Mikhail, Petrov's son." It was considered a special privilege to add the ending “-ich” to the patronymic, which was allowed for people with a high origin. So called Rurik, - for example, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich.
7. Old Russian chronicles began to be compiled 200 years after the death of Rurik and a century after the baptism of Russia (the advent of writing) on the basis of oral traditions, Byzantine chronicles and the few existing documents.
8. The most prominent statesmen from the Rurik dynasty were the Grand Dukes Vladimir the Holy, Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan Kalita, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Third, Vasily the Third, Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
9. For a long time, the name Ivan, which is of Jewish origin, did not apply to the ruling dynasty, but starting from Ivan I (Kalita), four sovereigns from the Rurik dynasty are called by him.
10. The symbol of the Ruriks was the tamga in the form of a diving falcon. The 19th-century historian Stapan Gedeonov associated the very name of Rurik with the word "Rerek" (or "Rarog"), which in the Slavic tribe of obodrites meant a falcon. During the excavations of the early settlements of the Rurik dynasty, many images of this bird were found.
11. The genera of the Chernigov princes originate from the three sons of Mikhail Vsevolodovich (great-great-grandson of Oleg Svyatoslavich) - Semyon, Yuri, Mstislav. Glukhovsky prince Semyon Mikhailovich became the ancestor of the princes Vorotynsky, Odoevsky. Prince of Tarusa Yuri Mikhailovich - Mezetsky, Baryatinsky, Obolensky. Karachaevsky Mstislav Mikhailovich-Mosalsky, Zvenigorodsky. Of the princes of Obolensky, later many princely families emerged, among which the most famous are the Shcherbatovs, Repnins, Serebryany, Dolgorukovs.
12. Among the Russian models of the times of emigration were princesses Nina and Mia Obolensky, girls from the most noble princely family of Obolensky, whose roots go back to the Rurikovichs.
13. Rurikovich had to abandon dynastic preferences in favor of Christian names. Already Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was given the name Vasily at baptism, and Princess Olga - Elena.
14. The tradition of a direct name originates in the early genealogy of the Rurikids, when the Grand Dukes bore both a pagan and a Christian name: Yaroslav-George (Wise) or Vladimir-Vasily (Monomakh).
15. The historian counted from 1240 to 1462 200 wars and invasions.
"Varangian calling"
16. One of the first Rurikovich, Svyatopolk the Accursed, became an anti-hero of Russian history because of the accusation of the murder of Boris and Gleb. However, today historians are inclined to believe that the great martyrs were killed by the soldiers of Yaroslav the Wise, since the great martyrs recognized Svyatoslav's right to the throne.
17. The word "rosichi" is a neologism of the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". More this word as a self-designation of the Russian times of the Rurikovich is not found anywhere else.
18. The remains of Yaroslav the Wise, whose research could provide an answer to the question of the origin of the Ruriks, disappeared without a trace.
19. In the Rurik dynasty there were two categories of names: Slavic two-base - Yaropolk, Svyatoslav, Ostromir and Scandinavian - Olga, Gleb, Igor. The names were assigned a high status, and therefore they could belong exclusively to the grand ducal person. It was not until the 14th century that such names came into general use.
20. Since the reign of Ivan III, among the Russian sovereigns-Rurikovich, the version of the origin of their dynasty from the Roman emperor Augustus has become popular.
21. In addition to Yuri, there were two more "Dolgoruky" in the Rurik family. This is the ancestor of the Vyazemsky princes, a descendant of Mstislav the Great, Andrei Vladimirovich Dolgaya Ruka and a descendant of St. Michael Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, Prince Ivan Andreevich Obolensky, nicknamed Dolgoruky, the ancestor of the Dolgorukov princes.
22. Significant confusion in the identification of the Rurikovich was introduced by the ladder order, in which, after the death of the Grand Duke, the Kyiv table was occupied by his closest relative (and not son), the second in seniority relative, in turn, occupied the empty table of the first, and so on princes moved in order of seniority to more prestigious tables.
23. According to the results of genetic studies, it was assumed that Rurik belonged to the haplogroup N1c1. The area of \u200b\u200bsettlement of people of this haplogroup captures not only Sweden, but also the regions of modern Russia, the same Pskov and Novgorod, so the origin of Rurik is still unclear
24. Vasily Shuisky was a descendant of Rurik not in a direct royal line, so the last Rurik on the throne is still considered the son of Ivan the Terrible, Fedor Ioannovich.
25. The adoption by Ivan III of the double-headed eagle as a heraldic sign is usually associated with the influence of his wife Sophia Paleolog, but this is not the only version of the origin of the coat of arms. Perhaps it was borrowed from the heraldry of the Habsburgs, or from the Golden Horde, who used the double-headed eagle on some coins. Today, the double-headed eagle is on the emblems of six European states.
26. Among the modern “Rurikovichs” there is the now living “Emperor of Holy Russia and the Third Rome”, he has the “New Church of Holy Russia”, “Cabinet of Ministers”, “State Duma”, “Supreme Court”, “Central Bank”, “ Plenipotentiary Ambassadors”, “National Guard”.
27. Otto von Bismarck was a descendant of the Ruriks. His distant relatives were Anna Yaroslavovna.
28. The first American President George Washington was also Rurikovich. In addition to him, 20 more US presidents were descended from Rurik. Including father and son Bush.
29. One of the last Rurikovichs, Ivan the Terrible, on his father came from the Moscow branch of the dynasty, and on his mother - from the Tatar temnik Mamai.
30. Lady Diana was connected with Rurik through the Kievan princess Dobronega, daughter of Saint Vladimir, who married the Polish prince Casimir the Restorer.
31. Alexander Pushkin, if you look at his genealogy, is Rurikovich through his great-grandmother Sarah Rzhevskaya.
32. After the death of Fyodor Ioannovich, only his youngest - Moscow - branch was cut short. But the male offspring of other Rurikoviches (former appanage princes) had already acquired surnames by that time: Baryatinsky, Volkonsky, Gorchakov, Dolgorukov, Obolensky, Odoevsky, Repnin, Shuisky, Shcherbatov ...
33. The last chancellor of the Russian Empire, the great Russian diplomat of the 19th century, friend of Pushkin and comrade of Bismarck, Alexander Gorchakov was born into an old noble family descended from Yaroslavl Rurik princes.
34. 24 Prime Ministers of Great Britain were Rurikovich. Including Winston Churchill. Anna Yaroslavna was his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother.
35. One of the most cunning politicians of the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu, also had Russian roots - again through Anna Yaroslavna.
36. In 2007, the historian Murtazaliev argued that the Ruriks were Chechens. “The Rus were not just anyone, but Chechens. It turns out that Rurik and his squad, if they really are from the Varangian tribe of Rus, then they are purebred Chechens, moreover, from the royal family and speaking their native Chechen language.
37. Alexandre Dumas, who immortalized Richelieu, was also a Rurikovich. His great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was Zbyslava Svyatopolkovna, the daughter of the Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who was married off to the Polish King Boleslav Krivousty.
38. The Prime Minister of Russia from March to July 1917 was Grigory Lvov, a representative of the Rurik branch, coming from Prince Lev Danilovich, nicknamed Zubaty, a descendant of Rurik in the 18th generation.
39. Ivan IV was not the only "terrible" king in the Rurik dynasty. “Terrible” was also called his grandfather, Ivan III, who, in addition, also had the nicknames “justice” and “great”. As a result, the nickname “great” was assigned to Ivan III, and his grandson became “terrible”.
40. "Father of NASA" Wernher von Braun was also Rurikovich. His mother was Baroness Emmy, née von Quistorn.
