Alexander III suspended all of his father,
Alexander II’s, reforms. His reign was all about repression, censorship
and Russification, but also about peace and stability. Most importantly, Alexander III’s reign
was a time of great industrial development. BACKGROUND
Immediately after his ascension to the throne, Alexander III put a halt to his father’s reforms. He disbanded the legislative council that
had been preparing the constitution, and became vengeful against both radical and moderate
liberalists. REPRESSIONS
Large-scale repressions were carried out by the secret police, called the Okhrana, and
their network of spies. Pogroms against Jews and other ethnic minorities,
deportations, and the closing of newspapers and universities occurred. Alexander III was a Russian nationalist. He launched several campaigns of Russification
in the non-Russian border districts. ECONOMIC GROWTH
Alexander III’s reign was also a period of international peace and stability. No major war took place under his rule. The economy was improving, although still
slowly, in the 1890s. One of the notable figures leading Russia
into industrial progress was Alexander III’s Minister of Finance, Sergey Witte, who negotiated
foreign capital, and favorable loans from France. In the next decade, the industrial output
was already soaring. One of the key projects, in that early period,
was the construction of the world’s longest railway, the Trans-Siberian Railway, that
started in 1891. DEATH
Despite many assassination attempts, Alexander III died of natural causes, leaving his eldest
son, Nicholas, to reign as the last emperor of Russia.