Alexander III (1845–1894): Russian emperor. He was trained for a military career as he was not the heir to the throne through the line of succession. He became Tsarevich (Crown Prince) in 1865 after the death of his older brother, Grand Duke Nikolay Aleksandrovich, whereupon he began to receive a broader and more fundamental education. In 1866, he married the Danish Princess Marie Sophie Frederica Dagmar (1847— 1928), who took the name Mariya Fëdorovna when she adopted the Orthodox faith. The marriage produced six children, including the future last Russian emperor, Nicholas II (1868–1918). Alexander Ill’s political ideal rested on the concept of patriarchal autocratic rule, the inculcation of religious values in society, the strengthening of class structure, and ethnically distinctive social development. The beginning of his rule was characterized by a toughening of administrative and police repressions and censorship. By the mid-1880s, the government had instituted repressive measures to suppress the revolutionary movement, primarily the underground People’s Freedom organization. At the same time, it adopted a series of decrees easing the material position of the people and relaxing social tensions. He adhered to strict moral rules, was very devout, distinguished by thrift, modesty, and hostility to comfort, and spent his leisure time within a small circle of family and friends. He took an interest in music, art, and history, and promoted liberalization of exterior aspects of public activity by abolishing genuflection before the tsar, permitting smoking on the streets and in public places, etc. Russian economic life under Alexander III was characterized by economic growth, which was largely due to a policy of increased protectionism toward domestic industry. The Russian government encouraged growth of big capitalist industry, achieving noted successes. However, the rapid development of industry clashed with archaic sociopolitical forms, the backwardness of agriculture, peasant community, and small landholdings, which did much to prepare the ground for subsequent social and economic crises. Russia’s foreign policy under Alexander III was distinguished by pragmatism and an effort to protect the country from involvement in international conflicts. The main result of this policy was a turn away from traditional cooperation with Germany toward an alliance with France, signed in 1891–93. From 1880 to 1890, Russia waged practically no wars, and for this reason, the tsar was called the “Peacemaker.” His untimely death in 1894 was caused by nephritis.
Catherine II (Catherine the Great) (1729–1796): Russian Empress (1762–1796). Holds the distinction, among Russian emperors, of the longest life span and longest reign. She proved a wise and energetic monarch; her rule was characterized by an aggressive foreign policy and domestic reforms in the spirit of enlightened absolutism and the French Enlightenment. She reorganized the local administrative system, strengthening the position of the political, judicial, and financial bureaucracy. In 1785, she freed the nobles from mandatory service per the Table of Ranks by signing letters patent granting rights and liberty to the nobility. She waged two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire. In the first, (1768–1774), begun by Turkey, Russia acquired part of the Black Sea Coast near the mouth of the Dnipro [Dnieper]; in the second (1787–1791), these gains were expanded to the Dnister [Dniester] River. In 1783 she annexed the Crimea to Russia. She founded the port cities of Nikolayev, Kherson, Odessa, and Sevastopol along the lengthy Azov-Black Sea coast. Leading Russia’s alliance with Austria and Prussia, she participated in three partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795), through which Russia not only recovered the western Russian lands lost in the 13th century, but expanded the territory of the Empire somewhat. The expansion of production, spurred by the empress’s manifesto on the freedom of enterprise (1775), promoted the development of trade. The number of factories grew from 663 in 1763 to 1,200 in 1796. The Ural industrial region put Russia in first place in the world in iron smelting (1 million barrels in 1790, 60% more than Great Britain). The Senate of the Russian Empire accorded her the titles “Catherine the Great” and “Mother of the Fatherland.” Some historians call her reign the “golden age” of the Russian Empire.
Golovin, Fëdor Aleksandrovich (1867–1937): chairman of the second State Duma in 1907, a lawyer, noted activist of the Zemstvo Movement, and one of the founders of the Constitutional Democratic Party. He was born into a well-known noble family. He graduated from the university branch of Crown Prince Nikolay’s Moscow Lyceum and Moscow University in 1891. He be came a member of the Dmitrev District Council in 1893 before joining the Moscow Province Council from 1898 to 1907 and becoming its chairman in 1904. He was in charge of the Office for District and City Councils from 1904 to 1905. He served as an honorary magistrate. He became a member of Tsar Nicholas IP’s deputation on June 6, 1905. He was elected chairman of the second State Duma on February 20, 1907 and took active part in its peasant commission. Following the Duma’s dissolution in June 1907, he became one of the founders of the Cooperation Society and a member of its executive council. He took part in several large railroad concessions. In 1912, he was elected mayor of Baku, although he was not confirmed as governor of the Caucasus because he belonged to the Cadet Party. During the war of 1914–1917, he took part in the All-Russian Union of Cities and was chairman of the War Victims Aid Association. On March 8, 1917, he was appointed commissar of the Provisional Government over the former Ministry of the Imperial Court and Domains, where he was responsible for former imperial theaters, museums, and other cultural institutions. He remained in this position until October 25, 1917, when he was removed by the new authorities. He served as a member of the All-Russian Committee for Aid to the Hungry in July and August 1921 before working in several Soviet institutions. He was shot in November 1937 as part of mass repressions carried out by the NKVD. He was rehabilitated in 1989.