Alexander III was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894. He was highly reactionary in domestic affairs and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II. This policy is known in Russia as "counter-reforms". Under the influence of Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827–1907), he opposed any socio-economic moves that limited his autocratic rule.
Portrait photograph, 1885
Alexander III as Tsesarevich, by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, 1865
Grand painting by artist Georges Becker of the coronation of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Fyodorovna, which took place on 27 May [O.S. 15 May] 1883 at the Uspensky Sobor of the Moscow Kremlin. On the left of the dais can be seen his young son and heir, the Tsarevich Nicholas, and behind Nicholas can be seen a young Grand Duke George.
Alexander receiving rural district elders in the yard of Petrovsky Palace in Moscow; painting by Ilya Repin
The emperor and autocrat of all Russia, also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917.
Last to Reign Nicholas II 1 November 1894 – 15 March 1917
Regalia of the Emperor
Image: Peter I by Kneller
Image: Catherine I of Russia