Alexander III was the second son of Emperor Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna He was born on February, 26th (on March, 10th) 1845 in St. Petersburg and was officially crowned in Moscow on May, 27th (or May, 15th J.C.) 1883.

He had no head for political issues at all, but was quite an expert in investigation and gendarme affairs. Alexander III personally took active part in activities of the secret political police.

In the first half of the 1880s he carried out cancellation of the head tax, and reduced redemption payments. At the same time he implemented a range of the so-called counter-reforms. He strengthened the role of police, as well as that of local and central administration. During the reign of Alexander III basically annexation of Central Asia to Russia was mostly completed (by 1885), and the Russian-French alliance was formed in 1891-93. A distinctive rare feature of Alexander III’s reign was the absence of wars. Thus, in Russian pre-revolutionary literature the Emperor was called the Peacemaker.

His contemporaries mentioned that in spite of his average mental faculties and education Alexander III was notable for his common sense, intuition and mother wit. Alexander III died on October, 20th (on November, 1st) 1894, in Livadia, Crimea. Alexander’s elder son Nikolai became his successor on the throne - Emperor Nicholas II.