Alexander III of Russia

Rise to Power

During the first twenty years of his life he had no prospect of succeeding to the throne, because he had an elder brother, Nicholas, who seemed of a fairly robust constitution. Even when this elder brother showed symptoms of delicate health it was believed that his life might be indefinitely prolonged by proper care and attention, and precautions had been taken for the succession by his betrothal with the beautiful princess Dagmar of Denmark. Under these circumstances the greatest solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as csarevich, whereas Alexander received only the perfunctory and inadequate training of an ordinary grand-duke of that period, which did not go much beyond primary and secondary instruction, practical acquaintance with French, English and German, and a certain amount of military drill.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~