AUTHOR’S NOTE
160 Words
AUTHOR’S NOTEThe descriptions of Czar Alexander, 1881-1894, are all correct and he was in fact one of the most unpleasant and cruel rulers Russia ever had.
His first act on becoming Emperor was to tear up the unsigned manifesto lying on his father’s deathbed that made provision for a limited form of representative Government at a national level.
The Czar opened his reign with a persecution of the Jews that was to be unequalled until the advent, fifty years later, of Adolf Hitler in Germany.
It was proclaimed by him that one-third of all the Jews in Russia must die, one third emigrate and one third assimilate.
The Czar wore his clothes until they were threadbare, his children were often hungry and he reduced his Civil List by down-ranking the Nobles. It is not surprising that Mediaeval gloom hung over the Court.
The Secret Police instigated by Nicholas I and known as ‘The Third Section’, terrified the whole country. They were ruthless, corrupt, and savagely cruel.
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