This final worksheet covers the last days of Alexander III and invites students to offer some closing judgments about his reign.

With the main research now completed, students should begin the process of comparing Alexander III to his father. Is it really fair to say that Alexander II was a reformer, and Alexander III a reactionary? This worksheet enables students to start organising their thoughts and provides a suggested essay framework.

The next stage is to conduct some in-depth research based around primary sources from the time which cover some of the big themes: politics, education, the famine, the pogroms. These sources come complete with questions and discussion points to further understanding.

Students make notes from this interactive newsfeed exercise and then organise their findings into various themes and categories using this worksheet. By so doing they start to formulate a view as to how far Alexander’s reputation as a reactionary is deserved.

This online countdown timer allows you to choose from a number of tunes!

An overview of the upbringing and the personality of Tsar Alexander III. To what extent will his personality and politics equip him to be a good ruler of 19th Century Russia?