Alexander III was the second son of
Emperor Alexander II of
Russia, and became Emperor on his father's assassination in
1881. His older brother Nicholas was trained as the heir to the throne until he died of
meningitis in
1865; Alexander, known in his family as "Little
Bulldog," became the heir at the age of 20. He was not considered cut out for
statesmanship; he was a slow learner,
shy, and not receptive to new ideas. His education had been not been focused on the things that were considered important for the ruler to know. On the other hand, he was
honest and had a sense of
responsibility. He was forced to marry his deceased brother's Danish fiancee, even though she had loved Nicholas, and Alexander loved a Russian woman; however the marriage was fairly happy and
Maria Fyodorovna (born Princess Dagmar) had several children with him.
While Alexander III was the heir, he generally opposed his father's semi-reformist policies. The younger Alexander was a nationalist who preferred all things Russian to the European models used by reformers. He supported the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 eagerly, whereas Alexander II had tried to avoid getting into a war. He also started a Volunteer Navy (because he disapproved of how Russia's actual navy was run) and was patron of the Russian Historical Society. In addition to these political disagreements, Alexander was aghast when his father remarried in 1880, 40 days after his mother's death of tuberculosis.
When Alexander II was assassinated the next year, Alexander III promptly junked some plans his father had asked to be written for government reorganizations. He was merciless toward his father's assassins, and forced his stepmother and half-siblings to leave Russia (luckily Alexander II had provided money for them to live on). In general, he refused to accept the slightest limitation on the Emperor's power.
However, he did reduce the redemption payments the freed serfs had to pay for the land they farmed, and tried to reduce the amount of money spent by the court, in fact depriving some of his relatives of their royal titles, an unexpected move from someone so reactionary. Despite his attempt to make life a little better for the peasants, a famine struck in 1891 and opposition to his policies mounted.
Alexander has been given the nickname "Tsar-Peacemaker," but the fact that Russia was not involved in any wars during his reign was certainly not because he was against war. Russia came close to a war in Afghanistan with the British and in Bulgaria with Austria, and it was luck, diplomacy, and possibly Alexander's reluctance to spend a lot of money that kept any fighting from happening.
In the 1890's, Alexander's health worsened, and he died of nephritis in October 1894, leaving his son Nicholas II, who he had not really considered ready for affairs of state, to rule.
Sources: Donald Raleigh and A.A. Iskenderov's The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs and those listed in Monarchs of Russia.