New Rome (January-March, 1884)

Dynasty: Romanov, Holstein-Gottorp?]

Tsar Alexander III decided to formally codify the matter of the surnames of the imperial house of Russia and descendants (more distant or lateral branches).

Under the code of Alexander III the Imperial House of Russia was officially transformed into the House of Romanov, in his opinion, 'Holstein-Gottorp' was of no use or importance, since it was ruled due to the Romanov dynasty (and for this point getting Holstein is simply a waste of time and effort for Russia).

Making the official Russian record of the dynasty as Romanov, while abroad from time to time Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov was still being used from time to time, the use of the surname simply as Romanov was also generally accepted.

The matter got a bit more complicated with more distant members of the dynasty, far from the children and grandchildren of the emperor, the Romanov princes and princesses generally used name and patronymic, but not last name.

Tsar Alexander III allowed princes of royal blood (descendants of a Romanov emperor far from the Imperial House and the main line) the use of the surname 'Romanov' or a surname derived from princely titles, or given by the Russian Imperial house.

Some morganatic branches (or bastards with a Russian illegitimate name ... which is a special kind of 'artificial' surname) could only settle for noble titles, surnames granted or that they already had, but not Romanovs. For example, the Iskander princes, descendants of Nikolai Konstantinovich, could not use 'Romanov' but 'Iskander' as a surname.

And a list of surnames that goes on and on.

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The truth is that by the 19th century European royal houses have a mixed ethnic origin, the Romanovs before Alexander III were sometimes informally referred to simply as 'Holstein-Gottorp' and as Germans within Russia.

Concept that did not seem so important to the czar himself, being that in his vision Russia was a multiethnic and multicultural country, but he mostly spoke Russian and lived within Russia, without any too great a link with Germany or use of German .

In Russia in particular there were still several princes descended from the Rurik dynasty, the first Russian dynasty. But the main complaint of the Russian state to some individuals was: 'They act as if they are Russians, and no one else is'.

A threat to the established order where many minorities were integrating within Russia, fortunately it used to be linked with simple snobbery of nobles.

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[Dynasty: Marriage, when?]

The tsar was somewhat restless. "Soon Nicholas and Alexander are going to be 16 years old." The emperor mentions his wife. Tsesarevich Nicholas would soon turn 16, and in 1885 he would be followed by Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich.

"What do you want to discuss about them?" Empress Maria Feodorovna asks curiously.

"Well, it's still very early but sooner or later one of our children is going to have to get married, so something has to be discussed. At least Nicholas or George." The emperor exclaims. "Also, soon they will have to start working on something, prepare themselves if they are going to be my successors."

"Very well, I can understand about the marriage. But what do you want our children to work?" The empress asks somewhat confused.

"Well, I don't know. I was planning to discuss it with them, they must have some idea what they want to do."

The reform on succession allowed Alexander III to practically choose from many candidates available for his children, they were members of non-reigning nobility, members of the dynasties of other states, noble families within Russia, etc.

The tsar just had to find the right candidates really.

However, there was still time, after all the Tsesarevich only turned 16 in May and from then on there was still time.

But it still had to be discussed what the sons of Tsar Alexander III were going to do, the emperor wanted at least one trained in state affairs, a prepared heir so to speak.

Fortunately, the Tsesarevich Nicholas did not plan to go precisely for the military work route .

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[Submarines]

While dynastic affairs are important, Russia's technological development was too, and it remained unstoppable. Russia's naval komitet under Stepan Makarov together with the close collaboration of Stefan Drzewiecki and Isaac Peral demonstrated the first advances in the development of a Russian submarine in the Neva River.

The main architect of the prototype was Drzewiecki, at least in the idea, the body of the submarine as such was a joint work of the komitet and state resources.

But Drzewiecki's work would be the first to lead to the creation of a worldwide electric submarine, capable of going against the current of the Neva River as proved during the 1884 demonstration.

The success of the test would allow Tsar Alexander III to fund the naval komitet to further develop the Russian submarines to a better developed vehicle.

The komitet still had a lot to work on, so the Drzewiecki submarine could not yet integrate into the Russian navy, but its advancement indicated that Russia was close to developing its own submarines.

Isaac Peral and Stepan Makarov (in conjunction with Stepan Drzewiecki obviously) would continue to work on the development of a modern submarine for the Russian navy in the 1880s.

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[Tarpan]

A curious development is that Tsar Alexander III formed some new nature reserves in the forests and grasslands of Russian Poland, as a possible tourist attraction and for the protection of Polish ecosystems (fauna and flora).

This included a program for the re-establishment of the Eurasian wild horses known as Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), which once more or less proliferated in Eastern Europe but due to problems were on the verge of extinction.

The tsarist authorities had captured the last known (pure) mare, and with some individuals (mestizos) from Tarpan, they began a repopulation program to save the phenotype and the species.

Or at least something close to ancient Tarpan.

Tarpan horses are particularly known for their behavior, they are not domestic horses or very suitable for breeding like domestic horses and breeds bred by mankind, but they were still a part of the 'value of Russian flora and fauna'.

Similar to Tsar Alexander III's interest in maintaining species like the Caspian tiger.

It did not take long for the reserve to have the first Tarpan foals with the 'Tarpan phenotype', and so the program regarding repopulating the population of wild horses will continue.

*[Polish economy]

Although the reserve and environmental programs were important, they were not the only achievement or policy developed in Russian Poland, in fact it is obvious that there were more reserves. The point is that Tsar Alexander III was reorienting the Polish economy from an industrial economy (which had seriously lost relevance in some respects) to a tourist economy.

First in the rural environment, with the aforementioned reserves, natural wonders, camps, outdoor sports activities, etc.

Also to an agricultural economy, now that the tsarist government was emphasizing modernization of Polish agriculture and educational institutions for agricultural purposes.

To further widen the gap between the Poles themselves, those mixed rural families, with children with knowledge in Russian or Polish (due to Russian fathers or mothers, uncles or aunts, etc.) would receive more subsidies and financial aid than the 'pure rural Polish family '.

Poles who knew Russian and were educated (engineers, teachers, etc.) already received advantages to go to other parts of Russia, becoming loyal parts of the Russian administrative or economic apparatus.

Now it was time for at least a part of the peasantry to become loyal.

This obviously motivated a rural class oriented to commercial activities (agriculture, livestock, etc), but also to learn Russian and interact with the Russian citizens of the Tsardom of Poland.

The more nationalistic Poles could do little to prevent the 'exodus' within certain parts of the Polish peasantry (especially the eastern parts).

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However, it must be said that obviously the Kingdom of Poland (or Tsardom of Poland) already had urban centers, the best known being obviously the city of Warsaw.

There the tsar, on the one hand, extensively expanded the paths dedicated to bicycles and pedestrians, where they began to grow trees and build fountains, among some other aesthetic arrangements for the city.

On the one hand, motivating the increase in the bicycle industry in the city of Warsaw and some other urban centers in Russian Poland, an industry that motivated some other advances.

It also gave the cities at least a bit of tourist appeal.

The problem was that making a monument specifically for Poland could go wrong, if Tsar Alexander III made the wrong monument he would become an enemy of some political factions.

* Nationalist figure, potentially inspiring Polish separatists and angering Russian nationalists.

* Some Catholic figure or Catholic gift, get angry at the Russian Orthodox Church.

* Russian nationalists are pleased, Poles are angered.

And the list goes on.

There had to be a secular, neutral project that would satisfy everyone (in addition to increasing tourism).

The problem is that most of the tourism to Russian Poland is for religious reasons, although as in other parts of Russia, the emperor used museums and many of his palaces to attract tourism.

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[International]

On January 4, the Fabian Society is founded in London, with the aim of forming democratic socialism (via reforms instead of revolution) in the United Kingdom.

On January 5, the local council of Bosnia-Herzegovina makes a decision about its form of government, at first the Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks thought of a constitutional monarchy of some kind, but could not agree on religious issues or who could be the monarch.

There were Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics, the region was simply too diverse to establish many common themes.

Something was needed to allow coexistence, so for the moment the Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina became the highest authority (with democratic elections) in the legislative-executive branches. No official religion.

Thus undoubtedly the most curious Slavic state in the Balkans is formed, unable to make some decisions but recognized by Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, among other Balkan states.

Dr. William Price from the UK attempts to cremate his deceased son, Iesu Grist (a baby at the time of his death). For this action he was tried but acquitted, as his action is not contrary to English law in Wales (where the event occurs).

Thus, on January 18, William Price creates a legal precedent, with the first English cremation in modern times.

On March 13, the siege of Khartoum begins, between British forces (and Egyptians, but Egypt is essentially a British protectorate so they are Anglo-Egyptian forces at most) and the Mahdist Sudan.

The British had left the matter to the Egyptians, who failed to contain the revolt led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah.