The book considers the time called by the author "the long 1894 year" of the Russian Empire. This period begins in mid-January 1894, when, due to a serious illness, Alexander III could not accept ministerial reports and the heir to Tsarevich Nikolai was instructed to familiarize himself with them, that is, for the first time to undertake this exclusively royal mission. The "long 1894" ends in the second half of January - early February 1895. In those days, after the speech of Nicholas II on January 17 in the Winter Palace before deputations, his previously unclear ideological course was clearly defined.