Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)
On the morning of 13 March 1881, her father-in-law Alexander II of Russia, aged 62, was killed by a bomb on the way back to the Winter Palace from a military parade. In her diary, Maria later described how the wounded, still living Emperor was taken to the palace: "His legs were crushed terribly and ripped open to the knee; a bleeding mass, with half a boot on the right foot, and only the sole of the foot remaining on the left." Alexander II died a few hours later. Although the people were not enamoured of the new emperor, they adored Russia's new empress. As Maria's contemporaries said of her: "She is truly an empress." She was not altogether pleased with her new status. In her diary she wrote, "Our happiest and serenest times are now over. My peace and calm are gone, for now I will only ever be able to worry about Sasha." Despite being haunted by her father-in-law's gruesome death and her anxiety over the safety of her husband, at Alexander II's funeral, she was at least afforded the comfort of the presence of her brother-in-law and favourite sister, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the latter of whom, despite her husband's reluctance and Queen Victoria's objections, stayed on in Russia with Maria for several weeks after the funeral.
Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II
Alexander's 10-year campaign in Asia, and the Macedonian conquest of the Persian empire, were to become the stuff of legend. The Macedonian army campaigned in Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Persia, winning notable battles at the Granicus, the Issus and Gaugamela, before the final collapse of Darius's rule in 330 BC. Alexander thus became ruler of the extensive Persian domains, although his rule over most of the territory was far from secure. Alexander continued campaigning in central Asia in the following years, before crossing into the Indian sub-continent. However, the Macedonian army became increasingly unhappy, and eventually mutinied, forcing Alexander to turn back. Alexander spent his final years attempting to consolidate his empire and planning future campaigns but, probably exhausted by years of hard campaigning, he died in Babylon in 323 BC.