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Nicholas II of Russia born Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 - 17 July [O.S. 4 July] 1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. His official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is currently regarded as Saint Nicholas the Passion Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church. Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until his abdication in 1917. His rule ended with the Russian Revolution of 1917 in which he and his family were imprisoned first in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, then later in the Governor's Mansion in Tobolsk, and finally at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. Nicholas II, his wife, his son, his four daughters, the family's medical doctor, his personal servant, the Empress' chambermaid and the family's cook were all murdered in the same room by the Bolsheviks on the night of 17 July 1918. It is now well documented that this event had been orchestrated from Moscow by Lenin and the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov. This has led to the late Nicholas II, his wife the Empress and their children to be canonized as Martyrs by various groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia and, prominently, by the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia. Nicholas II was nicknamed by his critics Bloody Nicholas because of the Khodynka Tragedy, Bloody Sunday, and his government's suppression of dissent. Lastly, as Head of State, he did approve the Russian mobilization of August 1914 which marked the first fatal step into World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty. Family background Nicholas was born at Tsarskoe Selo, as the second eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Maria Fyodorovna of Denmark. His elder brother Alexander, who would have been Tsar Alexander IV had he lived, died in infancy. His paternal grandparents were Alexander II of Russia and his first consort Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse-Darmstadt. His maternal grandparents were Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexander's death in 1894, although as a child he was jealous of his physical strength. He was also very close to his mother, revealed in their published letters to one another[citation needed]. Nicholas had three brothers: Alexander (1869-1870), George (1871-1899) and Michael (1878-1918) and two sisters: Xenia (1875-1960) and Olga (1882-1960). Since his father's cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, shared the same first name, the Grand Duke was often known within the Imperial Family as "Nicholasha" to distinguish him from the future Tsar. Tsarevich Nicholas became Tsarevich following the assassination of his grandfather, Alexander II on 13 March 1881 and the subsequent accession of his father, Alexander III. Nicholas and other family members witnessed this event while staying at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, but for security reasons, the new Tsar and his family relocated their primary residence to the Gatchina Palace outside the city. Nicholas and his younger siblings were deliberately raised in spartan surroundings, including hard camp beds and simple furnishings, except for a religious icon of the Virgin and Child surrounded by pearls and other gems. Their grandmother Maria Alexandrovna introduced English customs into the Romanov family upbringing: porridge for breakfast, cold baths, and plenty of fresh air. Nicholas was educated by tutors in language, geography, dancing, and other subjects. His father's adviser and former tutor Konstantin Pobedonostsev strongly emphasized the absolute authority of the Tsar. Besides his native tongue, Nicholas also learned French, German, and English. Like many people of the time, he kept a detailed diary. In May 1890, a few days before his twenty-second birthday, he recorded, "Today I finished definitely and forever my education." Soon afterwards, he traveled to the Empire of Japan, where he survived an assassination attempt. Although Nicholas attended meetings of the Imperial Council, his obligations were limited until he succeeded to the throne, which was not expected for many years, since his father was only forty-five. Against the initial wishes of his parents, Nicholas was determined to marry Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, the fourth daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second eldest grand-daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His parents intended a more politically beneficial arrangement with Princess Hélène, daughter of Philippe, comte de Paris, pretender to the French throne, hoping to cement Russia's new alliance with France, but eventually yielded to their son's insistence. Engagement, marriage, and accession Nicholas became engaged to Alix of Hesse in April 1894. Alix was hesitant to accept the engagement due to the requirement that she convert from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy and renounce her former faith. For her conversion ceremony, that aspect was eliminated, making it easier for her to convert with a clear conscience. Nicholas and Alix became formally engaged on April 8 1894. Alix converted to Orthodoxy in November 1894, and took the name Alexandra Fedorovna. Expecting he would live for 20 or 30 more years, Alexander had idled in giving his son political training and as a result Nicholas received little grooming for his imperial role. However, throughout 1894, Alexander III's health unexpectedly and rapidly declined. Alexander died at the age of 49 in 1894 of kidney disease. Nicholas felt unprepared for the duties of the crown, asking his cousin, "What is going to happen to me and all of Russia?" He nevertheless decided to maintain the conservative policies favored by his father. While Alexander had concentrated on the formulation of general policy, Nicholas devoted much more attention to the details of administration. The wedding of Nicholas and Alix, originally planned for the following spring was moved forward at Nicholas's insistence. Staggering under the weight of his new office, he had no intention of allowing the one person who gave him confidence to leave his side. The wedding took place on November 26 1894. Alexandra wore the traditional dress of Romanov brides, and Nicholas a Hussar's uniform. Each holding a lighted candle Nicholas and Alexandra faced the Metropolitan. A few minutes before one in the afternoon, they were married. Despite a visit to the United Kingdom before his accession, where he observed the House of Commons in debate and seemed impressed by the machinery of democracy , Nicholas turned his back on any notion of giving away any power to elected representatives in Russia. Shortly after he came to the Throne, a deputation of peasants and workers from various towns' local assemblies (zemstvos) came to the Winter Palace to ask for some constitutional reforms. Although the addresses they had sent in beforehand were couched in mild and loyal terms, Nicholas was angry and ignored advice from an Imperial Family Council by saying to them: "... it has come to my knowledge that during the last months there have been heard in some assemblies of the zemstvos the voices of those who have indulged in a senseless dream that the zemstvos be called upon to participate in the government of the country. I want everyone to know that I will devote all my strength to maintain, for the good of the whole nation, the principle of absolute autocracy, as firmly and as strongly as did my late lamented father." These words showed Nicholas's intentions to continue his father's policies and possibly contributed to the beginnings of the new tsar's unpopularity. Reign On May 18, 1896 the Khodynka Tragedy occurred in which 1,389 died and 1,300 were injured; instead of staying away, on advice of his uncles Nicholas attended a French Ball so as not to offend Paris. Russo-Japanese War and 1905 Revolution Main article: Russo-Japanese War A clash between Russia and Japan was almost inevitable by the turn of the 20th century. Russia had expanded in the East, and the growth of her settlement and territorial ambitions, as her southward path to the Balkans was frustrated, conflicted with Japan's own territorial ambitions on the Chinese and Asian mainland. War began in 1904 with a surprise attack on the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, which incapacitated the Russian navy in the East. The Russian Baltic fleet tried to traverse the world to balance power in the East, but after many misadventures on the way, was annihilated by the Japanese in the Battle of the Tsushima Strait. On land the Russians army was crippled by mismanagement and by the problem of conducting a war, with only the Trans-Siberian Railway as a carrier of supplies from the West. The war ended in total defeat for Russia with the fall of Port Arthur in 1905, and the settlement of both countries' quarrels by the Treaty of Portsmouth. Nicholas's stance on the war was something that baffled many. Shortly before the Japanese attack on Port Arthur, Nicholas held strong to the belief that there would be no war. He felt that it was his divine power to rule and protect Russia, and that a war with Japan would simply not happen. Despite the onset of the war and the many defeats Russia suffered, Nicholas still believed in, and expected, a final victory. Many people took the Tsar's confidence and stubbornness for indifference; believing him to be completely impervious. As Russia continued to face defeat by the Japanese, the call for peace grew. Nicholas's own mother, as well as his cousin Kaiser William urged Nicholas to open peace negotiations. Despite the efforts for peace, Nicholas remained evasive. It was not until March 27-28 and the annihilation of the Russian fleet by the Japanese, that Nicholas finally decided to pursue peace. As a result, Russia's self-esteem received a severe blow and the Imperial government collapsed, with the ensuing revolutionary outbreaks of 1905-1906. Many demonstrators were shot in front of the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg; the Emperor's Uncle, Grand Duke Sergei, was blown up by a revolutionary's bomb in Moscow as he left the Kremlin. The Black Sea fleet mutinied, and a railway strike developed into a general strike which paralized the country. Nicholas, who was taken by surprise by the events, mixed his anger with bewilderment. He wrote to his mother after months of disorder, "It makes me sick to read the news! Nothing but strikes in schools and factories, murdered policemen, Cossacks and soldiers, riots, disorder, mutinies. But the ministers, instead of acting with quick decision, only assemble in council like a lot of frightened hens and cackle about providing united ministerial action... ominous quiet days began, quiet indeed because there was complete order in the streets, but at the same time everybody knew that something was going to happen - the troops were waiting for the signal, but the other side would not begin. One had the same feeling, as before a thunderstorm in summer! Everybody was on edge and extremely nervous and of course, that sort of strain could not go on for long.... We are in the midst of a revolution with an administrative apparatus entirely disorganized, and in this lies the main danger." World War I Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serb nationalist association known as the Black Hand, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, Nicholas vacillated as to Russia's course. The rising ideas of Pan-Slavism had led Russia to issue treaties of protection to Serbia. Nicholas wanted neither to abandon Serbia to the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary, nor to provoke a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with the German Kaiser (the so-called "Willy and Nicky correspondence") the two proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down. Nicholas took stern measures in this regard, demanding that Russia's mobilization be only against the Austrian border, in the hopes of preventing war with the German Empire. The Russians had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and on 31 July 1914 Nicholas took the fateful step of confirming the order for a general mobilization. Nicholas was strongly counselled against mobilization of the Russian forces but chose to ignore such advice. Soon, Austria invaded Serbia, and Russia, being Serbia's ally, declared war on Germany. War was a great danger to the stability of the Romanov dynasty. Count Witte told the French Ambassador Paleologue that from Russia's point of view the war was madness, Slav solidarity was simply nonsense and Russia could hope for nothing from the war. The outbreak of war on 1 August 1914 found Russia grossly unprepared. Russia and her allies placed their faith in her army, the famous 'Russian steamroller'. Its pre-war regular strength was 1,400,000; mobilisation added 3,100,000 reserves and millions more stood ready behind them. In every other respect, however, Russia was unprepared for war. Germany had ten times as much railway track per square mile and whereas Russian soldiers travelled an average of 800 miles (1,290 km) to reach the front, German soldiers travelled less than a quarter of that distance. Russian heavy industry was still too small to equip the massive armies the Tsar could raise and her reserves of munitions were pitifully small. With the Baltic Sea barred by German U-boats and the Dardanelles by the guns of her former ally Turkey, Russia could receive help only via Archangel which was frozen solid in winter, or Vladivostock, which was over 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from the front line. The Russian High Command was moreover greatly weakened by the mutual contempt between Vladimir Sukhomlinov, the Minister of War, and the redoubtable warrior giant Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich who commanded the armies in the field. In spite of all of this, an immediate attack was ordered against the German province of East Prussia. The Germans mobilized there with great efficiency and completely defeated the two Russian armies which had invaded. The Battle of Tannenberg where an entire Russian army was annihilated cast an ominous shadow over the empire's future. The loyal officers lost were the very ones needed to protect the dynasty. The Russian armies later had moderate success against both the Austro-Hungarian armies and against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. They never succeeded against the might of the German army. Gradually a war of attrition set in on the vast Eastern Front, where the Russians were facing the combined forces of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires, and they suffered staggering losses. General Denikin, retreating from Galicia wrote, "The German heavy artillery swept away whole lines of trenches, and their defenders with them. We hardly replied. There was nothing with which we could reply. Our regiments, although completely exhausted, were beating off one attack after another by bayonet .... Blood flowed unendingly, the ranks became thinner and thinner and thinner. The number of graves multiplied. Total losses for the spring and summer of 1915 amounted to 1,400,000 killed or wounded, while 976,000 had been taken prisoner. On 5 August with the army in retreat, Warsaw fell. Defeat at the front bred disorder at home. At first the targets were German and for three days in June shops, bakeries, factories, private houses and country estates belonging to people with German names were looted and burned. Then the inflamed mobs turned on the government declaring the Empress should be shut up in a convent, the Tsar deposed and Rasputin hanged. Nicholas was by no means deaf to these discontents. An emergency session of the Duma was summoned and a Special Defence Council established, its members drawn from the Duma and the Tsar's ministers. In July 1915, King Christian X of Denmark, first cousin of the Tsar, sent Hans Niels Andersen to Tsarskoe Selo with an offer to act as a mediator. He made several trips between London, Berlin and Petrograd and in July saw the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Andersen told her they should conclude peace. Nicholas chose to turn down King Christian's offer of mediation. The energetic and efficient General Alexei Polivanov replaced Sukhomlinov as Minister of War. The situation did not improve and the retreat however continued and Nicholas urged on by Alexandra and feeling that it was his duty, and that his personal presence would inspire his troops, decided to lead his army directly yet again against advice given. He assumed the role of commander-in-chief after dismissing his cousin from that position, the highly respected and experienced Nikolai Nikolaevich (September 1915) following the loss of the Russian Kingdom of Poland. This was a fatal mistake as he was now directly associated as commander-in-chief with all subsequent losses. He was also away at the remote HQ at Mogilev, far from the direct governance of the empire, and when revolution broke out in Petrograd he was unable to prevent it being so cut-off from his government. In reality the move was largely symbolic, since all important military decisions were made by his chief-of-staff General Michael Alexeiev, and Nicholas did little more than review troops, inspect field hospitals, and preside over military luncheons. His efforts to oversee the war left domestic issues essentially in the hands of Alexandra. As a German she was extremely unpopular. The Duma was constantly calling for political reforms. Political unrest continued throughout the war. Cut off from public opinion, Nicholas refused to see how tired the people were of his dynasty and how much the common people hated his wife. He had been repeatedly warned about the destructive influence of Grigori Rasputin but had failed to remove him. Nicholas had refused to censor the press and wild rumours and accusations about Alexandra and Rasputin appeared almost daily. Alexandra was even brought under allegations of treason due to her German roots. Anger at Nicholas's failure to act and the extreme damage that Rasputin's influence was doing to Russia's war effort and to the monarchy led to his (Rasputin's) murder by a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, a cousin of the Tsar, on 16 December 1916. End of reign There was mounting hardship as the government failed to produce supplies, creating massive riots and rebellions. With Nicholas away at the front in 1915, authority appeared to collapse (Empress Alexandra ran the government from Saint Petersburg from 1915 - initially with Rasputin, who was later assassinated), and Saint Petersburg was left in the hands of strikers and mutineering conscript soldiers. Despite efforts by the British Ambassador Sir George Buchanan to warn the Tsar that he should grant constitutional reforms to fend off revolution, Nicholas continued to bury himself away at the Staff HQ (Stavka) 400 miles (600 km) away at Moghilev, leaving his capital and court open to intrigues and insurrection. By the spring of 1917, Russia was on the verge of total collapse. The army had taken 15 million men from the farms and food prices had soared. An egg cost four times what it had in 1914, butter five times as much. The severe winter dealt the railways, overburdened by emergency shipments of coal and supplies, the final blow. Russia began the war with 20,000 locomotives; by 1917 9,000 were in service, while the number of serviceable railway wagons had dwindled from half a million to 170,000. In February 1917, 1,200 locomotives burst their boilers and nearly 60,000 wagons were immobilised. In Petrograd supplies of flour and fuel all but disappeared. In February 1917 in Petrograd (as the capital had been renamed) a combination of very severe cold weather allied with acute food shortages caused people to start to break shop windows to get bread and other necessaries. In the streets, red banners appeared and the crowds chanted "Down with the German woman! Down with Protopopov! Down with the war!"[31] Police started to shoot at the populace from rooftops which incited riots. The troops in the capital were poorly-motivated and their officers had no reason to be loyal to the regime. They were angry and full of revolutionary fervor and sided with the populace. The Tsar's Cabinet begged Nicholas to return to the capital and offered to resign completely. Five hundred miles away the Tsar, misinformed by Protopopov that the situation was under control, ordered that firm steps be taken against the demonstrators. For this task the Petrograd garrison was quite unsuitable. The cream of the old regular army lay in their graves in Poland and Galicia. In Petrograd 170,000 recruits, country boys or older men from the working-class suburbs of the capital itself, remained to keep control under the command of wounded officers invalided from the front, and cadets from the miliary academies. Many units, lacking both officers and rifles, had never undergone formal training. General Khabalov attempted to put the Tsar's instructions into effect on the morning of Sunday, 11 March 1917. Despite huge posters ordering people to keep off the streets, vast crowds gathered and were only dispersed after some 200 had been shot dead, though a company of the Volinsky Regiment fired into the air rather than into the mob, and a company of the Pavlovsky Life Guards shot the officer who gave the command to open fire. Nicholas, informed of the situation by Rodzianko, ordered reinforcements to the capital and suspended the Duma.[32] It was all too late. On 12 March the Volinsky regiment mutinied and was quickly followed by the Semonovsky, the Ismailovsky, the Litovsky and even the legendary Preobrajensky Guard, the oldest and staunchest regiment founded by Peter the Great. The arsenal was pillaged, the Ministry of the Interior, Military Government building, police headquarters, the Law Courts and a score of police buildings were put to the torch. By noon the fortress of Peter and Paul with its heavy artillery was in the hands of the insurgents. By nightfall 60,000 soldiers had joined the revolution.[32] Order broke down and members of the Parliament (Duma) formed a Provisional Government to try to restore order but it was impossible to turn the tide of revolutionary change. Already the Duma and the Soviet had formed the nucleus of a Provisional Government and decided that Nicholas must abdicate. Faced with this demand, which was echoed by his generals, deprived of loyal troops, with his family firmly in the hands of the Provisional Government and fearful of unleashing civil war and opening the way for German conquest, Nicholas had no choice but to submit. At the end of the "February Revolution" of 1917 (February in the Old Russian Calendar), on 2 March (Julian Calendar)/ 15 March (Gregorian Calendar) 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He firstly abdicated in favour of Tsarevich Alexei, but swiftly changed his mind after advice from doctors that the heir would not live long apart from his parents who would be forced into exile. Nicholas drew up a new manifesto naming his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as the next Emperor of all the Russias. Grand Duke Mikhail declined to accept the throne until the people were allowed to vote through a Constituent Assembly for the continuance of the monarchy or a republic. Contrary to popular belief, Mikhail never abdicated; he deferred taking up power.The abdication of Nicholas II and the subsequent Bolshevik revolution brought three centuries of the Romanov dynasty's rule to an end. It also paved the way for massive destruction of Russian culture with the closure and demolition of many churches and monasteries, the theft of valuables and estates from the former aristocracy and monied classes and the suppression of religious and folk art forms. The children of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra are as follows: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna 15 November [O.S. November 3] 1895 17 July 1918 shot at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna 10 June [O.S. May 29] 1897 17 July 1918 shot at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna 26 June [O.S. June 14] 1899 17 July 1918 shot at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna 18 June [O.S. June 5] 1901 17 July 1918 shot at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexei 12 August [O.S. July 30] 1904 17 July 1918 shot at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks Titles and Styles His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolay Alexandrovich, The Tsarevitch of Russia (1872-1894) His Imperial Majesty Nicholas II, The Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias (1917-1918) Nicholas's full title as Emperor was We, Nicholas the Second, by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, King of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonesos, Tsar of Georgia, Lord of Pskov, and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and Finland, Duke of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigalia, Samogitia, Belostok, Karelia, of Tver, Yugra, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria, and other territories; Lord and Grand Duke of Nizhny Novgorod, Chernigov; Sovereign of Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozero, Udoria, Obdoria, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav, and all the northern territories; and Sovereign of Iveria, Kartalinia, and the Kabardinian lands and Armenian territories; Hereditary Lord and Ruler of the Cherkass and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Oldenburg, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
William B.
