Nicholas II

Nicholas II
Nicholas is pale-eyed, bearded, of slim build and wearing a uniform and medals.
Nicholas II in 1912
Emperor of Russia
Reign1 November 1894[a]15 March 1917[b]
Coronation26 May 1896[c]
PredecessorAlexander III
SuccessorMonarchy abolished
Prime MinistersSee list
Born18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
Died17 July 1918(1918-07-17) (aged 50)
Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Russian SFSR
Cause of deathMurder
Burial17 July 1998
Spouse
(m. 1894)
Issue
Names
Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov
HouseHolstein-Gottorp-Romanov
FatherAlexander III of Russia
MotherDagmar of Denmark
ReligionRussian Orthodox
SignatureNicholas II's signature

Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov;[d] 18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married Alix of Hesse (later Alexandra Feodorovna) and had five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia—collectively known as the OTMA sisters—and the tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich.

During his reign, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He advocated modernisation based on foreign loans and close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament (the Duma) major roles. Ultimately, progress was undermined by Nicholas's commitment to autocratic rule, strong aristocratic opposition and defeats sustained by the Russian military in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. By March 1917, while Nicholas II was at the front, an uprising in Petrograd succeeded in seizing control of the city itself, the telegraph lines and blocking loyal reinforcements attempts to reaching the capital.[1][2] The revolutionaries also halted the Tsar’s train, leaving Nicholas stranded and powerless, even though the army at the front remained loyal. With no authority remaining, he was forced to abdicate, thereby ending the Romanov dynasty's 304-year rule of Russia.

Nicholas signed the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention, which was designed to counter Germany's attempts to gain influence in the Middle East; it ended the Great Game of confrontation between Russia and the British Empire. He aimed to strengthen the Franco-Russian Alliance and proposed the unsuccessful Hague Convention of 1899 to promote disarmament and peacefully solve international disputes. Domestically, he was criticised by liberals for his government's repression of political opponents and his perceived fault or inaction during the Khodynka Tragedy, anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday and the violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution. His popularity was further damaged by the Russo-Japanese War, which saw the Russian Baltic Fleet annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima, together with the loss of Russian influence over Manchuria and Korea and the Japanese annexation of the south of Sakhalin Island. Despite this, the 1913 Romanov Tercentenary anniversary proved to be a successful festivity where the majority of the common Russian people still displayed loyalty towards the monarchy.[3][4]

During the July Crisis of 1914, Nicholas supported Serbia and approved the mobilisation of the Russian Army. In response, Germany declared war on Russia and its ally France, starting World War I. After several years of war, severe military losses led to a collapse of morale of the newly mobilized troops, increasing a likehood of the latter joining an uprising; a general strike and a mutiny of the garrison in Petrograd sparked the February Revolution and the disintegration of the monarchy's authority. He abdicated himself and on behalf of his son, then he and his family were imprisoned by the Russian Provisional Government and exiled to Siberia. The Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution and the family was held in Yekaterinburg, where they were murdered on 17 July 1918.

In the years following his death, Nicholas was reviled by Soviet historians and state propaganda as a "callous tyrant" who "persecuted his own people while sending countless soldiers to their deaths in pointless conflicts". Despite being viewed more positively in recent years, the majority view among western historians is that Nicholas was a well-intentioned yet poor ruler who proved incapable of handling the challenges facing his nation.[5][6][7][8] The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, based in New York City, recognised Nicholas, his wife, and their children as martyrs in 1981. Their gravesite was discovered in 1979 but not acknowledged until 1989. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the remains of the imperial family were exhumed, identified, and re-interred with an elaborate state and church ceremony in St. Petersburg on 17 July 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths. They were canonised in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church as passion bearers. In 2008, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation decided to legally rehabilitate Nicholas, his family, and 52 other close associates of the Imperial family who had been persecuted and/or murdered, ruling that they were unlawfully killed, challenging the Bolshevik justification for the 1917 revolution.[9][10][11]


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  1. ^ Engineer of Revolutionary Russia: Iurii V. Lomonosov (1876–1952) and the Railways. Taylor & Francis. 2016. p. 154. ISBN 9781317143321.
  2. ^ Service, Robert. The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution. p. 35.
  3. ^ Figes, p. 13
  4. ^ Emmerson, p. 122
  5. ^ "Восстановим историческую справедливость!". За-Царя.рф (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  6. ^ Esthus 1981, pp. 396–411.
  7. ^ Ferro, Marc (1995). Nicholas II: Last of the Tsars. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-19-508192-7.
  8. ^ Warnes, David (1999). Chronicle of the Russian Tsars. Thames And Hudson. p. 163. ISBN 0-500-05093-7.
  9. ^ "Last Tsar rehabilitated by Russian justice". France 24. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  10. ^ "Russia's last tsar rehabilitated". 1 October 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Генеральная прокуратура РФ удовлетворила заявление Главы Российского Императорского Дома о реабилитации репрессированных верных служителей Царской Семьи и других Членов Дома Романовых" [The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation has granted the application of the Head of the Russian Imperial House for the rehabilitation of the repressed loyal servants of the Royal Family and other members of the House of Romanov]. imperialhouse.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2025.

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