NICHOLAS II

by John J. and Mohamed K.

• Born: May 18, 1868
• Married: Alexandra Fyodorovna
• Crowned: 1894
• Died: night of July 17, 1918

He had 5 children:

• Marie,
• Olga,
• Tatiana,
• Anastasia , and
• Alexii
  

Nicholas II was the eldest son of Alexander III. Nicholas did not have the strong will to be Czar of Russia like his father did. He often took advice from people who gave him bad advice. He allowed his wife, a superstitous but strong woman, great sway over every government policy. As a result Count Sergei Witte was unable to promote the reforms needed to avert revolution. Even though Nicholas' father's reactionary policies had been growing opposition, Nicholas did not make changes. Nicholas ruled during the Petrine period which is from 1698-1917.

He belived a czar should have absolute power and opposed parliament. During his rule he improved leisure, science and other branches of learning, but the middle class increasingly felt the monarchy was out of touch with the needs of the new industrial society. Workers in the cities became dissatisfied with living and working conditions. Meanwhile Nicholas wanted more land and wanted it from Asia and it led to the Russo-Japanese war ( 1904-1905 .)

The Russians lost that war and because of the war it sharpened dissatisfaction with the government. The people revolted harshly. Workers, peasants, and intellectuals came together and forced Nicholas to make reforms. On Sunday, Jan. 22 , 1905, Father George Gapon, a Russian Orthodox priest, organized approximately 200,000 people for a peaceful march on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The unarmed marchers planned to present their requests to Czar Nicholas II. Troops fired on the crowd and killed or wounded hundreds of people. This Bloody Sunday caused more revolutionary unrest. The name stuck and this day was called "Bloody Sunday."

In 1906 Nicholas' government expanded education, gave workers some insurance against illness and allowed peasant families to assume ownership of the village land they were farming. These reforms were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Nicholas' approval of a buildup of Russian troops along the country's borders with Germany and Austria-Hungary helped trigger the war. Russia suffered losses in WWI. In 1915 Nicholas assumed direct command of the army. Because of this the people blamed Russia's military failures on Nicholas. They also accused his German wife of treason. These problems and shortages of food and fuel led the people to revolt in March 1917.

On March 15, 1917, Nicholas noticed he had lost all political support. As a result of this he gave up the throne. In November 1917, revolutionaries called Bolsheviks seized power and kidnapped Nicholas and his wife and children. Later they were shot to death near Yekaterinburg in Siberia on July 17, 1918.