Historical Figures

Nicholas II Romanov (1868-1918)

Nicholas II Romanov in the portrait by Earnest Lipgart.

Nicholas II (1868-1918) - the Tsar of Russia in 1894-1917 of the Romanov dynasty. He was born on May 18, 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin) near Saint Petersburg. He was the son of Alexander, the future Tsar Alexander III, and Maria Fedorovna. He received a thorough education. In his youth, he traveled a lot in Europe and Asia, and also served in the army.

He took the throne after his father's death on November 1, 1894. Later that month, he married Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, known in Russia as Alexander Romanov. They were crowned together on May 26, 1896. The celebration ended tragically:panic broke out in the celebrating crowd, killing at least several hundred (or even several thousand) people. The couple had five children - four daughters:Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and son Alexei, suffering from hemophilia. The search for a cure for the heir brought to the tsarist court the alleged monk Grigory Rasputin, who quickly became the favorite of the tsar and tsarina and gained influence on their decisions.

Throughout his reign, Nicholas tried to maintain the authoritarian system of rule inherited from his father. He aimed at the centralization of power, taking away, inter alia, in 1899 the autonomy of Finland. He also continued the nationalist policy of his predecessors, persecuting national (especially Jewish) and religious minorities. He also tried to expand Russian influence in the Far East, which led to the war with Japan in 1904-1905, culminating in the tsar's defeat.

The monarch was reluctant to propose political and social reforms in the country. Only the revolution of 1905, started on January 22 with the events of "Bloody Sunday", when the army opened fire on the peaceful crowd demonstrating, changed his approach. It resulted in the October Manifesto, created with the help of the Minister of Finance, Sergei Witte. It promised guarantees of personal freedom, freedom of conscience, assembly and associations, elections to the national Duma and the adoption of the principle that every law should be approved by an elected parliament. Mikołaj did not give his consent to further reforms proposed by Minister Piotr Stolypin. Even in 1913, when the three hundredth anniversary of the reign of the Romanovs in Russia was celebrated, he emphasized his status and role as a ruler.

In World War I, he fought on the side of the Entente. After its outbreak, he left St. Petersburg to personally lead the army. During his absence, the tsarina relied more and more on the advice of Rasputin, who was hated by the Russians. Defeats at the front and dissatisfaction with Alexandra's rule led to riots at the turn of February and March 1917, which resulted in the fall of the monarchy. After the February Revolution, on March 15, 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate. He handed over the throne to brother Michał, who, however, refused to accept the crown. He and his family were imprisoned, initially in Tsarskoye Selo, then in Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg. After another coup that brought the Bolsheviks to power, a decision was made to execute the tsarist family. It was made shortly after midnight on July 17, 1918.