Nicholas II
Nicholas II was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication in 1917. His reign of over 22 years marked the final chapter of the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled Russia for more than three centuries. Nicholas married Alix of Hesse, and they had five children: four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and a son, Alexei, the Tsesarevich.
Born in Tsarskoye Selo, Nicholas was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. He was educated privately and trained for military service, but was widely considered ill-prepared for the demands of ruling a vast empire. As a constitutional monarch, he resisted political reform and retained autocratic control, despite the establishment of the Duma. His reign saw significant industrial growth and diplomatic engagement, including the Hague Conventions and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, but was also marked by domestic unrest, military defeats, and widespread criticism.
Nicholas faced mounting pressure following Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the turmoil of the 1905 Revolution. His popularity declined further during World War I, as military losses and economic hardship eroded public confidence. In March 1917, the February Revolution forced his abdication, ending the Romanov dynasty's 304-year rule. He and his family were imprisoned by the Provisional Government and later transferred to Bolshevik custody. On 17 July 1918, they were executed in Yekaterinburg.
Vilified by Soviet historians as a symbol of repression and incompetence, Nicholas has been reassessed more sympathetically in post-Soviet Russia. He and his family were canonised as passion bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, following the discovery and reburial of their remains in 1998.
Early life
Birth and family background
Nicholas was born on 1868, at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo south of Saint Petersburg, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, Emperor Alexander II. He was the eldest child of then-Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and his wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna. Alexander Alexandrovich was heir apparent to the Russian throne as the second but eldest surviving son of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Maria Feodorovna was the daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark.Nicholas was christened in the Chapel of the Resurrection of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo on 1868 by the confessor of the imperial family, protopresbyter Vasily Borisovich Bazhanov. His godparents were Emperor Alexander II, Queen Louise of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. The boy received the traditional Romanov name Nicholas and was named in memory of his father's older brother and mother's first fiancé, Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia, who had died young in 1865. Informally, he was known as "Nicky" throughout his life.
Nicholas was of primarily German and Danish descent and was related to several monarchs in Europe. His mother's siblings included Kings Frederick VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece, as well as the United Kingdom's Queen Alexandra. Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and Wilhelm II, German Emperor were all first cousins of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas was also a first cousin of both King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway, as well as King Christian X of Denmark and King Constantine I of Greece. Nicholas and Wilhelm II were in turn second cousins once-removed, as each descended from King Frederick William III of Prussia, as well as third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandsons of Tsar Paul I of Russia. In addition to being second cousins through descent from Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his wife Princess Wilhelmine of Baden, Nicholas and Alexandra were also third cousins once-removed, as they were both descendants of King Frederick William II of Prussia.
Tsar Nicholas II was the first cousin once-removed of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich. To distinguish between them, the Grand Duke was often known within the imperial family as "Nikolasha" and "Nicholas the Tall", while the Tsar was "Nicholas the Short".
Childhood
Grand Duke Nicholas was to have five younger siblings: Alexander, George, Xenia, Michael and Olga. Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexander's death in 1894. He was also very close to his mother, as revealed in their published letters to each other. In his childhood, Nicholas, his parents and siblings made annual visits to the Danish royal palaces of Fredensborg and Bernstorff to visit his grandparents, the king and queen. The visits also served as family reunions, as his mother's siblings would also come from the United Kingdom, Germany and Greece with their respective families. It was there in 1883, that he had a flirtation with one of his British first cousins, Princess Victoria. In 1873, Nicholas also accompanied his parents and younger brother, two-year-old George, on a two-month, semi-official visit to the United Kingdom. In London, Nicholas and his family stayed at Marlborough House, as guests of his "Uncle Bertie" and "Aunt Alix", the Prince and Princess of Wales, where he was spoiled by his uncle.In February 1880 a group of nihilist activists exploded a bomb in the dining room of the Winter Palace. The bomb destroyed almost the entire room. No one was hurt. Nicholas's father Alexander III and his family moved to the Yelagin Palace on Yelagin Island.
Tsesarevich
On 1 March 1881, following the assassination of his grandfather, Tsar Alexander II, by the Narodnaya Volya Nicholas became heir apparent, or tsesarevich, upon his father's accession as Alexander III. Nicholas and other family members witnessed Alexander II's death, at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, where he was brought after the attack. For security reasons, the new Tsar and his family relocated their primary residence to the Gatchina Palace, 48 kilometres from the city, only entering the capital for ceremonial functions. On such occasions, Alexander III and his family occupied the nearby Anichkov Palace. The Gatchina Palace had been built for Alexander I's father Paul I. Nicholas kept a diary.Nicholas, colloquially called Nicky by his family, spent much of his vacations with them in his mother's home country Denmark and on cruises along the coasts of the Grand Duchy of Finland, especially on Alexander III's fishing lodge in Langinkoski, on the river Kymi in Kotka. In summertime the family lived at the Alexander Palace, at the Livadia Palace in Crimea or sometimes hunted deer in Łowicz County, Poland.
Nicholas and his siblings were raised in a Spartan way, in an English fashion. They slept in tent bends, rose at 6 and took cold baths, sometimes they were given a warm bath in their mother's bathroom. Breakfast consisted of porridge and black bread, lunch of lamb chops or roast beef with peas and roasted potatoes, and tea of bread, butter and jam. Nicholas and younger brother George had their own salon, dining room, play room and bedroom, which were simply decorated. The only prominent item was an icon surrounded by pearls and jewels. Because of the happy marriage of Nicholas's parents, he was raised surrounded by love and safety, which was missing in many other royal families.
Nicholas and George shared the same teachers, but studied in adjacent rooms. They followed the course of the academy of the general staff, and their teachers were valued professors. Their English teacher Charles Heath, who was Nicholas's favourite teacher, had acted as teacher of their uncle, Grand Duke Sergei and Paul. Both brothers spoke and wrote perfect English. Heath inspired them in sport, especially shooting and fly fishing. They spoke fluent French as well as passable German and Danish. Konstantin Pobedonostsev, was Nicholas' teacher of law and history. His home teacher general Danilovich did not ask for much from the tsesarevich, as "the sacrament of coronation will give the ruler all the information he needs."
Neither Nicholas's upbringing, nor his nature, was suitable for the difficult duties that awaited him as emperor. He had received military education from his teachers, and his taste and interests were similar to other young Russian officers. He had little intelligent ambition, but enjoyed physical exercise and the supplies of military life: uniforms, insignia and parades. But he felt uncomfortable in official situations. Even though he had charm, he was shy and avoided close contact with his subjects, preferring the privacy of his family. According to his diary he played childish games well past the age of 20.
Nicholas's large father, who could not tolerate weakness, was discouraging to Nicholas. Once when Nicholas made a mistake and let a playmate take the blame, Alexander shouted at him: "You are a girl!" Alexander was aware his son was too childish to take on responsibility, which he said clearly to minister of finance Sergei Witte. Nicholas learnt to obey his father, who told him to participate in committees. Nicholas found political tasks uninteresting and instead partied with other young officers from the Preobrazhensky, and Hussar Guards from the Romanov family, in restaurants and in the company of young women on the islands in front of St Petersburg. He was especially influenced by his uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov.
Nicholas underwent military training under general Gregory Danilovich and was inspired by him and senior procurator Konstantin Pobedonostsev in a Pan-Slavist and even mystical religious way. Pobedonostsev's teachings caused Nicholas to think that as emperor by the grace of God he had a sacred duty to upkeep the autocracy and the Eastern Orthodox religion.
In 1884, Nicholas' coming-of-age ceremony was held at the Winter Palace, where he pledged loyalty to his father. Later that year, Nicholas' uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, married Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his late wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. At the wedding in St Petersburg, the sixteen-year-old Tsarevich met with and admired the bride's youngest surviving sister, twelve-year-old Princess Alix. Those feelings of admiration blossomed into love following her visit to St Petersburg in 1889. Alix had feelings for him in turn. As a devout Lutheran, she was reluctant to convert to Russian Orthodoxy to marry Nicholas, but relented.
File:Nicholas1868.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, 1880s
In October 1890 Nicholas, his younger brother George, and their cousin Prince George of Greece, set out on a world tour on the cruiser Pamiat Azova, although Grand Duke George fell ill in Bombay and was sent home partway through the trip. Nicholas visited Egypt, India, Singapore, and Siam, receiving honors as a distinguished guest in each country. During his trip through Japan, Nicholas had a large dragon tattooed on his right forearm by tattoo artist Hori Chiyo. Nicholas' cousin George V of the UK had received a dragon tattoo from Hori in Yokohama years before. It was during his visit to Otsu, that Tsuda Sanzō, one of his escorting policemen, swung at the Tsarevich's face with a sabre, an event known as the Ōtsu incident. Nicholas was left with a 9 centimeter long scar on the right of his forehead, but it was not life-threatening. The incident cut his trip short.
Returning overland to St Petersburg, he was present at the ceremonies in Vladivostok commemorating the beginning of work on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1893, Nicholas traveled to London on behalf of his parents for the wedding of his cousin the Duke of York to Princess Mary of Teck. Queen Victoria was struck by the physical resemblance between the two cousins, and their appearances confused some at the wedding. Nicholas had an affair with St. Petersburg ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska. After returning to St Petersburg, Nicholas continued his relationship with Kschessinska in spite of his father's disapproval. However, the love of Nicholas' life proved not to be Mathilde but instead the young German Princess Alix of Hessen-Darmstadt, the younger sister of Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas's uncle Sergei Alexandrovich. Nicholas had already decided to marry Alix in 1899. The marriage was supported by Nicholas' uncle Sergei and his wife Elisabeth. In 1894 Nicholas told Mathilde of his love for Alix and that he wished Alix would marry him. The relationship between tsesarevich and ballerina ended, and in 1921 Mathilde married Nicholas's cousin, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia in Paris.
Though Nicholas was heir-apparent to the throne, his father failed to prepare him for his role as Tsar. He attended meetings of the State Council; however, as his father was only in his forties, it was expected it would be years before Nicholas succeeded. Sergei Witte, finance minister, saw things differently and suggested to the Tsar that Nicholas be appointed to the Siberian Railway Committee. Alexander argued that Nicholas was not mature enough to take on serious responsibilities, having once stated "Nikki is a good boy, but he has a poet's soul...God help him!" Witte stated that if Nicholas was not introduced to state affairs, he would never be ready to understand them. Alexander's assumption he would live long and have years to prepare Nicholas proved wrong: by 1894, Alexander's health was failing.