Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II was the last Tsar of Russia and lost an empire he had never wanted to inherit. Born in 1868, he came to the throne in 1894 at twenty-six on his father's unexpected death, saying he knew nothing of the business of ruling and had never wanted to become one. His coronation set the pattern. A crowd gathered on Khodynka Field in Moscow for the customary gifts, a rumour spread that there was not enough, and about 1,400 people were crushed. He attended a French embassy ball that evening. He believed autocracy was a sacred trust and that concession was betrayal, and every concession he made was made too late to help him. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904, entered on the assumption that a short victorious war would settle domestic unrest, ended with a fleet destroyed at Tsushima after sailing halfway round the world. Bloody Sunday in January 1905 — troops firing on a peaceful procession carrying his portrait to petition him — began the 1905 revolution, and produced the October Manifesto and a Duma he spent the next decade undermining. His son Alexei was a haemophiliac, which drew Rasputin into the family and, through him, into government appointments. He took personal command of the army in 1915, making himself responsible for every subsequent defeat and leaving the capital to the Empress. He abdicated in March 1917 and was shot with his wife, five children, and four servants in a cellar at Yekaterinburg in July 1918. The Russian Orthodox Church canonised the family in 2000 as passion-bearers.
- Lived: 1868 CE – 1918 CE
- Nationality: Russian
- Roles: head_of_state, commander_in_chief
