Tsar Nicholas II (1868 - 1918)
Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II
The Romanov family
May 18th 1868: Tsar Nicholas II born
On this day in 1868, the future Tsar of Russia, Nicholas Romanov, was born in Alexander Palace. He became Tsar in 1894 upon the death of his father Tsar Alexander III. Nicholas’s reign was mired by Russia’s poor performance in the Russo-Japanese and First World War, and the wars’ devastating impact on the Russian people. Opposition to the Tsar also rose due to his repression of dissenters and that he left the government in the hands of his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their adviser Rasputin. The unrest culminated in the February Revolution (it was February by the old Russian calendar, but March in the modern Gregorian Calendar), which forced the Tsar out of power. Nicholas, facing pressure from his people and his ministers, decided to abdicate the throne in favour of his brother, Grand Duke Michael. However, Michael refused to take the crown and therefore Nicholas became the last Tsar of Russia, and the reign of the Romanov family came to an end after over 300 years on the throne. A Provisional Government replaced the Tsar, however this too was overthrown in October 1917 and replaced with a Bolshevik dictatorship under Vladimir Lenin, thus beginning Communist rule in Russia which would last until 1991. Nicholas and his wife and children were brutally murdered by the Bolshevik secret police - the Cheka - in July 1918.
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