Nicholas II, The Last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)

Nicholas II, The Last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)

The earliest ancestor of the Russian Romanovs emigrated to Russia from Prussia in the 14th century. This ancestor’s great-great granddaughter was Anastasia Romanov, who became Tsar Ivan IV’s first wife. Ivan IV (1533-1584), known as Ivan the Terrible, was the grandson of Ivan the Great and was crowned the first Tsar of all Russia in 1547. The son of Ivan the Terrible was a very weak Tsar and allowed the ruling power to fall into the hands of the nobles, one of whom was Nikita Romanov. This Tsar died without any heirs and the chaos that followed his reign became known as the “Time of Troubles.” In 1613, a national assembly of nobles elected Michael Romanov (Russian name Mikhail), as the first Romanov Tsar of Russia. Michael was Tsar from 1613 until 1645. The Romanov Dynasty ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917, a period of over three hundred years. The last Romanov Tsar was Nicholas II (Russian name Nikolai) who was Tsar from 1894 until 1917, when the Romanov Dynasty came to a tragic end. Nicholas II is the focus of this paper, but to understand the Nicholas II reign requires a short description of rule under the Tsars preceding him.
All of the Russian Tsars, from the time of Ivan the Terrible, drew their political power away from the nobility, either by force or through diplomacy which allowed the nobility greater control over the occupants on their land. This political power grab by the Tsars increased until the nineteenth century when both of these relationships came increasingly under attack. A revolt in 1825 by young, reformist military officers attempted to force a constitutional monarchy by preventing the accession of Nicholas I, but failed. Russia became more industrialized as the twentieth century approached, and the inadequacies of autocratic Tsarist rule became increasingly evident. At the same time, Russia expanded its territory and power considerably with borders extending to Afghanistan and China.
Alexander III was the father of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. Alexander III came to the throne as Tsar on March 1, 1881 after the assassination of his father, when he was only 36 years old. During Alexander III’s reign, capitalism was strengthened and an industrial revolution was developing. But his domestic policy was particularly harsh against both revolutionaries and liberal movements which developed from the policies of the preceding Tsars.
Nicholas II, the last Russian Emperor and eldest son of Alexander III, was born on May 6, 1868. Ironically, this particular day is the Orthodox feast day of Saint Job the Suffer, whose image appears to have mirrored Nicholas’s troubled life. He was called little “Nickey” by his mother, Marie Fyodorovna Romanov, a petite brunette and his father, the giant and intimidating Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov. The Romanov men throughout the 19th century were well known as being physically large and imposing figures, an image well adapted to their roles as Russian Tsars. But Nicholas took after his mother instead of his father in stature, and was only about 5’-6” tall, and the other Romanov men towered over him. Nicholas tried to compensate for his lack of stature by working out with weights and other athletic equipment, but he remained slight and wiry in physique. His legs were short, but he appeared quite regal when mounted on a horse, which was one of his loves in life, others being large cars and collie dogs. Tsar Alexander III realized that the problems facing a 20th Century Tsar would be quite different from those of the past, so he arranged an excellent education to prepare Nicholas for his role as Russian Tsar, ensuring that Nicholas was probably the best educated European Monarch in his time. As time progressed, the Romanov dynasty had became more Europeanized through intermarriage with European royal families. It was estimated that Nicholas II was only 1/256 Russian.
Terrorism was a real threat to the Tsars, and this caused Nicholas to be isolated from his future subjects and also to be cut off from any liberal thinking. This isolation deprived Nicholas of any interaction with the intellectual and artistic communities, and caused a dearth of ideas about honor, service, and tradition which would later hinder his ability to govern Russia. Nicholas achieved the rank of Colonel in the Life Guards while he was the Tsarevich, heir to the throne. He enjoyed these years as a military officer and also the friendships of the other officers. These were relatively stress free times, and in 1893 he became engaged to a German princess, Alix Victoria Eleanor Louisa Beatrice (Alexandra Fedorovna) and married her. However, in the Fall of 1894, Tsar Alexander III developed a serious nephritis condition, which is a chronic inflammation of the kidneys, and died on October 20, 1894 at only 47 years of age. This event caused Nicholas II to ascended to the throne and he was crowned on May 14, 1896. The crowning ceremony in Moscow was overshadowed by catastrophe on Khodynskoe Field, when in the rush for refreshments which had been set up on tables over ditches in a field, over a thousand spectators were crushed to death. This event probably created an impression in Nicholas II’s subjects of an uncaring ruler.
Nicholas II and Alexandra had four daughters between 1885 and 1901, a situation that did not produce a heir to the throne, since only males could become Tsars. The four daughters were the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Finally, on July 30, 1904, a heir to the throne was born and named Aleksey Nickolaevich Romanov, the last child born to the Tsar and his wife. This child was both a blessing and a curse to his parents, the Romanov Dynasty and Russia as a whole. This resulted from Aleksey being born a hemophiliac, sometimes called “the royal disease.” Hemophilia is a disease in which the blood does not clot properly, and the person can die easily from small injuries. Only males can get hemophilia, and only women can carry the disease. Alexandra inherited the hemophilia genes from her mother, who in turn got them from her mother Queen Victoria . Aleksey became the first Russian Boy Scout in 1909 due to Tsar Nicholas interest and support of this organization, which disappeared after the 1917 Revolution.
After Aleksey was diagnosed a hemophiliac, Alexandra became frantic and searched for a solution to this medical dilemma. This search led her to a man named Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin was shadowy and mysterious character from the Tyumen district of Siberia. One day while he was plowing a field, Rasputin thought he saw a vision which told him to make a pilgrimage, and he walked two thousand miles to a church in Greece. He returned home a changed man, reciting the scripture and praying at length, even though he was neither a monk nor or a priest. In fact, Rasputin had a wife and children, and one of his children named Maria, became a circus performer and died in Los Angeles, California. Alexandra saw Rasputin as the cure for Aleksey’s hemophilia, and while he was alive, witness including medical doctors and skeptics, concluded that he possessed some inexplicable power over Tsarevich Aleksey and his hemophilia. This gave Rasputin some power and protection from both Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra.
After he became Tsar, Nicholas quickly learned that he was surrounded by deceit and the self-interest of bureaucrats and sycophants. He realized that he could trust very few people besides his wife and became cynical and mistrustful of human nature. This fear was not without cause since Nicholas II’s ministers were very reactionary and created an unstable political situation for him. Nicholas II loved Russia first, then his family, a trait of a good ruler. He was a hard and diligent worker, but unfortunately, he was unable to see the whole picture because he tended to focus greatly on details. Nicholas became a strong supporter of the right of the sovereign despite growing pressures from revolutionary groups with practical desires. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia had many anti-tsarist political movements. One of them, the Cadets (liberal Constitutional Democrats) advocated constitutional monarchy and representative government. Another group, the Social Revolutionaries, which were a revival of the populist revolutionary tradition of the 1870’s, espoused a Russian agrarian socialism based on the collective, cooperative spirit of the mir. The Social Democrats hoped to apply the theories of Karl Marx to the Russian situation. The Social Democrats had a radial faction called the Bolsheviks, which included Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky, and planned on an industrial laborers (Proletariat) revolt, a small classs in Russia since industrialization was still in a developing stage. This explosive political scene was noted by Tsar Nicholas II, and was part of the reason that Russia went to war with Japan. In 1905 Japan attacked Russia in a dispute over far eastern territories which caused Russia to suffer greatly, as the Russian logistical supply system broke down and food prices soared, public discontent spread rapidly. Russia suffered a bad military defeat by Japan, and 400,000 Russian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. Material losses were valued at 2.5 billion gold rubles. Bloody Sunday occurred in January, 1905 when Tsarist troops fired on peaceful demonstrators who were petitioning Nicholas II for a redress of perceived grievances. Nicholas II was absent during this occurrence. This tragic event caused revolutionary outbreaks to erupt throughout Russia, which Nicholas II responded to by proclaiming the Manifesto of 17 October 1905. This Manifesto guaranteed fundamental civil freedoms including personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. A national parliament was also created and called the Duma. The right to vote in the Duma was severely restricted and it became a kind of debating society with no real voice in the Russian Government. After concluding the war with Japan, Nicholas II attempted to reverse the new freedoms, which resulted in a more reactionary government and increased repression. It is not clear whether Russia was moving towards or away from a revolution prior to World War I.
Peter Stolypin served as Nicholas II’s chief advisor from 1906 until 1911 when he was assassinated. After Stolypin’s demise, Rasputin’s political influence with Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra greatly increased. During Nicholas II’s reign, and prior to the outbreak of World War I, Russia contributed to the fine arts. In 1898, Moscow Art Theater was founded and produced Chekhov’s Sea Gull. In 1909 Diaghilev’s Ballet russe toured Western Europe. In 1910, Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird scandalized Paris. In 1913, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was produced. Russia’s contributions to the fine arts essentially disappeared after the Romanov Dynasty ended and the Bolsheviks era began.
Russia entered World War I on the Allied side against Germany on August 1, 1914. The war was being fought on Russia’s borders with European nations, and Russia suffered badly in this war. Territory was lost to Germany, and Russia suffered massive casualties. Tsarist armies fared poorly in battles which they should have won but lost. This caused Nicholas II to go to the scene of the battles and take over the army, which left control of the government in the hands of Tsarist Alexandra and Rasputin. This only created greater discontent and unrest in the Russian people who feared that their government was now controlled by a German Princess whose allegiance was to Germany. Loss of territory combined with massive war causalities caused civilian unrest and resulted in the Second Russian Revolution in February 1917. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on March 15, 1917. This was the end of the Romanov Dynasty. A provisional government was implemented after Nicholas II abdication, in an effort to try and maintain order out of the chaos in society, but this measure was unsuccessful partly due to the archaic political scene existing in Russia at this point in time.
Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, and their four daughters and their son were held as political prisoners for just over a year after Nicholas II’s abdication. Then, just after midnight on July 17, 1918, they were awakened by their captors and told to dress for a photograph, but instead they were to be executed. Yakov Yurovsky was the captor in charge of carrying out the execution of the imperial family. In addition to the imperial family, they were joined by their servants: Trupp, the valet; Demidova, the maid; and Kharitonov, the cook and Dr. Botkin, the family physician. Yakov Yurovsky and his accomplices carried out the execution of these eleven victims and ended the Romanov Dynasty of Russia.
This brutal murder of Russia’s last Tsar ended the Romanov Dynasty of Russia and probably set the pattern for the Stalinists and their brutal treatment of the Russian people in the years following the Second Russian Revolution.