What happened during the reign of Nicholas II?

Answer 1

Nicholas II as a private person was a kindly and by his own admission to his wife, weak-willed man. But as a ruler he grimy held on to his autocratic powers, was totally out of touch with developments and feelings in his country and heavily influenced by his very conservative wife who constantly admonished him to never budge an inch to any reformist or democratic tendency in his country. His wife again was for a period influenced by the starets Rasputin, but he only confirmed her in her autocratic views and advice to her husband that she would have given him anyway.

Nicholas' wish to be an autocrat was however in no way matched by his talent to rule Russia by himself. Apart from blocking any tendency to progress and political freedom, he did not have any clear view as to how to rule and where to take his country. In international diplomacy he was easily influenced by others and often took decisions that horrified his ministers.

Finally on the eve of WW I he let himself first be persuaded to go for all-out mobilisation (thereby triggering an unwanted war with Germany) instead of limiting himself to protecting Serbia, which was his intention. When the war went badly for Russia, he took active command of the army, although he had no military expertise whatsoever. The result was that he now totally got out of touch with developments and feelings within Russia and did not notice the collapse of Russia's war economy. On top of that, his direct command of the army did not only do nothing for Russian success, but it made the Russian public blame him as directly responsible for Russia's military defeats and setbacks.

All this led to the revolution of February, 1917 and his deposition as Tsar.

Answer 2

Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia. He was deposed during the Russian Revolution and executed by the Bolsheviks.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov succeeded his father in 1894. He let his wife dominated him and he distrusted his advisors. He wanted to expand Russia and this caused a war with Japan in 1904. The expenses and loss of lives caused great unhappiness with his people and they rioted in 1905. He was forced to make minor concessions. Then World War I came and Nicholas chose to command his army into war. Back home his wife was not popular. The people were upset by food shortages and were angry with Alexandra relying on Rasputin, who many thought was having an affair with their tsarina or worse.

In December 1916, Rasputin was murdered by a group of disaffected nobles. Then in February 1917, widespread popular demonstrations began in the capital Petrograd (as St Petersburg was renamed in 1914). Nicholas lost the support of the army and had no alternative but to abdicate. A shaky provisional government was established. The tsar and his family were held in various locations, eventually being imprisoned in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government. Following a harsh peace treaty with Germany in March 1918, Russia descended into civil war. On 17 July 1918, as anti-Bolsheviks approached Yekaterinburg, Nicholas and his family were executed. This was almost certainly on the orders of the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin.

Answer 3

The Russian peasants did nothing to Nicholas II or his family. They were in the custody of the Cheka. In the early morning of July 17, 1918, on orders from Vladimir Lenin, they murdered the Tsar and his family.

Answer 4

Nicholas II's troops shot and killed more than 1,000 demonstrators in an incident known as 'Bloody Sunday.' They had been appealing to Nicholas II to improve working conditions.

Answer 5

WWI and the Russian Revolution.

Answer 6

absolutely nothing