A Brief Look At Czar Nicholas II

Czar Nicholas II was the last of the Romanov dynasty and the last czar to ever rule over the country of Russia. He was trained to be an army man, but was forced to take on the role of being the czar when his father died. Since he was never taught by his father on how to rule a country properly, he was easily persuaded by people such as Rasputin to do what others thought was best for Russia. Czar Nicholas II disliked being the czar at times, but his wife, Alexandra, and five children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei, always brought a smile to his face. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. In 1917, Czar Nicholas II’s entire family, pets, and some servants were executed by the Bolsheviks- a group of people that were against
At the palace, Nicholas and his first cousin, the future King George V of Britain became lifelong friends, regardless of how Nicholas’s father, Alexander III and Queen Victoria, George’s mother, disliked each other. They both had similar appearances and personalities and dislike William, the future German Kaiser. He spent most of boyhood in Gatchina, Russia where he received a strict upbringing since his mother, the Czarina, taught Nicholas to model himself on Peter the Great, a past czar of Russia. Nicholas became a czarevitch (crown prince) early in his life when his older brother died (Rice 271). Nicholas grew up in the isolation of his family, and had a lack of friends outside of European royalty that deprived him of the benefit of understanding the way his future subjects lived (“Nicholas”). Because of that he never gained a sense of confidence and self reliance. Also, he was the best educated European Monarch of his time, but he was taught nothing to fit him for the tasks of a sovereign. He was purposefully cut off from liberal thoughts and ideas by his parents, and instead he received a soldier’s preparation. Nicholas achieved the rank of Colonel in the Life Guards and loved the
He tried to conceal his exhaustion and physical pain from others. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo in 1914 made Nicholas to diplomatic efforts aimed at averting war. Unfortunately, Russia went to war in 1914 to defend the Serbs when Austria declared war on Serbia. But, when war broke out it enhanced Nicholas’s popularity even though Nicholas ignored the Duma and discouraged the effects of patriotic volunteers. He also bowed to his wife’s advice in relieving the tremendously popular Grand Duke Nicholas as commander in chief of the armed forces and assuming direction of the army himself. Nicholas went into the lines to lead his armies but the problems increased and many soldiers deserted. Nicholas’s departure for the front meant that his wife had to rule Russia and Rasputin appointing new members to the cabinet and clergy. Those soldiers were instrumental in the February Revolution in 1917 which ended the Romanov Dynasty. On March 8th, 1917 riots broke out throughout Russia, and seven days later Nicholas abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Michael, who declined the crown. The royal family was imprisoned and then transported Yekaterinburg in Ural Mountains. It looked as if anti-revolutionary White Russian forces might arrive to rescue the royal family, the Bolsheviks killed the royal family in the cellar of