The History of the ROMANOV Family
Nicholas II
(Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 17
July 1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke
of Finland, and claimed the title of King of Poland. His
official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of
All the Russias and he is currently regarded as Saint
Nicholas the Passion Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Nicholas
II ruled from 1894 until his abdication on 15 March
1917. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one
of the foremost great powers of the world to an economic
and military disaster. Critics nicknamed him Bloody Nicholas
because of the Khodynka Tragedy, Bloody Sunday, and
those anti-Semitic pogroms that occurred during his reign.
As head of state, he approved the Russian mobilization
of August 1914 which marked the first fatal step into
World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty.
Nicholas II
abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during
which he and his family were imprisoned first in the Alexander
Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, then later in the Governor's
Mansion in Tobolsk, and finally at the Ipatiev House in
Yekaterinburg. Nicholas II, his wife, his son, his four
daughters, the family's medical doctor, the Tsar's Valet,
the Empress' Lady in Waiting and the family's cook were
all killed in the same room by the Bolsheviks on the night
of 17 July 1918. This led to the canonization of Nicholas
II, his wife the Empress and their children as martyrs
by various groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church
within Russia and, prominently, by the Russian Orthodox
Church outside Russia.
Family
Background
Nicholas was
the son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna
of Russia, the latter of whom was born "Princess
Dagmar of Denmark". His paternal grandparents were
Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna
of Russia, the latter of whom was born "Princess
Marie of Hesse". His maternal grandparents were
King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of
Hesse-Kassel. Nicholas often referred to his father
nostalgically in letters after Alexander's death in
1894, although as a child he was jealous of his physical
strength. He was also very close to his mother, revealed
in their published letters to and from one another[citation
needed]. Nicholas had three younger brothers: Alexander
(1869-1870), George (1871-1899) and Michael (1878-1918)
and two younger sisters: Xenia (1875-1960) and Olga
(1882-1960).
Since his father's
cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, shared the same
first name, the Grand Duke was often known within the
Imperial Family as "Nicholasha" to distinguish
him from the future Tsar. Maternally, Nicholas was the
nephew of several monarchs, including King George I of
Greece, King Frederick VIII of Denmark, Alexandra, Queen
consort of the United Kingdom, and The Crown Princess
of Hanover.
Nicholas, Nicholas's
wife, and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany were all first cousins
of George V, king of Great Britain. Nicholas and Wilhelm
were not first cousins with each other, but they were
fifth cousins since they were both also descended from
George II, King of England.
Tsarevich
Nicholas II with his mother
(1870). Nicholas became Tsarevich following the assassination
of his grandfather, Alexander II on 13 March 1881 and the
subsequent accession of his father, Alexander III. Nicholas
and other family members witnessed this event while staying
at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, but for security
reasons, the new Tsar and his family relocated their primary
residence to the Gatchina Palace outside the city.
Eastern journey of Nicholas II After the Grand Embassy
of Peter I, a long trip for educational purposes became
an important part of training for the state activity of
the members of the Russian Imperial house. In 1890 Emperor
Alexander III of Russia decided to establish the Trans-Siberian
Railway and his heir Tsarevich Nicholas took part in the
opening ceremony.
Although Nicholas attended meetings of the Imperial Council,
his obligations were limited until he acceded to the throne,
which was not expected for many years, since his father
was only forty-five.
While he was
Tsarevich, Nicholas had an affair with the ballet dancer
Mathilde Kschessinska. Against the initial wishes of his
parents, Nicholas was determined to marry Princess Alix
of Hesse-Darmstadt, the fourth daughter of Louis IV, Grand
Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine and Princess Alice of the
Great Britain, second eldest daughter of Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert. His parents intended a more politically
beneficial arrangement with the
daughter of Philippe, comte de Paris, pretender to the French
throne, hoping to cement Russia's new alliance with France,
but eventually yielded to their son's insistence.
Engagement,
Marriage, Family Life, and Accession
Nicholas and Alexandra.Nicholas became engaged to Alix
of Hesse in April 1894. Alix was hesitant to accept the
engagement due to the requirement that she convert from
Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy and renounce her former
faith. An exception was made for Alix where she could
convert without renouncing her Lutheran faith and convert
with a clear conscience. Nicholas and Alix became formally
engaged on 8 April 1894. Alix converted to Orthodoxy in
November 1894, and took the name Alexandra Fedorovna.
Nicholas took
the throne in 1894 at the age of 26 following Alexander
III's unexpected death. Throughout 1894, Alexander's health
rapidly declined and at 49, he died of kidney disease.
Because Alexander had expected to live and rule for another
20 or 30 years, Nicholas did not have as much political
training or imperial experience as perhaps necessary.
It is said that Nicholas felt unprepared for the duties
of the crown asking his cousin, "What is going to
happen to me and all of Russia?" Finance Minister
Sergei Witte, however, recognized the need to train Nicholas
early, suggesting to Alexander that Nicholas act as chairman
of the Siberian Railway Committee. Alexander argued
that Nicholas was not mature enough to take on serious
responsibilities, to which Witte replied that if he was
not introduced to state affairs Nicholas would never be
ready to understand them. Nicholas also acted as chairman
of the Special Committee on Famine Relief, established
after the devastating famines and droughts of 1891-1892,
and he served on the Finance Committee and State Military
Council before his coronation. Perhaps under prepared
and unskilled, Nicholas was not altogether untrained for
his duties as tsar. Throughout his reign, Nicholas chose
to maintain the conservative policies favored by his father.
While Alexander had concentrated on the formulation of
general policy, Nicholas devoted much more attention to
the details of administration.
Portrait by
L. Tuxen of the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and the
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, which took place on 26 May
[O.S. 14 May] 1896 at the Uspensky Sobor Cathedral of
the Moscow Kremlin amongst extraordinary opulence and
splendor. Seated upon the dais, from left to right, the
Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna,
and Tsar Nicholas IINicholas and Alix's wedding was originally
scheduled for the following spring, however it was moved
forward at Nicholas' insistence. Staggering under the
weight of his new office, he had no intention of allowing
the one person who gave him confidence to leave his side.
The wedding took place on November 26 1894. Alexandra
wore the traditional dress of Romanov brides, and Nicholas
a Hussar's uniform. Each holding a lighted candle Nicholas
and Alexandra faced the Metropolitan. A few minutes before
one in the afternoon, they were married.
Nicholas and
Alexandra had 5 children; Olga, Maria, Tatiana, Anastasia,
and Alexei. Nicholas was a loving father and husband until
his death in 1918.
Despite a visit
to the United Kingdom before his accession, where he observed
the House of Commons in debate and seemed impressed by
the machinery of democracy , Nicholas turned his back
on any notion of giving away any power to elected representatives
in Russia. Shortly after he came to the Throne, a deputation
of peasants and workers from various towns' local assemblies
(zemstvos) came to the Winter Palace proposing court reforms,
such as the adoption of a constitutional monarchy,
and reform that would improve the political and social
life of the peasantry. Although the addresses they
had sent in beforehand were couched in mild and loyal
terms, Nicholas was angry and ignored advice from an Imperial
Family Council by saying to them: "... it has come
to my knowledge that during the last months there have
been heard in some assemblies of the zemstvos the voices
of those who have indulged in a senseless dream that the
zemstvos be called upon to participate in the government
of the country. I want everyone to know that I will devote
all my strength to maintain, for the good of the whole
nation, the principle of absolute autocracy, as firmly
and as strongly as did my late lamented father."
These words showed Nicholas's intentions to continue his
father's policies and possibly contributed to the beginnings
of the new tsar's unpopularity and sense that he was ignorant
of the problems and needs of the people.
Reign
On May 14,
1896 Nicholas' formal coronation as Tsar was held in Uspensky
Cathedral located within the Kremlin. In celebration
on May 18, 1896 a large festival with food, free beer
and souvenirs was held in Khodynka Field outside Moscow.
Khodynka was chosen as the location as it was believed
to be the sacred centre of the Russian Empire and would
therefore demonstrate Nicholas' legitimacy as tsar and
ties to the old autocracy. Khodynka was also used
as a military training ground and the field was uneven
with trenches. When food and drink were handed out, the
crowd rushed to get their share and individuals were tripped
and trampled. Of the approximate half million in attendance,
it is estimated that 1,429 individuals died and another
9,000 to 20,000 were injured. The Khodynka Tragedy
was seen as a bad omen and in addition to his conservative
policies, Nicholas found gaining popular trust difficult
from the beginning of his reign.
The first years
of his reign saw little more than continuation and development
of the policy pursued by Alexander III [disambiguation
needed]. Nicholas allotted money for All-Russia exhibition
of 1896. In 1897 restoration of gold standard by Sergei
Witte, Minister of Finance, completed the series of financial
reforms, initiated fifteen years earlier. By 1902, the
Great Siberian railway was sort of completed, this helped
for the Russian trade in the Far East but the railway
still required huge amounts of work (England and France
railways completed in 1930s).
Russian delegation
at the Hague Peace Conference 1899.In foreign relations,
Nicholas followed policies of his father, strengthening
Franco-Russian Alliance and pursuing a policy of general
European pacification, which culminated in the famous
Hague peace conference. This conference, suggested and
promoted by Nicholas II, was convened with the view of
terminating the arms race, and setting up machinery for
the peaceful settlement of international disputes. The
results of the conference were less than expected, because
of the mutual distrust existing between great powers.
Still, Hague conventions were among the first formal statements
of the laws of war.
Russo-Japanese
War
A clash between
Russia and Japan was almost inevitable by the turn of
the 20th century. Russia had expanded in the East, and
the growth of her settlement and territorial ambitions,
as her southward path to the Balkans was frustrated, conflicted
with Japan's own territorial ambitions on the Chinese
and Asian mainland. War began in 1904 with a surprise
Japanese attack on the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, without
formal declaration of war. The Russian Baltic fleet traversed
the world to balance power in the East, but after many
misadventures on the way, was almost annihilated by the
Japanese in the Battle of the Tsushima Strait. On land
the Russian army experienced logistical problems. While
commands and supplies came from St. Petersburg, combat
took place in east Asian ports with only the Trans-Siberian
Railway for transport of supplies as well as troops both
ways. The 6,000-mile track between St. Petersburg and
Port Arthur was one-way, with no track around Lake Baikal,
allowing only gradual build-up of the forces on the front.
Besieged Port Arthur fell to the Japanese, after nine
months of heroic resistance. In mid-1905, Nicholas II
accepted American mediation, appointing Sergei Witte chief
plenipotentiary for the peace talks. War was ended by
the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Nicholas's stance
on the war was something that baffled many. Nicholas approached
the war with confidence and saw it as an opportunity to
raise Russian morale and patriotism, paying little attention
to the finances of a long-distance war. Shortly before
the Japanese attack on Port Arthur, Nicholas held strong
to the belief that there would be no war. He felt that
it was his divine power to rule and protect Russia, and
that a war with Japan would simply not happen. Despite
the onset of the war and the many defeats Russia suffered,
Nicholas still believed in, and expected, a final victory.
Many people took the Tsar's confidence and stubbornness
for indifference; believing him to be completely impervious.
As Russia continued to face defeat by the Japanese, the
call for peace grew. Nicholas's own mother, as well as
his cousin, Kaiser William, urged Nicholas to open peace
negotiations. Despite the efforts for peace, Nicholas
remained evasive. It was not until March 27-28 and the
annihilation of the Russian fleet by the Japanese, that
Nicholas finally decided to pursue peace.
Kishinev pogrom
The administration
of Nicholas II published anti-Semitic propaganda that
encouraged people to riot in various parts of the Pale
of Settlement, resulting in the pogroms of 1903-1906.
Viacheslav Plehve, the Minister of the Interior, paid
the Kishinev newspaper "Bessarabets" for
anti-Semitic material, and the press during the Russo-Japanese
War accused the Jews of being a fifth column. This
accusation encouraged the eruption of numerous pogroms,
especially after Russia lost the war. Pogroms also resulted
from the government's reaction to the 1905 revolution.
Russian Revolution
(1905)
With the defeat
of Russia by a non-Western power, the prestige of the
government and the authority of the autocratic empire
was brought down significantly. Defeat was a severe
blow and the Imperial government collapsed, with the ensuing
revolutionary outbreaks of 1905-1906. In hope to frighten
any further contradiction many demonstrators were shot
in front of the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg; the Emperor's
Uncle, Grand Duke Sergei, was killed by a revolutionary's
bomb in Moscow as he left the Kremlin.
The Black Sea
Fleet mutinied, and a railway strike developed into a
general strike which paralized the country. Tsar Nicholas
II, who was taken by surprise by the events, mixed his
anger with bewilderment. He wrote to his mother after
months of disorder, "It makes me sick to read
the news! Nothing but strikes in schools and factories,
murdered policemen, Cossacks and soldiers, riots, disorder,
mutinies. But the ministers, instead of acting with quick
decision, only assemble in council like a lot of frightened
hens and cackle about providing united ministerial action...
ominous quiet days began, quiet indeed because there was
complete order in the streets, but at the same time everybody
knew that something was going to happen — the troops
were waiting for the siggnal, but the other side would
not begin. One had the same feeling, as before a thunderstorm
in summer! Everybody was on edge and extremely nervous
and of course, that sort of strain could not go on for
long.... We are in the midst of a revolution with an administrative
apparatus entirely disorganized, and in this lies the
main danger."
Bloody Sunday (1905)
On Saturday,
9 January 1905, a priest named George Gapon informed the
government that a march would take place the following
day and asked that the Tsar be present to receive a petition.
The ministers met hurriedly to consider the problem. There
was never any thought that the Tsar, who was at Tsarskoe
Selo and had been told of neither the march nor the petition,
would actually be asked to meet Gapon. The suggestion
that some other member of the Imperial family receive
the petition was rejected. Finally informed by the Prefect
of Police that he lacked the men to pluck Gapon from among
his followers and place him under arrest, the newly appointed
Minster of the Interior, Prince Sviatopolk-Mirsky, and
his colleagues could think of nothing to do except bring
additional troops into the city and hope that matters
would not get out of hand. That evening Nicholas learned
for the first time from Mirsky what the next day might
bring. He wrote in his diary, "Troops have been brought
from the outskirts to reinforce the garrison. Up to now
the workers have been calm. Their number is estimated
at 120,000. At the head of their union is a kind of socialist
priest named Gapon. Mirsky came this evening to present
his report on the measures taken." At Tsarskoe
Selo, Nicholas was stunned when he heard what had happened.
He wrote in his diary, "A painful day. Serious disorders
took place in Petersburg when the workers tried to come
to the Winter Palace. The troops have been forced to fire
in several parts of the city and there are many killed
and wounded. Lord, how painful and sad this is."
On Sunday, 22 January 1905, Father Gapon began his march.
Locking arms, the workers marched peacefully through
the streets. Some carried crosses, icons and religious
banners, others carried national flags and portraits
of the Tsar[citation needed]. As they walked they sang
religious hymns and the Imperial anthem, 'God Save The
Tsar'. At 2PM all of the converging processions were
scheduled to arrive at the Winter Palace. There was
no single confrontation with the troops. Throughout
the city, at bridges on strategic boulevards, the marchers
found their way blocked by lines of infantry, backed
by Cossacks and Hussars; and the soldiers opened fire
on the crowd. The official number of victims was ninety-two
dead and several hundred wounded. Gapon vanished and
the other leaders of the march were seized. Expelled
from the capital, they circulated through the empire,
exaggerating the casualties into thousands. That day,
which became known as "Bloody Sunday",
was a turning point in Russian history. It shattered
the ancient, legendary belief that the Tsar and the
people were one. As bullets riddled their icons, their
banners and their portraits of Nicholas, the people
shrieked, "The
Tsar will not help us!" Outside Russia, the
future British Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
attacked the Tsar calling him a "blood-stained
creature and a common murderer".
Grand Duchess
Olga Alexandrovna wrote, "Nicky had the police report
a few days before. That Saturday he telephoned my mother
at the Anitchkov and said that she and I were to leave
for Gatchina at once. He and Alicky went to Tsarskoe Selo.
Insofar as I remember, my Uncles Vladimir and Nicholas
were the only members of the family left in St. Petersburg,
but there may have been others. I felt at the time that
all those arrangements were hideously wrong. Nicky's ministers
and the Chief of Police had it all their way. My mother
and I wanted him to stay in St. Petersburg and to face
the crowd. I am positive that, for all the ugly mood of
some of the workmen, Nicky's appearance would have calmed
them. They would have presented their petition and gone
back to their homes. But that wretched Epiphany incident
had left all the senior officials in a state of panic.
They kept on telling Nicky that he had no right to run
such a risk, that he owed it to the country to leave the
capital, that even with the utmost precautions taken there
might always be some loophole left. My mother and I did
all we could to persuade him that the ministers' advice
was wrong, but Nicky preferred to follow it and he was
the first to repent when he heard of the tragic outcome."
From his hiding
place, Father Gapon issued a letter. He stated, "Nicholas
Romanov, formerly Tsar and at present soul-murderer of
the Russian empire. The innocent blood of workers, their
wives and children lies forever between you and the Russian
people ... May all the blood which must be spilled fall
upon you, you Hangman. I call upon all the socialist parties
of Russia to come to an immediate agreement among themselves
and bring an armed uprising against Tsarism."
Gapon's body was found hanging in an abandoned cottage
in Finland in April 1906.
Relationship
with the Duma
Silver Coin of Tsar Nicholas II, dated 1898, with the
Imperial coat-of-arms on the reverse. The Russian inscription
reads: B[ozheyu] M[ilostyu] Nikolay Imperator i Samoderzhets
Vseross[iyskiy].; English: "By the grace of God,
Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias".Under
pressure from the attempted Russian Revolution of 1905,
on 5 August 1905 Tsar Nicholas II issued a manifesto about
the convocation of the State Duma, initially thought to
be an advisory organ. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna,
younger sister of Nicholas II wrote, "There was such
gloom at Tsarskoe Selo. I did not understand anything
about politics. I just felt everything was going wrong
with the country and all of us. The October Constitution
did not seem to satisfy anyone. I went with my mother
to the first Duma. I remember the large group of deputies
from among peasants and factory people. The peasants looked
sullen. But the workmen were worse: they looked as though
they hated us. I remember the distress in Alicky's eyes."
Minister of the Court Count Fredericks commented, "The
Deputies, they give one the impression of a gang of criminals
who are only waiting for the signal to throw themselves
upon the ministers and cut their throats. I will never
again set foot among those people." The Dowager
Empress noticed "incomprehensible hatred."
In the October
Manifesto, the tsar pledged to introduce basic civil liberties,
provide for broad participation in the State Duma, and
endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers.
However, determined to preserve "autocracy" even
in the context of reform, he restricted the Duma's authority
in many ways—not least of which was an absence of
parliamentary contrrol over the appointment or dismissal
of cabinet ministers. Nicholas's relations with the Duma
were not good. The First Duma, with a majority of Kadets,
almost immediately came into conflict with him. Scarcely
had the 524 members sat down at the Tauride Palace when
they formulated an 'Address to the Throne'. It demanded
universal suffrage, radical land reform, the release of
all political prisoners and the dismissal of ministers
appointed by the Tsar in favour of ministers acceptable
to the Duma. Although Nicholas initially had a good
relationship with his relatively liberal prime minister,
Sergei Witte, Alexandra distrusted him (because he instigated
an investigation of Rasputin), and as the political situation
deteriorated, Nicholas dissolved the Duma. The Duma was
populated with radicals, many of whom wished to push through
legislation that would abolish private property ownership,
among other things. Witte, unable to grasp the seemingly
insurmountable problems of reforming Russia and the monarchy,
wrote to Nicholas on 14 April 1906 resigning his office
(however, other accounts have said that Witte was forced
to resign by the Emperor). Nicholas was not ungracious
to Witte and an Imperial Rescript was published on 22
April creating Witte a Knight of the Order of Saint Alexander
Nevsky, with diamonds (the last two words were written
in the Emperor's own hand, followed by "I remain
unalterably well-disposed to you and sincerely grateful,
for ever more Nicholas.").
A second Duma
met for the first time in February 1907. The leftist parties
including the Social Democrats and the Social Revolutionaries
which had boycotted the First Duma, had won two hundred
seats in the Second, more than a third of the membership.
Again Nicholas waited impatiently to rid himself of the
Duma. In two letters to his mother he let his bitterness
flow, "A grotesque deputation is coming from England
to see liberal members of the Duma. Uncle Bertie informed
us that they were very sorry but were unable to take action
to stop their coming. Their famous "liberty",
of course. How angry they would be if a deputation went
from us to the Irish to wish them success in their struggle
against their government." A little while later
Nicholas wrote, "All would be well if everything
said in the Duma remained within its walls. Every word
spoken, however, comes out in the next day's papers which
are avidly read by everyone. In many places the populace
is getting restive again. They begin to talk about land
once more and are waiting to see what the Duma is going
to say on the question. I am getting telgrams from everywhere,
petitioning me to order a dissolution, but it is too early
for that. One has to let them do something manifestly
stupid or mean and then — slap! And they are gone!".
After the Second
Duma resulted in similar problems, the new prime minister
Pyotr Stolypin (whom Witte described as 'reactionary')
unilaterally dissolved it, and changed the electoral laws
to allow for future Dumas to have a more conservative
content, and to be dominated by the liberal-conservative
Octobrist Party of Alexander Guchkov. Stolypin, a skillful
politician, had ambitious plans for reform. These included
making loans available to the lower classes to enable
them to buy land, with the intent of forming a farming
class loyal to the crown. Nevertheless, when the Duma
remained hostile, Stolypin had no qualms about invoking
Article 87 of the Fundamental Laws, which empowered the
Tsar to issue 'urgent and extraordinary' emergency decrees
'during the recess of the State Duma'. Stolypin's most
famous legislative act, the change in peasant land tenure,
was promulgated under Article 87.
The third Duma
remained an independent body. This time the members proceeded
cautiously. Instead of hurling themselves at the government,
opposing parties within the Duma worked to develop the
body as a whole. In the classic manner of the British
Parliament, the Duma reached for power grasping for the
national purse strings. The Duma had the right to question
ministers behind closed doors as to their proposed expenditures.
These sessions, endorsed by Stolypin, were educational
for both sides, and, in time, mutual antagonism was replaced
by mutual respect. Even the sensitive area of military
expenditure, where the October Manifesto clearly had reserved
decisions to the throne, a Duma commission began to operate.
Composed of aggressive patriots no less anxious than Nicholas
to restore the fallen honour of Russian arms, the Duma
commission frequently recommended expenditures even larger
than those proposed.
King George
V (right) with his first cousin Tsar Nicholas II, Berlin,
1913. Note the close physical resemblance between the
two monarchsWith the passage of time, Nicholas also began
to have confidence in the Duma. "This Duma cannot
be reproached with an attempt to seize power and there
is no need at all to quarrel with it" he said to
Stolypin in 1909. Unfortunately Stolypin's plans were
undercut by conservatives at court. Reactionaries such
as Prince Vladimir Orlov never tired of telling the Tsar
that the very existence of the Duma was a blot on the
autocracy. Stolypin, they whispered, was a traitor and
secret revolutionary who was conniving with the Duma to
steal the prerogatives assigned the Tsar by God. Witte
also engaged in constant intrigue against Stolypin. Although
Stolypin had had nothing to do with Witte's fall, Witte
blamed him. Stolypin had unwittingly angered the Empress.
He had ordered an investigation into Rasputin and presented
it to the Tsar. Stolypin, on his own authority, ordered
Rasputin to leave St.Petersburg. Alexandra protested vehemently
but Nicholas refused to overrule his Prime Minister.
who had more influence with the Emperor.
By the time
of Stolypin's assassination by Dmitry Bogrov, a student
(and police informant) in a theatre in Kiev on 18 September
1911, Stolypin had grown weary of the burdens of office.
For a man who preferred clear decisive action, working
with a sovereign who believed in fatalism and mysticism
was frustrating. As an example, Nicholas once returned
a document unsigned with the note: "Despite most
convincing arguments in favour of adopting a positive
decision in this matter, an inner voice keeps on insisting
more and more that I do not accept responsibility for
it. So far my conscience has not deceived me. Therefore
I intend in this case to follow its dictates. I know that
you, too, believe that "a Tsar's heart is in God's
hands". Let it be so. For all laws established by
me I bear a great responsibility before God, and I am
ready to answer for my decision at any time."
Alexandra, believing that Stolypin had severed the bonds
that her son depended on for life, hated the Prime Minister.
In March 1911, in a fit of anger stating that he no longer
commanded the imperial confidence, Stolypin asked to be
relieved of his office. Two years earlier when Stolypin
had casually mentioned resigning to Nicholas he was informed, "This
is not a question of confidence or lack of it. It is my
will. Remember that we live in Russia, not abroad ...
and therefore I shall not consider the possibility of
any resignation."
In 1912, a fourth
Duma was elected with almost the same membership as the
third. "The Duma started too fast. Now it is slower,
but better, and more lasting." stated Nicholas to
Sir Bernard Pares.
The first World
War was a complete and utter disaster for Russia. By late
1916, among the Romanov family desperation reached the
point of which Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, younger
brother of Alexander III and the Tsar's only surviving
uncle was deputed to beg Nicholas to grant a constitution
and a government responsible to the Duma. Nicholas sternly
refused, reproaching his uncle for asking him to break
his coronation oath to maintain autocratic power intact
for his successors. In the Duma on 2 December 1916, Purishkevich,
a fervent patriot, monarchist and war worker denounced
the dark forces which surrounded the throne in a thunderous
two hour speech which was tumultuously applauded. "Revolution" he
warned "and an obscure peasant shall govern Russia
no longer".
Tsarevich Alexei's
illness
Nicholas II with his wife, four daughters and son (1910)
Further complicating domestic matters was the matter of
the succession. Alexandra bore Nicholas four daughters,
Olga in 1895, Tatiana in 1897, Maria in 1899 and Anastasia
in 1901, before their son Alexei was born on 12 August
1904. The young heir was afflicted with hemophilia, a
hereditary disease that prevents blood clotting properly,
which at that time was untreatable and usually led to
an untimely death. As a granddaughter of Queen Victoria,
Alexandra carried the same gene mutation that afflicted
several of the major European royal houses such as Spain
and Prussia. Hemophilia therefore became known as "the
royal disease".
Alexandra had passed it on to her son. As all of Nicholas
and Alexandra's daughters perished with their parents
and brother in Yekaterinburg in 1918, it is not known
whether any of them inherited the gene as carriers.
Because
of the fragility of the autocracy at this time, Nicholas
and Alexandra chose not to divulge Alexei's condition
to anyone outside the royal household. In fact, there
were many in the Imperial household who were unaware
of the exact nature of the Tsarevich's illness. They
knew that he suffered from some serious malady; however,
the exact nature of his suffering was not revealed to
all.
At first Alexandra turned to Russian doctors
and medics to treat Alexei; however, their treatments
generally failed, and Alexandra increasingly turned
to mystics and holy men. One of these, Grigori Rasputin,
appeared to have some success.
Rasputin's
influence over Empress Alexandra, and consequently the
Tsar, grew stronger ever since 1912, when Alexei almost
died from an injury on a family vacation to the hunting
lodges at Bialowieza and Spala (now part of Poland).
The bleeding went unstopped and grew steadily worse
until it was assumed that the Tsarevich would not survive,
and the Last Sacrament was administered on October 10,
1912. Desperate, Alexandra called Rasputin as a last
resort, and the reply came, "God has seen your tears
and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One
will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him
too much." Miraculously it
seemed to Alexandra, the hemorrhage stopped the next day
and the boy began to recover. Alexandra took this as a
sign that Rasputin was a holy man and that God was with
him; for the rest of her life she would defend him and
turn her wrath against anyone who dared to question his
moral character.
World War I
Following the
assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the
Austrian throne by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serb
nationalist association known as the Black Hand, in Sarajevo
on 28 June 1914, Nicholas vacillated as to Russia's course
of action. The outbreak of war was not inevitable, but
leaders, diplomats and nineteenth-century alliances created
a climate for large-scale conflict. The concept of Pan-Slavism
and ethnicity allied Russia and Serbia in a treaty of
protection, and Germany and Austria were similarly allied.
Territorial conflict created rivalries between Germany
and France and between Austria and Serbia, and as a consequence
alliance networks developed across Europe. The Triple
Entente and Triple Alliance networks were set before the
war, but only understood by allied government leaders
and kept secret from the greater public. The assassination
of Ferdinand tripped these alliance networks bringing
each country into conflict with one another as each independently
declared war. Nicholas wanted neither to abandon Serbia
to the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary, nor to provoke
a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany (the so-called "Willy
and Nicky correspondence") the two proclaimed
their desire for peace, and each attempted to get
the other to back down. Nicholas took stern measures
in this regard, demanding that Russia's mobilization
be only against the Austrian border, in the hopes
of preventing war with the German Empire.
The Russians
had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and
on July 31, 1914 Nicholas took the fateful step of confirming
the order for a general mobilization. Nicholas was strongly
counselled against mobilization of the Russian forces
but chose to ignore such advice. Nicholas put the Russian
army on "alert" on July 25. Although this
was not mobilization, it threatened the German and Austrian
borders and looked like a military declaration of war.
On July 28,
Austria formally declared war against Serbia, bringing
Russia and Germany into conflict as protectorates, and
France and Britain and Russian allies. Count Witte told
the French Ambassador Paleologue that from Russia's point
of view the war was madness, Slav solidarity was simply
nonsense and Russia could hope for nothing from the war.
Tsar Nicholas
II (1915) by Boris Kustodiev. On 31 July Russia completed
its mobilization, but still maintained that it would not
attack if peace talks were to begin. Germany then replied
that Russia must demobilize within the next twelve hours.
In Saint Petersburg,
at 7PM, with the ultimatum to Russia expired, the German
ambassador to Russia met with the Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Sazonov, asked three times if Russia would not
reconsider and then with shaking hands delivered the note
accepting Russia's war challenge and declaring war.
The outbreak
of war on 1 August 1914 found Russia grossly unprepared.
Russia and her allies placed their faith in her army,
the famous 'Russian steamroller'. Its pre-war regular
strength was 1,400,000; mobilisation added 3,100,000 reserves
and millions more stood ready behind them. In every other
respect, however, Russia was unprepared for war. Germany
had ten times as much railway track per square mile and
whereas Russian soldiers travelled an average of 800 miles
(1,290 km) to reach the front, German soldiers travelled
less than a quarter of that distance. Russian heavy industry
was still too small to equip the massive armies the Tsar
could raise and her reserves of munitions were pitifully
small. With the Baltic Sea barred by German U-boats and
the Dardanelles by the guns of her former ally Turkey,
Russia could receive help only via Archangel which was
frozen solid in winter, or Vladivostock, which was over
4,000 miles (6,400 km) from the front line. The Russian
High Command was moreover greatly weakened by the mutual
contempt between Vladimir Sukhomlinov, the Minister of
War, and the redoubtable warrior giant Grand Duke Nicholas
Nicolaievich who commanded the armies in the field.
In spite of all of this, an immediate attack was ordered
against the German province of East Prussia. The Germans
mobilized there with great efficiency and completely defeated
the two Russian armies which had invaded. The Battle of
Tannenberg where an entire Russian army was annihilated
cast an ominous shadow over the empire's future. The loyal
officers lost were the very ones needed to protect the
dynasty.
The Russian
armies later had moderate success against both the Austro-Hungarian
armies and against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. They
never succeeded against the might of the German army.
Gradually a
war of attrition set in on the vast Eastern Front, where
the Russians were facing the combined forces of the German
and Austro-Hungarian Empires, and they suffered staggering
losses. General Denikin, retreating from Galicia wrote, "The
German heavy artillery swept away whole lines of trenches,
and their defenders with them. We hardly replied. There
was nothing with which we could reply. Our regiments,
although completely exhausted, were beating off one attack
after another by bayonet .... Blood flowed unendingly,
the ranks became thinner and thinner and thinner. The
number of graves multiplied. Total losses for the
spring and summer of 1915 amounted to 1,400,000 killed
or wounded, while 976,000 had been taken prisoner.
On 5 August with the army in retreat, Warsaw fell. Defeat
at the front bred disorder at home. At first the targets
were German and for three days in June shops, bakeries,
factories, private houses and country estates belonging
to people with German names were looted and burned. Then
the inflamed mobs turned on the government declaring the
Empress should be shut up in a convent, the Tsar deposed
and Rasputin hanged. Nicholas was by no means deaf to
these discontents. An emergency session of the Duma was
summoned and a Special Defence Council established, its
members drawn from the Duma and the Tsar's ministers.
In July 1915,
King Christian X of Denmark, first cousin of the Tsar,
sent Hans Niels Andersen to Tsarskoe Selo with an offer
to act as a mediator. He made several trips between London,
Berlin and Petrograd and in July saw the Dowager Empress
Maria Fyodorovna. Andersen told her they should conclude
peace. Nicholas chose to turn down King Christian's offer
of mediation.
The energetic
and efficient General Alexei Polivanov replaced Sukhomlinov
as Minister of War. The situation did not improve and
the retreat however continued and Nicholas urged on by
Alexandra and feeling that it was his duty, and that his
personal presence would inspire his troops, decided to
lead his army directly yet again against advice given.
He assumed the role of commander-in-chief after dismissing
his cousin from that position, the highly respected and
experienced Nikolay Nikolayevich (September 1915) following
the loss of the Russian Kingdom of Poland. This was a
fatal mistake as he was now directly associated as commander-in-chief
with all subsequent losses. He was also away at the remote
HQ at Mogilev, far from the direct governance of the empire,
and when revolution broke out in Petrograd he was unable
to prevent it being so cut-off from his government. In
reality the move was largely symbolic, since all important
military decisions were made by his chief-of-staff General
Michael Alexeiev, and Nicholas did little more than review
troops, inspect field hospitals, and preside over military
luncheons.
The Duma was
still calling for political reforms and political unrest
continued throughout the war. Cut off from public opinion,
Nicholas could not see that the dynasty was in decline.
With Nicholas at the front, domestic issues and control
of the capital were left with his wife Alexandra, however
Alexandra's relationship with Grigori Rasputin and her
German background made further discredited the dynasty's
authority. Nicholas had been repeatedly warned about the
destructive influence of Grigori Rasputin but had failed
to remove him. Nicholas had refused to censor the press
and wild rumours and accusations about Alexandra and Rasputin
appeared almost daily. Alexandra was even brought under
allegations of treason and undermining the government
due to her German roots. It was during the war that St.
Petersburg was symbolically renamed Petrograd, the Slavic
equivalent, in response to increasing war-time Germanophobia.
Anger at Nicholas's failure to act and the extreme damage
that Rasputin's influence was doing to Russia's war effort
and to the monarchy led to his (Rasputin's) murder by
a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand
Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, a cousin of the Tsar, on 16 December
1916.
End of reign
There was mounting
hardship as the government failed to produce supplies,
creating massive riots and rebellions. With Nicholas away
at the front in 1915, authority appeared to collapse (Empress
Alexandra ran the government from Saint Petersburg from
1915), and Saint Petersburg was left in the hands of strikers
and mutineering conscript soldiers. Despite efforts by
the British Ambassador Sir George Buchanan to warn the
Tsar that he should grant constitutional reforms to fend
off revolution, Nicholas continued to bury himself away
at the Staff HQ (Stavka) 400 miles (600 km) away at Moghilev,
leaving his capital and court open to intrigues and insurrection.
By early 1917,
Russia was on the verge of total collapse. The army had
taken 15 million men from the farms and food prices had
soared. An egg cost four times what it had in 1914, butter
five times as much. The severe winter dealt the railways,
overburdened by emergency shipments of coal and supplies,
the final blow. Russia began the war with 20,000 locomotives;
by 1917 9,000 were in service, while the number of serviceable
railway wagons had dwindled from half a million to 170,000.
In February 1917, 1,200 locomotives burst their boilers
and nearly 60,000 wagons were immobilised. In Petrograd
supplies of flour and fuel all but disappeared. War-time
prohibition of alcohol was enacted by Nicholas in order
to boost patriotism and productivity, but instead damaged
the treasury and funding of the war.
One of the last
photographs taken of Nicholas II, showing him at Tsarskoe
Seloe after his abdication in March 1917 February 23 1917
in Petrograd (as the capital had been renamed) a combination
of very severe cold weather allied with acute food shortages
caused people to start to break shop windows to get bread
and other necessaries. In the streets, red banners appeared
and the crowds chanted "Down with the German woman!
Down with Protopopov! Down with the war!" Police
started to shoot at the populace from rooftops which incited
riots. The troops in the capital were poorly-motivated
and their officers had no reason to be loyal to the regime.
They were angry and full of revolutionary fervor and sided
with the populace. The Tsar's Cabinet begged Nicholas
to return to the capital and offered to resign completely.
Five hundred miles away the Tsar, misinformed by Protopopov
that the situation was under control, ordered that firm
steps be taken against the demonstrators. For this task
the Petrograd garrison was quite unsuitable. The cream
of the old regular army lay in their graves in Poland
and Galicia. In Petrograd 170,000 recruits, country boys
or older men from the working-class suburbs of the capital
itself, remained to keep control under the command of
wounded officers invalided from the front, and cadets
from the military academies. Many units, lacking both
officers and rifles, had never undergone formal training.
General Khabalov attempted to put the Tsar's instructions
into effect on the morning of Sunday, 11 March 1917. Despite
huge posters ordering people to keep off the streets,
vast crowds gathered and were only dispersed after some
200 had been shot dead, though a company of the Volinsky
Regiment fired into the air rather than into the mob,
and a company of the Pavlovsky Life Guards shot the officer
who gave the command to open fire. Nicholas, informed
of the situation by Rodzianko, ordered reinforcements
to the capital and suspended the Duma. It was all
too late.
On 12 March
the Volinsky Regiment mutinied and was quickly followed
by the Semonovsky, the Ismailovsky, the Litovsky and even
the legendary Preobrajensky Guard, the oldest and staunchest
regiment founded by Peter the Great. The arsenal was pillaged,
the Ministry of the Interior, Military Government building,
police headquarters, the Law Courts and a score of police
buildings were put to the torch. By noon the fortress
of Peter and Paul with its heavy artillery was in the
hands of the insurgents. By nightfall 60,000 soldiers
had joined the revolution. Order broke down and members
of the Parliament (Duma) formed a Provisional Government
to try to restore order but it was impossible to turn
the tide of revolutionary change. Already the Duma and
the Soviet had formed the nucleus of a Provisional Government
and decided that Nicholas must abdicate. Faced with this
demand, which was echoed by his generals, deprived of
loyal troops, with his family firmly in the hands of the
Provisional Government and fearful of unleashing civil
war and opening the way for German conquest, Nicholas
had no choice but to submit. At the end of the "February
Revolution" of 1917 (February in the Old Russian
Calendar), on 2 March (Julian Calendar)/ 15 March (Gregorian
Calendar) 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He
firstly abdicated in favour of Tsarevich Alexei, but swiftly
changed his mind after advice from doctors that the heir
would not live long apart from his parents who would be
forced into exile. Nicholas drew up a new manifesto naming
his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as the next Emperor of
all the Russias. He issued the following statement (which
was suppressed by the Provisional Government):
In the days
of the great struggle against the foreign enemies, who
for nearly three years have tried to enslave our fatherland,
the Lord God has been pleased to send down on Russia a
new heavy trial. Internal popular disturbances threaten
to have a disastrous effect on the future conduct of this
persistent war. The destiny of Russia, the honor of our
heroic army, the welfare of the people and the whole future
of our dear fatherland demand that the war should be brought
to a victorious conclusion whatever the cost. The cruel
enemy is making his last efforts, and already the hour
approaches when our glorious army together with our gallant
allies will crush him. In these decisive days in the life
of Russia, We thought it Our duty of conscience to facilitate
for Our people the closest union possible and a consolidation
of all national forces for the speedy attainment of victory.
In agreement with the Imperial Duma We have thought it
well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and
to lay down the supreme power. As We do not wish to part
from Our beloved son, We transmit the succession to Our
brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, and give
Him Our blessing to mount the Throne of the Russian Empire.
We direct Our brother to conduct the affairs of state
in full and inviolable union with the representatives
of the people in the legislative bodies on those principles
which will be established by them, and on which He will
take an inviolable oath.
In the name
of Our dearly beloved homeland, We call on Our faithful
sons of the fatherland to fulfill their sacred duty to
the fatherland, to obey the tsar in the heavy moment of
national trials, and to help Him, together with the representatives
of the people, to guide the Russian Empire on the road
to victory, welfare, and glory. May the Lord God help
Russia!
