Nicholas II of Russia (1868-1919) Also known as: Romanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1868-1919)

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The Newer Ideals of Peace, July 7, 1902

The Newer Ideals of Peace, July 9, 1902

A Moral Substitute for War, May 3, 1903 (excerpt)

A Moral Substitute for War, January 9, 1904

The Chicago Settlements and Social Unrest, May 2, 1908

Pan Preparedness, May 15, 1917

Tolstoy and the Russian Soldiers, September 29, 1917

Tolstoy and the Russian Soldiers, September 29, 1917

Remarks on Tolstoy and the Russian Revolution, August 1918

Three Efforts of Contemporary Russia to break through Current Abstractions, August 1918

George Lazareff to Alice Stone Blackwell, July 23-29, 1919

The League of Nations and Our Moral Obligation to Feed the Starving, July 5, 1920

Peace and Bread: 1. A Speculation on Bread-Labor and War-Slogans, December 31, 1921

Review of Peace and Bread in Time of War, April 6, 1922

The Story Of The League Of Nations, April 16, 1925

Theaters Best Peace Sermon In “The Enemy", June 2, 1925

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Birth Date

1868-05-18

Death Date

1918-07-17

Birthplace

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Biographical Text

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of All Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917.

Nicholas II received excellent home education through a string of private tutors. Part of his educational program includes visits to various Russian provinces and other countries. During one such visit in Japan, an attempt on his life. Returning to the capital in 1892 after traveling throughout Siberia, the heir to the throne was appointed chairman of the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway, whose tasks included the general development of Siberia, including the Far East. When Nicholas II was 19 years old, he joined the army. He spent three years in service before touring Europe and Asia for an additional 10 months. Nicholas II inherited the Russian throne when his father died of kidney disease at the age of 49 on October 20, 1894. Under Tsar Nicholas II’s rule in 1905 the October Manifesto was adopted promising basic civil rights and an elected parliament called the Duma, without whose approval no laws were to be enacted in Russia in the future. One year later the Russian Constitution of 1906, a major revision of the 1832 Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, transformed the formerly absolutist state into one in which the emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic power with a parliament.

Under his rule Russia was involved in two major war conflicts: the Russo-Japanese war and World War I. Nicholas II pursued an aggressive foreign policy with regards to Manchuria and Korea which led to the war with Japan. The Russian army suffered great losses and many blamed the tsar. The outbreak of World War One in 1914 temporarily strengthened the monarchy, with Russia allied to France and Britain against Austria-Hungary and Germany. In mid-1915 the tsar took direct command of the Russian armies even though he had no experience of war. Russia was again suffering heavy losses in the war and high inflation and severe food shortages at home. In the tsar’s absence, supreme power in effect passed, with his approval and encouragement, to the empress. This led to political instability in Russia which resulted in the riots February Revolution of 1917. The government resigned, and the Duma, supported by the army, called on the emperor to abdicate. Nicholas II renounced the throne in March that same year. The tsar and his family were held in various locations, eventually being imprisoned in Yekaterinburg. Later that year the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and took the power in Russia.

Nicholas II married Alexandra Feodorovna in 1894. They had one son, Alexei, and four daughters, Anastasia, Maria, Olga, and Tatiana. On 17 July 1918, as anti-Bolsheviks approached Yekaterinburg, Nicholas and his family were executed.