Nicholas II

Nicholas II is most famous for being the last of the Romanov leaders. It is during his reign that the Romanov family lost the throne of Russia. Nicholas II began ruling in 1894 when Aleksandr III unexpectedly died. Nicholas II was a weak ruler and could not successfully rule Russia. Industrialism was finally reaching Russia and a working middle class was emerging. Nicholas II however did not want to allow workers to unite and form unions as they were elsewhere in the world. He created state approved unions and a strike by one of these groups helped illustrate Nicholas II's poor ruling ability. The people had long believed that the tsar was the protector of his people and so the group was peacefully marching to the tsar carrying icons and portraits of the tsar when Nicholas II refused to meet with them and ordered to have them fired upon. This killed hundreds of innocent people and public opinion turned against the tsar. This event came to be known as Bloody Sunday and helped set off a revolt in 1905. To help calm the unrest in the country Nicholas II agreed to the October Manifest which gave people civil liberties and created the Duma.

World War I began in 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia went to war to defend the Serbs but was ill prepared for the battle. They had inadequate weapons and poor leadership. Nicholas II went to the lines to lead his armies but this proved to be a poor move. Problems increased and prices rose dramatically. Women organized themselves to protest high bread prices. Food and fuel shortages and outbreaks of diseases were a major problem. Also, many soldiers deserted. These soldiers were important in a final revolt in 1917 which brought about the end of the Romanov Dynasty. Nicholas II and his family were put under house arrest and in July of 1918 were murdered.