FREE ESSAY ON NICHOLAS II

NICHOLAS II

. Nicholas II, 1868-1918 (r.1894-1917), was the son of Alexander Iii. As a youth he
received little training in affairs of state. His reign continued the suppression of
political opposition and persecution of minorities. Revolutionary groups proliferated,
while liberals demanded constitutional government. An aggressive policy in E Asia led to
defeat in the Russo-japanese War (1904-5). In Jan. 1905 a peaceful crowd of petitioners
was fired upon in front of the Winter Palace; this bloody Sunday began the 1905
Revolution. In October Count Witte induced Nicholas to sign a manifesto promising
constitutional government and basic civil liberties, but the czar dissolved the Duma
shortly after it began to sit, and Witte was replaced as premier by Stolypin in 1906.
World War I began in 1914; in 1915 Nicholas took command of the army, leaving Czarina
Alexandra Feodorovna and her adviser, Rasputin, in control of the government. Discontent
spread, the army tired of war, food shortages worsened, the government tottered, and in
March 1917 Nicholas was forced to abdicate (see Russian Revolution). He and his family
were shot in Yekaterinburg on July 16, 1918.
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