Czar Nicholas II Essay Research Paper On

Czar Nicholas II Essay, Research Paper

On May 6, 1868, an event happened that would change the fate of monarchy in Russia. Czar Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov II was born in the Blue Bedroom of the Alexander Palace. Ominously, this occurred on the Orthodox day of feast for St. Job the Sufferer. This omen would prevision the never-ending trials he would face in his lifetime.

In 1894, Nicholas’s father, Czar Alexander III, died from a liver disease called nephritis. At age 26, Nicholas felt that he was not ready to rule Russia. However, he believed that his autocracy was a God-given right. To give up any part of it would go against the traditions of his country and religion. This belief, though seemingly right at the time, would later have a part in the death of his reign.

Czar Nicholas II was short, only about five foot six inches tall. His other relatives seemed to tower above him. Though he worked out in his private gym daily, he would always be seen as slight and wiry. Because his legs were so short, most people agreed that he looked most regal when mounted on horseback. He always wore his brown hair parted on the left. His beard, also brown, was streaked with golden highlights as if the sun had reached out and stroked it with a kindly finger. The Czar had a nervous habit of brushing his mustache up with the back of his hand. In time, this gesture would become his distinct signature.

Because of his sheltered life under the fear of terrorists, Nicholas grew up secluded from the world. Unfortunately, this caused him to never had the self-confidence and self-reliance he would need later in his life as the last czar of Russia. Though seemingly weak, his first love was Russia and the second his family. He refused to have secretaries, in the belief that this would help bring him closer to his people. Again, it did not work. He was seen as a phony by the entire country.

Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra, soon had a family. After four girls were born in succession, they were still hoping for a boy to fall heir to the throne. On July 30, 1904, their wish was granted. A son they would call Aleksey was born and Nicholas and Alexandra were ecstatic. However, the joy was short lived. Aleksey had hemophilia, a hereditary disease in which the blood does not clot right. A simple scrape could prove deadly.

When Aleksey was two, a monk called Rasputin offered his services. He was the only person who could stop the boy’s bleeding, and to this day we do not know how he did it. Soon, Rasputin had total control over Alexandra. Since Nicholas was a meek and submissive ruler, his wife already controlled him. Thus, all of Rasputin was under the rule of Rasputin. A group of nobles soon got angry at his rash and unwise decisions. In 1916, Rasputin was murdered by the group he had wanted so desperately to be a part of.

Czar Nicholas II was very isolated from the people he was supposed to be ruling. He often secluded himself in the Alexander Palace with his family. Because of Aleksey’s hemophilia, he was seldom away from home. Nicholas was an insecure ruler. He was almost never sure how to handle state affairs, and hesitant to draw his own conclusions. Some said he lacked political savvy and instinct, and often followed hunches. Coming across as hard to follow, contradictory, and weak, he did not earn the respect his forebearers did.

On Tuesday, March 13, 1917, the last czar of Russia was forced to abdicate the throne for himself and son Aleksey. The abdication left the throne open for Nicholas’s brother, the Grand Duke Michael, but he refused to live under the threat of revolution and assassination. The Czar’s family was put under house arrest by Lenin’s people in a nice palace, However, they were soon moved to a large, secluded cottage. On July 17, 1918, the family, their dogs, and their servants were told to assemble in the basement. When they had been escorted downstairs, they lined up only to be met by a firing squad. Czar Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov II and his household were murdered in cold blood by the people he had once ruled.