Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under the Romanov rule. Nicholas II's handling of the government reaction to Bloody Sunday and World War I eventually led to the Bolsheviks taking over the country and executing him.Continue Reading
Nicholas II was raised in the royal family and trained by private tutors. He joined the Russian military at the age of 19 and earned the rank of colonel. He inherited the Russian throne on October 20, 1894 at the age of 49 when his father died from kidney failure. Less than a month later, he married princess Alexandra, and the couple had five children.
In 1904, Japan went to war with Russia. This was the first of the problems that besieged Nicholas II and eventually led to his loss of power. Bloody Sunday began in 1905 as a peaceful worker's protest. At some point during the protest, Russian troops opened fire on the protesters and ended up killing more than 1,000 people.
The fallout from this massacre led the citizens of his country to force Nicholas II to create an elected legislature, which undermined his absolute power. When Russia entered World War I and did poorly, the Bolsheviks took control of the government and executed Nicholas II and his family.Learn more about Modern Europe