The last Czar Nicholas II: the heir of Russia's once powerful Romanov dynasty fell victim to bad decisions, bad luck, and the tide of history.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the mighty Romanov family had ruled the vast Russian empire for nearly 300 years. By 1918, the last Romanov Czar, Nicholas II, and his family were prisoners of Russia's new government in a remote coalmining city in the Ural Mountains. The outlook was grim.

This never would have happened to the previous Czar, the powerful autocrat Alexander III. But Nicholas was not like his father. "What am I going to do? What is going to happen to me?" the 26-year-old Nicholas fretted when he became Czar, after Alexander died unexpectedly in 1894. Later, Nicholas called being Czar "the awful job I have feared all my life."

In the end, the awful job would destroy him. Neither his devoted wife, Alexandra, nor his rank and power could save the last Czar.

Bloody Sunday 

When Nicholas came to the throne, Russia was a rigidly structured society, with a large gap between the poor and the nobility. During the 19th century, a series of unsuccessful revolts had shaken that system. Now, the next wave of discontent was building.

Nicholas tried to be the autocrat his father had been. But indecision, bad choices, and bad luck worked against him. A war with Japan over Korea and Manchuria in 1904-1905 ended in a humiliating loss for Russia. Many began to see the Czar as a weak leader.

On a bitter-cold day in January 1905, 200,000 workers assembled at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia's capital under the Romanovs. The peaceful marchers asked for civil liberties (individual rights) and an end to the war. Nervous policemen opened fire, killing at least 130.

Bloody Sunday, as the day was called, set off more strikes and riots. Nicholas partly calmed tensions by granting the people an elected Duma (lower house of parliament). But when he dismissed the first Duma, and then the second, unrest redoubled.

Rasputin

In August 1904, the royal couple's only son, Alexis, had been born with hemophilia (a serious blood disease). Distraught, Alexandra prayed for a miracle.

In 1908, a certain holy man from Siberia, who claimed to have healing powers, was summoned to the palace. Called Rasputin (rah-SPYOO-tun), from the Russian word for scandalous behavior, he at first appeared to cure the boy.

The grateful Alexandra fell under Rasputin's spell. Soon, he was using her protection to make and attack powerful enemies in the government and aristocracy. The grumbling against Rasputin grew ominous.

War and Revolution

World War I, which broke out in 1914, was a terrible burden on the Russian people. The Russian Army suffered huge losses. Breadlines stretched throughout Petrograd (as St. Petersburg was then called). People died in unheated rooms.

In August 1915, Nicholas set out for the battlefront to direct the war effort, leaving Alexandra--and Rasputin--in charge of the government. Their handling of affairs was disastrous. The situation got so bad, a group of influential men, including a cousin of the Czar, assassinated Rasputin in December 1916.

Nicholas was at the front on March 8, 1917, when workers in Petrograd spontaneously went on strike. A few days later, soldiers joined the demonstrations.

Finally, even the Czar's generals demanded that he abdicate (give up) the throne. Two members of the Duma went to his private railcar on March 15 to obtain his resignation. "Do you think it might have been avoided?" he asked them, to their amazement.

Too Dangerous to Live

Nicholas and his family were placed under house arrest by Russia's Provisional Government. But the Bolsheviks (later called Communists), the group that would soon win control of the country, decided that it was too dangerous to let the Czar live.

The family was moved twice--finally, in April 1918, to a house in faraway Ekaterinburg. On July 16, 1918, soldiers took the family to the basement of the house and murdered them. The bodies were later thrown into unmarked graves and were not found for nearly 60 years.

For years, people believed that some family members had survived. An American woman named Anna Anderson even claimed to be Anastasia, one of the Czar's four daughters. After Anderson died, genetic tests showed her claim to be false.

For Russia in 1918, a new era was beginning. Revolution and civil war would give birth to the Communist Soviet Union. But for the Romanovs, time had run out. The tide of history had rolled over the last of the Russian Czars.

Words to Know

* autocrat: absolute ruler.

* Czar: Emperor.

* nobility: a privileged class holding hereditary titles; aristocracy.

Your Turn

THINK ABOUT IT

Explain how Nicholas could have been a more effective leader. What was his greatest failing?

* OBJECTIVE

Students should understand

* Russia's centuries-old Romanov dynasty came to an end in 1917 when Nicholas II, an ineffective leader, was swept from the throne by revolutionaries empowered by reaction to a repressive government, a horrific war, and the terrible poverty of Russia's peasants.

* WORDS TO KNOW

hemophilia: a genetic disorder in which blood does not clot normally, and even simple wounds can result in excessive blood loss.

Bolsheviks: members of the extremist political group led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin, who seized power in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

* TEACHING STRATEGY

Ask students, "Can a king ever make things so bad for his people that they will rise up against him? Do you know of any such king?"

* BACKGROUND

For centuries, Russia's privileged class was a tiny minority; the huge majority of Russians were impoverished peasants and industrial workers. In 1917 that inequity, along with the strains of war, a poor economy, and ineffective leadership, combined to create an atmosphere that led to the upheaval of the Russian Revolution.

* CRITICAL THINKING

COMPREHENSION: Why did the Bolsheviks think it would be dangerous to allow the Czar and his family to live? (If they lived, there was a chance that a Romanov could rise to power and regain the throne.)

* ACTIVITY

INTERPRETATION: Give students more background on both Rasputin and the rise of Lenin and Soviet Communism. Then have them discuss the meaning of this statement (reportedly made by another Russian leader): "If there had been no Rasputin, there would have been no Lenin."

STANDARDS

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* Power, authority, and governance: Who held the power in czarist Russia, how it was used and abused, and what followed it.

* Individuals, groups, and institutions: How Russia's centuries-old imperial rule was destroyed and a new system of power established.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Editors, What Life Was Like in the Time of War and Peace (Time-Life Books, 1999). Grades 6-8.

* Gottfried, Ted, The Road to Communism (Lerner Publishing Group, 2002). Grade 8.

WEB SITES

* Excerpts from Nicholas II's 1917 diary alexanderpalace.org/palace/ndiaries1917.html

* Ipatiev House (royal family photos) romanov-memorial.com/Historical.him

* Match the person or thing in the left column with
the correct description in the right column.

--11. Alexander III   A. revolutionary

--12. Alexis          B. indecisive

--13. Bolshevik       C. Russian parliament

--14. Duma            D. autocratic

--15. Nicholas II     E. hemophiliac

11. D

12. E

13. A

14. C

15. B