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Nicholas
II was the last Tsar to reign over Russia. The Alexander Palace was
the site of his birth, where his mother delivered him on the sixth of May
in 1868. Ironically, his birth date fell on the feast day of St.
Job the Sufferer, which seemed to foretell the endless trials that would
plague Nicholas' tragic life. Little "Nicky", as was his popular
nickname, was the product of Maria Fyodorovna Romanov- formerly Dagmar,
Princess of Denmark- and the Tsar Alexander III. Alexander III was
an impressive man, who dominated others by his size and powerful personality.
Throughout the 19th century, the Romanov men had the reputation for being
big and imposing. Unfortunately, Nicholas didn't live up to the repudiated
legend at a mere 5'6" tall. Through out his lifetime, Nicholas constantly
felt inadequate and tried to compensate for his height in various aspects.
Nicholas had an excellent education and was perhaps the best educated European monarch of his time. His parents where astute enough to see that the challenges facing a 20th Century Tsar would be quite different than those of the past and tried to prepare him for his future responsibilities. The very real threat of terrorism loomed over the Imperial Family constantly. A powerful group of secret police and military guards protected them, but this resulted in the isolation of Nicholas and his family. This lack of exposure to reality deprived the future Tsar from understanding the living conditions of his future subjects. This was a purposeful endeavor by his father in order to cut him off from liberal thought and ideas. Since he had almost no contact with Russia's growing intellectual and artistic community, he developed narrow ideas of honor, service, and aristocratical tradition which would seriously harm his ability to govern Russia in the future.
While heir to the throne, as Tsarevich, Nicholas achieved the rank of
Colonel in the Life Guards. He was enamored with military life and
always considered himself an army man. His character and social habits
were strongly influenced by his years as a young officer and many of his
future decisions as Tsar were colored by his experiences. The Tsarevich
embraced the relative freedom of army life with considerable gusto and
preferred the role of an aristocratic officer to that of a ruler.
In the fall of 1894, Tsar Alexander III died and the serious responsibilities that Nicholas avoided were suddenly thrust upon him. Nicholas felt that he was not ready to rule. He knew the weighty task of ruling Russia was greater than his experience and abilities. Despite his inadequacies and self doubt, the new Emperor took his coronation oath very seriously and saw the anointing as Tsar as a spiritual experience. Quickly realizing he was surrounded by deceit and self-interest of bureaucrats andNicholas found it impossible to reconcile his own strict views of what was right and wrong for Russia with the responsibility of a modern monarch to compromise his own views for the good of the nation. Not an unintelligent man, but hesitant to ever draw any conclusions, he waffled on important issues. Lacking political savvy and shrewdness, he was seldom sure how to handle the affairs of state. This made him come across as weak and contradictory to his ministers. They found it difficult to read his true thoughts and found it hard to follow his leadership. But change is inevitable and the Tsar's beloved Russia was soon swept away in revolution. His inability for change gave the Bolshevik revolution their necessary ammunition to force the Tsar to abdicate in 1917. The Romanov family soon found themselves swept away in a tidal wave of revolutionary change.advisors, Nicholas concluded that he could trust few people. He increasingly turned to his wife for support while becoming cynical in nature. Even though Nicholas loved Russia, he was quite unwilling to make much need changes in his country even though he was fully aware of the shortcomings of the Romanov Dynasty. He could not fathom a Russia without a strict aristocratic rule. He frequently lavished in the life of a pampered monarch with his family so that he could avoid the tumultuous politics of St. Petersburg and the pestering affairs of his ministers. He was uncertain of his own opinions on things and felt that asking for advice would be a sign of weakness. He often relied on his own instincts, which were limited by his experience and narrow upbringing, to that of seasoned advisors.
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