Nicholas 2 Tsar or Emperor. The Last Tsarevich

Dedicated to the centenary of revolutionary events.

Not a single Russian tsar has had as many myths created as about the last one, Nicholas II. What really happened? Was the sovereign a sluggish and weak-willed person? Was he cruel? Could he have won the First World War? And how much truth is there in the black fabrications about this ruler?..

Candidate of Historical Sciences Gleb Eliseev tells the story.

The Black Legend of Nicholas II

Rally in Petrograd, 1917

17 years have already passed since the canonization of the last emperor and his family, but you are still faced with an amazing paradox - many, even quite Orthodox, people dispute the fairness of canonizing Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich.

No one raises any protests or doubts about the legitimacy of the canonization of the son and daughters of the last Russian emperor. I have not heard any objections to the canonization of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Even at the Council of Bishops in 2000, when it came to the canonization of the Royal Martyrs, a special opinion was expressed only regarding the sovereign himself. One of the bishops said that the emperor did not deserve to be glorified, because “he is a state traitor... he, one might say, sanctioned the collapse of the country.”

And it is clear that in such a situation the spears are not broken at all over the martyrdom or Christian life of Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich. Neither one nor the other raises doubts even among the most rabid monarchy denier. His feat as a passion-bearer is beyond doubt.

The point is different - a latent, subconscious resentment: “Why did the sovereign allow a revolution to happen? Why didn’t you save Russia?” Or, as A. I. Solzhenitsyn so brilliantly put it in his article “Reflections on the February Revolution”: “Weak tsar, he betrayed us. All of us - for everything that follows."

The myth of the weak king, who supposedly voluntarily surrendered his kingdom, obscures his martyrdom and obscures the demonic cruelty of his tormentors. But what could the sovereign do in the current circumstances, when Russian society, like a herd of Gadarene pigs, was rushing into the abyss for decades?

Studying the history of Nicholas's reign, one is struck not by the weakness of the sovereign, not by his mistakes, but by how much he managed to do in an atmosphere of whipped-up hatred, malice and slander.

We must not forget that the sovereign received autocratic power over Russia completely unexpectedly, after the sudden, unforeseen and unanticipated death of Alexander III. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich recalled the state of the heir to the throne immediately after his father’s death: “He could not gather his thoughts. He was aware that he had become the Emperor, and this terrible burden of power crushed him. “Sandro, what am I going to do! - he exclaimed pathetically. - What will happen to Russia now? I am not yet prepared to be a King! I can't rule the Empire. I don’t even know how to talk to ministers.”

However, after a brief period of confusion, the new emperor firmly took the helm of government and held it for twenty-two years, until he fell victim to a conspiracy at the top. Until “treason, cowardice, and deception” swirled around him in a dense cloud, as he himself noted in his diary on March 2, 1917.

The black mythology directed against the last sovereign was actively dispelled by both emigrant historians and modern Russian ones. And yet, in the minds of many, including fully churchgoers, of our fellow citizens, evil tales, gossip and anecdotes, which were presented as truth in Soviet history textbooks, stubbornly linger.

The myth of the guilt of Nicholas II in the Khodynka tragedy

It is tacitly customary to start any list of accusations with Khodynka - a terrible stampede that occurred during the coronation celebrations in Moscow on May 18, 1896. You might think that the sovereign ordered this stampede to be organized! And if anyone is to be blamed for what happened, then it would be the emperor’s uncle, Moscow Governor-General Sergei Alexandrovich, who did not foresee the very possibility of such an influx of public. It should be noted that they did not hide what happened, all the newspapers wrote about Khodynka, all of Russia knew about her. The next day, the Russian emperor and empress visited all the wounded in hospitals and held a memorial service for the dead. Nicholas II ordered the payment of pensions to the victims. And they received it until 1917, until politicians, who had been speculating on the Khodynka tragedy for years, made it so that any pensions in Russia ceased to be paid at all.

And the slander that has been repeated for years sounds absolutely vile, that the tsar, despite the Khodynka tragedy, went to the ball and had fun there. The sovereign was indeed forced to go to an official reception at the French embassy, ​​which he could not help but attend for diplomatic reasons (an insult to the allies!), paid his respects to the ambassador and left, having spent only 15 (!) minutes there.

And from this they created a myth about a heartless despot, having fun while his subjects die. This is where the absurd nickname “Bloody”, created by radicals and picked up by the educated public, came from.

The myth of the monarch's guilt in starting the Russo-Japanese War

The Emperor bids farewell to the soldiers of the Russo-Japanese War. 1904

They say that the sovereign pushed Russia into the Russo-Japanese War because the autocracy needed a “small victorious war.”

Unlike the “educated” Russian society, which was confident in the inevitable victory and contemptuously called the Japanese “macaques,” the emperor knew very well all the difficulties of the situation in the Far East and tried with all his might to prevent war. And we must not forget - it was Japan that attacked Russia in 1904. Treacherously, without declaring war, the Japanese attacked our ships in Port Arthur.

For the defeats of the Russian army and navy in the Far East, one can blame Kuropatkin, Rozhdestvensky, Stessel, Linevich, Nebogatov, and any of the generals and admirals, but not the sovereign, who was located thousands of miles from the theater of military operations and nevertheless did everything for victory.

For example, the fact that by the end of the war there were 20, and not 4, military trains per day along the unfinished Trans-Siberian Railway (as at the beginning) is the merit of Nicholas II himself.

And our revolutionary society “fought” on the Japanese side, which needed not victory, but defeat, which its representatives themselves honestly admitted. For example, representatives of the Socialist Revolutionary Party clearly wrote in their appeal to Russian officers: “Every victory of yours threatens Russia with the disaster of strengthening order, every defeat brings the hour of deliverance closer. Is it any surprise if the Russians rejoice at the success of your enemy?” Revolutionaries and liberals diligently stirred up trouble in the rear of the warring country, doing this, among other things, with Japanese money. This is now well known.

The Myth of Bloody Sunday

For decades, the standard accusation against the Tsar remained “Bloody Sunday” - the shooting of a supposedly peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905. Why, they say, didn’t he leave the Winter Palace and fraternize with the people loyal to him?

Let's start with the simplest fact - the sovereign was not in Winter, he was at his country residence, in Tsarskoe Selo. He did not intend to come to the city, since both the mayor I. A. Fullon and the police authorities assured the emperor that they “had everything under control.” By the way, they didn’t deceive Nicholas II too much. In a normal situation, troops deployed to the streets would be enough to prevent unrest.

No one foresaw the scale of the January 9 demonstration, as well as the activities of the provocateurs. When Socialist Revolutionary militants began shooting at soldiers from the crowd of supposedly “peaceful demonstrators,” it was not difficult to foresee retaliatory actions. From the very beginning, the organizers of the demonstration planned a clash with the authorities, not a peaceful march. They did not need political reforms, they needed “great upheavals.”

But what does the sovereign himself have to do with it? During the entire revolution of 1905–1907, he sought to find contact with Russian society and made specific and sometimes even overly bold reforms (like the provisions according to which the first State Dumas were elected). And what did he receive in response? Spitting and hatred, calls “Down with autocracy!” and encouraging bloody riots.

However, the revolution was not “crushed.” The rebellious society was pacified by the sovereign, who skillfully combined the use of force and new, more thoughtful reforms (the electoral law of June 3, 1907, according to which Russia finally received a normally functioning parliament).

The myth of how the Tsar “surrendered” Stolypin

They reproach the sovereign for allegedly insufficient support for “Stolypin’s reforms.” But who made Pyotr Arkadyevich prime minister, if not Nicholas II himself? Contrary, by the way, to the opinion of the court and immediate circle. And if there were moments of misunderstanding between the sovereign and the head of the cabinet, then they are inevitable in any intense and complex work. Stolypin's supposedly planned resignation did not mean a rejection of his reforms.

The myth of Rasputin's omnipotence

Tales about the last sovereign are not complete without constant stories about the “dirty man” Rasputin, who enslaved the “weak-willed tsar.” Now, after many objective investigations of the “Rasputin legend”, among which “The Truth about Grigory Rasputin” by A. N. Bokhanov stands out as fundamental, it is clear that the influence of the Siberian elder on the emperor was negligible. And the fact that the sovereign “did not remove Rasputin from the throne”? Where could he remove it from? From the bedside of his sick son, whom Rasputin saved when all the doctors had already given up on Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich? Let everyone think for themselves: is he ready to sacrifice the life of a child for the sake of stopping public gossip and hysterical newspaper chatter?

The myth of the sovereign’s guilt in the “misconduct” of the First World War

Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II. Photo by R. Golike and A. Vilborg. 1913

Emperor Nicholas II is also reproached for not preparing Russia for the First World War. The public figure I. L. Solonevich wrote most clearly about the efforts of the sovereign to prepare the Russian army for a possible war and about the sabotage of his efforts on the part of the “educated society”: “The “Duma of People’s Wrath”, as well as its subsequent reincarnation, rejects military loans: We are democrats and we don’t want militarism. Nicholas II arms the army by violating the spirit of the Basic Laws: in accordance with Article 86. This article provides for the right of the government, in exceptional cases and during parliamentary recess, to pass temporary laws without parliament - so that they are retroactively introduced at the very first parliamentary session. The Duma was dissolving (holidays), loans for machine guns went through even without the Duma. And when the session began, nothing could be done.”

And again, unlike ministers or military leaders (like Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich), the sovereign did not want war, he tried to delay it with all his might, knowing about the insufficient preparedness of the Russian army. For example, he directly spoke about this to the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Neklyudov: “Now, Neklyudov, listen to me carefully. Do not forget for one minute the fact that we cannot fight. I don't want war. I have made it my immutable rule to do everything to preserve for my people all the advantages of a peaceful life. At this moment in history, it is necessary to avoid anything that could lead to war. There is no doubt that we cannot get involved in a war - at least for the next five or six years - until 1917. Although, if the vital interests and honor of Russia are at stake, we will be able, if absolutely necessary, to accept the challenge, but not before 1915. But remember - not one minute earlier, whatever the circumstances or reasons and whatever position we are in.”

Of course, many things in the First World War did not go as the participants planned. But why should these troubles and surprises be blamed on the sovereign, who at the beginning was not even the commander-in-chief? Could he have personally prevented the “Samson catastrophe”? Or the breakthrough of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau into the Black Sea, after which plans to coordinate the actions of the Allies in the Entente went up in smoke?

When the will of the emperor could correct the situation, the sovereign did not hesitate, despite the objections of ministers and advisers. In 1915, the threat of such complete defeat loomed over the Russian army that its Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, literally sobbed in despair. It was then that Nicholas II took the most decisive step - he not only stood at the head of the Russian army, but also stopped the retreat, which threatened to turn into a stampede.

The Emperor did not consider himself a great commander; he knew how to listen to the opinions of military advisers and choose successful solutions for the Russian troops. According to his instructions, the work of the rear was established; according to his instructions, new and even cutting-edge equipment was adopted (like Sikorsky bombers or Fedorov assault rifles). And if in 1914 the Russian military industry produced 104,900 shells, then in 1916 - 30,974,678! So much military equipment was prepared that it was enough for five years of the Civil War, and for arming the Red Army in the first half of the twenties.

In 1917, Russia, under the military leadership of its emperor, was ready for victory. Many people wrote about this, even W. Churchill, who was always skeptical and cautious about Russia: “Fate has never been as cruel to any country as to Russia. Her ship sank while the harbor was in sight. She had already weathered the storm when everything collapsed. All the sacrifices have already been made, all the work has been completed. Despair and betrayal took over the government when the task was already completed. The long retreats are over; shell hunger is defeated; weapons flowed in a wide stream; a stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded a huge front; the rear assembly points were crowded with people... In the management of states, when great events happen, the leader of the nation, whoever he is, is condemned for failures and glorified for successes. The point is not who did the work, who drew up the plan of struggle; blame or praise for the outcome falls on the one who has the authority of supreme responsibility. Why deny Nicholas II this ordeal?.. His efforts are downplayed; His actions are condemned; His memory is being defamed... Stop and say: who else turned out to be suitable? There was no shortage of talented and courageous people, ambitious and proud in spirit, courageous and powerful people. But no one was able to answer those few simple questions on which the life and glory of Russia depended. Holding victory already in her hands, she fell to the ground alive, like Herod of old, devoured by worms.”

At the beginning of 1917, the sovereign really failed to cope with the joint conspiracy of the top military and the leaders of opposition political forces.

And who could? It was beyond human strength.

The myth of voluntary renunciation

And yet, the main thing that even many monarchists accuse Nicholas II of is precisely renunciation, “moral desertion,” “flight from office.” The fact that he, in the words of the poet A. A. Blok, “renounced, as if he had surrendered the squadron.”

Now, again, after the scrupulous work of modern researchers, it becomes clear that there is no voluntary there was no abdication. Instead, a real coup took place. Or, as the historian and publicist M.V. Nazarov aptly noted, it was not “renunciation,” but “renunciation” that took place.

Even in the darkest Soviet times, they did not deny that the events of February 23 - March 2, 1917 at the Tsarist Headquarters and in the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front were a coup at the top, “fortunately”, coinciding with the beginning of the “February bourgeois revolution”, launched (of course Well!) by the forces of the St. Petersburg proletariat.

Material on the topic

On March 2, 1917, Russian Emperor Nicholas II signed an abdication of the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail (who soon also abdicated). This day is considered the date of the death of the Russian monarchy. But there are still many questions about renunciation. We asked Gleb Eliseev, candidate of historical sciences, to comment on them.

With the riots in St. Petersburg inflated by the Bolshevik underground, everything is now clear. The conspirators only took advantage of this circumstance, exorbitantly exaggerating its significance, in order to lure the sovereign out of Headquarters, depriving him of contact with any loyal units and the government. And when the royal train, with great difficulty, reached Pskov, where the headquarters of General N.V. Ruzsky, commander of the Northern Front and one of the active conspirators, was located, the emperor was completely blocked and deprived of communication with the outside world.

In fact, General Ruzsky arrested the royal train and the emperor himself. And cruel psychological pressure began on the sovereign. Nicholas II was begged to give up power, which he never aspired to. Moreover, this was done not only by Duma deputies Guchkov and Shulgin, but also by the commanders of all (!) fronts and almost all fleets (with the exception of Admiral A.V. Kolchak). The Emperor was told that his decisive step would be able to prevent unrest and bloodshed, that this would immediately put an end to the St. Petersburg unrest...

Now we know very well that the sovereign was basely deceived. What could he have thought then? At the forgotten Dno station or on the sidings in Pskov, cut off from the rest of Russia? Didn’t you consider that it was better for a Christian to humbly cede royal power rather than shed the blood of his subjects?

But even under pressure from the conspirators, the emperor did not dare to go against the law and conscience. The manifesto he compiled clearly did not suit the envoys of the State Duma. The document, which was eventually published as a text of renunciation, raises doubts among a number of historians. Its original has not been preserved; only a copy is available in the Russian State Archive. There are reasonable assumptions that the sovereign's signature was copied from the order on the assumption of supreme command by Nicholas II in 1915. The signature of the Minister of the Court, Count V.B. Fredericks, who allegedly certified the abdication, was also forged. Which, by the way, the count himself clearly spoke about later, on June 2, 1917, during interrogation: “But for me to write such a thing, I can swear that I would not do it.”

And already in St. Petersburg, the deceived and confused Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich did something that, in principle, he had no right to do - he transferred power to the Provisional Government. As A.I. Solzhenitsyn noted: “The end of the monarchy was the abdication of Mikhail. He is worse than abdicating: he blocked the path to all other possible heirs to the throne, he transferred power to an amorphous oligarchy. His abdication turned the change of monarch into a revolution.”

Usually, after statements about the illegal overthrow of the sovereign from the throne, both in scientific discussions and on the Internet, cries immediately begin: “Why didn’t Tsar Nicholas protest later? Why didn’t he expose the conspirators? Why didn’t you raise loyal troops and lead them against the rebels?”

That is, why didn’t he start a civil war?

Yes, because the sovereign did not want her. Because he hoped that by leaving he would calm down the new unrest, believing that the whole point was the possible hostility of society towards him personally. After all, he, too, could not help but succumb to the hypnosis of the anti-state, anti-monarchist hatred to which Russia had been subjected for years. As A. I. Solzhenitsyn correctly wrote about the “liberal-radical Field” that engulfed the empire: “For many years (decades) this Field flowed unhindered, its lines of force thickened - and penetrated and subjugated all the brains in the country, at least in some way touched enlightenment, at least the beginnings of it. It almost completely controlled the intelligentsia. More rare, but permeated by its power lines were state and official circles, the military, and even the priesthood, the episcopate (the entire Church as a whole is already... powerless against this Field), and even those who fought most against the Field: the most right-wing circles and the throne itself."

And did these troops loyal to the emperor exist in reality? After all, even Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich on March 1, 1917 (that is, before the formal abdication of the sovereign) transferred the Guards crew subordinate to him to the jurisdiction of the Duma conspirators and appealed to other military units to “join the new government”!

The attempt of Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich to prevent bloodshed by renouncing power, through voluntary self-sacrifice, ran into the evil will of tens of thousands of those who wanted not the pacification and victory of Russia, but blood, madness and the creation of “heaven on earth” for a “new man”, free from faith and conscience.

And even the defeated Christian sovereign was like a sharp knife in the throat of such “guardians of humanity.” He was unbearable, impossible.

They couldn't help but kill him.

The myth that the execution of the royal family was the arbitrariness of the Ural Regional Council

Emperor Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei
in the link. Tobolsk, 1917-1918

The more or less vegetarian, toothless early Provisional Government limited itself to the arrest of the emperor and his family, the socialist clique of Kerensky achieved the exile of the sovereign, his wife and children to. And for whole months, right up to the Bolshevik revolution, one can see how the dignified, purely Christian behavior of the emperor in exile contrasts with each other and the evil vanity of the politicians of the “new Russia”, who sought “to begin with” to bring the sovereign into “political oblivion.”

And then an openly atheistic Bolshevik gang came to power, which decided to transform this non-existence from “political” into “physical”. After all, back in April 1917, Lenin declared: “We consider Wilhelm II to be the same crowned robber, worthy of execution, as Nicholas II.”

Only one thing is unclear - why did they hesitate? Why didn’t they try to destroy Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich immediately after the October Revolution?

Probably because they were afraid of popular indignation, afraid of public reaction with their still fragile power. Apparently, the unpredictable behavior of “abroad” was also frightening. In any case, the British Ambassador D. Buchanan warned the Provisional Government: “Any insult inflicted on the Emperor and His Family will destroy the sympathy aroused by the March and the course of the revolution, and will humiliate the new government in the eyes of the world.” True, in the end it turned out that these were just “words, words, nothing but words.”

And yet there remains a feeling that, in addition to rational motives, there was some inexplicable, almost mystical fear of what the fanatics were planning to do.

After all, for some reason, years after the Yekaterinburg murder, rumors spread that only one sovereign was shot. Then they declared (even at a completely official level) that the Tsar’s killers were severely condemned for abuse of power. And later, for almost the entire Soviet period, the version about the “arbitrariness of the Yekaterinburg Council”, allegedly frightened by the white units approaching the city, was officially accepted. They say that so that the sovereign would not be released and become the “banner of the counter-revolution,” he had to be destroyed. The fog of fornication hid the secret, and the essence of the secret was a planned and clearly conceived savage murder.

Its exact details and background have not yet been clarified, the testimony of eyewitnesses is surprisingly confused, and even the discovered remains of the Royal Martyrs still raise doubts about their authenticity.

Now only a few unambiguous facts are clear.

On April 30, 1918, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their daughter Maria were escorted from Tobolsk, where they had been in exile since August 1917, to Yekaterinburg. They were placed in custody in the former house of engineer N.N. Ipatiev, located on the corner of Voznesensky Prospekt. The remaining children of the Emperor and Empress - daughters Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and son Alexei - were reunited with their parents only on May 23.

Was this an initiative of the Yekaterinburg Council, not coordinated with the Central Committee? Hardly. Judging by indirect evidence, at the beginning of July 1918, the top leadership of the Bolshevik party (primarily Lenin and Sverdlov) decided to “liquidate the royal family.”

Trotsky, for example, wrote about this in his memoirs:

“My next visit to Moscow came after the fall of Yekaterinburg. In a conversation with Sverdlov, I asked in passing:

Yes, where is the king?

“It’s over,” he answered, “he was shot.”

Where is the family?

And his family is with him.

All? - I asked, apparently with a tinge of surprise.

That’s it,” Sverdlov answered, “but what?”

He was waiting for my reaction. I didn't answer.

-Who decided? - I asked.

We decided here. Ilyich believed that we should not leave them a living banner, especially in the current difficult conditions.”

(L.D. Trotsky. Diaries and letters. M.: “Hermitage”, 1994. P.120. (Record dated April 9, 1935); Leon Trotsky. Diaries and letters. Edited by Yuri Felshtinsky. USA, 1986 , p.101.)

At midnight on July 17, 1918, the emperor, his wife, children and servants were awakened, taken to the basement and brutally killed. It is in the fact that they killed brutally and cruelly that all the eyewitness accounts, which are so different in other respects, amazingly coincide.

The bodies were secretly taken outside of Yekaterinburg and somehow tried to be destroyed. Everything that remained after the desecration of the bodies was buried just as secretly.

The Yekaterinburg victims had a presentiment of their fate, and it was not for nothing that Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna, during her imprisonment in Yekaterinburg, wrote out the lines in one of her books: “Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ went to death as if on a holiday, facing inevitable death, they retained the same wonderful peace of mind , which did not leave them for a minute. They walked calmly towards death because they hoped to enter into a different, spiritual life, which opens up for a person beyond the grave.”

P.S. Sometimes they notice that “Tsar Nicholas II atoned for all his sins before Russia with his death.” In my opinion, this statement reveals some kind of blasphemous, immoral quirk of public consciousness. All the victims of the Yekaterinburg Golgotha ​​were “guilty” only of persistent confession of the faith of Christ until their death and died a martyr’s death.

And the first of them is the passion-bearer sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich.

On the screensaver there is a fragment of a photo: Nicholas II on the imperial train. 1917

Alexandrovich (18.05.68 – 17. 07.18) - Emperor of the Russian Empire abdicated during the February Revolution of 1917 and, according to the decree of the Provisional Government, he and his family were under arrest, and then exiled to the city of Tobolsk. In the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks moved him to Yekaterinburg, and where he, his wife, children and immediate circle were shot in July 1918.

Nikolai Alexandrovich's wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, was born in Darmstadt, Germany and was born Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. Nicholas and Alexandra, being descendants of German dynasties and having the same ancestor - Frederick William II, King of Prussia, were distant relatives to each other. The wedding of Nikolai and Alexandra took place on November 26, 1994 - almost a week after the funeral. The ceremony took place on the birthday of Maria Feodorovna, the Empress - which allowed to break the mourning.

Children of Nicholas II

In total, in the family of Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna, there were five children: Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey.

Olga

The first daughter, in the family of the autocrat, Olga was born on November 3, 1895, and grew up kind and sympathetic. More than other sisters, she loved to read and wrote poetry. The only one of the sisters who could openly object to her parents. There was a plan for Olga's marriage to Prince Carol, but Olga refused to leave Russia, explaining that she was Russian and would remain so.

Tatiana

The second daughter, Tatyana, was born on May 29, 1897. She loved to play with hoops and ride a horse. She was restrained in character, consistent in her actions and had a strong will. Of all the princesses, she was closest to Alexandra Feodorovna.

Maria

Born May 14, 1899. Large, cheerful and lively, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. She had a good-natured character and loved to talk with people. As an example, she not only knew the guard soldiers by name, but remembered the names of their wives and the number of children in their families. Maria was tall and was very close to her father. She showed no interest in school sciences, but she had a talent for drawing.

Anastasia

The fourth daughter of the autocrat, Anastasia, was born on June 5, 1901. Outwardly, having inherited the facial features of her father, she looked like her grandmother, Maria Fedorovna. She had a high voice, spoke clearly but quickly, and loved to laugh loudly. She had a cheerful and mischievous character, loved outdoor games; She was close to her sister Maria and loved Alexei, her brother, very much.

Alexey The long-awaited heir to the throne, Tsarevich

Alexey, born on August 12, 1904 and named in honor of St. Alexei of Moscow. Through his ancestors on his mother's side, he inherited hemophilia. He had a calm, flexible character, loved his royal parents and sisters very much, they reciprocated. Contemporaries described him as an intelligent and cheerful, affectionate and observant boy.

He was not particularly fond of science and was lazy in his studies. He was alien to arrogance and not arrogant, but had his own character, he obeyed only his father. The Tsarevich loved the Russian army and respected the simple warrior. Being the heir to the Throne, he was the chief of his regiments and the ataman of the Cossack troops, during World War I he visited the active army with his father-emperor, where he awarded soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle.

Family education

For the purposes of education, living conditions in the royal family did not abound in luxury; the Sisters lived two to a room, in simple and modest surroundings. Younger children sometimes wore the clothes of their elders, from which they outgrew. They received pocket money for their expenses, which they sometimes used to buy each other small gifts. Contemporaries note the atmosphere of simplicity, love and harmony that dominated the family.

In relation to their mother, Alexandra Fedorovna, the children were always attentive and showed respect. Nikolai Alexandrovich was both a father and an emperor for them at the same time, their relationship with their father moved from love and friendship to deep worship.

Epilogue

The emperor (and his family) is glorified by the Orthodox Church as a passion-bearer and martyr.

On December 12, “Channel One” will show an 8-episode series dedicated to the last days of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, as well as one of the most mysterious close associates of the royal family - the elder. Nicholas II and his family (wife and children) are the last representatives of the House of Romanov and the last rulers of the Russian Empire, shot by the Bolsheviks in July 1918.

In Soviet textbooks, the autocrat was presented as a “strangler of freedoms” who was not interested in state affairs, and the Russian Orthodox Church (though already in our days) canonized the tsar as a martyr and passion-bearer. Let's figure out how modern historians evaluate life and reign.

Life and reign of Nicholas II

Nicholas, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III, was born in Tsarskoe Selo on May 6 (18), 1868. The heir to the throne received a thorough education at home: he knew several languages, world history, and understood economics and military affairs. Together with his father, Nikolai made many trips to the provinces of Russia.

Alexander III did not make concessions: he wanted his offspring to behave like ordinary children - they played, fought, sometimes played pranks, but most importantly, they studied well and “didn’t think about any thrones.”

Contemporaries described Nicholas II as very easy to communicate with, full of true dignity as a person. He never interrupted his interlocutor or raised his voice, even to those of lower rank. The emperor was lenient towards human weaknesses and had a good-natured attitude toward ordinary people - peasants, but never forgave what he called “dark money matters.”

In 1894, after the death of his father, Nicholas II ascended the throne. The years of his reign came during a turbulent period in history. Revolutionary movements arose all over the world, and the First World War began in 1914. However, even in such difficult times, he managed to significantly improve the economic situation of the state.

Here are just some facts about the reign of Nicholas II:

• During his reign, the population of the empire increased by 50 million people.
• 4 million rubles, left by Alexander III as an inheritance to his children and kept in a London bank, were spent on charity.
• The emperor approved all petitions for pardon that were sent to him.
• The grain harvest has doubled.
• Nicholas II carried out a military reform: he shortened the terms of service, improved living conditions for soldiers and sailors, and also contributed to the rejuvenation of the officer corps.
• During the First World War, he did not sit in the palace, but took command of the Russian army, finally managing to repel Germany.

However, the emerging revolutionary sentiments increasingly captured people's thoughts. On March 2, 1917, under pressure from the high command, he handed over the Manifesto of Abdication, in which he bequeathed the army to obey the Provisional Government.

Modern historians believe that the Manifesto was a fake. In the original draft, Nicholas II only called for listening to your superiors, maintaining discipline and “defending Russia with all your might.” Later, Alekseev only added a couple of sentences (“For the last time I am addressing you...”) to change the meaning of the autocrat’s words.

Wife of Nicholas II - Alexandra Fedorovna

The Empress (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) was born on May 25 (June 6), 1872. She received a new name after baptism and marriage to Nicholas II. The future empress was raised by the English Queen Victoria, who adored her granddaughter.

Alice graduated from the University of Heidelberg with a Bachelor of Philosophy.

In May 1884, at the wedding of her sister Elizaveta Fedorovna, she met Nikolai Alexandrovich. The wedding took place on November 14 (26), 1894, just 3 weeks after the death of Emperor Alexander.

During the war, Empress Alexandra and the Grand Duchesses personally assisted in operations in hospitals, accepted amputated limbs from surgeons and washed purulent wounds.

Despite the fact that the empress was not popular in her new fatherland, she herself fell in love with Russia with all her soul. Doctor Botkin’s daughter wrote in her diary that after Nicholas II read out the manifesto on the war with Germany (her historical homeland), Alexandra cried with joy.

However, liberals considered her the head of the court Germanophile group and accused Nicholas II of being too dependent on his wife’s opinion. Because of the negative attitude, the once sparkling joy of the princess, the “ray of sunshine of Windsor” (as Nicholas II called Alexandra in his time) gradually became isolated in a narrow circle of her family and 2-3 close associates.

Her friendship with the elder, Siberian peasant Grigory Rasputin, caused a lot of controversy.

Children of Nicholas II

The family of Nicholas II Romanov raised five children: four daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia) and a son, the heir to the throne, Alexei Nikolaevich.

Olga Nikolaevna Romanova

Olga, the eldest daughter of Nicholas II, gave the impression of a gentle and fragile girl. From an early age she showed a passion for books and was a very erudite child. However, at times the Grand Duchess was hot-tempered and stubborn. Teachers noted that the girl had an almost perfect ear for music - she could play almost any melody heard somewhere.

Princess Olga did not like luxury and was distinguished by modesty. She didn’t like housework, but she enjoyed reading, playing the piano and drawing.

Tatyana Nikolaevna Romanova

Tatyana Nikolaevna was born on May 29, 1897. As a child, what she loved most was riding a pony and a tandem bicycle with her sister Olga; she could spend hours wandering around the garden, picking flowers and berries.

Tatyana's character was similar to her mother: she laughed less often than the other sisters, and was often thoughtful and strict.

Unlike her older sister, the girl loved to be in charge, and she was great at it. When her mother was away, Tatyana embroidered, ironed clothes and managed to look after the younger children.

Maria Nikolaevna Romanova

The third daughter in the family of Nicholas II - Maria - was born on the night of June 14, 1899 at the summer residence in Peterhof. Very large and strong for her age, she later carried her brother Alexei in her arms when it was difficult for him to walk. Because of her simplicity and cheerful disposition, the sisters called her Masha. The girl loved to talk with the guard soldiers and always remembered the names of their wives and how many children they had.

At the age of 14 she became a colonel of the 9th Kazan Dragoon Regiment. At the same time, her affair with officer Demenkov broke out. When her lover went to the front, Maria personally sewed a shirt for him. In telephone conversations, he assured that the shirt was just right. Unfortunately, the end of the love story was tragic: Nikolai Demenkov was killed during the civil war.

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

Princess Anastasia was born when the family of Nicholas II and Alexandra already had three daughters. Outwardly she looked like her father, often laughed loudly and laughed. From the diaries of those close to the royal family, you can find out that Anastasia had a very cheerful and even mischievous character. The girl loved to play lapta and forfeits, could tirelessly run around the palace, play hide and seek, and climb trees. But she was never particularly diligent in her studies and even tried to bribe teachers with bouquets of flowers.

Alexey Nikolaevich Romanov

The long-awaited son of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna was the youngest of the children of the royal couple. The boy was born on July 30 (August 12), 1904. At first, the Tsarevich grew up as a cheerful, cheerful child, but later a terrible genetic disease appeared - hemophilia. This complicated the upbringing and training of the future emperor. Only Rasputin managed to find a way to alleviate the boy’s suffering.

Alexey Nikolaevich himself wrote in his diary: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy people, I want everyone to be happy.”

Execution of Nicholas II and his family

After signing the manifesto, from March 9 to August 14, 1917, the royal family of Nicholas II lived under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo. In the summer they were transported to Tobolsk, where the regime was a little softer: the Romanovs were allowed to go across the street to the Church of the Annunciation and lead a quiet home life.

While imprisoned, the family of Tsar Nicholas II did not sit idle: the former monarch personally chopped wood and looked after the garden.

In the spring of 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the Romanov family to Moscow for trial. However, it never took place. On July 12, the Ural Council of Workers' Deputies decided to execute the former emperor. Nicholas II, Alexandra Fedorovna, their children, as well as Doctor Botkin and the servants were shot in Yekaterinburg in the “House of Special Purpose” on the night of July 17, 1918.

Titled from birth His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich. After the death of his grandfather, Emperor Alexander II, in 1881 he received the title of Heir Tsesarevich.

...neither by his figure nor by his ability to speak, the tsar touched the soldier’s soul and did not make the impression that was necessary to lift the spirit and strongly attract hearts to himself. He did what he could, and one cannot blame him in this case, but he did not produce good results in the sense of inspiration.

Childhood, education and upbringing

Nikolai received his home education as part of a large gymnasium course and in the 1890s - according to a specially written program that combined the course of the state and economic departments of the university law faculty with the course of the Academy of the General Staff.

The upbringing and training of the future emperor took place under the personal guidance of Alexander III on a traditional religious basis. Nicholas II's studies were conducted according to a carefully developed program for 13 years. The first eight years were devoted to the subjects of the extended gymnasium course. Particular attention was paid to the study of political history, Russian literature, English, German and French, which Nikolai Alexandrovich mastered to perfection. The next five years were devoted to the study of military affairs, legal and economic sciences necessary for a statesman. Lectures were given by outstanding Russian academicians of world renown: N. N. Beketov, N. N. Obruchev, Ts. A. Cui, M. I. Dragomirov, N. H. Bunge, K. P. Pobedonostsev and others. Presbyter I. L. Yanyshev taught the Tsarevich canon law in connection with the history of the church, the most important departments of theology and the history of religion.

Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1896

For the first two years, Nikolai served as a junior officer in the ranks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. For two summer seasons he served in the ranks of a cavalry hussar regiment as a squadron commander, and then served in a camp in the ranks of the artillery. On August 6 he was promoted to colonel. At the same time, his father introduces him to the affairs of governing the country, inviting him to participate in meetings of the State Council and the Cabinet of Ministers. At the suggestion of the Minister of Railways S. Yu. Witte, Nikolai in 1892, in order to gain experience in government affairs, was appointed chairman of the committee for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. By the age of 23, Nikolai Romanov was a widely educated man.

The emperor's educational program included travel to various provinces of Russia, which he made together with his father. To complete his education, his father allocated a cruiser at his disposal for a trip to the Far East. In nine months, he and his retinue visited Austria-Hungary, Greece, Egypt, India, China, Japan, and later returned to the capital of Russia by land through all of Siberia. In Japan, an attempt was made on Nicholas's life (see Otsu Incident). A shirt with blood stains is kept in the Hermitage.

His education was combined with deep religiosity and mysticism. “The Emperor, like his ancestor Alexander I, was always mystically inclined,” recalled Anna Vyrubova.

The ideal ruler for Nicholas II was Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet.

Lifestyle, habits

Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich Mountain landscape. 1886 Paper, watercolor Signature on the drawing: “Nicky. 1886. July 22” The drawing is pasted on the passe-partout

Most of the time, Nicholas II lived with his family in the Alexander Palace. In the summer he vacationed in Crimea at the Livadia Palace. For recreation, he also annually made two-week trips around the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea on the yacht “Standart”. I read both light entertainment literature and serious scientific works, often on historical topics. He smoked cigarettes, the tobacco for which was grown in Turkey and sent to him as a gift from the Turkish Sultan. Nicholas II was fond of photography and also loved watching films. All his children also took photographs. Nikolai began keeping a diary at the age of 9. The archive contains 50 voluminous notebooks - the original diary for 1882-1918. Some of them were published.

Nikolai and Alexandra

The first meeting of the Tsarevich with his future wife took place in 1884, and in 1889 Nicholas asked his father for his blessing to marry her, but was refused.

All correspondence between Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II has been preserved. Only one letter from Alexandra Feodorovna was lost; all her letters were numbered by the empress herself.

Contemporaries assessed the empress differently.

Coronation

Accession to the throne and beginning of reign

Letter from Emperor Nicholas II to Empress Maria Feodorovna. January 14, 1906 Autograph. “Trepov is irreplaceable for me, a kind of secretary. He is experienced, smart and careful in giving advice. I let him read thick notes from Witte and then he reports them to me quickly and clearly. This is, of course, a secret from everyone!”

The coronation of Nicholas II took place on May 14 (26) of the year (for the victims of coronation celebrations in Moscow, see “Khodynka”). In the same year, the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition was held in Nizhny Novgorod, which he attended. In 1896, Nicholas II also made a big trip to Europe, meeting with Franz Joseph, Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria (Alexandra Feodorovna's grandmother). The end of the trip was the arrival of Nicholas II in the capital of the allied France, Paris. One of the first personnel decisions of Nicholas II was the dismissal of I.V. Gurko from the post of Governor-General of the Kingdom of Poland and the appointment of A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs after the death of N.K. Girs. The first of Nicholas II's major international actions was the Triple Intervention.

Economic policy

In 1900, Nicholas II sent Russian troops to suppress the Yihetuan uprising together with the troops of other European powers, Japan and the United States.

The revolutionary newspaper Osvobozhdenie, published abroad, did not hide its fears: “ If Russian troops defeat the Japanese... then freedom will be calmly strangled to the sounds of cheers and the ringing of bells of the triumphant Empire» .

The difficult situation of the tsarist government after the Russo-Japanese War prompted German diplomacy to make another attempt in July 1905 to tear Russia away from France and conclude a Russian-German alliance. Wilhelm II invited Nicholas II to meet in July 1905 in the Finnish skerries, near the island of Bjorke. Nikolai agreed and signed the agreement at the meeting. But when he returned to St. Petersburg, he abandoned it, since peace with Japan had already been signed.

American researcher of the era T. Dennett wrote in 1925:

Few people now believe that Japan was deprived of the fruits of its upcoming victories. The opposite opinion prevails. Many believe that Japan was already exhausted by the end of May and that only the conclusion of peace saved it from collapse or complete defeat in a clash with Russia.

Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (the first in half a century) and the subsequent brutal suppression of the revolution of 1905-1907. (subsequently aggravated by the appearance of Rasputin at court) led to a decline in the authority of the emperor in the circles of the intelligentsia and nobility, so much so that even among the monarchists there were ideas about replacing Nicholas II with another Romanov.

The German journalist G. Ganz, who lived in St. Petersburg during the war, noted a different position of the nobility and intelligentsia in relation to the war: “ The common secret prayer not only of liberals, but also of many moderate conservatives at that time was: “God, help us to be defeated.”» .

Revolution of 1905-1907

With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Nicholas II tried to unite society against an external enemy, making significant concessions to the opposition. So, after the murder of the Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve by a Socialist-Revolutionary militant, he appointed P.D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, who was considered a liberal, to his post. On December 12, 1904, a decree “On plans for improving the State order” was issued, promising the expansion of the rights of zemstvos, insurance of workers, emancipation of foreigners and people of other faiths, and the elimination of censorship. At the same time, the sovereign declared: “I will never, under any circumstances, agree to a representative form of government, because I consider it harmful for the people entrusted to me by God.”

...Russia has outgrown the form of the existing system. It strives for a legal system based on civil freedom... It is very important to reform the State Council on the basis of the prominent participation of the elected element in it...

Opposition parties took advantage of the expansion of freedoms to intensify attacks on the tsarist government. On January 9, 1905, a large labor demonstration took place in St. Petersburg, addressing the Tsar with political and socio-economic demands. Demonstrators clashed with troops, resulting in a large death toll. These events became known as Bloody Sunday, the victims of which, according to V. Nevsky's research, were no more than 100-200 people. A wave of strikes swept across the country, and the national outskirts became agitated. In Courland, the Forest Brothers began to massacre local German landowners, and the Armenian-Tatar massacre began in the Caucasus. Revolutionaries and separatists received support with money and weapons from England and Japan. Thus, in the summer of 1905, the English steamer John Grafton, which ran aground, was detained in the Baltic Sea, carrying several thousand rifles for Finnish separatists and revolutionary militants. There were several uprisings in the navy and in various cities. The largest was the December uprising in Moscow. At the same time, Socialist Revolutionary and anarchist individual terror gained great momentum. In just a couple of years, revolutionaries killed thousands of officials, officers and police officers - in 1906 alone, 768 were killed and 820 representatives and agents of the authorities were wounded.

The second half of 1905 was marked by numerous unrest in universities and even in theological seminaries: due to the unrest, almost 50 secondary theological educational institutions were closed. The adoption of a temporary law on university autonomy on August 27 caused a general strike of students and stirred up teachers at universities and theological academies.

The ideas of senior dignitaries about the current situation and ways out of the crisis were clearly manifested during four secret meetings under the leadership of the emperor, held in 1905-1906. Nicholas II was forced to liberalize, moving to constitutional rule, while simultaneously suppressing armed uprisings. From a letter from Nicholas II to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna dated October 19, 1905:

Another way is to provide civil rights to the population - freedom of speech, press, assembly and unions and personal integrity;…. Witte passionately defended this path, saying that although it was risky, it was nevertheless the only one at the moment...

On August 6, 1905, the manifesto on the establishment of the State Duma, the law on the State Duma and the regulations on elections to the Duma were published. But the revolution, which was gaining strength, easily overcame the acts of August 6; in October, an all-Russian political strike began, over 2 million people went on strike. On the evening of October 17, Nikolai signed a manifesto promising: “1. To grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil freedom on the basis of actual personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.” On April 23, 1906, the Basic State Laws of the Russian Empire were approved.

Three weeks after the manifesto, the government granted amnesty to political prisoners, except for those convicted of terrorism, and a little over a month later it abolished preliminary censorship.

From a letter from Nicholas II to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on October 27:

The people were outraged by the impudence and insolence of the revolutionaries and socialists...hence the Jewish pogroms. It is amazing how unanimously and immediately this happened in all the cities of Russia and Siberia. In England, of course, they write that these riots were organized by the police, as always - an old, familiar fable!.. Incidents in Tomsk, Simferopol, Tver and Odessa clearly showed what lengths an angry crowd could reach when it surrounded houses in The revolutionaries locked themselves in and set them on fire, killing anyone who came out.

During the revolution, in 1906, Konstantin Balmont wrote the poem “Our Tsar”, dedicated to Nicholas II, which turned out to be prophetic:

Our king is Mukden, our king is Tsushima,
Our king is a bloody stain,
The stench of gunpowder and smoke,
In which the mind is dark. Our king is a blind misery,
Prison and whip, trial, execution,
The king is a hanged man, so half as low,
What he promised, but didn’t dare give. He is a coward, he feels with hesitation,
But it will happen, the hour of reckoning awaits.
Who began to reign - Khodynka,
He will end up standing on the scaffold.

The decade between two revolutions

On August 18 (31), 1907, an agreement was signed with Great Britain to delimit spheres of influence in China, Afghanistan and Iran. This was an important step in the formation of the Entente. On June 17, 1910, after lengthy disputes, a law was adopted that limited the rights of the Sejm of the Grand Duchy of Finland (see Russification of Finland). In 1912, Mongolia, which gained independence from China as a result of the revolution that took place there, became a de facto protectorate of Russia.

Nicholas II and P. A. Stolypin

The first two State Dumas were unable to conduct regular legislative work - the contradictions between the deputies on the one hand, and the Duma with the emperor on the other, were insurmountable. So, immediately after the opening, in a response to the speech of Nicholas II from the throne, the Duma members demanded the liquidation of the State Council (the upper house of parliament), the transfer of appanage (private estates of the Romanovs), monastic and state lands to the peasants.

Military reform

Diary of Emperor Nicholas II for 1912-1913.

Nicholas II and the church

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a reform movement, during which the church sought to restore the canonical conciliar structure, there was even talk of convening a council and establishing the patriarchate, and there were attempts in the year to restore the autocephaly of the Georgian Church.

Nicholas agreed with the idea of ​​an “All-Russian Church Council,” but changed his mind and on March 31 of the year, at the report of the Holy Synod on the convening of the council, he wrote: “ I admit it is impossible to do..."and established a Special (pre-conciliar) presence in the city to resolve issues of church reform and a Pre-conciliar meeting in the city.

An analysis of the most famous canonizations of that period - Seraphim of Sarov (), Patriarch Hermogenes (1913) and John Maksimovich ( -) allows us to trace the process of growing and deepening crisis in relations between church and state. Under Nicholas II the following were canonized:

4 days after Nicholas’s abdication, the Synod published a message supporting the Provisional Government.

Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod N. D. Zhevakhov recalled:

Our Tsar was one of the greatest ascetics of the Church of recent times, whose exploits were overshadowed only by his high title of Monarch. Standing on the last step of the ladder of human glory, the Emperor saw above him only the sky, towards which his holy soul irrepressibly strove...

World War I

Along with the creation of special meetings, in 1915 Military-Industrial Committees began to emerge - public organizations of the bourgeoisie that were semi-oppositional in nature.

Emperor Nicholas II and front commanders at a meeting of Headquarters.

After such severe defeats for the army, Nicholas II, not considering it possible for himself to remain aloof from hostilities and considering it necessary in these difficult conditions to take upon himself full responsibility for the position of the army, to establish the necessary agreement between Headquarters and the governments, and to put an end to the disastrous isolation of power, standing at the head of the army, from the authorities governing the country, on August 23, 1915, assumed the title of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. At the same time, some members of the government, the high army command and public circles opposed this decision of the emperor.

Due to the constant movements of Nicholas II from Headquarters to St. Petersburg, as well as insufficient knowledge of issues of troop leadership, the command of the Russian army was concentrated in the hands of his chief of staff, General M.V. Alekseev, and General V.I. Gurko, who replaced him in late and early 1917. The autumn conscription of 1916 put 13 million people under arms, and losses in the war exceeded 2 million.

During 1916, Nicholas II replaced four chairmen of the Council of Ministers (I.L. Goremykin, B.V. Sturmer, A.F. Trepov and Prince N.D. Golitsyn), four ministers of internal affairs (A.N. Khvostova, B. V. Sturmer, A. A. Khvostov and A. D. Protopopov), three foreign ministers (S. D. Sazonov, B. V. Sturmer and Pokrovsky, N. N. Pokrovsky), two military ministers (A. A. Polivanov, D. S. Shuvaev) and three ministers of justice (A. A. Khvostov, A. A. Makarov and N. A. Dobrovolsky).

Probing the world

Nicholas II, hoping for an improvement in the situation in the country if the spring offensive of 1917 was successful (which was agreed upon at the Petrograd Conference), did not intend to conclude a separate peace with the enemy - he saw the victorious end of the war as the most important means of strengthening the throne. Hints that Russia might begin negotiations for a separate peace were a normal diplomatic game and forced the Entente to recognize the need to establish Russian control over the Mediterranean straits.

February Revolution of 1917

The war affected the system of economic ties - primarily between city and countryside. Famine began in the country. The authorities were discredited by a chain of scandals such as the intrigues of Rasputin and his entourage, as they were then called “dark forces”. But it was not the war that gave rise to the agrarian question in Russia, acute social contradictions, conflicts between the bourgeoisie and tsarism and within the ruling camp. Nicholas's commitment to the idea of ​​unlimited autocratic power extremely narrowed the possibility of social maneuvering and knocked out the support of Nicholas's power.

After the situation at the front stabilized in the summer of 1916, the Duma opposition, in alliance with conspirators among the generals, decided to take advantage of the current situation to overthrow Nicholas II and replace him with another tsar. The leader of the cadets, P. N. Milyukov, subsequently wrote in December 1917:

Since February, it was clear that Nicholas’s abdication could take place any day now, the date was given as February 12-13, it was said that a “great act” was coming - the abdication of the Emperor from the throne in favor of the heir, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, that the regent would be Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.

On February 23, 1917, a strike began in Petrograd, and 3 days later it became general. On the morning of February 27, 1917, there was an uprising of soldiers in Petrograd and their union with the strikers. A similar uprising took place in Moscow. The queen, who did not understand what was happening, wrote reassuring letters on February 25

The queues and strikes in the city are more than provocative... This is a “hooligan” movement, boys and girls run around shouting that they don’t have bread just to incite, and the workers don’t let others work. If it were very cold, they would probably stay at home. But all this will pass and calm down if only the Duma behaves decently

On February 25, 1917, with the manifesto of Nicholas II, the meetings of the State Duma were stopped, which further inflamed the situation. Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko sent a number of telegrams to Emperor Nicholas II about the events in Petrograd. This telegram was received at Headquarters on February 26, 1917 at 10 p.m. 40 min.

I most humbly inform Your Majesty that the popular unrest that began in Petrograd is becoming spontaneous and of threatening proportions. Their foundations are the lack of baked bread and the weak supply of flour, inspiring panic, but mainly complete distrust in the authorities, which are unable to lead the country out of a difficult situation.

The civil war has begun and is flaring up. ...There is no hope for the garrison troops. The reserve battalions of the guards regiments are in revolt... Order the legislative chambers to be reconvened to repeal your highest decree... If the movement spreads to the army... the collapse of Russia, and with it the dynasty, is inevitable.

Abdication, exile and execution

Abdication of the throne by Emperor Nicholas II. March 2, 1917 Typescript. 35 x 22. In the lower right corner is the signature of Nicholas II in pencil: Nikolay; in the lower left corner in black ink over a pencil there is an attestation inscription in the hand of V. B. Frederiks: Minister of the Imperial Household, Adjutant General Count Fredericks."

After the outbreak of unrest in the capital, the tsar on the morning of February 26, 1917 ordered General S.S. Khabalov to “stop the unrest, which is unacceptable in difficult times of war.” Having sent General N.I. Ivanov to Petrograd on February 27

to suppress the uprising, Nicholas II left for Tsarskoye Selo on the evening of February 28, but was unable to travel and, having lost contact with Headquarters, on March 1 arrived in Pskov, where the headquarters of the armies of the Northern Front of General N.V. Ruzsky was located, at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon he made a decision about abdication in favor of his son during the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, in the evening of the same day he announced to the arriving A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin about the decision to abdicate for his son. On March 2 at 23:40 he handed over to Guchkov the Manifesto of Abdication, in which he wrote: “ We command our brother to rule over the affairs of the state in complete and inviolable unity with the representatives of the people».

The personal property of the Romanov family was looted.

After death

Glorification among the saints

Decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church dated August 20, 2000: “To glorify the Royal Family as passion-bearers in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.” .

The act of canonization was received ambiguously by Russian society: opponents of canonization claim that the canonization of Nicholas II is of a political nature. .

Rehabilitation

Philatelic collection of Nicholas II

Some memoir sources provide evidence that Nicholas II “sinned with postage stamps,” although this hobby was not as strong as photography. On February 21, 1913, at a celebration in the Winter Palace in honor of the anniversary of the House of Romanov, the head of the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs, Actual State Councilor M.P. Sevastyanov, presented Nicholas II with albums in morocco bindings with proof proofs and essays of stamps from the commemorative series published in 300 as a gift. -anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. It was a collection of materials related to the preparation of the series, which was carried out over almost ten years - from 1912. Nicholas II valued this gift very much. It is known that this collection accompanied him among the most valuable family heirlooms in exile, first in Tobolsk, and then in Yekaterinburg, and was with him until his death.

After the death of the royal family, the most valuable part of the collection was plundered, and the remaining half was sold to a certain English army officer stationed in Siberia as part of the Entente troops. He then took her to Riga. Here this part of the collection was acquired by philatelist Georg Jaeger, who put it up for sale at auction in New York in 1926. In 1930, it was again put up for auction in London, and the famous collector of Russian stamps, Goss, became its owner. Obviously, it was Goss who significantly replenished it by buying missing materials at auctions and from private individuals. The 1958 auction catalog described the Goss collection as “a magnificent and unique collection of proofs, prints and essays... from the collection of Nicholas II.”

By order of Nicholas II, the Women's Alekseevskaya Gymnasium, now the Slavic Gymnasium, was founded in the city of Bobruisk

see also

• Family of Nicholas II

• E. Radzinsky. Nicholas II: life and death.
• R. Massey. Nikolai and Alexandra.

Illustrations

Emperor Nicholas II was born in 1868, on May 6 (18) in Tsarskoe Selo by Empress Maria Feodorovna. Nikolai Alexandrovich's father is Alexander III. At the age of 8 (1876) he became an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and in 1894 he became emperor.

During the reign of Emperor Nicholas 2, Russia experienced rapid development in the economy and industrial spheres. Under him, Russia lost the war of 1904–1905 to Japan, which accelerated the Revolution of 1905–1907. In the first year of the Revolution, on October 17, a Manifesto appeared, which legitimized the emergence of political parties and established the State Duma. At the same time, the implementation of Stolypin's agrarian reform began.

During World War I, Russia had allies in the form of members of the Entente, into which it was admitted in 1907. Since August 1915, Emperor Nicholas 2 has been the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Abdicated the throne in 1917, March 2 (15), during the February Revolution. Soon after this, he was arrested and then killed by the Bolsheviks (along with his wife and children) in Yekaterinburg in 1918, on July 17. Canonized in 2000.

The emperor's childhood and adolescence

Teachers began studying with Nikolai when he reached the age of eight. First there was a training program of an eight-year general education course, then five years of higher education. The emperor's education was based on the modified course of the classical gymnasium. Nikolai studied natural sciences instead of classical “dead” languages. The history course was expanded, and the study of native literature was also more complete. Foreign languages ​​were also taught to the future emperor according to a more comprehensive program. Higher education subjects included political economy and law. Higher military affairs included the study of military law, strategy, geography and the service of the General Staff.

Nikolai studied the art of using a rapier, vaulting, drawing and music. Teachers and mentors were strictly selected by the crowned parents themselves. The teaching staff included learned men, statesmen and military figures, such as N. Kh. Bunge, N. K. Girs, K. P. Pobedonostsev, N. N. Obruchev, M. I. Dragomirov and A. R. Drenteln.

First steps in career

Knowing military regulations and internal officer traditions perfectly, Nikolai was drawn to military affairs from an early age. It was not difficult for him to endure difficulties during camp training and maneuvers; he easily and humanly communicated with ordinary soldiers, while at the same time feeling his responsibility to them - as a mentor and patron.

His army career began immediately after birth: his name was included in the lists of the regiments of the Imperial Guard, and in the 65th Moscow Infantry Regiment he was appointed chief. When Nikolai was five years old, the Life Guards Reserve Infantry Regiment received him as chief. In 1875 he was enrolled in the Life Guards Erivan Regiment. He received his first military rank in 1875 (in December), became a second lieutenant in 1880, and a lieutenant another 4 years later.

Since 1884, Nicholas II has been an active military man; in July 1887 he was accepted into the Preobrazhensky Regiment, where he received the rank of staff captain. After 4 years, the future Emperor became a captain, and in 1892 - a colonel.

Serving as Emperor of Russia

Nicholas was crowned at the age of 26, on October 20, 1894 in Moscow. He took the oath and received the name Nicholas II. In 1896, on May 18, the coronation celebrations on Khodynskoye Field were overshadowed by tragic events. The political situation during the reign of the last emperor became very tense. The foreign policy situation also sharply worsened: this was the time of the war between Russia and Japan, the bloody January 9, the revolution of 1905-1907, the First World War and the “bourgeois” revolution of February 1917.

During his reign, the process of industrialization of Russia took place. New cities were built and grew, populated areas were connected by railroads, and factories were erected. Nikolai was progressive in relation to the economic and social development of the country and the growth of modernization. He supported agrarian reform, signed laws on the introduction of gold circulation of the ruble and insurance of workers, and took the side of universal primary education and religious tolerance.

By his nature, Nicholas was not inclined to reform. He accepted many changes against his will, forcedly, since they went against his beliefs. He did not believe that Russia was ready to adopt a constitution, gain rights and freedoms, as well as voting rights. He did not want to go against a strong social movement for political change, and as a result he signed the Manifesto. Thus, on October 17, 1905, democratic freedoms were proclaimed.

The State Duma began its activities in 1906, its establishment was also spelled out in the Manifesto. This was the first time in Russian history: the population elected a representative body of power. The gradual transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy began.

Despite these changes, the power of the emperor was still enormous: laws in the form of decrees were not repealed, and the appointment of ministers and a prime minister accountable only to the emperor was his prerogative. The army, the court and the ministers of the Church were still subject to him, and it was he who determined the course of foreign policy.

Emperor Nicholas II as a person

Contemporaries assessed the positive and negative personality traits of Nicholas II in very contradictory ways. Some considered him almost “spineless” and weak-willed, others noted his persistence in achieving his goals, often reaching the point of stubbornness. In fact, someone else's will was imposed on him only once, when he signed the Manifesto and thereby allowed it to be.

At first glance, there was nothing strong, stern and powerful in his appearance, character and behavior, like that of his father Alexander III. Nevertheless, people who knew him closely noted exceptional self-control, which could be mistakenly interpreted as indifference to people and the fate of the country. An example of this is his composure at the news that Port Arthur had fallen and that the Russian army had again lost another battle (during the First World War). This impassivity struck those around him to the core. Emperor Nicholas 2 dealt with state affairs very diligently and carefully, doing almost everything himself - he never had a personal secretary, and all the seals on the letters were put by his hand. In general, managing vast Russia was difficult for him. According to contemporaries, the emperor was very observant, had a tenacious memory, was modest, sensitive and friendly. He valued peace of mind, health and well-being of himself and his family.

Family of Nicholas II

In difficult times, his family was his support. The emperor's wife was Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, and when she was married to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

She was a true friend to Nikolai, supported him and helped him with advice. They had many similarities - in habits, ideas about life and cultural interests. They got married in 1894, on November 14. The Empress gave birth to four daughters and an only son: in 1895 - Olga, in 1897 - Tatiana, in 1899 - Maria, in 1901 - Anastasia and in 1904 - Alexei.

Alexey had an incurable disease that caused constant suffering to his loving parents: blood incoagulability, or hemophilia.

The acquaintance of the royal couple with Grigory Rasputin occurred precisely because of the prince’s illness. Rasputin had long had a reputation as a healer and seer, and he often helped Alexei cope with attacks of illness.

World War I

The fate of Emperor Nicholas 2 changed dramatically in the year the First World War began. For a very long time he tried to prevent a bloody clash, to avoid hostilities. Alas, hopes were not justified: the war began in 1914, Russia received the “glove” from Germany on August 1.

When a streak of military failures began, and this was in August 1915, the emperor assumed the functions of commander-in-chief. Previously, this duty was performed by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (junior). From that time on, the emperor almost never visited St. Petersburg; Mogilev and the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief became his “home”.

Problems within the country “thanks to” the war became much more acute. There were rumors that the government had “warmed up” the traitors. The main burden of responsibility for too long military operations and failures on the battlefields fell on the shoulders of the tsar and the government. Together with the allies, England and France, the General Staff, led by Nicholas II, prepared a plan for the final offensive. They planned to end the war before the summer of 1917.

Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Execution

The capital's unrest in February 1917 did not meet with serious resistance from the government. Seeing no resistance, the masses intensified and launched large-scale protests against the dynasty and the authorities. Emperor Nicholas 2 did not restore order by force, fearing limitless bloodshed.

There were people in the government who were actively convincing the tsar to abdicate the throne. High military officials, some members of the royal retinue and individual political subjects explained this by saying that a change of power was required to calm the unrest in the country. The fatal step was taken on March 2, 1917. After much painful reflection in the carriage of the imperial train, in Pskov, the tsar signed his abdication of the throne. The throne was transferred to Grand Duke Mikhail, Nicholas's brother, but he did not accept the crown.

The emperor and his family were arrested on March 9. For five months they lived in Tsarskoe Selo, under constant guard. At the end of the summer they were transported to Tobolsk, where they stayed until April 1918. The next and final refuge of the royal family was Yekaterinburg, Ipatiev’s house, where they remained in the basement until July 17. That night they were shot: every single one of them, seven and four close associates, without a trial or investigation.

On the same night in the Urals, in the Alapaevskaya mine, six more close relatives of the royal dynasty were shot.

The last Russian Emperor Nicholas 2 was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.