
Tsar Nicholas II (18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918)#Footnotes was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1894 until his abdication in 1917. Nicholas proved unequal to the combined tasks of managing a country in political turmoil and commanding its army in the largest international war to date. His rule ended with the Russian Revolution, during which he and his family were executed, in 1918. Nicholas's full name was Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (in Russian language Николай Александрович Романов). His official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias.#Footnotes ==Family background and early life== The son of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his Empress Dagmar of Denmark (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), Nicholas was the grandson of Christian IX of Denmark through his mother, and of Emperor Russian Tsar Alexander II through his father. Nicholas was seen as too soft by his hard, demanding father who, not anticipating his own premature death, did nothing to prepare his son for the crown. Nicholas fell in love with Alexandra of Hesse, a granddaughter of Victoria of the United Kingdom, but his father did not approve the match, hoping instead for a marriage with a princess of the House of Orleans, to consummate Russia's newfound alliance with the French Republic. Only when Alexander was on his death bed, fearing for the succession of the Romanov dynasty, did he consent to the marriage of Nicholas to the German princess. As Tsarevich, Nicholas did a fair amount of traveling, including a notable trip to the Far East which left him with a scar in his forehead. A crazed Japanese man had nearly killed him, but he was saved by the quick action of his cousin, Prince George of Greece. Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg with a bitter hatred of the Empire of the Rising Sun. ==Nicholas becomes Tsar == Nicholas assumed the throne on November 1 1894, and soon thereafter married Princess Alix (thenceforth Empress Alexandra of Hesse). They had five children: the Grand Duchesses Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, and the Tsarevich Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. The title Tsar had been officially abolished in 1721 by Peter the Great, but it was informally used throughout Nicholas's reign. At the festivities surrounding his 1895 coronation in Moscow several thousand people were trampled to death trying to get presents from the new Emperor. Nicholas learned of the catastrophe later that day and wished to cancel all later festivities, but was persuaded not to by relatives and advisors. Many saw the deaths as a bad omen. Nicholas had been poorly prepared to rule after his father's early death. His engagement to Princess Alix only slightly preceded his father's death, and his wedding came very shortly after the funeral. Nicholas soon faced the task of being autocracy of Russia in a time of major turmoil. He relied heavily on the advice of his uncles, the Grand Dukes (brothers of the late Alexander III), and also on his and his wife's cousin, Wilhelm II of Germany. This advice was often more in the interests of "Cousin Willy", who hoped to prevent closer relations between Russia and United Kingdom and with France, than of Nicholas. An ill-conceived Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) cost Russia dearly, and fear of a wider conflagration contributed to the very Anglo-Russian Entente which Wilhelm feared. In addition to the tense international situation, Nicholas faced domestic difficulties. His grandfather, Russian Tsar Alexander II, had been assassinated by a bomb set by revolutionaries, even though he had done much to improve the situation in his country. The revolutionaries were bent not on achieving power through the existing regime, but by toppling it altogether. As a child, Nicholas and with his family had survived an assassination attempt by a bomb on a train. Defeat by Japan emboldened the internal opponents of his regime, unleashing the Russian Revolution of 1905, during which organized strikes and local uprisings forced Nicholas to concede an indirectly-elected national assembly, or Duma, in the October Manifesto. ==Nicholas as quasi-constitutional monarch== Nicholas' relations with the new Duma were not good. The First Duma, with a majority of Kadets, almost immediately came into conflict with him. Nicholas fired his relatively liberal prime minister, Sergei Witte, and dissolved the Duma. After the second Duma resulted in similar problems, new prime minister Pyotr Stolypin unilaterally dissolved it, and changed the electoral laws to allow for more conservative future Dumas, to be dominated by the liberal-conservative Octobrist Party of Alexander Guchkov. Stolypin, a skillful politician, had ambitious plans for reform. These included making loan available to the lower classes to enable them to buy land, with the intent of forming a farming class loyal to the crown. His plans were undercut by conservatives at court who had more influence with the Emperor. By the time of Stolypin's assassination by an anarchist (and police informant) in 1911, he and the Emperor were barely on speaking terms, and his fall was widely foreseen. == Tsarevich Alexei's illness == Further complicating domestic matters was the matter of succession. Alexandra bore him four daughters before their son Tsarevich Alexei of Russia was born on August 12, 1904. The young heir proved to be afflicted with hemophilia, which at that time was virtually untreatable and usually led to an untimely death. Because of the fragility of the autocracy at this time, Nicholas and Alexandra chose to not divulge Alexei's condition to anyone outside the royal household. In desperation, Alexandra sought help from a mystic, Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin seemed to help when Alexei was suffering from internal bleeding, and Alexandra became increasingly dependent on him and his advice, which she accepted as coming directly from God. Nicholas wanted to be loved by his people. Left to his own devices he might have accepted a system of constitutional monarchy and become a reforming Emperor. The influence of political reactionaries, principally his wife and his relatives, with Rasputin behind the scenes, made this impossible. == The Great War == Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serb nationalists in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, Nicholas vacillated as to Russia's course. He wanted neither to abandon his Serb allies to Austria-Hungary's demands, nor to provoke a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with the Kaiser (the so-called "Willy and Nicky correspondence") the two proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down. Nicholas took concrete measures in this regard, demanding that Russia's mobilization be only against the Austrian border, in the hopes of preventing war with Germany. It proved too late for personal communications to determine the course of events. The Russians had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and on July 31, 1914, Nicholas took the fateful step of ordering a general mobilization. This led almost immediately to a German declaration of war, and the outbreak of the World War I. The outbreak of war on August 1, 1914 found Russia grossly unprepared, and an early advance ended in staggering Russian losses. Nicholas felt it his duty to lead his army directly, assuming the role of commander-in-chief after dismissing his uncle, the highly respected and experienced Grand Duke Nicholas (September 1915) following the loss of the Russian-ruled part of Poland. His efforts to oversee the war left domestic issues essentially in the hands of Alexandra. Cut off from public opinion, Nicholas did not understand how suspicious the common people were of his wife, since she was German by birth and the victim of destructive rumours about her dependence on Rasputin. Anger at the damage that Rasputin's influence was doing to Russia's war effort and to the monarchy led to the monk's murder by a group of courtiers in December 1916. == Revolution and abdication== [[Image:Nikolaus II. (Russland).jpg|right|framed|Nicholas II after his abdication in March 1917]] Mounting national hardship and the army's initial failure to maintain the temporary military success of June 1916 led to renewed strikes and riots in the following winter. At the end of the "February Revolution" of 1917 (February in the old Russian calendar), on 2 March (Julian Calendar)/ 15 March (Gregorian Calendar), 1917 Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, in his own name and that of his son, in favor of his brother, saying, "''We bequeath Our inheritance to Our brother the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and give him Our Blessing on his accession to the throne.''" [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1917/abnick2.html] Grand Duke Grand Duke Michael of Russia declined to accept the throne, and abdicated the following day, three centuries of Romanov rule came to an end. == Execution == The provisional Russian government at first kept Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children confined in the royal residence, The Alexander Palace. Attempting to remove them from the capital and from possible harm, the Alexander Kerensky government moved them to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917. They remained there through the Bolshevik October Revolution in November 1917, but were then moved to Red Army-controlled Yekaterinburg. The Tsar and his family, including the gravely ill Alexei and several family servants, were executed by firing squad in the basement of the Ipatiev House where they had been imprisoned, on the night of July 16 or July 17, 1918 by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. The execution took place as units of the Czech Legion, making their retreat out of Russia, approached Yekaterinburg. Fearing that the Legion would take the town and free him, the Tsar's Bolshevik jailers pursued the immediate liquidation of the imperial family. The bodies of Nicholas and his family were long believed to have been disposed of down a mineshaft at a site called the Four Brothers. Initially, this was true—they had indeed been disposed of there on the night of 16 July/17. The following morning—when rumors spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site—Yurovsky removed the bodies and concealed them elsewhere. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, he made new arrangements, and buried most of the bodies in a sealed and concealed pit on Koptyaki Road, a since-abandoned cart track 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg. == Rumours of Imperial Family survivors == The concealment of the executions and the bodies led to rumours that the Emperor or some members of his family were still alive. Several people claimed to have seen the Emperor in labour camps in Siberia in the 1930s. These claims were never taken seriously, but a number of people in the 1920s and '30s claimed more credibly to be Romanov children. The best known was Anna Anderson, who maintained that she was the Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_of_Russia, and succeeded in so persuading some members of the exiled Romanov family. It is likely that she believed her claim herself, but posthumous DNA analysis has shown it to be false. In the early 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the bodies of the Romanovs were located, exhumed, and formally identified. A secret report by Yurovsky, which came to light in the late 1970s, but did not become public knowledge until the 1990s, had helped the authorities to locate the bodies. DNA analysis was a key means of identifying them. A blood sample from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose maternal grandmother was Alexandra's sister, was used to identify the Empress and her daughters through their mitochondrial DNA genes. Another method for identification was the new forensic technique of the superimposition of photos over the skulls. Two bodies were still missing, those of Alexei and one of the daughters—Tatiana, Maria or Anastasia. According to Yurovsky's account, the bodies of Alexei and one of the daughters, mistaken by Yurovsky's detachment for Alexandra, were burned near the burial site and their ashes scattered and concealed. Some elements in Russia, particularly in the Orthodox Church, maintained that the bodies were not those of the Royal Family, but following a long series of bureaucratic and political delays, the remains of the family were reinterred in the Romanov family crypt in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998, with much ceremony, on the 80th anniversary of the execution. Nicholas' life was dramatized in the 1971 film ''Nicholas and Alexandra''. == Sainthood == On August 14, 2000 Nicholas and his immediate family were Canonization as saints by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were not named martyrs, since their death did not result immediately from their Christian faith; instead they were canonized as passion bearers. They had already been venerated by some members of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia for several years previous to this. According to a statement by the Moscow synod, they were glorified as saints for the following reasons: "In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his family we see people who sincerely strove to incarnate in their lives the commands of the Gospel. In the suffering borne by the Royal Family in prison with humility, patience, and meekness, and in their martyrs deaths in Ekaterinburg in the night of 4/17 July 1918 was revealed the light of the faith of Christ that conquers evil." == Further reading == *Robert K. Massie, ''Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1967) *John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov, ''The Flight of the Romanovs'' (1999) *Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko, ''A Lifelong Passion, Nicholas and Alexandra, Their Own Story'' (1996) * Greg King and Penny Wilson, ''Fate of the Romanovs'' (2003) ==External links== *[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/ Alexander Palace] — A collection of many articles, along with now out-of-print books. *[http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Region/Europe/Russia/Russian_Empire/Romanovs/Nicholas_II/ An extensive list of sites dealing with this Tsar] *[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/yurovmurder.html Yakov Yurovsky's account of the Execution of the Imperial Family] *[http://www.romanov-memorial.com/ Ipatiev House - Romanov Memorial] An immensely detailed site on the historical context, circumstances and drama surrounding the Romanov's execution. ==Footnotes== 1. (6 May 1868 to 4 July 1918 in the Julian Calendar.) 2. Nicholas's full title was ''Nicholas the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, Poland3, Siberia, the Crimea, Georgia, Lord of Pskov, Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volkynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semgalle, Samogitia, Bialystock, Karelia, Tver, Yugoria, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria and other countries, Lord and Grand Duke of Lower Novgorod, Tchernigov, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslav, Belosero, Oudoria, Obdoria, Condia, Vitebsk and all the Region of the North, Lord and Sovereign of the Country of Iverie, Kartalinie, Kabardine, and of the Provinces of Armenia, Sovereign of the Circassian and Moutan Princes, Lord of Turkestan, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen and Oldenburg, Heir of Norway.'' 3. In 1831 the Russian tsars were deposed from the King of Poland but continued to use the title unlawfully. See: November Uprising for more details. Heir apparent: March 14, 1881–November 1, 1894 1868 births 1918 deaths Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Russian emperors British Field Marshals Knights of the Garter Murdered Russian royalty members Saints Murder victims
---- ''This is a selected entry on Template:March 15 selected anniversaries (may be in HTML comment)'' ---- As regards that railway track - my source of information was "The Romanovs""by Robert K.Massie. He quotes Yurovsky as having given the precise location of that grave - "from where the railroad tracks cross [Koptyaki Road] they are buried about 700 feet in the direction of the Iretsk factory." --------------------------------------------------------------- Arno have you ever seen that website that postulates that its Tatiana that is missing? ----- No, tell me more. Arno ____ You never did reply, but I assume that you meant http://www.livadia.org/missing. The story there, whilst it does not quite jell with Massie's account, nonetheless was interesting. Accordingly, I've included Tatiana in the account for Nicholas II. Arno ----- Yes that's what i meant - sorry for not replying - been sick of late. Paul Melville Austin As on english wiki we use english language versions of russian royal names, eg Nicholas II, it is logically absurd to use the russian version of Michael II. English language biographies call him Michael II not Mikhail II. We have got to show consistency. User:Jtdirl 21:36 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC) ---- Arno, you are wrong. The wikipedia Naming conventions for monarchs are explicit and unambiguous. Use the most common form of the name used in English. When it comes to monarchs, it is the english form of name that is used here if that is the general usage. Nicholas is ONLY called Nicholas II in english versions of Russian history. Michael is ONLY called Michael, not Mikhail. That is the agreed formula and the one I am using here. In addition the version you created here (like the earlier one) is littered with grammatical mistakes, syntax errors and layout mistakes. I am reverting to the form uses the correct nomenclature as used on wiki for monarchs. Whether Russian names are used for non monarchs is irrelevant. Monarchical names are more complicated because they do not use surnames, so the clear unambiguous rule is to use the english name if that is the one english-speakers use. On Russian wiki you can use Russian names. Not here. User:Jtdirl 04:40 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) I have put a detailed note explaining the situation on your talkpage. ----- ÉÍREman, Arno did the same over at Romanov - used the Russian names for monarchs like Catherine the Great (Yekaterina) and Peter the Great (Pyotr) when they are most commonly known by the english versions User:PMelvilleAustin 04:56 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) Actually, a couple of people have, not just me. User:Arno ----- I took out "Pyotr" 'cause ÉÍREman said the English 'pedia uses the English version of the name - and that is Peter the Great. User:PMelvilleAustin 05:09 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) ------ I'll put the both of them in. User:Arno Otherwise, we might have pages on Irish leaders referring to Liam MacCosgair (W.T. Cosgrave to the entire world), Maire Bean Mhic Robín (Mary Robinson), Pádraig MacPhiarsaigh (Patrick Pearse) and Gearóid Mór MacGearailt (Garret Mór Fitzgerald). On an Irish wiki it would be fine, but not on a non-irish speaking international one. The only exceptions are Irish language names that were used and so because de-facto english by English-speakers; Enya, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, etc. User:Jtdirl 06:39 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) ---- Well, do that. There is nothing wrong with noting those Irish names in the articles concerned , as long as you do not give the article title that name. I've now gone over Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English) and what I had there before did ''not'' contradict what I had there before. It does say what I said above. Speaking of Russian names, I'm a tad confused. Should the name of Alexis I and Nicholas'es (yes, I used English!) heir be Aleksey, Alexei or Alexis? You have not been consistent here. User:Arno ----- In his instance, Alexei is the version generally used. The use of an english version for the earlier tsar of the same name is nowhere as clear. Why, I don't know but different english versions are used in the earlier case, but primarily one in the case of Nicholas II's son. So I simply left the earlier monarch as it was, to allow someone else who might have more definitive information on the correct translation to add it in. In the case of Nicholas's son, Alexei is by far the widely used and recognised. BTW monarchical titles are covered under a different naming convention; because so many monarchical names are so complex - often with multiple titles in many languages, etc - and so many monarchs either do not have surnames or have totally mysterious ones (Queen Victoria's surname was Wettin, Prince Charles's is Mountbatten-Windsor) different from the well known Royal House name, a totally different set of naming conventions apply which in effect take priority over all other conventions. This is because so many standard conventions are unworkable in the case of monarchs. Monarchical titles are covered in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) User:Jtdirl 14:36 Apr 29, 2003 (UTC) Uh-uh! And where in the Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) article does it say "Thou shalt not use non-English names in articles about people?" User:Arno It says it clearly at the very start. In general, use the most common form of the name used in English Normally in practice we use the version of the name most recognised by ''Engish-language'' users. That does not mean the english language version, if the native language version is widely used in english, eg. Wilhelm II, Carlos, Franz-Josef. But none of the names you used are used generally in english language histories. Translations are invariably used. Nicholai is not used, Nicholas is. So that is the version wiki used, having debated the issue and reached that conclusion. User:Jtdirl 18:30 May 5, 2003 (UTC) (Of course Nicholai is not used - Nikolai is!) ----- More seriously, Te rule you refer to above says "Most general rule overall: use the most common form of the name used in English if none of the rules below cover a specific problem." It does not forbid references to the original native names within the articles themselves. I have used Nicholas throughout this article, but have referred him once as Nikolai. You say that even this is not on - I say that its pedantric nonsense! User:Arno 12:41 12 Jul 2003 (UTC) ---- Aleksey or Aleksei are the common modern transliterations from russian Cyrilic although since most people know Nicky's son as "Alexei" we have to go with that spelling User:PMelvilleAustin 18:55 May 1, 2003 (UTC) Then use the translation consistently! At any rate, all of my references have referred to him as Alexis, NOT Alexei. He was generally known as Alexei in english, NEVER Alexis, which was a French version of his name. Occasionally the French version crept into usage in english, but it was incorrect. Alexei is the correct one. Alexis is unambiguously wrong. User:Jtdirl 18:17 12 Jul 2003 (UTC) :I just don't agree, sorry. A simple Google search just now came up with 3500 examples of the name Alexis in use in relation to the Romanovs in English-language pages. That is hardly "NEVER" or "Unambigously wrong". The google search for Alexei revealed just 2920 entries. If you are going to stick to the most common English version, then use Alexis. It doesn't matter if Alexis came by way of France, Russia or Mars. It's the most common version and the name that writers about the Romanovs like Robert Massie have used. And it's the name that satisfies the criteria that you have so energetically promoted - the most comonly used English one. :Putting all that aside, why haven't you gone and 'corrected' the inconsistent use of this name? It's a point you have not addressed directly. BTW Arno, PLEASE stop changing names to their Russian equivalent, such as Mikhail II. You have been told that on wiki we use the version of name generally used by english. And under the naming conventions past empresses are supposed to be referred to by marital title, not Russian regal title. User:Jtdirl :I have told you in turn to stop prohibiting other users from using or referring to non-English names in the articles!!! I have also told you that the rule does not ban references to non-English names, or to say what that name is referred to in other languages. But I just do not seem to be able to get through to you here. You have displayed a truly astonishing stubbornness on this point. :Contrary to what you've said, some English accounts do refer to the 'last' emperor as Mikhail II. 50 English webpages do, anyway, according to a google search I just did. In other words, (yours), " [Some] English language biographies [do] call him Michael II not Mikhail II, [but others do not]". The square bracket bits are, of course, my additions. :Could I ask you when do you or Mr Austin propose to change Mikhail Gorbachev to Michael Gorbachev, and to frustrate any upstart who tries to say in the article that he is referred to in Russia as Mikhail Gorbachev? I'm curious! After all, you've objected to the idea of Mary Robinson being called Maire Bean Mhic Robín. On the other hand, and I am very puzzled by this, you've just created an article called Seán Ó Muireagáin - ie using Irish spelling. You cannot have this both ways! :Yet, a google search has Gorbachev referred to as such in 781 English articles, as opposed to the 67,300 articles that refer to him as Mikhail. If you are going to disregard the above Alexis result, then you'll need to disregard this one too and change Gorbachev to Michael Gorbachev. After all, it is consistent with Mary Robinson. :All that your work on this page has ultimately accomplished has been to remove and rephrase one sentence. The article never referred to him as Nikolai except in that one sentence, but you seem unable to acknowledge even this. :In summary, your stance on this issue is based on some false assumptions about the use of non-English names and a debatable interpretation of a wikipedia rule and not applied consistently elsewhere over the two or so months that have lapsed since you began this campaign here (something that has certainly damaged the acceptablity of your statements). :Originally written (and since reworded) on the 85th anniversary of Nicholas/Nikolai's assassination ( at least by local time) Arno 08:16 17 Jul 2003 (UTC) ::Oh come on Arno - Gorbachev is overwhelminly known by English speakers as Mikhail Gorbachev. Anybody who calls him Michael Gorbachev is going to get either an odd look or be subjected to hysterical laughter and pointing. The situation with Nicholas II is the reverse ; you are confusing English names with English usage. Wikipedia aims to follow the dominant English usage as a general rule. The single reference to the Russian form of the tzar's name is more than enough. --User:Maveric149 11:06 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) : Except that JTDirl has some trouble recognising even this. That what I had there originally. Nicholas'es name was Nikolai - calling him Nicholas as though that was his real name is as absurd as the Michael Gorabachev example you've rightly criticised. : What are your thoughts on the Alexis/Alexei/Aleksey business - and the google search technique? User:Arno 11:29 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) ::Again - the name used by most English speakers when referring to him is Nicholas ''not'' Nikolai. Same for Gorbachev; English speaker call him Mikhail ''not'' Michael. This is about ''usage'' not about whether or not the actual word is in English. However this only really affects the more famous examples - we should not make up an English name for people who are not known by that name. Google can give you an idea but I would defer at least a bit to what a real historian has to say (that's not me - but JT is one - so is 172 and JHK). --mav : Yes, but reference should be made to what his real name was! The interpretation by JTD argue against that. You're supporting a fallacy here! User:Arno 08:23, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC) His real name isn't Nicolai either. As I recall, he spelled it in the Cyrillic alphabet. --User:Tb 16:05, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC) : It was as spelt using English lettering! User:Arno I moved this paragraph here for POV work. It's unworthy of Wikipedia as it now stands. :''Regicide is a tactic traditionally employed by successful social revolutions against monarchic despotism -- as in the English Revolution, with the execution of Charles I in 1649, and the French Revolution with the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. It also occurs spontaneously throughout history with refreshing frequency, as if history agreed with the Enlightenment aphorism sometimes attributed to Voltaire that humanity would not be free until the last king had been strangled in the entrails of the last priest.'' Footnotes 1Nicholas's full title was Nicholas the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, Poland .... Emperor = Tzar Tzar = King jarro_1969@op.pl == How many people were killed in the coronation disaster? == The article claims 'several thousand' although I would dispute this. Most historians, for instance J.N. Westwood, agree that it was hundreds rather than thousands that were killed. The only notable historian who puts the figure at over a thousnad is John Hite in his book 'Czarist Russia 1801-1917,' and still this is only 'over a thousand,' not several thousand as the article claims. Sorry if this sounds pedantic. User:SilhouetteSaloon == competent ruler? == The sentence "Although by most accounts a kind and competent ruler..." sounds quite hard to believe (the competency bit) seeing how flow of history. I guess "most accounts" are extremely biased, this or that way (and given post-war development they are biased against). Shoudn't this phrase be removed or replaced by qualified opinion of professor of history? User:Pavel Vozenilek 19:33, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC) :I agree - his kindness is questionable, at best (he was personally kind, I guess, but his rule certainly was not). His competence isn't even that - he was utterly incompetent by every measure. I wonder how that got in there. User:John Kenney User_talk:John Kenney 20:05, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::I removed the sentence. (1) It is opinion rather than a fact, (2) the wording "by most accounts" is ambiguous, (3)competency is mostly matter of results, not an intrinsic property written on somebody's head, and Nicholas results were less than stellar, in retrospective. User:Pavel Vozenilek 01:58, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC) == Who forced him to abdicate? == Does anyone know who it was who/what forced him to abdicate? I cna't find anything about it.
#redirect Nicholas II of Russia
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Nicholas II of Russia
Tsar Nicholas II (18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918)#Footnotes was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1894 until his abdication in 1917. Nicholas proved unequal to the combined tasks of managing a country in political turmoil and commanding its army in the largest international war to date. His rule ended with the Russian Revolution, during which he and his family were executed, in 1918. Nicholas's full name was Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (in Russian language Николай Александрович Романов). His official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias.#Footnotes ==Family background and early life== The son of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his Empress Dagmar of Denmark (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), Nicholas was the grandson of Christian IX of Denmark through his mother, and of Emperor Russian Tsar Alexander II through his father. Nicholas was seen as too soft by his hard, demanding father who, not anticipating his own premature death, did nothing to prepare his son for the crown. Nicholas fell in love with Alexandra of Hesse, a granddaughter of Victoria of the United Kingdom, but his father did not approve the match, hoping instead for a marriage with a princess of the House of Orleans, to consummate Russia's newfound alliance with the French Republic. Only when Alexander was on his death bed, fearing for the succession of the Romanov dynasty, did he consent to the marriage of Nicholas to the German princess. As Tsarevich, Nicholas did a fair amount of traveling, including a notable trip to the Far East which left him with a scar in his forehead. A crazed Japanese man had nearly killed him, but he was saved by the quick action of his cousin, Prince George of Greece. Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg with a bitter hatred of the Empire of the Rising Sun. ==Nicholas becomes Tsar == Nicholas assumed the throne on November 1 1894, and soon thereafter married Princess Alix (thenceforth Empress Alexandra of Hesse). They had five children: the Grand Duchesses Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, and the Tsarevich Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. The title Tsar had been officially abolished in 1721 by Peter the Great, but it was informally used throughout Nicholas's reign. At the festivities surrounding his 1895 coronation in Moscow several thousand people were trampled to death trying to get presents from the new Emperor. Nicholas learned of the catastrophe later that day and wished to cancel all later festivities, but was persuaded not to by relatives and advisors. Many saw the deaths as a bad omen. Nicholas had been poorly prepared to rule after his father's early death. His engagement to Princess Alix only slightly preceded his father's death, and his wedding came very shortly after the funeral. Nicholas soon faced the task of being autocracy of Russia in a time of major turmoil. He relied heavily on the advice of his uncles, the Grand Dukes (brothers of the late Alexander III), and also on his and his wife's cousin, Wilhelm II of Germany. This advice was often more in the interests of "Cousin Willy", who hoped to prevent closer relations between Russia and United Kingdom and with France, than of Nicholas. An ill-conceived Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) cost Russia dearly, and fear of a wider conflagration contributed to the very Anglo-Russian Entente which Wilhelm feared. In addition to the tense international situation, Nicholas faced domestic difficulties. His grandfather, Russian Tsar Alexander II, had been assassinated by a bomb set by revolutionaries, even though he had done much to improve the situation in his country. The revolutionaries were bent not on achieving power through the existing regime, but by toppling it altogether. As a child, Nicholas and with his family had survived an assassination attempt by a bomb on a train. Defeat by Japan emboldened the internal opponents of his regime, unleashing the Russian Revolution of 1905, during which organized strikes and local uprisings forced Nicholas to concede an indirectly-elected national assembly, or Duma, in the October Manifesto. ==Nicholas as quasi-constitutional monarch== Nicholas' relations with the new Duma were not good. The First Duma, with a majority of Kadets, almost immediately came into conflict with him. Nicholas fired his relatively liberal prime minister, Sergei Witte, and dissolved the Duma. After the second Duma resulted in similar problems, new prime minister Pyotr Stolypin unilaterally dissolved it, and changed the electoral laws to allow for more conservative future Dumas, to be dominated by the liberal-conservative Octobrist Party of Alexander Guchkov. Stolypin, a skillful politician, had ambitious plans for reform. These included making loan available to the lower classes to enable them to buy land, with the intent of forming a farming class loyal to the crown. His plans were undercut by conservatives at court who had more influence with the Emperor. By the time of Stolypin's assassination by an anarchist (and police informant) in 1911, he and the Emperor were barely on speaking terms, and his fall was widely foreseen. == Tsarevich Alexei's illness == Further complicating domestic matters was the matter of succession. Alexandra bore him four daughters before their son Tsarevich Alexei of Russia was born on August 12, 1904. The young heir proved to be afflicted with hemophilia, which at that time was virtually untreatable and usually led to an untimely death. Because of the fragility of the autocracy at this time, Nicholas and Alexandra chose to not divulge Alexei's condition to anyone outside the royal household. In desperation, Alexandra sought help from a mystic, Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin seemed to help when Alexei was suffering from internal bleeding, and Alexandra became increasingly dependent on him and his advice, which she accepted as coming directly from God. Nicholas wanted to be loved by his people. Left to his own devices he might have accepted a system of constitutional monarchy and become a reforming Emperor. The influence of political reactionaries, principally his wife and his relatives, with Rasputin behind the scenes, made this impossible. == The Great War == Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serb nationalists in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, Nicholas vacillated as to Russia's course. He wanted neither to abandon his Serb allies to Austria-Hungary's demands, nor to provoke a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with the Kaiser (the so-called "Willy and Nicky correspondence") the two proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down. Nicholas took concrete measures in this regard, demanding that Russia's mobilization be only against the Austrian border, in the hopes of preventing war with Germany. It proved too late for personal communications to determine the course of events. The Russians had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and on July 31, 1914, Nicholas took the fateful step of ordering a general mobilization. This led almost immediately to a German declaration of war, and the outbreak of the World War I. The outbreak of war on August 1, 1914 found Russia grossly unprepared, and an early advance ended in staggering Russian losses. Nicholas felt it his duty to lead his army directly, assuming the role of commander-in-chief after dismissing his uncle, the highly respected and experienced Grand Duke Nicholas (September 1915) following the loss of the Russian-ruled part of Poland. His efforts to oversee the war left domestic issues essentially in the hands of Alexandra. Cut off from public opinion, Nicholas did not understand how suspicious the common people were of his wife, since she was German by birth and the victim of destructive rumours about her dependence on Rasputin. Anger at the damage that Rasputin's influence was doing to Russia's war effort and to the monarchy led to the monk's murder by a group of courtiers in December 1916. == Revolution and abdication== [[Image:Nikolaus II. (Russland).jpg|right|framed|Nicholas II after his abdication in March 1917]] Mounting national hardship and the army's initial failure to maintain the temporary military success of June 1916 led to renewed strikes and riots in the following winter. At the end of the "February Revolution" of 1917 (February in the old Russian calendar), on 2 March (Julian Calendar)/ 15 March (Gregorian Calendar), 1917 Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, in his own name and that of his son, in favor of his brother, saying, "''We bequeath Our inheritance to Our brother the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and give him Our Blessing on his accession to the throne.''" [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1917/abnick2.html] Grand Duke Grand Duke Michael of Russia declined to accept the throne, and abdicated the following day, three centuries of Romanov rule came to an end. == Execution == The provisional Russian government at first kept Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children confined in the royal residence, The Alexander Palace. Attempting to remove them from the capital and from possible harm, the Alexander Kerensky government moved them to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917. They remained there through the Bolshevik October Revolution in November 1917, but were then moved to Red Army-controlled Yekaterinburg. The Tsar and his family, including the gravely ill Alexei and several family servants, were executed by firing squad in the basement of the Ipatiev House where they had been imprisoned, on the night of July 16 or July 17, 1918 by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. The execution took place as units of the Czech Legion, making their retreat out of Russia, approached Yekaterinburg. Fearing that the Legion would take the town and free him, the Tsar's Bolshevik jailers pursued the immediate liquidation of the imperial family. The bodies of Nicholas and his family were long believed to have been disposed of down a mineshaft at a site called the Four Brothers. Initially, this was true—they had indeed been disposed of there on the night of 16 July/17. The following morning—when rumors spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site—Yurovsky removed the bodies and concealed them elsewhere. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, he made new arrangements, and buried most of the bodies in a sealed and concealed pit on Koptyaki Road, a since-abandoned cart track 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg. == Rumours of Imperial Family survivors == The concealment of the executions and the bodies led to rumours that the Emperor or some members of his family were still alive. Several people claimed to have seen the Emperor in labour camps in Siberia in the 1930s. These claims were never taken seriously, but a number of people in the 1920s and '30s claimed more credibly to be Romanov children. The best known was Anna Anderson, who maintained that she was the Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_of_Russia, and succeeded in so persuading some members of the exiled Romanov family. It is likely that she believed her claim herself, but posthumous DNA analysis has shown it to be false. In the early 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the bodies of the Romanovs were located, exhumed, and formally identified. A secret report by Yurovsky, which came to light in the late 1970s, but did not become public knowledge until the 1990s, had helped the authorities to locate the bodies. DNA analysis was a key means of identifying them. A blood sample from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose maternal grandmother was Alexandra's sister, was used to identify the Empress and her daughters through their mitochondrial DNA genes. Another method for identification was the new forensic technique of the superimposition of photos over the skulls. Two bodies were still missing, those of Alexei and one of the daughters—Tatiana, Maria or Anastasia. According to Yurovsky's account, the bodies of Alexei and one of the daughters, mistaken by Yurovsky's detachment for Alexandra, were burned near the burial site and their ashes scattered and concealed. Some elements in Russia, particularly in the Orthodox Church, maintained that the bodies were not those of the Royal Family, but following a long series of bureaucratic and political delays, the remains of the family were reinterred in the Romanov family crypt in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998, with much ceremony, on the 80th anniversary of the execution. Nicholas' life was dramatized in the 1971 film ''Nicholas and Alexandra''. == Sainthood == On August 14, 2000 Nicholas and his immediate family were Canonization as saints by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were not named martyrs, since their death did not result immediately from their Christian faith; instead they were canonized as passion bearers. They had already been venerated by some members of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia for several years previous to this. According to a statement by the Moscow synod, they were glorified as saints for the following reasons: "In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his family we see people who sincerely strove to incarnate in their lives the commands of the Gospel. In the suffering borne by the Royal Family in prison with humility, patience, and meekness, and in their martyrs deaths in Ekaterinburg in the night of 4/17 July 1918 was revealed the light of the faith of Christ that conquers evil." == Further reading == *Robert K. Massie, ''Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1967) *John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov, ''The Flight of the Romanovs'' (1999) *Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko, ''A Lifelong Passion, Nicholas and Alexandra, Their Own Story'' (1996) * Greg King and Penny Wilson, ''Fate of the Romanovs'' (2003) ==External links== *[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/ Alexander Palace] — A collection of many articles, along with now out-of-print books. *[http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Region/Europe/Russia/Russian_Empire/Romanovs/Nicholas_II/ An extensive list of sites dealing with this Tsar] *[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/yurovmurder.html Yakov Yurovsky's account of the Execution of the Imperial Family] *[http://www.romanov-memorial.com/ Ipatiev House - Romanov Memorial] An immensely detailed site on the historical context, circumstances and drama surrounding the Romanov's execution. ==Footnotes== 1. (6 May 1868 to 4 July 1918 in the Julian Calendar.) 2. Nicholas's full title was ''Nicholas the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, Poland3, Siberia, the Crimea, Georgia, Lord of Pskov, Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volkynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semgalle, Samogitia, Bialystock, Karelia, Tver, Yugoria, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria and other countries, Lord and Grand Duke of Lower Novgorod, Tchernigov, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslav, Belosero, Oudoria, Obdoria, Condia, Vitebsk and all the Region of the North, Lord and Sovereign of the Country of Iverie, Kartalinie, Kabardine, and of the Provinces of Armenia, Sovereign of the Circassian and Moutan Princes, Lord of Turkestan, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen and Oldenburg, Heir of Norway.'' 3. In 1831 the Russian tsars were deposed from the King of Poland but continued to use the title unlawfully. See: November Uprising for more details. Heir apparent: March 14, 1881–November 1, 1894 1868 births 1918 deaths Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Russian emperors British Field Marshals Knights of the Garter Murdered Russian royalty members Saints Murder victims
Nicholas II of Russia
---- ''This is a selected entry on Template:March 15 selected anniversaries (may be in HTML comment)'' ---- As regards that railway track - my source of information was "The Romanovs""by Robert K.Massie. He quotes Yurovsky as having given the precise location of that grave - "from where the railroad tracks cross [Koptyaki Road] they are buried about 700 feet in the direction of the Iretsk factory." --------------------------------------------------------------- Arno have you ever seen that website that postulates that its Tatiana that is missing? ----- No, tell me more. Arno ____ You never did reply, but I assume that you meant http://www.livadia.org/missing. The story there, whilst it does not quite jell with Massie's account, nonetheless was interesting. Accordingly, I've included Tatiana in the account for Nicholas II. Arno ----- Yes that's what i meant - sorry for not replying - been sick of late. Paul Melville Austin As on english wiki we use english language versions of russian royal names, eg Nicholas II, it is logically absurd to use the russian version of Michael II. English language biographies call him Michael II not Mikhail II. We have got to show consistency. User:Jtdirl 21:36 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC) ---- Arno, you are wrong. The wikipedia Naming conventions for monarchs are explicit and unambiguous. Use the most common form of the name used in English. When it comes to monarchs, it is the english form of name that is used here if that is the general usage. Nicholas is ONLY called Nicholas II in english versions of Russian history. Michael is ONLY called Michael, not Mikhail. That is the agreed formula and the one I am using here. In addition the version you created here (like the earlier one) is littered with grammatical mistakes, syntax errors and layout mistakes. I am reverting to the form uses the correct nomenclature as used on wiki for monarchs. Whether Russian names are used for non monarchs is irrelevant. Monarchical names are more complicated because they do not use surnames, so the clear unambiguous rule is to use the english name if that is the one english-speakers use. On Russian wiki you can use Russian names. Not here. User:Jtdirl 04:40 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) I have put a detailed note explaining the situation on your talkpage. ----- ÉÍREman, Arno did the same over at Romanov - used the Russian names for monarchs like Catherine the Great (Yekaterina) and Peter the Great (Pyotr) when they are most commonly known by the english versions User:PMelvilleAustin 04:56 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) Actually, a couple of people have, not just me. User:Arno ----- I took out "Pyotr" 'cause ÉÍREman said the English 'pedia uses the English version of the name - and that is Peter the Great. User:PMelvilleAustin 05:09 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) ------ I'll put the both of them in. User:Arno Otherwise, we might have pages on Irish leaders referring to Liam MacCosgair (W.T. Cosgrave to the entire world), Maire Bean Mhic Robín (Mary Robinson), Pádraig MacPhiarsaigh (Patrick Pearse) and Gearóid Mór MacGearailt (Garret Mór Fitzgerald). On an Irish wiki it would be fine, but not on a non-irish speaking international one. The only exceptions are Irish language names that were used and so because de-facto english by English-speakers; Enya, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, etc. User:Jtdirl 06:39 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC) ---- Well, do that. There is nothing wrong with noting those Irish names in the articles concerned , as long as you do not give the article title that name. I've now gone over Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English) and what I had there before did ''not'' contradict what I had there before. It does say what I said above. Speaking of Russian names, I'm a tad confused. Should the name of Alexis I and Nicholas'es (yes, I used English!) heir be Aleksey, Alexei or Alexis? You have not been consistent here. User:Arno ----- In his instance, Alexei is the version generally used. The use of an english version for the earlier tsar of the same name is nowhere as clear. Why, I don't know but different english versions are used in the earlier case, but primarily one in the case of Nicholas II's son. So I simply left the earlier monarch as it was, to allow someone else who might have more definitive information on the correct translation to add it in. In the case of Nicholas's son, Alexei is by far the widely used and recognised. BTW monarchical titles are covered under a different naming convention; because so many monarchical names are so complex - often with multiple titles in many languages, etc - and so many monarchs either do not have surnames or have totally mysterious ones (Queen Victoria's surname was Wettin, Prince Charles's is Mountbatten-Windsor) different from the well known Royal House name, a totally different set of naming conventions apply which in effect take priority over all other conventions. This is because so many standard conventions are unworkable in the case of monarchs. Monarchical titles are covered in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) User:Jtdirl 14:36 Apr 29, 2003 (UTC) Uh-uh! And where in the Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) article does it say "Thou shalt not use non-English names in articles about people?" User:Arno It says it clearly at the very start. In general, use the most common form of the name used in English Normally in practice we use the version of the name most recognised by ''Engish-language'' users. That does not mean the english language version, if the native language version is widely used in english, eg. Wilhelm II, Carlos, Franz-Josef. But none of the names you used are used generally in english language histories. Translations are invariably used. Nicholai is not used, Nicholas is. So that is the version wiki used, having debated the issue and reached that conclusion. User:Jtdirl 18:30 May 5, 2003 (UTC) (Of course Nicholai is not used - Nikolai is!) ----- More seriously, Te rule you refer to above says "Most general rule overall: use the most common form of the name used in English if none of the rules below cover a specific problem." It does not forbid references to the original native names within the articles themselves. I have used Nicholas throughout this article, but have referred him once as Nikolai. You say that even this is not on - I say that its pedantric nonsense! User:Arno 12:41 12 Jul 2003 (UTC) ---- Aleksey or Aleksei are the common modern transliterations from russian Cyrilic although since most people know Nicky's son as "Alexei" we have to go with that spelling User:PMelvilleAustin 18:55 May 1, 2003 (UTC) Then use the translation consistently! At any rate, all of my references have referred to him as Alexis, NOT Alexei. He was generally known as Alexei in english, NEVER Alexis, which was a French version of his name. Occasionally the French version crept into usage in english, but it was incorrect. Alexei is the correct one. Alexis is unambiguously wrong. User:Jtdirl 18:17 12 Jul 2003 (UTC) :I just don't agree, sorry. A simple Google search just now came up with 3500 examples of the name Alexis in use in relation to the Romanovs in English-language pages. That is hardly "NEVER" or "Unambigously wrong". The google search for Alexei revealed just 2920 entries. If you are going to stick to the most common English version, then use Alexis. It doesn't matter if Alexis came by way of France, Russia or Mars. It's the most common version and the name that writers about the Romanovs like Robert Massie have used. And it's the name that satisfies the criteria that you have so energetically promoted - the most comonly used English one. :Putting all that aside, why haven't you gone and 'corrected' the inconsistent use of this name? It's a point you have not addressed directly. BTW Arno, PLEASE stop changing names to their Russian equivalent, such as Mikhail II. You have been told that on wiki we use the version of name generally used by english. And under the naming conventions past empresses are supposed to be referred to by marital title, not Russian regal title. User:Jtdirl :I have told you in turn to stop prohibiting other users from using or referring to non-English names in the articles!!! I have also told you that the rule does not ban references to non-English names, or to say what that name is referred to in other languages. But I just do not seem to be able to get through to you here. You have displayed a truly astonishing stubbornness on this point. :Contrary to what you've said, some English accounts do refer to the 'last' emperor as Mikhail II. 50 English webpages do, anyway, according to a google search I just did. In other words, (yours), " [Some] English language biographies [do] call him Michael II not Mikhail II, [but others do not]". The square bracket bits are, of course, my additions. :Could I ask you when do you or Mr Austin propose to change Mikhail Gorbachev to Michael Gorbachev, and to frustrate any upstart who tries to say in the article that he is referred to in Russia as Mikhail Gorbachev? I'm curious! After all, you've objected to the idea of Mary Robinson being called Maire Bean Mhic Robín. On the other hand, and I am very puzzled by this, you've just created an article called Seán Ó Muireagáin - ie using Irish spelling. You cannot have this both ways! :Yet, a google search has Gorbachev referred to as such in 781 English articles, as opposed to the 67,300 articles that refer to him as Mikhail. If you are going to disregard the above Alexis result, then you'll need to disregard this one too and change Gorbachev to Michael Gorbachev. After all, it is consistent with Mary Robinson. :All that your work on this page has ultimately accomplished has been to remove and rephrase one sentence. The article never referred to him as Nikolai except in that one sentence, but you seem unable to acknowledge even this. :In summary, your stance on this issue is based on some false assumptions about the use of non-English names and a debatable interpretation of a wikipedia rule and not applied consistently elsewhere over the two or so months that have lapsed since you began this campaign here (something that has certainly damaged the acceptablity of your statements). :Originally written (and since reworded) on the 85th anniversary of Nicholas/Nikolai's assassination ( at least by local time) Arno 08:16 17 Jul 2003 (UTC) ::Oh come on Arno - Gorbachev is overwhelminly known by English speakers as Mikhail Gorbachev. Anybody who calls him Michael Gorbachev is going to get either an odd look or be subjected to hysterical laughter and pointing. The situation with Nicholas II is the reverse ; you are confusing English names with English usage. Wikipedia aims to follow the dominant English usage as a general rule. The single reference to the Russian form of the tzar's name is more than enough. --User:Maveric149 11:06 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) : Except that JTDirl has some trouble recognising even this. That what I had there originally. Nicholas'es name was Nikolai - calling him Nicholas as though that was his real name is as absurd as the Michael Gorabachev example you've rightly criticised. : What are your thoughts on the Alexis/Alexei/Aleksey business - and the google search technique? User:Arno 11:29 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) ::Again - the name used by most English speakers when referring to him is Nicholas ''not'' Nikolai. Same for Gorbachev; English speaker call him Mikhail ''not'' Michael. This is about ''usage'' not about whether or not the actual word is in English. However this only really affects the more famous examples - we should not make up an English name for people who are not known by that name. Google can give you an idea but I would defer at least a bit to what a real historian has to say (that's not me - but JT is one - so is 172 and JHK). --mav : Yes, but reference should be made to what his real name was! The interpretation by JTD argue against that. You're supporting a fallacy here! User:Arno 08:23, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC) His real name isn't Nicolai either. As I recall, he spelled it in the Cyrillic alphabet. --User:Tb 16:05, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC) : It was as spelt using English lettering! User:Arno I moved this paragraph here for POV work. It's unworthy of Wikipedia as it now stands. :''Regicide is a tactic traditionally employed by successful social revolutions against monarchic despotism -- as in the English Revolution, with the execution of Charles I in 1649, and the French Revolution with the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. It also occurs spontaneously throughout history with refreshing frequency, as if history agreed with the Enlightenment aphorism sometimes attributed to Voltaire that humanity would not be free until the last king had been strangled in the entrails of the last priest.'' Footnotes 1Nicholas's full title was Nicholas the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, Poland .... Emperor = Tzar Tzar = King jarro_1969@op.pl == How many people were killed in the coronation disaster? == The article claims 'several thousand' although I would dispute this. Most historians, for instance J.N. Westwood, agree that it was hundreds rather than thousands that were killed. The only notable historian who puts the figure at over a thousnad is John Hite in his book 'Czarist Russia 1801-1917,' and still this is only 'over a thousand,' not several thousand as the article claims. Sorry if this sounds pedantic. User:SilhouetteSaloon == competent ruler? == The sentence "Although by most accounts a kind and competent ruler..." sounds quite hard to believe (the competency bit) seeing how flow of history. I guess "most accounts" are extremely biased, this or that way (and given post-war development they are biased against). Shoudn't this phrase be removed or replaced by qualified opinion of professor of history? User:Pavel Vozenilek 19:33, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC) :I agree - his kindness is questionable, at best (he was personally kind, I guess, but his rule certainly was not). His competence isn't even that - he was utterly incompetent by every measure. I wonder how that got in there. User:John Kenney User_talk:John Kenney 20:05, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::I removed the sentence. (1) It is opinion rather than a fact, (2) the wording "by most accounts" is ambiguous, (3)competency is mostly matter of results, not an intrinsic property written on somebody's head, and Nicholas results were less than stellar, in retrospective. User:Pavel Vozenilek 01:58, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC) == Who forced him to abdicate? == Does anyone know who it was who/what forced him to abdicate? I cna't find anything about it.
Nicholas ii of russia
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