History UsefulNotes / NicholasII

As if all that wasn't enough, Nicholas married for love -- and his choice of bride would prove to be a disaster. Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine was Queen Victoria's favourite grandchild, but she was also painfully shy, strong-willed, and disdainful of aristocratic society, preferring a quiet life in the country with her husband and children. Thus, the future Alexandra Feodorovna was utterly ill-suited to the life of a Russian Empress, who should move among society with grace and charm and host major events during the winter social season. Combine this with her own firm belief in the principles of autocracy, her ineptness at governance in general, and the fact that Nicholas listened to ''her'' over any of his experienced advisers, and despite the undeniable and enduring love between them, their marriage was a recipe for tragedy.

-->'''Nicholas II'''

The UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar demonstrated how poorly Nicholas could assess a severe situation. When Nicholas was visiting Japan on a state visit as Tsarevich (Russian crown prince) in 1891, he was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtsu_incident attacked by one of his Japanese police escorts, and may well have been killed if his cousin George hadn't intervened]]. The Japanese were horrified, with Emperor Meiji publicly expressing his sorrow, the general public sending Nicholas 10,000 telegrams wishing a full recovery, and one woman even ''slit her throat'' as an act of public contritionm. Despite the Japanese peoples' remorse and sympathy, Nicholas came away from the incident loathing them. He considered them an inferior race despite having made [[UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration tremendous strides in industry and military]] since the 1860s. He was sure that Russia could easily crush Japan, and that God Himself destined Russia to achieve victory. Ultimately, Russia suffered massive defeats at the hands of the Japanese navy. Even after Nicholas received a report about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima the destruction of the Russian navy at Tsushima, he continued playing a tennis match]]. Nicholas II was forced to make humiliating concessions at the Treaty of Portsmouth.

Russia's defeat and the Bloody Sunday massacre[[note]]while Nicholas didn't order the shooting, he had refused to read the petition or meet with any of the shooters, which didn't alleviate the situation or the public outrage one bit[[/note]] shattered the belief Russians held about the tsar being a divinely appointed ruler, and Russia was plunged into revolution. Despite continuing to loaf around, Nicholas II finally agreed to government reforms at the urging of Sergei Witte, one his most capable ministers, and his cousin threatening suicide if he didn't make some kind of concession. In the October Manifesto, Nicholas finally established a parliamentary system with civil and political rights guaranteed for every man and woman...

Only for Nicholas to then roll back many of his promises of reform, limiting the franchise so that noblemen would have more say in the newly established State Duma and ensuring that he could control when the Duma could meet and what legislation the Duma was allowed to pass. Nicholas II also didn't dismantle the [[StateSec Okhrana]] and continued persecuting political and revolutionary opponents. The repression campaign of Pytor Stolypin, one of Russia's prime ministers, was so severe the nooses used in the executions were known as "Stolypin's neckties." Despite his excesses leading to the near collapse of his regime, Nicholas II continued to grasp whatever autocratic power he could.

The UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar demonstrated how poorly Nicholas could assess a severe situation. When Nicholas was visiting Japan on a state visit as Tsarevich (Russian crown prince) in 1891, he was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ctsu_incident attacked by one of his Japanese police escorts, and may well have been killed if his cousin George hadn't intervened]]. The Japanese were horrified, with Emperor Meiji publicly expressing his sorrow, the general public sending Nicholas 10,000 telegrams wishing a full recovery, and one woman even ''slit her throat'' as an act of public contritionm. Despite the Japanese peoples' remorse and sympathy, Nicholas came away from the incident loathing them. He considered them an inferior race despite having made [[UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration tremendous strides in industry and military]] since the 1860s. He was sure that Russia could easily crush Japan, and that God Himself destined Russia to achieve victory. Ultimately, Russia suffered massive defeats at the hands of the Japanese navy. Even after Nicholas received a report about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima the destruction of the Russian navy at Tsushima, he continued playing a tennis match]]. Nicholas II was forced to make humiliating concessions at the Treaty of Portsmouth.