Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, was viewed as both weak and small-minded both throughout his reign and after his tragic death. There was no change of mind made among the populace of the world after he was murdered when the Bolshevik revolution took charge in mighty Russia. The world did not see him in another light after this event. He was still the same disconnected and meek persona both before and after his death. Nicholas II was a tsar following the tradition of weaker and weaker rulers in Russia, his life ended in assassination, just as those who reigned before him. He did not truly understand the weight he carried on his shoulders and the horrible events that took place in Russia during his regency. Public opinion of tsar Nicholas II kept him in a negative light both before and after that tragic summer night in 1918 when he was murdered.
Before his death, many outside of Russia in both Europe and the United States of America, thought of him in a negative light. He was described by Count Paul Vassili, who is believed to have been an intimate of the tsar, as weak in character, not intelligent, and generally selfish. Vassili asserts Nicholas was not “wicked” or “tyrannical,” perhaps a positive spin on his character, but still his words about Nicholas are anything but positive.
As described by Count Vassili, Nicholas as a child was simply beyond spoiled. His father attempted to prepare him for his coming reign in Russia, however, Nicholas never seemed to take well to the position before him, not even to the military aspect of it all. Vassili describes him as having “no love of reading, no artistic tastes, no interest in anything!” Early on, he was a timid boy and Vassili believes this lead to his later “almost brutal manner.”[1] It was almost as if Nicholas knew of his weakness or at least the perception of weakness that surrounded him and he tried too hard to make himself seem important and strong. This attitude that Nicholas displayed after conquering his timidity made him many enemies. At age 15, he was essentially “given over to a tutor” by the name of General Danilovitch. His father could not seem to get through to him, so he assigned another individual with the task of raising Nicholas for his regency. At age 18, he traveled the world, as royalty does, adding to the disconnection from his people.[2]
Upon ascent to the throne, Nicholas was “entirely unknown to the public” and did nothing to make his authority respected. In his ascension speech, he warned his people “not to indulge in senseless dreams.” During his reign, he never gained a connection with his people or the tragedies they faced in everyday life. He simply did not understand the magnitude of many tragedies his empire faced and did not seem to have any emotions toward the suffering of his people. He did not notice large events or tragedies unless he was told about them. Even then, the tsar did not seem to care much.
At the Khondinka festival, a gathering of Russians for the coronation of the new tsar, a tragedy took place which many perceived to add to the worthlessness of the tsar. However, Vassili’s account of this event does not lay fault on the tsar or add to his bad reputation. At this festival, there happened to be a panic in the crowd and thousands of Russians jumped into ditches which had been made to prevent people from entering the field except through the gates. These individuals trapped in the ditches were subsequently trampled to death. Nicholas was not notified of these events until after his coronation speech was given. Those in charge of the event simply did not want him to know. They tried to cart out the bodies and also stuffed them under the pavilion where Nicholas spent the evening. Nicholas was standing over these dead Russians for the entire night, with no idea of what had taken place. Once he was notifed, he was described as “bitterly reproached.” Others made him out to be disconnected from the event due to his un-emotional response at the Khondinka festival, but this attitude of the tsar was simply due to ignorance of the tragedy.[3]
Vassili gives an example of the tsar’s disconnection from his people through the tragedy at Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War where over 3,000 Russians were taken prisoner and nearly all of the Russian fleet were destroyed.[4] He tsar Nicholas II received notice by telegram of this event he was playing tennis. He stopped to read the telegram and simply resumed playing his game without any noticeable facial expressions. The tsar was said to have sent that fleet only to “frighten the Japanese into asking for peace,” although others had warned him of the dangerous situation he could be putting his navy into. He simply did not find it possible that he could lose nearly his entire fleet. When Stolypin, a great leader of the Duma in Russia and the man responsible for calming tensions in attempted revolutions, died, Nicholas did not attend the funeral, he remained on vacation traveling from Kiev to the Crimea instead. Interestingly, another point about Stolypin and Nicholas reveals more of Nicholas’ character in regards to matters of the state. When Stolypin was appointed as Prime Minister, he came to Nicholas. The first words at their meeting consisted of Nicholas’ joy in seeing Stolypin so that he could assist him in hanging a picture, to tell him if it were hanging straight. He lived like more of a country gentleman than the tsar. He is described as having “no generous impulses.” Vissili describes him as “well intentioned only as far as it does not interfere with his own comfort.” [5] Finally Vassili again gives great insight into the tsar’s personality through his statements regarding the tragedy at the Winter Palace. Nicholas is said to have made the remark about his subjects gathering at the Winter Palace that “if they are not turbulent, then one must treat them as if they were so.” Although Nicholas was not present at this tragedy, his remarks surely showed his feelings about the matter.[6]
In Russia, “to multitudes of his people he is a kind of sacred icon, if not a divinity.”[7] His people thought highly of him, contending that “certain amateur diplomatists whose fortune has permitted them to converse with Nicholas II, czar of all the Russias, have declared with some emotion of enthusiasm that he was a fine, gracious gentleman, with a yearning desire to better the state of man generally and that of his subjects in particular.”[8] However, even the people of Russia realized that with each generation of tsars, the began to lack more and more. “It is true that since the days of Alexander I, the czars of Russia have become more and more the victims of the monster of bureaucracy which he reared.”[9] Nicholas, with the help of his wife Alexandra, made attempts to limit the bureaucratic power in Russia, but their unwavering hatred for anything near the idea of democracy, was also their downfall.
Russia’s perceived opinion of the tsar was not far from that of the rest of the world. They used to revere the tsar, holding him high and exalted; however, when Nicholas joined the picture, the public hardly even thought twice about him. Americans in particular viewed Nicholas as having a “limited capacity and cold nature.” Nicholas was described as feeling “the affliction of the people as his grief,”[10] however many sources did not portray Nicholas to have this concern for his people.
An Admiral said that while telling the tsar about a diplomatic storm raised by the North Sea incident, he randomly stated, “don’t you know he weighs 14 pounds” talking about his son.[11] This random information stated during an important meeting made the Admiral decide that Nicholas was simply “cast for the wrong part” and he indeed “played it awkwardly and stupidly.”[12] The Admiral ended in saying of Nicholas, “at best he was a neurotic quarter-wit on the road to madness.”[13]
One source from 1900 praised Nicholas II as being “a man of much more than average intelligence, quick of apprehension, keen in investigating, fertile in distinctions, but somewhat slow in reaching definite conclusions, and slower still in drawing practical consequences from them”[14] He was not simply dumb, as many sources said, he was actually smart, but just could not use his intelligence in the proper way as the leader of an empire should be able to. He is said to have had great power of observation and splendid memory, being able to recognize anyone’s face if he has seen them once. Most people would just say, “he looks familiar,” but Nicholas would say, “that is ___” and know him at once.[15] Contrary to other sources, this article stated that Nicholas always loved reading in his boyhood, he learned new languages without apparent difficulty, and he was indeed a good man.[16] [17]
Carl Joubert stated that the tsar never appointed wise counselors for long, they are the ones who spent the shortest amount of time in office, and they are the only reason people would think highly of him and his decisions, which are in fact made by his advisors.[18]
Nicholas also was not close to his family. He brother was sent into exile by him, his mother estranged, his wife Alexandra was viewed to be insane perhaps due to the illness of their son Alexis, who suffered an incurable disease. His intimate Vassili also remarked that Nicholas did not have any friends either. Alexandra’s “illness” was caused by both of their narrow and superstitious behaviors and beliefs. Since young Alexis suffered from incurable hemophilia, the two sent for many “wonder workers” and healers for the young boy.[19]
The changes that took place in Europe and elsewhere during Nicholas’ reign explain the changes in revolution that shook Russia. Nicholas was among the clients of “England’s greatest authorities on clothes” and they listed Tsar Nicholas II alongside King Alfonso, English royalties, and New York financiers.[20] Apparently Nicholas was still exalted in his royalty at this point in 1907, but those involved in the financial trade in America, were coming up right alongside royalty in Europe. Nicholas was facing an ever-changing world in Europe that was straying away from powerful monarchies and leaning towards constitutional governments.
Nicholas II’s death is attributed to his poor reign. If a strong leader had been in power at the time of the Bolshevik revolution, many things could have been averted and Russia would have been able to shake off the revolutionary tides that shook the empire. Nicholas’ inability to compromise the monarchy is what made the Bolsheviks execute him. During the beginning of July 1918, airplanes began to appear daily over the estate at Yekaterinburg where Nicholas was being kept by the revolutionaries. Bombs were dropped during these days, but not much damage was done. These were believed to be Czechoslovaks making reconnaissance missions and they were to shortly occupy the city.
The process of destroying the monarchy and taking down Nicholas was a long, drawn-out process of time. As early as 1905, death sentences were believed to have been handed down on Nicholas and his royal family.[21] These reports came out of St. Petersburg, where workers stated that the “fighting wing” of the Social Revolutionaries had given sentences of death to 30 high persons, including Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their son, the heir to the throne, Alexis.[22]
Many claimed Nicholas to have known about his coming murder. During his last days, Nicholas became very devout.[23] He prayed often and made the sign of the cross over his children and wife before he was killed. He is reported to have mentioned to someone on the day before his death, “I feel in my heart I shall live only a short time. Perhaps today already…” but he did not finish his sentence. He laid down without changing his clothes, which seemed strange to the observer, Parfen Dominin. During his earlier walk through the garden that day, he was told not to be afraid and that they would not shoot him, even though previously, when he was initially taken to Yekaterinburg, he was told he would not be killed. He was told that the Ural District Soviet of Workingmen, Cossacks, and the Red Army deputies would be holding a special council to decide his fate. This of course worried the tsar greatly. The Soviets said there had been an uncovered plot by the Czechoslovaks to free the tsar, with secret correspondence found between the tsar and General Dogart where the General notified the tsar to be ready to be freed.[24]
The Bolsheviks dedicated the home in Yekaterinburg to a museum to serve as a “historical reminder of the just fate that befell the autocrat of all the Russias.”[25] Americans were not allowed to visit this museum.[26]
So much debate surrounds the actual day of Nicholas’ death. It is unsure when exactly it took place. One account places it on July 10, stating that “so Nicholas was taken away, nobody knows where, and was shot during the night of July 10 by about twenty Red Army soldiers”[27] On July 21, the world learned of his death in what was described as an announcement the “world has long expected and dreaded.” [28] The report states that Nicholas appeared to have been killed on July 16, in what was “nothing short of murder.”[29] Once again, this account believes his death was based on the thought that Czechoslovaks were going to reach him soon and free him.[30] Still even in his death, the world looks down upon the tsar, stating he was guilty of oppression of his rule, but that the Bolsheviks were guilty of “an unnecessary and horrible crime in putting him to death.”[31] However, even after that date, on July 22, newspapers read that “the only chance for the tsar to save his life is to flee the country immediately” [32] So news had not yet reached the rest of the world by that point. Even in a December of 1918 article, Nicholas was definitely considered dead but there were still hopes that his family had survived.
On June 28, “rumors current in Petrograd [stated] that Alexis, his son, died a few days ago.”[33] The world only knew that “details of the execution [were] lacking” because the new revolutionary government was not letting the information out.[34] Also on June 28, from Kiev, they knew nothing of the whereabouts of the ex-emperor.[35] The Russian anniversary of his death was observed on July 17, as assigned by the Holy Synod of Russia.[36] On the anniversary of his death in 1921, they still referred to him as the “little father of us all” and the “eldest brother of the holy orthodox church of Russia.”[37] On July 30, objects and bones were discovered believed to belong to the family, showing a bit of closure for the world and the Russian people unable to fully understand and know the truth of what happened to the royal family.[38]
Due to the lacking information of Nicholas and his family’s death, the world was confused and taken aback. One article summed up the feelings of the world in saying, “Nicholas will take his place with all the other historic characters who never died. For the next forty years at least he will be seen one day in Siam, the next in Mississippi, a day or two later in South Africa, and for half a century or more after that old men will confide on their deathbeds the fact that the schoolmaster or the telegraph operator or farmhand who died in their towns some years before was the ex-czar”[39] Of course, as often happens in such mysterious situations, after his death, many claimed to be the tsar or another member of the royal family.[40] For the future to come, the details would remain a mystery since “the actors in the crime will from time to time issue various conflicting memoirs telling irreconcilable stories, and the world may never learn how, in truth, the last czar died.”[41]
Correspondence between the tsar and his wife only confirmed the negative public view of Nicholas.[42] Nicholas did not make opinions of his own, except in personal matters.[43] Although many perceived Nicholas of being unintelligent, the letters between his wife and himself show that he certainly had a much better private character than that known to his people, although his mind “was incredibly less and weaker than anyone could have dreamt of.” “However tender the tsar’s letters to his wife, they seem to be written by someone with the mentality of a child.”[44] At the same time, some said that the “best part of his character emerged in the space of those remaining two years of his life.”[45] The letters “made much of every trifle, and the most important historical events appear as no more than the trifles.”[46]
Alexandra was, however, the backbone to Nicholas. She had more strength and capability than he ever could have dreamed of having. She “urged Nicholas consistently to exert his authority.”[47] She was described as “striving with might to make her husband stand firm against the very least advance of democracy.”[48] Alexandra was confident, having no lack of faith in herself, but she insisted that her husband that a stand to show his power. She knew everyone feared her more-so than her husband and so she asked him, “when will you bang your first on the table and force them all to tremble before you. To love you is not enough, they must fear you,” and “the tsar rules and not the Duma”[49] Alexandra insisted that Russians liked to be ruled with an iron fist because that was their nature.[50]
Tsar Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, was too weak of a leader to push off democratic advances, much less the new power of the Bolshevik revolutionaries. Although his wife Alexandra attempted to strengthen her husband, his personality was simply not cut out for ruling a nation as large and as hectic as Russia. Public opinion of his remained negative throughout his reign and after his tragic death. He is among those rulers who never seem to have died. The lack of information surrounding his death and the death of his family is overwhelming, leaving plenty of room for those storytellers to make up the ending. If he had been a strong monarch, or at least a compromising one, he could have prevented his own death and the tragedy that followed in Russia during the communist years. Nicholas was the last of several tsars who seemed to have worsened which each period. The public tore his personality and his regency apart, without pitying him and the awful murderous end to his life.
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