vintage everyday: Old Photos of Daily Life of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, in the 1910s

Nicolas sharing breakfast with his son Alexei in 1909

Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule. His poor handling of Bloody Sunday and Russia’s role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.

Nicholas II was born on May 18, 1868, in Pushkin, Russia. He inherited the throne when his father, Alexander III, died in 1894. Although he believed in autocracy, he was eventually forced to create an elected legislature. Nicholas II’s handling of Bloody Sunday and World War I incensed his subjects and…

Source: vintage everyday: Old Photos of Daily Life of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, in the 1910s

May 6 – Tsar Nicholas’ Birthday

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On May 6, 1868, 147 years ago today, Nicholas II, Tsar of all the Russians
was born. He was to be the eighteenth sovereign and last of the Romanov dynasty.

He was the eldest of six children born to Alexander III and the Empress Maria Feodorovna. Alexander was a reactionary of the first order and dominated his family as he dominated Russia. His word was law, his decisions incontestable.

Alexander’s political views were markedly different from his father’s; Alexander II was a “reformer” within the context of the autocracy as well as a bit of a libertine. He took a 17 year old mistress from the “Smolny Institute for Noble Young Ladies” and made no secret of it; indeed flaunting it both to his wife and at Court.

Reform came to an end on March 1, 1881 when anarchists threw two bombs into his carriage. One leg was blown off…

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