Monarch Profile: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Part V - The End

Abdication had been mentioned before, even by some in the extended Imperial Family, but Nicholas II had always dismissed such a notion. This was not out of any ambition on his part but rather on his heartfelt view that the position of Tsar was a sacred duty, a responsibility God had entrusted to him and as much as he would have liked to leave government behind and live the life of a private country gentleman he could not shirk that responsibility or put it off on others. This was also why he had opposed things like constitutions and democracy because, even if he gave up his power to others, he could not give up the responsibility. As he saw it, to do so would still have been forsaking his duty and even if he gave up his powers God would still hold him responsible, and no one else, for all that was done in his name. However, when he was overtaken by the revolution, surrounded and his family under threat, Nicholas had no higher priority than his wife and children. When the President of the Duma, supported by the generals, said that only his abdication could prevent a total breakdown of social order, Nicholas did not hesitate. On March 2, 1917 he signed the instrument of abdication for himself and on behalf of his son the Tsarevitch Alexei.

This final act has been the cause of a little controversy in historical arguments. Could he have abdicated for someone else, even his son? If he had signed his own abdication first, how could he have had the legitimate power to do so? With his first signature he lost all power and Alexei automatically became Tsar and no one but he could have signed his position away. Most, however, accepted that as Alexei was a minor, Nicholas II, as his father, could do as he pleased on his behalf. In any event, none of it would ultimately matter anyway and Nicholas only did it because he feared for the life of his beloved (and frail) son. Doctors assured him that were Alexei separated from his family, as he surely would be if he remained in Russia as a figurehead Tsar while the rest were sent into exile, he would surely die. No parent would have allowed that and would have done anything to prevent it. Once the abdications were done, Nicholas was allowed to go to his family and all of them were taken into “protective custody” by the provisional government. Nicholas fully expected that they would be allowed to leave the country and that his cousin and ally King George V of Great Britain would give them sanctuary.

Despite the indignities they suffered in captivity, Nicholas and the rest of his family behaved with stoic courage and made no complaints. Everything was in the hands of God and, like Job on whose day he was born, no trial or hardship would shake his faith in God. His faith in his fellow man, if he had any left, might have been struck a blow though. Whereas Nicholas had been adamant, even in the darkest days of the war, that he would be loyal to the alliance of nations and never make a separate peace, his supposed “allies” quickly deserted him. In France and Great Britain the downfall of the Romanov monarchy was cheered and in the United States the Congress joined in the congratulations as the change made them feel at least a little less hypocritical about entering a war to “make the world safe for democracy”. If the Imperial Family had left immediately they might have been okay but they were delayed by the children coming down with smallpox. By the time they recovered things had changed in Britain. The labor unions had grown increasingly troublesome during the war and Prime Minister Lloyd George feared the consequences of letting the Tsar come to England. He intervened with the King and the offer of sanctuary was withdrawn. The royal houses of Europe were shocked by this. Even Kaiser Wilhelm II had offered safe passage through German waters for any British warship that would rescue his cousin (and enemy) the Tsar from captivity but it was not to be. Fear of the labor unions turning against the British monarchy outweighed all other considerations. The Romanovs were left to their fate.

To his credit, Nicholas II took it all with his usual calm and good nature. In quick order most of the guards and officers were won over by Nicholas and his charming family. The only one to suffer any torment was poor Alexei whom many of the guards seemed to delight in bullying. However, on the whole, everyone who had contact with Nicholas could only marvel at how wrong their previous opinion of him had been. This was also true of Alexandra of whom the very worst lies and slander had been told, yet, when the revolutionaries actually met her and talked to her they realized what a distorted view they had entertained. However, with the October Revolution the radical Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd away from the provisional government and the situation for the Imperial Family became much worse. There were rumors about civil war breaking out, monarchists sending them support and even of rescue plans but nothing ever came of them. Finally, the Tsar was told to prepare for a trip to Moscow.

Most assumed Nicholas was to be put on trial just as previous gangs of traitors had done to Louis XVI of France and Charles I of Britain, however, that did not concern the Tsar. His greatest fear was that he would be forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This was the treaty the Bolsheviks had signed with the Germans, renouncing vast tracts of the Russian Empire in return for peace. Even in his poor condition, this was what had outraged the Tsar the most. Toward the end, the Russian army had seemed to be on the rebound. Munitions production was up, better weapons were coming out and better-planned offensives had almost knocked Austria-Hungary out of the war. The Tsar had already been betrayed but with Brest-Litovsk, the Bolsheviks had done worse to him; they had betrayed his beloved Russia and it was only then that he confessed to having regretted his abdication. However, it all came to nothing as, before reaching Moscow, Nicholas and his party were turned back to their house-prison at Yekaterinburg (a Bolshevik stronghold in the Urals).

The fateful moment came in the early pre-dawn hours of July 17, 1918. The Imperial Family, Dr. Eugene Botkin, a maid and two male servants, the only attendants left, had been told not to go to sleep that night and were later ordered to assemble in a room in the half-basement of the house. Nicholas carried Alexei who could no longer walk and seated himself next to his wife while the others stood behind or sat on the floor. A squad of Bolsheviks led by Jacob Yurovsky then entered the room, read out a short order from the local Soviet (though the instructions had originated at the highest levels in Moscow) and then, in a monstrous display of the very worst depths humanity can sink to, the troops leveled their pistols and opened fire. Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, their five children, doctor, two servants and the family dog were all killed. The bodies were later doused with acid and thrown down a mine shaft. At first the Bolsheviks admitted only to the murder of the Tsar, not of his wife and children but later there was no denying the truth. Less than a month later monarchist forces of the White Russian army occupied the area, too late to rescue the Tsar.

Trotsky himself later wrote that the massacre was necessary saying, “The severity of this summary justice showed the world that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the Tsar’s family was needed not only in order to frighten, horrify and dishearten the enemy, but also in order to shake up our own ranks to show that there was no turning back,”. To the last, Nicholas II had behaved with dignity and gentility. The inhumane murder of the Tsar and his entire family set the tone for the civil war that followed and that should be kept in mind when any talk of the many atrocities of the Russian Civil War. The atrocities started at Yekaterinburg with the Romanovs. The suffering of Russia was only beginning but for Nicholas II and his family, their sorrows had finally come to an end. In 1981 the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia formally canonized Tsar Nicholas II as a saint and martyr, along with his family. In 2000 the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church also recognized their saintly status but as “Passion Bearers”, as people who died in a Christ-like way.

 Aside from these religious issues though, Tsar Nicholas II will always be known by loyal monarchists as a martyr for the cause of traditional authority, as the living embodiment of the grand and glorious Russian Empire that was killed just as dead as he was on that day in 1918. Those who still persist in criticizing the Tsar do so thoughtlessly. He was as upright a man as could be hoped for, he was a monarch who felt intensely the weight and severity of his position and the responsibility that rested on his shoulders. He was a devoted husband, a loving father and a man who always cared more for his country than for himself. If, even with all of this, he is still held to blame for the problems Russia suffered it is as good as saying that one good man cannot make a difference, that morality does not matter and that loyalty, faith and righteousness count for nothing. If a man with such strength of heart and character as Nicholas II cannot make an effective ruler then we had best give up the idea of any government completely. He was not flawless to be sure, but he was beset by the blind hatred and vicious cruelty of the revolutionaries who took advantage of every opportunity to destroy their country and their Tsar. Nicholas II did not fail Russia, he did not fail his people. However, certainly as it concerns the revolutionaries, there were a great many who failed him.