The Last Tsar: Nicholas II, the Russian Revolution, and the End of the Romanov Dynasty

A surprising and unsentimental account of the life of Nicholas II, from his abdication in March 1917 to his execution Nicholas II, who came to power in 1894, was unprepared to govern. His lack of political training meant that the shy man's life and decisions were influenced primarily by his wife, Empress Alexandra, and he ultimately plunged Russia into World War I. The country was unprepared to enter the conflict, and discontent grew with food shortages and military losses. In March 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate the throne due to the revolution that broke out in the streets of Petrograd, putting an end to three centuries of imperial Russia. For the next sixteen months, he was detained first in Tsarskoye Selo, then in Tobolsk, and finally in Yekaterinburg, where he would be assassinated along with his family in July 1918. The Last Tsar offers a new perspective on the reign of Nicholas II, revealing the kind of ruler he believed himself to be—contrary to the disastrous reality—and how he ended up a victim of personal tragedy in a nation where he played a significant role. It is also an account of the social, economic, and political development of pre-Revolutionary Russia, the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917, and the beginnings of Lenin's Soviet Republic.