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Nicholas II / Nicholas had a bad rep. How much of it was outside his control?
« on: January 22, 2017, 01:49:50 AM »
I guess my biggest question right now is about Nicholas II. He's generally got this bad rep for being a terrible (or at least, a very ineffectual) tsar, and most factoids point to that indeed being the case. Maybe this is naive, but I feel like... so much of it stems from WWI, and Nicholas's ill advised decision to send Russia into it.
How many other tsars had a WORLD war to contend with? Plenty had WARS, but a WORLD war? It seems to me that Nicholas was in a singularly awkward position, and given the language used in his eventual letter of abdication, I can't imagine that he sent Russia into WWI with anything less than careful consideration. He loved his country, even if he made bad choices. Right?
So my question is, had it not been for WWI, do you think the revolutions would have even happened? Would Russia still be an autocracy? Would Nikolai and his family have been murdered? Sure, if they'd lived, Alexei still might have died (hemophilia) but there was Grand Duke Michael who could have ruled, and there would have been a chance for Nicholas and Alexandra to have more children...
Right?
(Be gentle with me. I've only really been into Russian Imperial history for about six months and while I've been eagerly devouring everything I can get my hands on to read, I'm still fairly naive and ignorant about a lot of things. I'd like to learn, but I'm not keen on being ridiculed for not being as clued up as I could be
)
How many other tsars had a WORLD war to contend with? Plenty had WARS, but a WORLD war? It seems to me that Nicholas was in a singularly awkward position, and given the language used in his eventual letter of abdication, I can't imagine that he sent Russia into WWI with anything less than careful consideration. He loved his country, even if he made bad choices. Right?
So my question is, had it not been for WWI, do you think the revolutions would have even happened? Would Russia still be an autocracy? Would Nikolai and his family have been murdered? Sure, if they'd lived, Alexei still might have died (hemophilia) but there was Grand Duke Michael who could have ruled, and there would have been a chance for Nicholas and Alexandra to have more children...
Right?
(Be gentle with me. I've only really been into Russian Imperial history for about six months and while I've been eagerly devouring everything I can get my hands on to read, I'm still fairly naive and ignorant about a lot of things. I'd like to learn, but I'm not keen on being ridiculed for not being as clued up as I could be
)