Actually, I think I won out in the end. Will said at least A III cared for his people, while I told him that A III was the d**k and, although he did keep the peace, he was a reactionary who treated Nicholas like a dog and that if he had been a better father, N might have been a better tsar. I also told him A II was the good guy who freed the Serfs and was ready to take steps toward a constitution when he was assinated. Will thought I meant N, whom he said "granted a constitution with a gun to his head, so it doesn't count." I pointed out that A II was N's grandfather who was offed in 1881. Will was like "So the revolutionaries screwed up and killed the guy who would actually listen to them" and I told him A II was a d**k in his personal life but a pretty good Tsar, but Nicholas was a good and decent man who wasn't Tsar material - he cared about his people in his way but didn't want to make changes. Will said "You can't have your cake and eat it too" and I said "True, true, very true." History debates by text! I love it!
