Nicholas II - the last representative of the Romanov clan who ascended the throne. He ruled in Russia during economic growth, social contradictions and the crisis of social thought. Misunderstanding of the depths of the reforms he is promoting, a number of failures in the war with Japan, and growing discontent among the people have resulted in active confrontations with the authorities. In them, ordinary people suffered greatly, because of which the autocrat became known as Nikolai the Bloody. Why bloody? Because on the day of the coronation, due to circumstances beyond his control, more than 1000 participants of the festival died in a crush on the Khodynsky field of Moscow and 900 remained crippled.
He refused to compromise with an external enemy, but unsuccessfully solved internal problems. In making unpopular and unbalanced decisions, he gained the glory of a ruler who was least understood. And on such a misunderstanding, the main tragic events of the 1st half of the 20th century developed. And later, Nicholas II, along with his family, was canonized as a martyr. The official authority of the new Russia also rehabilitated the last emperor. But this happened after the collapse of the USSR, a country built on the bones of the royal family.
The origin of the nickname
The population of Russia at that time called their emperor Nikolai the Bloody. Why bloody? There are several explanations for this, which are based on the events of the beginning of the reign and the first half of the 20th century. But it is only reliable that the bloody emperor received the nickname for the events on the Khodynka field. Then, on the feast day on the occasion of the coronation in a stampede in Moscow, 1379 people died, many were wounded and maimed.
In principle, these events were almost independent of the emperor. He is not responsible for the incorrect organization of the holidays, although he should have understood that mass events are very dangerous. First of all, due to the fact that the authorities liked the appearance of as many visitors as possible. Then, about 500,000 participants gathered on the Khodynsky field, each of whom was promised souvenirs from the royal family.
Probably, during the lifetime of Alexander III, the heir was very frightened by the prospect that someday he would rule a huge country. Nicholas II was afraid of this and, according to contemporaries and his teachers, was not ready for rule. In addition, at the age of 26, he was more likely a teenager, and therefore hardly understood at all the need for better organization of mass events and the dangers of such a factor as panic.
Events on the Khodynka field
At the festival on the Khodynka field, many subjects of the emperor suffered in a crush. 1379 people died on the spot, more than 1000 were injured, and 900 eventually remained crippled. The radical opposition, playing on such a glaring fact, spread the nickname Nikolai the Bloody. Why bloody? Yes, because people expected entertainment and free distribution of gifts, beer, sausage, gingerbread, bread and sweets. And everything turned into a tragedy due to insufficient preparation and a sea of ​​spilled blood.
A simple person was attracted by the person of the king and his family. Translating into modern language, he was practically the only media person. And any Russian man who does not see anything in his life except work, suffers many hardships, deep down hoped for some gifts from the tsar. Most of all, the bourgeoisie of Moscow expected that people would be given enamel mugs. Such utensils were unusual because they did not rust, and therefore each person wanted to get such a copy for his use.
The royal family also promised such gifts as a “Vyazma gingerbread with a coat of arms” and a commemorative chintz shawl with the imperial couple on the front side and the Kremlin with the Moscow River on the back. Visitors were promised massive entertainment in theaters and booths located around the perimeter of the Khodynka field. It also housed 20 wooden barracks where 10,000 buckets of honey and 30,000 buckets of beer were handed out free of charge. On Khodynka there are 150 stalls for the issuance of 400,000 bags with royal gifts. All this could be obtained for free, but due to the fact that the drunk population, who sometimes tried to receive gifts several times, crowded indiscriminately around the stalls, a stampede occurred.
The punishment of the guilty
The son of Alexander II, Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, who held the post of Moscow Governor-General, was held as a suspect in the case at Khodynsky Field. Convicted only police chief Vlasov Alexander Alexandrovich, of course, did not ensure the safety of the celebration. But Nikolai himself is partially guilty of his nickname, as he did not stop the coronation festivities during the period of popular mourning. As reported later, he simply did not know about it.
Later, notified, he tried to make amends to the people by paying compensation. But the coronation of Nicholas II was remembered by the people just like that, and later in Russia, faced with strikes and protests, the people already treated the tsar’s decisions with prejudice. Suspecting his coldness to himself, the peasantry, philistinism and workers, seeing this example of the monarch’s lack of will, took the initiative in their hands. According to a number of contemporaries, Emperor Nicholas II did not take an active part in the life of the state, especially at first.
His convictions that everything was fine in a great country, did not allow potential successful decisions to be pushed by competent officials. For his illegibility, he brought intriguers and populists closer. Later, he will pour out his soul in his diary, writing that there are only cowards and schemers around. And most importantly, what bothered him during the February Revolution is his family. Nicholas II in history should be remembered as a good-natured person, an exemplary family man, but an unbalanced, inept politician. And contemporaries wrote that he was fit for the throne, but he was not able to rule the country.
On the king trusting
A historical event such as Bloody Sunday further undermined the sovereign's reputation. It happened in St. Petersburg on January 9, 1905. Then, led by Georgy Gapon, a St. Petersburg priest, a peaceful procession of workers took place. Gapon himself offered to seek help from the tsar, after the strike on January 3 at the Putilov factory failed to produce any result. Georgy Gapon composed a Petition on the needs of the workers and led a procession prepared by a legal organization called the “Assembly of Russian Factory Workers”. But on the day of the procession, the king was not in the Winter Palace. He was also not in the city.
As a result, stained with blood, the procession lost faith in the king. One should only imagine all the frustration of the workers. Firstly, on Sunday, when there is no state need, and the king can listen to the request of the people, he is not in place. This can be forgiven, especially to your sovereign, but the frustration remains. Secondly, fire was fired at participants in a peaceful procession of a political nature. Of course, not all the protesters behaved decently, but it was completely possible to isolate them and maintain the peaceful nature of the procession. This was not possible for the priests who organized the rally with the workers, nor the soldiers guarding the Winter Palace. More precisely, the latter did not even try to do this.
Thirdly, the people were very outraged by the use of force against women, children and priests. Men, by the way, did not prevail numerically in this procession, and therefore the demonstration could already be viewed from afar as peaceful. And the order on the non-use of force, and especially firearms, the leadership had to give in advance. But the reluctance to put up with the demands of the workers, as well as intolerance towards them, made the commanders of the detachments hurry up with decisions, starting firing.
The signal that the king was as intolerant of the people as the military, the population then received in the most bloody form. It is such a split, when the owners of even a drop of power or having weapons in their hands could not pay attention to a person lower than themselves, and this is the main factor in the indignation of a person at that time. And now everyone has received confirmation of their fears. They understood that the events on the Khodynsky field and Bloody Sunday are very connected. They are united by the indifference and idleness of the king, even in relation to state problems, which really took place.
Victims of Bloody Sunday
According to the official version, due to the fact that the demonstrators tried to break through the cordon of the soldiers, the rally was decided to disperse with the use of firearms. Fire was fired at an unarmed crowd of children, women, priests and workers. Killed about 200 people, which significantly crippled faith in the king and served as an impetus to the beginning of the revolution. Nicholas II later again tried to make amends to the workers and even achieved some success by paying compensation to the victims.
But judging by his diary entries, he reacted negatively to such processions and shared the idea that, if necessary, he would be forced to use the army to solve such problems. By the way, an army was stationed in Moscow to suppress the revolution. He was given a very clear order to apply any measures to disperse the demonstrators. But Bloody Sunday January 9, 1905 happened in St. Petersburg, which the leadership did not expect. Although not it provided the emperor the nickname Bloody.
Reasons for failures in social policy
If Peter the Great understood Russian man perfectly, then Nicholas II did not differ in this. The people showed sincere love to both sovereigns, but in the case of the latter they simply could not stand it. Of course, we can say that the revolution is a successful special operation carried out by the British both in Russia and in Germany. But there is no evidence for this. In addition, in a strong state, where the autocrat fulfills the will of the people and takes care of him, revolutions cannot occur.
Of course, some of the emperor’s merits remained unknown to most. Having shown rigidity in conflicts with Japan and Germany, he did not allow to rob a great country. Thanks to this, Japan did not get the territory of eastern Russia, and Germany did not become a superpower. And in the end, Nicholas 2 can be called a man who became a victim of his own inability to understand the needs of a simple person. This is his most important drawback, because otherwise he won or tried to win, which means he achieved some success. But he could not solve the crisis issues of his people without timely appointing the right people to available positions.
The most important mistake made by Nicholas II is the humiliation of workers and peasants. Having taken human resources from them, forced them to survive the two largest mobilization, he did not provide them with important social benefits. The nobility, clergy, philistinism, as well as the workers of the factories responsible for the production of military equipment, had many benefits. Thus splitting society and turning away from the working class, the most numerous of all, he opened the way for political opponents in the person of the opposition. And there he lost and later abdicated.
Resistance to enemies
On the eve of World War I, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the intensity in international relations reached its limit. By supporting Serbia, the Russian Empire was drawn into a war with Germany and Austria. Immediately before the outbreak of hostilities in response to general mobilization in Russia, the German Empire put forward an ultimatum. In the event that the Russian side ceases to mobilize, Germany does not start a war.
By the way, the German Empire for quite some time preparing for a military conflict with the eastern enemy. Therefore, Nicholas II Romanov perfectly understood the fictitiousness of the ultimatum, which in any case gave an advantage to the Kaiser. Having shown rigidity, the military leadership did not allow the enemy to gain an advantage at the start of an inevitable war. And although military operations for Russia were not successful due to the worst technical training, a much more terrible catastrophe for the country was prevented.
A brief excerpt from the history of government
Emperor Nicholas II the Holy (or Bloody) ruled from October 20, 1894 to March 2, 1917 - during the period of economic growth of the state and the heating of social conflicts. In international relations, Nicholas II took an active part and began with an exchange of notes with Great Britain regarding the delimitation of spheres of influence in the Pamir region. Together with France and Germany, the Russian Empire carried out the Triple Intervention. Then, on Russian initiative, Japan was required to revise the terms of the Shimonoseki Peace Treaty.
According to the requirements, Japan had to abandon claims on the Liaodong Peninsula. The first setbacks in international affairs also occurred, namely, an attempt to conspire with the countries of Europe in order to “curb” the Ottoman Empire, when an offer that was unfavorable for Russia was accepted in exchange for some help from England and France on the issue of the Straits. The reign of Nicholas II began in the period of misunderstanding with Japan over territorial issues. Later in this country an attempt was made on the head of Russia, which is why the latter, to put it mildly, did not like her.
Moving east, the Russian Empire was supposed at some point to feel the resistance of the Land of the Rising Sun, which was then engaged in a military campaign against China. Having successfully completed it and made peace with this state, Japan did not expect Russia to enter into these negotiations. Perhaps this was the result of an assessment of the aspirations of Japan, why Russia understood that it should act immediately. And perhaps, seeing the ambitions of the Japanese military, Nikolai Bloody (why Bloody - read below) understood that an attack on the weakly protected east of Russia is a matter of time.
War with japan
As everyone knows from history and as evidenced by the biography of Nicholas II, he willingly gets involved in the war with Japan. This happens for the reasons stated above and because of the desire to conduct a quick, small victorious war. Due to the worst technical equipment and problems with the transfer of troops, the Russian Empire is losing. The war lasts from January 27, 1904 to August 23, 1905. After the defeat, Nicholas II, according to his contemporary Yu. Danilov, radiated icy calm. As the emperor himself wrote about the surrender of Port Arthur, this event was inevitable. But he emphasized the heroism of the soldiers. However, he still stated that God's will was for that.
World War I
A similar icy calm emanated from the emperor both when he abdicated, and during the setbacks in the First World War. He participated in it as the Supreme Commander. As many monarchists report today, he did not give even an inch of land when he directly led the army. This is partly true, because in the war with Austria-Hungary he was successful, but he did not cross arms with Germany, distracted at that time to the western direction of the front. And the campaign led by Nicholas II was remembered for the absence of significant events due to the weaknesses of the armies of Russia and Austria-Hungary.
On August 23, 1915, the emperor assumed the title of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, after which the full title of Nicholas II changed. It was only with this that he made a decision suicidal for the autocracy, since from that moment he almost did not rule the country. While in headquarters, he could not lead the state, but controlled the army. Immediately on August 27, 1915, the Sventsian breakthrough began, after which on August 27 the defense of the empire broke through.
Later the Germans were driven back, and the emperor’s main achievement was the approval of the Evert plan. Thanks to him, the Russians managed to avoid encirclement, after which a positional war began. And during the years of the First World War, from July 19, 1914 to November 11, 1918, many events took place, proving how much Nicholas II was unable to make important decisions. But facts that would testify to the cruelty of the emperor and prove the nickname Bloody, it is impossible to find.
Conclusions and theses
Assessing the personality of Nicholas II, perhaps the main hostage of the circumstances of the first half of the 20th century, one might think that he got the nickname Bloody because of such an event as Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg. In reality, this is not so. The last emperor of Russia received such a “stigma” because of the events on the Khodynka field in Moscow. It happened on May 18, 1896, when mass celebrations were held in honor of the coronation festival. In a stampede that happened because of the rumor that there weren’t enough souvenirs for the whole crowd of those who came, 1379 people died and about 900 remained crippled.
Such a blow to the emperor’s reputation was dealt at the very beginning of his reign, which Nicholas later failed to fix. Perhaps the thinking of the aristocrats was different then, and that is why the emperor in the evening of the same day when the tragedy happened, attended a ball at the French embassy. In the following days, the remaining balls were held - none of the royal family paid any attention to the national mourning. Because of the "feast on the bones", which the emperor agreed to stop only after numerous comments by people close to him, the nickname Bloody to Nicholas II stuck forever, he wore it until the end of his days.
The tragedy was aggravated by the fact that the autocrat had a war with Japan, a crisis in the country, Bloody Sunday, World War I and a series of revolutions. Recent events have not made it possible to make amends for the incident on the Khodynka field. And therefore, the negative attitude towards the emperor is also due to the fact that, having allowed such cataclysms, he also abdicated.
It is believed that Emperor Nicholas II made great troubles and, unable to cope with them, gave up power. Such weak will weakens the reputation of any person, not just the autocrat. But to argue that the emperor was a very weak-willed person is hard, because the emperor took a direct part in the war, and some of his political decisions became the basis for the country's economic growth. Much that today spoils the sovereign's reputation is the lie and political PR of the then opposition. But much that is accepted as the merit of Nicholas II is not such. Especially the “golden” ruble and universal primary education.