The Russian Revolution
When Nicholas II took charge of Russia in 1894, he had no idea that he would be the final Romanov Czar. The entire time he controlled Russia, he honestly believed that his people loved him and worshiped him as their King. In 1917, Nicholas and his entire family, including his wife and five children, were all shot and killed by Vladimir Lenin, a Communist who believed that the Romanov Czars had destroyed Russia. Read on to see how Nicholas II had made Russia worse by 1917.
The Russo-Japanese War
Nicholas II first major cause for his downfall happened in 1904. As Russia extended its control of Korea and China, another country became jealous of Russia's conquest- Japan. On February 8, 1904, the island of Japan attacked Russia for its control of Asian resources. The whole world expected Russia to easily destroy Japan, a country that had been completely isolated for thousands of years. Instead, thanks to Emperor Meiji's modernization of Japan, Russia was humiliated and beaten.
Bloody Sunday- January 9, 1905
If losing the Russo-Japanese War didn't make Nicholas II look bad enough, things were about to get worse- much worse. On January 9, 1905, 3,000 starving peasants made their way into the Czar's palace in St. Petersburg demanding more food for the people. The army general in charge of the palace gave the order to FIRE! into the crowd to make the peasants leave. In the end, over 1,000 Russian peasants were killed by Nicholas II's army. Nicholas II was blamed for the massacre, and January 9, 1905 became known as "Bloody Sunday" to the Russian people.
World War 1
Nicholas II's desire to help Serbia in World War 1 turned out to be the final straw for the people of Russia. Most Russians, who were still starving to death, did not care about Serbia or its ongoing disagreement with Austria-Hungary over the Balkans. To the Russian people, World War 1 was just another attempt by a Romanov Czar to show his power to the world. In the end, 1.5 million Russians were left dead in the trenches- all killed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Russia was not militarized enough to handle the new industrial warfare, and by 1917, most Russians were either in the war, dead from the war, or starving to death at home.