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Nicholas Romanov

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Nicholas Romanov
Essay On Nicholas Romanov "Nicholas Romanov was an ignorant, incompetent and insensitive leader. His character was the decisive factor in bringing on the revolution" "The last Tsar of Russia was a tragic figure a classic case of being a leader in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing within his power could have prevented the forces of change from overtaking Tsarist Russia." To what extent do you agree with these explanations of the collapse of autocracy in Russia? Nicholas Romanov was an indecisive man who was easily influenced by others. Although it was not his character that was the decisive factor in bringing on the revolution. He may have been a leader at the wrong time, but if he had related better to the Russian peopale for the time he was in power his leadership may have been more effective. Russia before 1917 was the largest country under one empire. In economic terms it was backward, as it was late industrialising and late to emerge from feudalism. In political terms it was also backward, there was no legal political parties nor was there any centrally elected government . Russia at this time was under tsarist rule by Nicholas II of the Romanov empire. Nicholas II was brought up by his father Alexander III who didn 't believe that his son could take an intelligent interest in anything and therefore did not educate him in the business of state . The fact that his father who died at age 49 thought that he had many more years ahead of him may also be another factor behind Nicholas ' poor leadership of Russia . Alexander who died in 1894 had left Russia with a society no longer controlled by tsarist rule and when Nicholas took the throne after his father 's death Russian society was not prepared to turn back . Nicholas II was 26 when his father died and was soon to marry the German princess, Alix of Hess, granddaughter of Queen Victoria . Nicholas nor Alexander III were well trained for the job of ruling this vast country. Alexander


Bibliography: Acton, E., Rethinking the Russian Revolution, London, Edward Arnold, 1992. Crankshaw, Edward., The Shadow of the Winter Palace: The drift to revolution 1825-1917, Penguin books, 1983. Deery, Philip., Lecture notes for European History, 1998., Footscray, Victoria University of Technology, 1998. Gilbert, Felix., The End of the European Era 1890 to the Present, London, 1984. Gill, Graeme., Twentieth Century Russia The Search for Power and Authority, Melbourne, Nelson, 1989. Kochan, Lionel., Russian Revolution 1890-1918, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983. Rogger, H., Russia in the Age of Modernisation and Revolution 1881-1917, Longman, 1983.

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