Political Authority

• Nicholas II was not a natural autocrat like his father Alexander III
• Nicholas II


  • Small, shy and unassertive
  • Dominated by his mother and wife
  • More suited to quiet family life than being an autocrat
• Nicholas II fundamentally believed he was incapable of ruling, but felt he had to due to the idea of autocracy
• Nicholas II ignored advice and made decisions, despite not having the skills required to manage
• Nicholas II's reign got off to a bad start with the Khodynka Tragedy at his coronation in 1896
• Nicholas II continued the policies of repression and Russification under his father Alexander III
• The Black Hundreds, a right-wing anti-Semitic group, were used by Nicholas II to help maintain law and order
• There was widespread unrest and opposition to Nicholas II's rule, including peasant arson, industrial unrest, and ethnic minority groups
• Stolypin


  The Tsar's chief of the Okhrana (secret police) who dealt with unrest in a brutal manner
• The Russo-Japanese War was a disaster for Nicholas II, leading to a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tsushima
• The Russo-Japanese War failed to distract from the internal opposition and problems facing Nicholas II's rule