The story of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family.

We discuss their early lives, marriage, and the challenges they faced, such as their son Alexei's hemophilia and the introduction of Rasputin into their lives. Following this, we cover the political turmoil and the unrest leading up to World War I, Nicholas's role in the war, and his eventual abdication. Both primary sources, Sophie and Pierre, provide firsthand accounts of the family's final days.

Image

Nicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana.

Livadiya, Crimea, 1913.

Portrait by the Levitsky Studio, Livadiya. Today the original photograph is held at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Sources

Buxhoeveden, Sophie. The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. Original, 1928.

Denikin, Anton. The Russian Turmoil; Memoirs: Military, Social, and Political. The Field Press Ltd. Windsor, London, 1922.

Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924. Penguin Books, 1998.

Gatrell, Peter. A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in Russia During World War I. Indiana University Press, 1999.

Gillard, Peter. Thirteen Years in a Russian Court. 1920, Wentworth Press.

Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs. Basic Books, 2024.

Lenin, Essential Works of Lenin: ‘What is to be Done?’ and Other Writings. Ed. By Henry M. Christman. Dover, 1929.

Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade, 2000.

“Nicolas’s Diaries” https://www.alexanderpalace.org

Pipes, Richard. Three ‘whys’ of the Russian Revolution. A Vintage Original, 1995.

Radzinsky, Edward. The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II. Anchor, 1973.

“Russian Revolution,” https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/russian-revolution-quotations-rasputin

Semertzides, Meletios. The Twilight of the Tsars: Russia’s Fall and the Birth of Revolution. Volume 3. Trade Paperback, 2025.

Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. Picador Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York, 2016.

“The Nicky and Willy Telegrams (1914).” https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nicky-and-willy-telegrams-1914

Wilhelm II. The Willy-Nicky Correspondence: Being the Secret and Intimate Telegrams Exchanged between the Kaiser and the Tsar. Forward by Theodore Roosevelt. Toronto, 1918.