http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Nicolas_II_photographie_couleur.jpg/210px-Nicolas_II_photographie_couleur.jpg

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Nicholas II is the eldest son of Alexander III, and is considered to be the Last emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1894 upto 15 March, 1917.

When he succeeded his father in 1894, he had very little experience of government. In the same year, Nicholas married Princess Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt (a duchy in Germany). They had four daughters and a son, Alexis, who suffered from the disease haemophilia.

Although he described himself as a man of peace, he favoured an expanded Russian Empire. Encouraged by Vyacheslav Plehve the Tsar made plans to seize Constantinople and expanded into Manchuria and Korea. On 8th February, 1904, the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Although the Russian Army was able to hold back Japanese armies along the Yalu River and in Manchuria, the Russian Navy fared badly.

Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned first in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, then later in the Governor's Mansion in Tobolsk, and finally at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. Nicholas II, his wife, his son, his four daughters, the family's medical doctor, the Tsar's Valet, the Empress' Lady in Waiting and the family's cook were all killed in the same room by the Bolsheviks on the night of 17 July 1918. This led to the canonization of Nicholas II, his wife the Empress and their children as martyrs by various groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia and, prominently, by the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_ii

Refer the following links for more information.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nicholas_ii.shtml
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtsar.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/nicholas-ii
http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/nicholasii.htm
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicholas_II_of_Russia

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