Describe the Russia that Tsar Nicholas II inherited

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Describe the Russia that Tsar Nicholas II inherited

Tsar Nicholas II ascended the throne of Russia in 1894, in which he effectively inherited a string of revolutions and wars which ultimately cost him his abdication. As Trotsky quoted, he "inherited not only a giant empire, but also a revolution."

Nicholas II ascended on the throne believing that he was ruling by God's divine right, succeeding the concept that the autocracy and religion were inexplicably linked. "It is impossible for the Christians to have a Church but not to have an Emperor" - Ivan III. This suggests that one autocrat needed to be God's representative on Earth, and this role was fulfilled by Nicholas II, who believed he was the 14th apostle of God. The Orthodox Church was used as a weapon for conquering the people - especially those who had reservations about the Tsarist rule. Religion was considered by some revolutionaries to be "the opium of people" - Lenin, implying that faith was used as a method of sedating the people in a passive way, to make them obsolete from the Tsar's motives and actions. The Church would teach what the Tsar ordered it to teach