In April 1894, he married Alix of Hesse. This marriage was to be a success due to the amount of time devoted to her and his family. This caused problems for the people of Russia as he wasn’t spending enough time trying to sort Russia’s issues, leading to a loss of popularity. He could have turned to his family for comfort and overall sanity, away from the real problems. In the presence of senior members of the family, the Tsar showed a level of deference despite his harsh words to the Russian people. This shows that beneath the surface, Nicholas was weak.
Following contruction of railways in the 1860s, Russians moved from rural areas to the cities. Russia’s industrial growth rate at the time was higher than rates of Germany and the USA. In the last decade of the 19th century, the number of industrial workers had risen by almost a million. This urbanisation resulted in the overcrowdment of cities, leading to diseases and unhappiness. Up to ten people could fit in a room. The factories were not a nice place to be with poor health and safety regualtions, harsh dicipline, long hours and low pay. The workers had reached a level of overall discontent, and they felt that the Tsar was not helping the situation. Georgi Gapon thus formed a union of Russian workers, which was very popular.
Russia as a country was very backward compared to its western neighbours. There were poor communications links and the farmers were self-sufficient, relying on their own produce. This means that should there be a poor harvest; the farmers would starve, resulting in extreme discontent towards the Tsar. This happened in1897, 1898 and 1901. One could argue that Tsar Nicholas II had become the leader of an already problematic country, that was geographicaly huge and therefore it was hard to communicate, thus not being his fault.
In 1904, the Russians were unprepared for war in Japan. There was a surprise attack on Port Arthur, and they were annihilated in the Tshushima Strait. The Russians were crippled due to mismanagement. They had poor communications relying on one trans-siberian railway for supplies and they had a shortage of reinforcements, yet they fought bravely. Shortly before the attack on Port Arthur, Nicholas II strongly believed that there would be no war. He promised the protection of Russia, and when the war started, he had no doubt in his mind that they would win. He didn’t want to believe that Russia was feable. He refused to consider advice from anyone, including his own mother and cousin, on the subject of a peace arrangement. It was not until Russia’s fleet was destroyed that he opened peace negotiations. The war proved disastrous for the countries’ military pride and the people of Russia turned to the Tsar and blamed him.
On Sunday 22 January, Gapon and his petitioners marched towards the Winter Palace where the Tsar lived. Nicholas wasn’t there to meet the petitioners who were singing in respect for the Tsar. Instead, there were Cossaks and Dragoons firing upon them. Many people died and many were wounded in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’. It triggered a series of strikes and thus a revolution. There was a general feeling of discontent and hatred in Russia towards the Tsar.
The Tsar was unprepared to be the ruler of Russia; his father expected to live for many more years and didn’t give him enough political experience. He then decided to keep the old regimes that seemed to be working, much to the horror of the public. His marriage and family life played a big part in his imperial role. Alix of Hesse advised him to keep autocracy, and she was the only person Nicholas listened to. He devoted more time to his family than political matters. Urbanisation caused upset in living conditions, and working conditions. The pubic felt that the Tsar didn’t help them, and thought they were being harshly treated. The famines of 1897, 1898 and 1901 caused discontent towards the Tsar for not doing anything about it, and they started to look for faults.The Russo-Japenese war affected the overall morale and the military pride Russia once had. Nicholas mismanaged the war, and people questioned his military leadership skills. ‘Bloody Sunday’ was a short term cause of the revolution. The way the leader of Russia dealt with this angered the pubic, The Tsar unjustly crushed the petitioners, by which time, the Tsar was a hated figure in Russia.
