Nicholas II

Nicholas II in his coronation robe

Nicholas II was the last czar of Russia. He insisted on ruling as an absolute monarch, dissolving the Duma, or parliament, at least twice. In the end he and his family were arrested by Bolsheviks, and then later murdered in cold blood in the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg.

He was related to Kaiser Wilhelm through Queen Victoria. He had a son who was a hemophiliac. He had a daughter named Anastasia.

In the leadup to World War I he exchanged telegrams with his cousin Wilhem (the Nicky-Willy telegrams) but they were unable to avert the war.