2-991-304 - Heritage Imagined/Heritage Images

AI IMAGE - Portrait of Tsar Nicholas II, 1917, (2023). Nicholas II (1868-1918) last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, was shot with his wife and children by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. During his reign, Nicholas gave support to economic and political reforms, and advocated modernisation based on foreign loans and close ties with France. However he resisted giving the new parliament (the Duma) major roles. Progress was undermined by Nicholas's commitment to autocratic rule, strong aristocratic opposition, and defeats sustained by the Russian military in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas had collapsed and he was forced to abdicate. In 1981, more than 60 years after their assassination, Nicholas, his wife, and their children were recognized as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, based in New York City.