Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia was an Imperial Grand Duke and dynast of the House of Romanov of the Russian Empire, a naval officer, an author, explorer, the brother-in-law of Emperor Nicholas II and advisor to him.
Grand Duke Alexander, 1890s
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich
Autochrome portrait by Georges Chevalier, 1923
Signed drawing of Grand Duke Alexander by Manuel Rosenberg for the Cincinnati Post 1926
Nicholas II or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. During his reign, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He advocated modernisation based on foreign loans and close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament major roles. Ultimately, 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, thereby ending the Romanov dynasty's 304-year rule of Russia (1613–1917).
Nicholas II in 1912
Nicholas II
Nicholas, unbreeched at two years old, with his mother, Maria Feodorovna, in 1870
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia with his physically similar cousin, George V of the United Kingdom (right), wearing German military uniforms in Berlin before the war; 1913