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A clash between Russia and the Empire of Japan was almost inevitable by the turn of the 20th century. Russia had expanded in the Far East, and the growth of its settlement and territorial ambitions, as its southward path to the Balkans was frustrated, conflicted with Japan's own territorial ambitions on the Asian mainland. Nicholas pursued an aggressive foreign policy with regards to Manchuria and Korea, and strongly supported the scheme for timber concessions in these areas as developed by the Bezobrazov group. [44] [45] The First World War developed badly for Russia. By late 1916, Romanov family desperation reached the point that Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, younger brother of Alexander III and the Tsar's only surviving uncle, was deputed to beg Nicholas to grant a constitution and a government responsible to the Duma. Nicholas sternly and adamantly refused, reproaching his uncle for asking him to break his coronation oath to maintain autocratic power for his successors. In the Duma on 2 December 1916, Vladimir Purishkevich, a fervent patriot, monarchist and war worker, denounced the dark forces which surrounded the throne in a thunderous two-hour speech which was tumultuously applauded. "Revolution threatens," he warned, "and an obscure peasant shall govern Russia no longer!". [89] Tsarevich Alexei's illness and Rasputin Alexei in 1913 Despite most convincing arguments in favour of adopting a positive decision in this matter, an inner voice keeps on insisting more and more that I do not accept responsibility for it. So far my conscience has not deceived me. Therefore I intend in this case to follow its dictates. I know that you, too, believe that "a Tsar's heart is in God's hands." Let it be so. For all laws established by me I bear a great responsibility before God, and I am ready to answer for my decision at any time. [87] Grigori Rasputin

The six-month interval between the death of Elizabeth of Russia and the accession of Catherine the Great witnessed the six-month reign of Catherine's husband, Peter III, who was assassinated thanks to his pro-Prussian policies. Ironically, Catherine was herself a Prussian princess who had married into the Romanov dynasty. A few days prior to Bloody Sunday (9 (22) January 1905), priest and labor leader Georgy Gapon informed the government of the forthcoming procession to the Winter Palace to hand a workers' petition to the tsar. On Saturday, 8 (21) January, the ministers convened to consider the situation. There was never any thought that the tsar, who had left the capital for Tsarskoye Selo on the advice of the ministers, would actually meet Gapon; the suggestion that some other member of the imperial family receive the petition was rejected. [64] Clay, Catarine (2006) King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War, Walker & Company, ISBN 0802716237, p. 54 They were imprisoned in the two-story Ipatiev House, the home of the military engineer Nikolay Nikolayevich Ipatiev, which ominously became referred to as the "house of special purpose". Here the Romanovs were kept under even stricter conditions; their retinue was further reduced and their possessions were searched. [152] Following allegations of pilfering from the royal household, Yakov Yurovsky, a former member of the Cheka secret police, was appointed to command the guard detachment, a number of whom were replaced with trusted Latvian members of the Yekaterinburg "special-service detachment". [153] The remaining Romanovs left Tobolsk by river steamer on 20 May and arrived in Yekaterinburg three days later. [154] By the first weeks of June, the Bolsheviks were becoming alarmed by the Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion, whose forces were approaching the city from the east. This prompted a wave of executions and murders of those in the region who were believed to be counter-revolutionaries, including Grand Duke Michael, who was murdered in Perm on 13 June. [155] March 1881 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, which is the same day as 13 March 1881 in the Gregorian calendar used elsewhere at that time.Mikhail F. Florinskii, "Nicholas II and Stolypin's Cabinet" Russian Social Science Review 53.4 (2012): 4–14. The recording of Before...But Longer took place in 1998 and the album was finished in September. With no team in place, no agent, no European licensee, no live show, Raymonde then spent a year trying to drum up interest for the band in the musical community to enable him to launch the band. Upon the actual release of the album in 2000, the band had already considered the material to be old, and didn't seem that keen to promote it, but despite this, the album was received decently. [5] Drowned in Sound gave the album 8/10. [7] Sergei L. Firsov, "Emperor Nicholas II as an Orthodox Tsar" Russian Studies in History 50.4 (2012): 79–90.

Confronted with growing opposition and after consulting with Witte and Prince Sviatopolk-Mirsky, the Tsar issued a reform ukase on 25 December 1904 with vague promises. [69]The letters of Tsar Nicholas and Empress Marie: being confidential correspondence between Nicholas II, last of the Tsars, and his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Edward J. Bing (ed.). London: Nicholson and Watson, 1937. Grand Duke Nicholas was born on 18 May [ O.S. 6 May] 1868, in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo south of Saint Petersburg, during the reign of his grandfather Emperor Alexander II. He was the eldest child of then- Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and his wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark). Grand Duke Nicholas' father was heir apparent to the Russian throne as the second but eldest surviving son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. His paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna (née Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine). His maternal grandparents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark. Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; [d] 18 May [ O.S. 6 May] 1868–17 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last Emperor of Russia, King of 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 (the Duma) 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).