No More Mr. Nice Guy

The last two tsars rejected the idea that the autocracy needed reforming from above and so the gap between the authorities and the people continued to widen. Tsar Alexander III hunted out terrorists and revolutionaries, tightened censorship, and reined in the educational and judicial systems. It was also at this time that Russia embarked on the path of industrialization with massive factories appearing in the Petersburg area. Working conditions were miserable and social tension continued to grow as more and more people came to believe that only revolution could bring about social, economic, and political change.

The last tsar, Nicholas II, was not so much a bad man as just a Clark Kent when Russia needed a Superman, or at least an Aquaman. His wife, Alexandra, totally dominated him and together they were unprepared to deal with the tremendous crises that faced Russia. His reign was punctuated with one disaster after another, from worker and peasant uprisings to defeat in war with Japan, and his final rating as tsar suffers a lot from the fact that the four-hundred- year Romanov Dynasty ended during his reign.