Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II succeeded Alexander III in 1894 as emperor of Russia. His reign included the Russo-Japanese War, the Revolution of 1905, limited constitutional reform and Russia’s disastrous involvement in World War I. He abdicated in March 1917 after military and political authority collapsed.

Nicholas and his family were held by the Provisional Government and then the Bolsheviks before being murdered at Ekaterinburg in July 1918. John Boyne’s The House of Special Purpose places a fictional young guard and court servant near the imperial family during the final years of the dynasty.