Nicholas II

The Russian of 1917 might be one that was all Revolution and Romanovs. The Revolution would force the abdication of Nicholas II, the last of the Russian Tsars. When the Soviet Empire began to collapse, Marc Ferro tells us in Nicholas II: The Last of the Tsars, that headlines and banners in Moscow read: "'Moscow prays for the innocent Tsar', and �The Russians must know the truth about the Tsar's death,'" (12). In his acclaimed work, Ferro tries to provide us with a portrait of Nicholas II that is closer to the truth. Ferro has access to Russian archives never provided to others, and this allows him to give us a portrait of Nicholas II that breaks the Soviet shroud of propaganda and secrecy.

Ferro's main point is to illustrate that Nicholas II was an average human being with flaws like the rest of us, but he was thrust into a position he did not want but knew was the fate he must accept. In other words, we get a picture of an ordinary man who was catapulted into extraordinary circumstances. Ferro explains that at times the Russian Tsar could be an enigmatic personality, but for the most part he was a man who accepted an extraordinary duty out of a sense of responsibility and heritage. As Ferro (13) explains, Nicholas II "was one of those individuals who are burdened with a destiny that they have taken upon themselves as a duty decreed once for all time, and that separates them from a world undergoing change before their eyes.

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