# Was Czar Nicholas II a Bad Guy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 15, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786 "2012-09-15T14:12:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/41 "2012-09-24T01:56:00Z")

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I thought from reading Nicholas and Alexandria that pogroms were encouraged by Alexander III, but not Nicholas.

There was extreme poverty in Victorian England, probably all of Europe.

Nicholas was certainly not an evil bastard like Ivan Grobney or Peter the Great.

Edit: Hell, that is a relative term. I believe Richard Nixon and George Bush are evil bastards.  
🙂

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/42 "2012-09-24T02:05:37Z")

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> [@hajario](#):
>
> His family was living in insanely excessive luxury while people were starving. This led to the revolution that put his people under the control of even worse monsters for decades.

The massacre of Father Gapon’s followers…Bloody Sunday"? and Rasputin were the cause of the revolution. He should have had Rasputin and a couple of generals shot.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/43 "2012-09-24T02:17:01Z")

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Nicholas was anti Semitic, though.  
Annoyed with Edward, the guy who resembled him, he said, “An Englishman is a Jew.”

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/44 "2012-09-24T02:22:46Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I thought from reading Nicholas and Alexandria that pogroms were encouraged by Alexander III, but not Nicholas.

He certainly didn’t do anything about them. There were particularly bad ones in present day Ukraine where my ancestors lived right smack in the middle of NII’s reign. Many of the perpetrators were the Czar’s secret police who were not prosecuted.

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/45 "2012-09-24T02:23:46Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> The massacre of Father Gapon’s followers…Bloody Sunday"? and Rasputin were the cause of the revolution.

That straw that broke the camel’s back for sure but it had been brewing for a while.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-czar-nicholas-ii-a-bad-guy/634786/46 "2012-09-24T04:16:02Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> The massacre of Father Gapon’s followers…Bloody Sunday"? and Rasputin were the cause of the revolution. He should have had Rasputin and a couple of generals shot.

I think the primary cause of the revolution was World War I. It put a huge strain on a weak system. And it shook the military’s loyalty which was what had saved the regime in past uprisings.

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