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Nichol and Alexandra
Alexander died in 18 to succeeded by his old t n Nicholas Nicholas lieved that a lutism w the will of G and sincerely tried to put him lf in G 's hand But like uis I, who was al a g man who tried to do G 's will, he was weak in a c si Nichol w married to Alexandra, a German prince Alexandra dominated the mar­ age and constantly involved her lf in gove ment fairs though she had lit e talent in this ar She had converted to the Ru ian Orth ox Church when she married Nicholas, and was totally w p up in the mysticism which tended to ove hadow the tional, lo cal elements of Christianity in the R ian Church.
Nicholas and Alexandra had four daughte en in July 1 a n, Alexi was the heir to the throne. The re icing at his birth n ended when it was di vered that the by y had hemophilia, a di r­ der which prevents the bl from clotting normally. The main danger from this di is not from a cut, cau pre ure on the wound can usu ly halt the ble in but from a brui , which pr uces inte al bleedin A strong or w ap inted as Alexis' yguard when he ­ me old enough to walk to try to protect him from falls or bum that could cau brui But Alexi like many hemophiliac emed to thrive on ing chance Not even the cl st watch could prevent the brui s which would pr uce excruciating pain Nicholas had to live with the shadow of his n's illne constantly hovering over hi
In 1 Ru ia went to war with Japan, the R s Japanese War. Kai r Wilhelm of Germany had more or le pushed Nicholas into this war cau he wanted to keep Ru ia cupie Japan had wanted Port Arthur and part of Manchuria from Korea Ru ia id no, then i d it her lf. Japan launched a surpri attack on Port Arthur. Ru ia had im­ ibly long supply lines and suffered defeat after defeat, including the sinking of alm t the entire fleet at Tsushima, May 27. The hardshi that the ple suffered u of the war left them o n to revolutionary a tation The result was Bl y Su ay, January 9, 1 5.
A Ru ian th ox priest, Father George Ga n, had organi d a ma ive march to the Winter Palace where the workers would pre nt a tition to the T r. To this day historians di on whether Ga n was sincerely interested in helping the workers or deli tely trying to stir up violence. M t of the ple marching thought that the tition was a plea for the T r's protection from the factory owne actually the d ent