For over the 300 years the Romanov family ruled over the Russian Empire.

After the Communist Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne and he and his family were placed under house arrest

where they ultimately met a grisly fate.

For decades after their deaths, the world wondered what happened to them until their bodies were

discovered and identified 80 years later.

Learn more about the fate of the last Russian are in his family on this episode of Everything Everywhere

Daily. Nicholas II was not what you would call a great ruler. As the air apparent to the

Russian throne he spent a great deal of time on pursuits like hunting and partying.

He traveled around Europe on a grand tour and then found himself very unprepared

when he assumed the throne at the age of 24 in 1896. Nicholas was simply not

prepared to be bizarre and his mismanagement of Russia over the next 20 years led to an overall decline in the country.

As the rest of Europe industrialized, Russia remained a stagnant agricultural economy.

Nicholas believed in the divine right of kings

and suppressed almost every attempt at elections and popular representation.

Russia lost a disastrous war with Japan in 1905 and then had a failed campaign in World War I.

Nicholas had become deeply unpopular, resulting in major revolutions in 1905 and

1917.

The Revolution of 1917 eventually ended his reign, forcing him to abdicate the throne on

March 26th, right in the middle of the First World War.

He was going to advocate in favor of his 12-year-old son Alexi, but he had

hemophilia and his parents believed that he wouldn't survive long if they were sent

into exile without him. Instead, he selected his brother Grand Duke Michael.

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