fwo_951551 - FINLAND - GRAND-DUCHY - NICHOLAS II 20 markaa 1913 Helsinki

FINLAND - GRAND-DUCHY - NICHOLAS II

(1/11/1894-14/03/1917)

Finland belonged to Sweden. After the interview at Tilsitt between Napoleon I and Alexander I, the Tsar conquered it, an assignment confirmed by the Treaty of Frederikshamn in 1809. The Principality of Finland was made a Grand Duchy by the Act of Borgaa the same year and the capital transferred from Torku to Helsinki in 1812. Finland then enjoyed a century of tranquility until the Revolution of 1905. It regained its independence in 1917 and had to defend it with arms against the Bolsheviks (December 6, 1917). Nicolas II (18/051868-16/07/1918), the eldest son of Alexander III and Mary, succeeded his father in 1894. Married to Alix de Hesse with whom he has five children, four girls and a boy, he is a resigned autocrat. Dominated by Rasputin until his assassination in 1916, he let himself be drawn into the Russo-Japanese war which took Manchuria from him.. The 1905 revolution rocked his throne and the creation of a democratically elected Duma could not prevent the formation of Bolshevik small groups, determined to take power by force.. He lets himself be drawn into the 1914 war by the game of alliances and his throne does not resist it. He was overthrown in 1917 by the February Revolution and assassinated the following year with all his family..