Tsarina Alexandra and the Government
Tsarina Alexandra was never popular with the people of Russia, even early in her marriage to Nicholas II. Alexandra was the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria. Well-educated and often at her grandmother’s court, she was described as quite strong-willed. She married rather old, having already refused a marriage to Britain’s crown prince favored by her grandmother. She was expected to potentially carry hemophilia, a disease associated with excess bleeding and considered fatal. This illness had killed her brother as a young boy.
The Russian people and Nicholas II’s father, Tsar Alexander III, largely disapproved of the marriage, but it was a rare love match, rather than a relationship arranged for political motivations. Alexandra, called Alix, also faced family opposition to the match. Nicholas II and Alexandra persisted and were eventually married. The couple had four daughters, followed by a failed pregnancy, and then a son, Alexei. Alexei was soon diagnosed with hemophilia. Alexandra’s behavior became more erratic, and her relationship with Rasputin, the mystic, grew closer.
When Nicholas II left for the front in World War I, he left the German Tsarina Alexandra in charge of the government. She was already unpopular; however, this just made her much more so. She was German, and Russia was at war with Germany. She was strongly influenced by Rasputin and, once she was in power, began firing competent government officials and replacing them with her own. In many cases, these individuals were unqualified or even incompetent. As Russia continued to face defeats in war, rumors began that she was a German collaborator.
Following Rasputin’s December 1916 assassination, the Tsarina’s behavior became increasingly erratic. She was unable to manage the government in her husband’s absence and was faced with progressively greater challenges. She failed to even attempt to address those challenges, including the needs of the Russian peasantry.