#tzar nikolai

[lovf00lish]

Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. During his reign, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament (the Duma) major roles. Ultimately, progress was undermined by Nicholas's commitment to autocratic rule, strong aristocratic opposition and defeats sustained by the Russian military in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas had collapsed and he was forced to abdicate the throne, thereby ending the Romanov dynasty's 304-year rule of Russia (1613–1917).

𝐑𝐮𝐟𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐳𝐚𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐢

[loiladadiani]

Emperor Nicholas I (1796 - 1855) and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1798 -1860 - nee Princess Friederike Luise Charlotte Wilhelmine of Prussia

Nicholas I, the Iron Tzar, and his sons

This couple was the first “Nicholas and Alexandra” in the Romanov Dynasty. They were Nicholas II's great grant-parents.

It was said that he was the best-looking man in Europe. She was tall and fair and enjoyed jewels, gowns, and balls. They loved each other, and their union was not unhappy, but he did not remain faithful to her (after he died, his last mistress was employed as Alexandra’s lectrice, and they became friends.) Nicholas and Alexandra had seven children, four sons, and three daughters. Those four sons would ensure that the generation of Romanovs following them would not want for male heirs. As a matter of fact, there would be too many Grand Dukes, making it necessary for his grandson, Alexander III, to change the Pauline laws, re-defining who would be considered a Grand Duke or Duchess, among other things (only grandsons/grandaughters of a Tzar would be Grand Duke/Duchesses; great-grandsons and so on would be Princes and Princesses of the blood).

Nicholas I with his four sons: Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich (1818 - 1881 - future Alexander II), Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich (1827 - 1882), Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich (1831 - 1891), and Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich (1832- 1909.)

According to the literature, Nicholas raised his two elder sons very strictly but had more of a paternal relationship with the younger two. His priority was to bring them up so that they were true soldiers and so that when Alexander inherited the throne, the other three would help and support him. And they did. Nicholas I adored his daughters and was devastated when his youngest daughter Alexandra (better known as Adini), died. (His daughters would be discussed in another post.)

Below are the sons of Nicholas I and their spouses:

1. Emperor Alexander II and his first wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna (born Princess Wilhemine Marie of Hesse); Issue listed below (Only legitimate issue surviving to adulthood listed; not in birth order)

Grand Duchess Marie

Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich

Alexander III

Grand Duke Vladimir

Grand Duke Alexei

Grand Duke Sergei

Grand Duke Pavel

2. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna (Princess Alexandra of Saxe Altenburg); Issue listed below (Only legitimate issue surviving to adulthood listed; not in birth order) - They would be known as the "Konstantinovichi"

Grand Duke Nicholas

Grand Duke Konstantin

Grand Duke Dmitry

Grand Duke Vyacheslav

Grand Duchess Olga

Grand Duchess Vera

3. Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich (the Elder) and Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia, born Duchess Alexandra Frederica Wilhelmina of Oldenburg. Issue listed below (Only legitimate issue surviving to adulthood listed; not in birth order); Known as the "Nikolayvichi”

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich

Grand Duke Peter Nikolayevich

4. Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich and Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna (nee Princess Cecilie of Baden) Issue listed below (Only legitimate issue surviving to adulthood listed; not in birth order) They were known as the "Mikhailovichi" (although they preferred to be called the "Michels;" the family called them the "Wild Caucasians" because they grew up in the Caucus and had strong opinions that they voiced loudly)

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna

Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich

Grand Duke Mikhail

Grand Duke George

Grand Duke Alexander

Grand Duke Sergei

Grand Duke Alexei

The children and grandchildren of these couples would be directly involved in one way or the other in the Great War, the Russian Revolution, the Civil War in Russia, and the overthrow of the monarchy and the Romanov Dynasty. Some would lose their lives, others would lose children, brothers, and spouses, and all would lose their country, status, and privileges.

[eugeniovonsavoy]

On the morning of 24 July 1914, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich and his wife, Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, stepped off a train in Tartu. The Grand Duke, a cousin of Tzar Nikolai II, was the honorary president of the Baltic Automobile- and Aero-Club, and it was the first day of the Großfürstin-Viktoriafahrt, an annual automobile race named after the Grand Duchess. Roughly 30 cars were attending the race, all occupied by people of high rank and standing, including Nikolai Svegintsov, the Governor of Livonia,1 where the race was to take place. The group first raced to Alatskivi, roughly 40 km northeast of Tartu, where baron Heinrich Reinhold von Nolcken treated the visitors to a breakfast and an excursion in his grandiose manor. They then raced back to Tartu, where they were received by the city's mayor with the local fire brigade orchestra, tea, champagne, and the theatre capella. The group then proceeded to the Raadi manor on the city's edge, where the owner Reinhold Karl von Liphart presented his extensive art collection, followed by a festive dinner, a ball, and fireworks. During the next six days, the automobilists drove more than a thousand kilometres through Livonia in a largely similar manner – a race to a manor where a friendly owner treats the visitors to a breakfast and a tour, followed by a race to the next location with a few stops along the way, concluded by a festive dinner with dancing and fireworks in the evening.2 The joyride-like race had taken a long and careful preparation. Among other things, the roads along the race's route had to be in an automobile-friendly state. For this purpose, the Governor had ordered an extraordinary maintenance of the roads.3 At the time, roads were maintained via a system of corvée – each peasant household, usually consisting of a family and a few farm hands, was obligated to maintain certain strips of roads without pay. Usually, the work was done in the spring and fall, but this time an order to fix the roads came in early summer, a time of intense farm work. Furthermore, the inspection was unusually harsh, and the peasants were ordered to redo the work multiple times in many places.4 On the outskirts of the town of Viljandi, the situation even evolved into a widely reported conflict between the local peasants and baron Werner von Wolff, a local official tasked with inspecting the roads. Having demanded redoing a certain strip of road for the third time, the baron hired private contractors without having waited for the passing of the deadline given to the peasants. The contractors, likely local construction entrepreneurs who were happy to undertake expensive works, fulfilled the wishes of the baron to the letter and charged a huge sum of 2,670 roubles and 20 kopecks,5 which the baron then demanded from the peasants. The peasants, along with Estonian journalists, were outraged – the legality of the actions of the baron was questionable at best.6 However, an auditor from the regional capital Riga had little sympathy for the peasants and sided with the baron, forcing them to pay the ruinous sum.7 On July 30, the very last day of the event, for which likely thousands of peasants had been drafted, the automobilists were enjoying a festive dinner when the news of mobilisation and the state of war reached them. The race was to remain the last one in the Russian Empire.8 A few years later, the Empire, along with the world of large estates, dukes, duchesses and exploitative barons was gone and replaced, in the case of the Governance of Livonia, with democratic nation-states of Estonia and Latvia that stood, to a large extent, most of all for the interests of the peasant population. Yet the road maintenance system, based on feudal economic and social relations, survived almost intact. The road corvée was eventually abolished only in 1959, and even then, certain remnants of it continued until the 1990s. How could a system, long considered obsolete and anti-modern, survive for so long after the economic system which had called it into existence had collapsed?

Utóbbi idők legerősebb indítása, amit olvastam.

[wilsons-hotlittleprettyboymouth]

I guess that's true... I've never studied Russian history, I only know basics, I kinda assumed there had been some cult of personality around the tzar & family, kinda like the modern day English royals. But yea, I'll concede to the expert here (which is you)

For the most part the only people obsessed with the ~elegance and glamour~ of the romanovs nowadays are the extremely wealthy. It used to be a fairly common high school prom theme i believe but it’s fallen way out of style, and that was before information on what it was really like was much less available (due to lack of access, internet etc)

The Romanovs were literally such dogshit rulers that it led to the fall of Russia and rise of the USSR. They started at least one needless war and lost badly (can’t remember the exacts because I have a migraine rn) and the class disparity was atrocious under their rule. That’s why Nikolai II is called The Last Tzar of Russia lol. So, unless you’re super rich, there’s not really any personality to hold a cult around. Lmfao

Just a brief little paraphrased history lesson for ya 💖

[winterswake]

I hope you weren’t looking to me to be the voice of reason. I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret.

—  Nikolai Lantsov

RUIN AND RISING by Leigh Bardugo

[i-memento-mori-i]

No one:

Disney: *romanticises the Romanovs*

[borderline1975]

Once , not far from #ekaterinburg , in a beautiful forest, I saw a #king and her #daughter looking at eachother everyday while sharing the same timeless tragedy. #nikolai #romanov #communists #russia #czars #tzars #once #wanderlust #homicide #anastasia #tatiana #olga #alexei #history #siberia #travel #explore #melancholia #instscool #instagood #cute #beautiful (presso Ganina Yama) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnI5gnAAtXY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ge8mdtkx3rvv

[tj-wrote-things]

Forbidden Fruit

Based on this request

Nikolai Lantsov x fem!reader

A/N Special thanks to @itisroe for staying up with me :) 

Shes so fluffy, angst if you squint real hard

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.

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Genya would 100% kill you for this. There was no doubt about it. You knew it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride the night before they were to be wed. It was especially bad luck if said groom was to, hypothetically, of course, scale the wall outside of your window just to catch sight of you. But you couldn't help but rush over to the balcony, heart bursting with joy at the sight of your soon-to-be husband clambering over the rails like a newborn gazelle.

It reminded you of how it was when you first got together, of all the clumsily passed notes, secret winks and stolen kisses in empty rooms; lest his advisors found out that King Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka had fallen hard for a grisha girl with the authority of a dozen generals, and the the disposition of a queen made to rule.

You opened the glass door with a smile, shivering only slightly at the breeze running across your thinly clad legs, and moved to help Nikolai to his feet.

He swept a hand through his golden hair, and beamed down at you. “Evening, darling,” he said, with the charm of a man forever young and beautiful, and gestured to your clothes, or rather, the lack of them. “Is this what you plan on wearing tomorrow?” He followed you back into the confines of your room, and set his hands on your waist, bunching up the cream colored linen of your nightgown between his fingers. “Because if it is, you’ll have me at your mercy by luncheon. Not that you don't always have me at your mercy.” He winked slyly and leaned in to you, one of his hands moving to tilt your head towards him as his lips met yours in pre-wedded-bliss.

Oh, yes, Genya would certainly murder you both, but, saints, after a whole 24 hours without him, you really couldn’t be bothered. Because, hell, if it didn't feel fantastic to hold him close, your hands on his neck and chest, his running across your back and through your hair, wrapping the strands around his fingers as he kissed you slowly, like he had the rest of his life to give you what you wanted.

He does have the rest of his life, you thought, a smile growing on your face.

“What is it,” Nikolai asked with a grin of his own, breaking away from your lips, only to dive into your neck, mouth latching to the skin just under your ear. You shook your head with a sigh. “C’mon,” he whispered, kissing you, just there, gently and with purpose. “Why the Cheshire grin?” He bumped his leg against yours, and began to move towards the bed. After laying you down underneath him on the plush of your mattress, he set to work against the column of your neck, careful not to leave a mark.

“This time tomorrow, we’ll be husband and wife.”

Nikolai paused in his ministrations, and hid his face in your neck for a moment before lifting himself to face you. His hazel eyes bore into yours with gentle concern and unyielding affection.

“You are happy aren’t you?” He stared at you in all seriousness, as if ten seconds ago he hadn’t been making his way down your neck with the slyness of a fox. “I know that my family can be a little, a lot, actually, overbearing, and I-”

You lifted yourself on your elbows and kissed him soundly. “Of course I’m happy.” You lifted a hand to his cheek, tender with all of the love you could gather for him in that moment. “Moi Lapushka, I would gladly walk through hell with bare feet just to hold your hand in mine.” Nikolai leaned into your touch, turning to kiss your palm swiftly. “A few of your disdainful relatives mean nothing to me. Not when I have you-”

A loud rapping on the door caught your attention, as well as Nikolai’s. “Nikolai Lantsov, you better not be in there!” 

Your eyes met once more, only now, they were filled with dread. “Genya,” you chorused. “Shit.” The woman in question knocked once more, harder this time. 

“Don’t make me come in there!”

 You and Nikolai stood up hastily, and you rushed to fix your hair. You turn to your fiance. “You have to hide under the bed.”

“What?!” You dashed for your vanity, and scanned your neck for any evidence of Nikolai’s visit.

“You heard me, moi tzar.” Nikolai stared at you indignantly.

“Why can't you hide under the bed!”

“It’s my room, Nik!” You placed two hands on his shoulders, and kissed him quickly on the forehead.

“I’ll just be a moment, dear.” You pushed down, maneuvering him into his hiding place, just in time for Genya to unlock the door. Standing straight with a manic spin, you turned to see your best friend, standing with her arms crossed over her knotted dressing gown, expectant eyebrows raised.

You faked a yawn as you clamored for your own dressing gown, and tied it in place. “Genya,” you said demurely. “Is it morning already?”

The red-head marched into your bedroom like a sergeant conducting inspection and narrowed her eye at you. “Nice try, sweetie. David says that Nikolai isn't in his chamber. We both know he’s in here.”

You smiled with faux confusion. “What makes you say that?” Genya sighs.

“The lovesick fool left a note telling you he was going to visit on his desk instead of sending it.”

“Damn!” Genya turned to the bed with wordless confusion.

You shrugged at her when she looked at you. “Creaky floors.” She shook her head, and stooped to drag The King out by his leg. Nikolai laid on the floor in his nightshirt and trousers, looking up at two women.

He raised his hands in surrender. “In my defense, look at that pretty face,” he gestured to you, and you smiled sweetly. “Who wouldn't make a fool of himself to spend time with her?”

“Out,” Genya commanded, and Korol Rezni knew better than to disobey. He kissed his fiancee softly on the forehead, making a show to hold his hands away, and swiftly made his exit, throwing a quick smile to you over his shoulder. 

Genya took a seat in the armchair in the corner. “Are you really gonna sleep there?” you asked.

“Clearly, you can’t be trusted.”

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[loiladadiani]

Above, is a photograph of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882 - 1960) with her newborn son and her second husband cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky shortly after the birth of the baby.

Olga was the youngest daughter of Tzar Alexander III. She adored her father but had an ambivalent relationship with her mother throughout their life. Olga Alexandrovna was first married for 15 years to Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, a marriage that was never consummated. The Duke used her money for gambling and would not divorce her when she met Kulikovsky and fell in love. His concession to her was to allow Kulikovsky to live in the same house with them until their marriage was annulled. Olga had always dreamed of having children and was always very close to all her young nieces and nephews.

Her first baby, Tikhon, was born while Olga and her husband Nikolai were under house arrest in Crimea with a number of other Romanovs. Olga's sister Xenia did not tell their mother Minnie that Olga had started laboring until she had given birth, knowing that the Dowager Empress would get too nervous.

This is the way Maria Feodorovna described the birth of Tikhon in her diary on 12 August 1917: “I felt enormous joy and sensed true bliss when I saw how happy Olga was at the birth of her baby... The doctor was delayed. Madame was pleased and proud that she had coped with everything alone. Poor Kulikovsky was not himself at all after all these horrific perturbations. We all embraced and congratulated one another.” She gave birth to her second son, Guri, while still in Russia, in a Cossack village (she left Russia after the other Romanovs.)

Both sons married and raised families in Denmark and later Canada, where Grand Duchess Olga and her husband settled. Her grand and great-grandchildren survive today. They all choose to live as quietly as possible having no desire to attract attention to their Romanov bloodline.

Tikhon Nikolayevich Kulikovsky and Guri Nikolayevich Kulikovsky

Tikhon and Guri as painted by their mother Olga Alexandrovna

[taiteilija]

oh, i am the someone! cause naturally you wouldn’t dare to find yourself another бесы obsessed, pyotr-like someone, would you, nikolai? anyway, i can barely stand waiting for this story and, people, so should you! 

Крылья - Верховенский/Ставрогин When you make moodboard for your fanfiction because someone did that as well and you decided "why the hell not".

[black-rose-writings]

I have this idea about Grishaverse/Shadow and Bone superhero AU.

Alina and her group are like, government employed superheroes, basically a branch of police for superpowered crime.

And Darkling and his group are an independent group of superheroes, vigilantes, technically. The Darkling used to work for the government, but went independant after years of being prevented from doing the right thing by red tape and shit. Alina got his old job temporarily, because she is the most powerful, even if she is way less experienced than other people involved.

The Tzar in this universe is basically a Trump-type figure, super rich bussines man turned politician, down to having a (ex)model for a wife, who is now overseeing the superpowered police.

Nikolai is his step-son, who works for the superpowered police as a tech guy, but he’s also helping the vigilante group on the side, because the Darkling is kinda right and his “dad” is a cunt. He may or may not have helped leak the court documents about his step-father’s sexual misconduct, that got swept under the rug.

Genya is a celebrity stylist/make-up artist, who moonlights with the vigilante group. She’s also the founder of a major local charity helping sexual abuse and domestic violence victims. Her husband, David, is an inventor and is considered to be something of a mad genius.

The Darkling is still an incredibly old immortal. While everyone else dresses like standart superheroes, he dresses exactly as he does in the show. There are rumors that he’s a vampire. I’m thinking that he and his mother came from ancient Judea, and he’s definitelly fluent in several dead languages.

[is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer]

war and peace fandom (but like, the fandom itself)

Hmmmm.....

I'm guessing a great divide between people who discovered the characters through the Tolstoi novel and those who discovered them through 'Natasha Pierre and the Comet of 1812'.

Nikolai is considered canonically gay and is everyone's cinnamon roll. He may be commonly shipped with Dolojov, but in any case Dolojov is Draco in Leather Pants-ed and is considered a brooding, sexy bad boy. Dolojov is also probably shipped with Anatole.

Natasha is either pushed aside or made into a Strong Independent Woman. She might get shipped with Sonia, or Princess Marie, I don't know. There is a subset of straight-alligned fans who ship her with Andrei. Also, I think she's black in the musical??? That might give some... interesting debates in the fandom about racism and representation and historical accuracy.

Lots of Pierre and Andrei shipping. They'll be very depressed together.

Everyone collectively hates Anatole, except for a small subgroup who considers he slaps and make a lot of content about him.

If there isn't a semi crack ship concerning the Tzar and Napoleon I will be extremely disappointed.

[leaudusaona]

[communist-osha]

Nikolai! Don't run off like that, please.

"But I saw something cool!!!"

Katrina was watching over her younger brother. With the war, father wasn't home and mother died of TB last winter, so it was only the two of them. Katrina personally thought that this whole war was stupid, and she knew she wasn't alone in this opinion. There were rumors of the Tzar being controlled by some wizard, and the potential for revolution. Katrina was very interested in the idea of a revolution, but she needed to care for Nikolai, so there would be no way she could help. The moment she stopped to look at Nikolai, he had run off again. God dammit.

Nikolai:

[a-chaotic-ananas]

[this was written months before the show came out. i think their decision was cool now that I've watched the show]

okay i wasn't gonna make this post because you're all gonna Come At Me but could you please read until the end before screaming.

i don't understand why they cast south/southeast asian actors for s&b characters. i'm sure they are very talented and i'm also sure they will portray the characters well. that is not my point.

it's also not my point that alina is described in the book to have brown hair and 'white' features because that part isn't that crucial to the story and so casting a person that doesn't perfectly match the description is honestly fine. (i know we all riot about this in harry potter but if you look at for example the darkest minds ruby is described to have white skin and green eyes and they cast amandla and honestly she was great i really liked her, and it was okay because her appearance didn't have a significant impact on her character as a whole.) if it was just that, i wouldn't care and it would be great to have more representation for asian actors in mainstream media.

my problem is that these characters are Heavily based off of slavic cultures. that's just a fact. 'ravka' is pretty clearly an equivalent to russia/eastern slavic country - the names (alina, nikolai, zoya, ivan???), the language, the titles (tzar/tzarievitch). and the legends, religious and historical aspects. and it bothers me because slavic cultures are so appropriated in the western media and never get any accurate representation. it's all very generalized, portrayed as evil/dark, misportrayed, and used by american ya authors that know nothing about it as some sort of exotic/fantasy setting when in reality, these are very real, complex and existing cultures. and with grisha trilogy, it isn't that badly done and i think leigh bardugo even has slavic heritage (correct me if im wrong) so i'm honestly not mad about it.

so you say you can cast people of different ethnicities as characters, and i agree any other time. just not this time. because by saying that, you are saying that the ethnicity of these characters wasn't set/suggested in the work. that all these legends and culture and settings are completely fictional and have no connection to the real world, so just by reading we couldn't possibly have any idea what they look like or where thes come from, so it doesn't matter what they're portrayed like on the screen. you're giving the author full credit for this world that actually goes back generations and has real people and traditions and culture linked to it.

it just further normalizes treating slavic culture & mythology as a fictional/fantasy setting for a story, and i'm sick of that.

i hope i worded this the right way, and i hope i didn't offend anyone. if you have thought-out takes on this i genuinely wanna hear them, because then i might understand the creators' decision or change my mind. but right now, i just don't.

(also, this is piggybacking off of another post i reblogged, but i don't want to tag the op in case they don't agree with what i said and don't want to be associated with it, since it might be an unpopular opinion)

[update/more in the replies]

[freakvampiresex-2]

wow, i sure do love how goyishe leftists have co-opted a distinctly jewish anti-capitalist song that was written about the oppression of russian jews under tzar nikolai ii, yet still exclude us from their activism. that sure is a fun thing that has happened, huh. /s