Born Nikolay Romanov, Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to a complete economic and military collapse. As head of state, he approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the first fatal step into World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty less than four years later. He abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned. He, his wife, son and four daughters (one of whom was Anastasia, thought to have survived) were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Today, they are all considered martyrs and have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
