[December 1] Alexander I, emperor of Russia

Local Name: Aleksandr I Pavlovich (Александр I Павлович)
Soubriquet: "The Blessed" (Blagoslovennyi)
Parents: Paul, emperor of Russia, and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg
Date of Birth: 23 December 1777
House: Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Spouse(s): Louise Elizabeth Alexeievna, daughter of Charles Louis of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
Predecessor: Paul

Reign: 1801 – 1825
Brief: The only European monarch to have defeated Emperor Napoleon I at his own game, Alexander was raised by his autocratic grandmother, Catherine the Great, and by a French enlightenment tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, embracing both philosophies in an unnatural amalgam. When his father was assassinated in March 1801, possibly with his own collusion, Alexander set on a campaign of governmental reform and centralization. He also turned Russia on a course toward constitutional monarchy, establishing an upper chamber of Lords and reforming the Governing Senate into his Supreme  Court. After first recognizing Napoleon as leader of the French Republic, Alexander realized that Napoleon was an autocrat and against basic freedoms. The young emperor rallied together an alliance with his neighbors but found himself along in 1807 when France defeated Austria. The two countries made peace, with plans to divide Europe in half between them, but over the course of the next five years, these plans fell apart and the two countries again prepared for war. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 and burned Moscow before his army was utterly devastated on its long return to France. From the end of the war until the end of his life, Alexander became increasingly autocratic, abandoning much of his love for enlightenment philosophy and instead embracing the methods of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, the Austrian prime minister. Emperor Alexander I died in 1825 after catching a cold which developed into typhus. His wife died a few months later. Legends suggest that Alexander actually lived and continued his life as a hermit until 1864, living under the name Feodor Kuzmich, who was sainted by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1984.
Date of Death: 1 December 1825

Successor: Nicholas I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Henry I, king of England (1135)
• Magnus II, king of Sweden (1377)
• Go-Komatsu, emperor of Japan (1433)
• Leo X, pope of Rome (1521)
• Pius VIII, pope of Rome (1830)

[October 28] Anna, empress of Russia

Local Name: Anna Ioannovna (Анна Иоанновна)
Parents: Ivan V, tsar of Russia, and Praskovia Saltykova
Born: 7 February 1693
House: Romanov
Spouse(s): Frederick William, duke of Courland, son of Frederick Casimir Kettler and Elisabeth Sophie of Brandeburg
Predecessor: Peter II

Reign: 1730 – 1740
Brief: Anna lived a somewhat tragic life. She married the duke of Courland at the age of seventeen only for the man to die three months later on the return trip home. She took over the government of Courland thereafter, remaining unwed the rest of her life. When Emperor Peter II died in 1730, Anna, who was the emperor's niece, was proclaimed his successor. The hoped that by installing her as empress, the nobles could regain some of their lost powers and establish a constitutional monarchy. Anna, in response, indebted herself to the Russian military and lesser nobility and ruled as an autocrat as those before her had. She went power hungry almost immediately, publicly insulting anyone who would mock her or get in her way. She even forced a noble to wed an elderly common woman in a ceremony that involved a zoo's worth of animals and an ice palace, just to insult the man. She replaced many court functionaries with Baltic Germans, and she secured an alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, committing Russia to the War of the Polish Succession in 1735. Anna also began attacking targets east and south of Russia in a bit to expand the state. She became ill in 1739 and proclaimed her grand-nephew, who was one-year-old at the time, her heir. Soon after Anna died the next year, Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, deposed little Ivan VI and took the throne.

Date of Death: 28 October 1740
Successor: Ivan VI

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Maxentius, emperor of Rome (312)
• Margaret I, queen of Denmark (1412)
• Ashikaga Yoshihide, shogun of Japan (1568)
• Jahangir, emperor of India (1627)

[July 17] St. Nicholas II, emperor of Russia

Full Name: Nikolay II, Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov (Николай II, Николай Александрович Романов)
Surnamed: "The Martyr"
Parents: Alexander III, emperor of Russia, and Dagmar of Denmark

Date of Birth: 18 May 1868
Royal House: Oldenburg-Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Spouse: Alix, daughter of Louis IV, grand duke of Hesse, and Alice of the United Kingdom

Predecessor: Alexander III
Reign: 1894 — 1917
Summary: To summarize the life and many failures of Czar Nicholas II of Russia is an impossible task. Born to the German family that ruled Russia in the name of Romanov, Nicholas was the eldest son of Czar Alexander III. His cousins included his wife, Alix, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, and George V of the United Kingdom. He became the tsarevich (crown prince) upon the death of his grandfather, Alexander II, in 1881. He was sent in 1890 to Siberia where he witnessed the opening ceremony for the Trans-Siberian Railway. He then went on a world-tour that included Japan and much of Europe. Nicholas insisted on marrying Alix, the daughter of the Hessian grand duke, in 1894 and, reluctantly, his parents allowed it. But Russian society frowned on the marriage of the first cousins since Alix was German and viewed as an enemy of Russia. She maintained her Lutheran faith to the chagrin of many a Russian, but she never became popular. Alexander III unexpectedly died in late 1894 and Nicholas was thrust into the emperorship. Despite twenty-six years of upbringing, Nicholas was not prepared to lead Russia and, as many would discover, he would never really gain a knack for it.


Nicholas's first major mistake was denouncing thoughts of democracy in Russia. He chose instead to stick to the conservative position of his forefathers. When local assemblies popped up throughout Russia, Nicholas openly objected to him proclaiming his desire to retain the Russian autocracy. For the first decade of his reign, little changed in Russia. The gold standard was re-adopted allowing the national currency to undergo some much-needed reforms. The Trans-Siberian Railway was completed allowing direct trade with the Far East. In diplomacy, the relationship with France was increased and heavily emphasized. Things went sour in 1904 when the Russian fleet was suddenly attacked by Japan. The ensuing Russo-Japanese War cost Russia its Pacific fleet. Only American mediation ended a war that Nicholas refused to admit that he lost. Riots soon followed in 1905 leading to Bloody Sunday on January 9. Protesters marching peacefully through St. Petersburg were attacked by Russian infantry, killing 92 and wounding hundreds. Many fled and protests against Nicholas popped up throughout the Empire for the next thirteen years. After the riots, Nicholas decreed that he would allow basic civil liberties in Russia and allow a popular assembly, though he would retain ultimate oversight. It took three sessions of the assembly before Nicholas would tolerate its oversight, and, even still, he always kept a cautious eye on it. In his personal life, the successive births of four daughters caused Nicholas much worry of the succession. In 1904, his son, Alexei, was finally born, but his case of hemophilia B meant that he would probably never live long enough to produce offspring. His fate in 1918 ended any problems related to his succession. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, Nicholas eventually declared a mass mobilization of Russia, setting the course of Europe toward war. When Austria declared war soon after, the European alliances were initiated and Russia joined the Allies against the Central Powers. Throughout the war, Russia would never defeat the Germans in open battle, though successes against Austria and Ottoman Turkey were much more frequent. Though Russia had the largest army in the war, it slowly was whittled away by a triple front of Austria, Germany, and Turkey. Russia would not survive this war of attrition. Nicholas was frequently near the front lines leaving his wife, Alix, and his advisor, Grigori Rasputin, ruling the country. But people did not trust Rasputin and Alix was distrusted for being German. Run-away inflation and impossibly high food prices mixed with severe winters and broken railways caused the entire Russian population to rise in rebellion. Over the course of 1917, the Romanov family was imprisoned by an upstart Provisional Government led by the former Russian assembly and the Soviet. Both demanded the resignation of Nicholas which he finally agreed to on 15 March 1917, passing the throne to his brother, Michael. 


Michael soon after declined the throne and the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. The revolution in Russia gave the United States impetus to join the war, feeling that it was now a part of a democratic alliance. Nicholas attempted to go into exile to the United Kingdom but the Provisional Government decided to keep the family in Russian custody, moving them to the Ural Mountains. When the Bolsheviks took control of the government later that year, the Romanovs could do little. Vladimir Lenin, the new leader of the government, viewed the Romanovs as a threat to their government. In mid-July, the family was taken to the basement of a former governor's mansion and privately executed. Nicholas was shot three times in the chest. His four daughters survived the initial attack but were soon after speared with bayonets then shot in the head. The others in the room were killed indiscriminately in the first round of firing. The remains of all seven family members were only identified in 2008. Czar Nicholas was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a martyr in 2000. While he is still considered a weak and poor ruler, he has also been seen as a victim of his times.

Date of Death: 17 July 1918
Successor: Cyril (as pretender)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Uthman, caliph of Sunni Islam (656)
• Edward (I) the Elder, king of Wessex (924)
• Baldwin VI, count of Flanders (1070)
• Dmitry Shemyaka, grand prince of Moscow (1453)
• Tu Duc, emperor of Vietnam (1883)

[July 12] Michael I, tsar of Russia

True Name: Mikhail I Fyodorovich (Михаил Фёдорович)

Parents: Feodor Nikitich, patriarch of Moscow, and Kseniya Shestova

Date of Birth: 12  July 1596
Royal House: Romanov
Spouse: (1) Maria, daughter of Vladimir Timofeyevich Dolgorukov and Maria Vasilievna Barbashina-Shuiskaya, then (2) Eudoxia, daughter of Lukyan Stephanovich Streshnyov and Anna Konstantinovna Volkonskaya

Predecessor: Vasili IV
Reign: 1613 – 1645
Summary: Michael had little claim to the troubled Russian throne. His aunt, Anastasia, was a wife of Ivan the Terrible thereby linking his family to theirs. Yet in 1600, Michael and his mother were exiles living in Beloozero. Michael's father, Feodor, was accused of treason in 1598 by the new Tsar Boris Godunov, an opportunist ruling in the wake of Ivan. This left the aspiring Romanov family on the run and on the offensive. The Time of Troubles lasted for fifteen years and during that time, one third of Russia died in a terrible famine. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth invaded Russia as well, and rival claimants and pretenders were flocking in droves to Moscow to try and claim the Russian throne. With Poland attempting to install its own monarch in Russia, the aristocracy decided to reassert itself and take control over the government. Michael, being related to the now-extinct Rurik line of Russian monarchs, was chosen as tsar by the Grand National Assembly. It was hoped that his ascension would end disputes and unify Russia, and it did.

It took Michael six years to remove all foreign presence of Russian soil. In the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617, Sweden was removed, while the Truce of Deulino in 1618 removed Poland. With the second treaty, Michael's father Feodor was able to return to Russia and act as regent and counsellor to the new tsar. A leg injury from earlier in his life slowly grew worse during his reign until Michael reached a point where he could no longer walk. As he aged, he relegated increasing power to his counsellors. While many were trusted and good men, some were not and Michael constantly had to intervene in the government to remove corrupt officials. Michael was largely removed from government and trusted in strong advisors, most unaffiliated with the military. He worked hard to forge an alliance with Denmark in the years preceding his death. His wish was to wed his eldest daughter, Irene, to Valdemar Christian, an illegitimate son of King Christian IV of Denmark. However, when Valdemar arrived in Moscow, the Danish prince refused to convert to the Russian Orthodox faith and Michael had him imprisoned. Irene never married and it is thought that Michael died partially due to the regret over the failure of this alliance. In any case, Michael died in 1945 and was succeeded without contest but his eldest son, Alexis I.

Date of Death: 12 July 1645
Successor: Alexis

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Ashikaga Yoshinori, shogun of Japan (1441)
• Richard Cromwell, lord protector of England (1712)

[May 17] Catherine I, empress of Russia

True Name: Yekaterina I Alekseyevna (Екатерина I Алексеевна)
Parents: Samuel Skowronski and Elisabeth Moritz

Date of Birth: 15 April 1684

House: Skowronski
Spouse: Peter I, emperor of Russia

Predecessor: Peter I

Reign: 1725 – 1727

Summary: Catherine set a good example in Russia for female rule, but like many of the other female rulers, she did so in an extraordinarily bad way. She was born with the name Marta, a Polish peasant girl and Roman Catholic, and raised by a Lutheran pastor in Latvia. She served as a housemaid and she was never taught to read or write. In fear that her beauty would overtake his son, the pastor married her off to a Swedish dragoon, Johan Cruse, but the pair remained together for only a week in 1702. Soon after, the pastor and his family, including Marta, moved to Moscow. She eventually became a part of Prince Alexander Menshikov's household, the best friend of Peter the Great of Russia. Menshikov and Marta formed an alliance and Peter met Marta in 1703. Shortly after, Marta became the emperor's mistress. Marta converted to Russian Orthodoxy in 1705 and took the name Catherine Alexeyevna. She rarely left Peter's side after that. Peter and Catherine married secretly in 1707. Of their twelve children, only two lived to adulthood, Yelizaveta and Anna. The two were very much in love and lived in a small log cabin in St. Petersburg despite the status of the emperor. In 1711, tradition states that Catherine saved Peter and the Russian Empire when she suggested bribing the enemy with her and the other women's jewelry. The ploy worked and Peter lived to fight another day. Peter married Catherine again officially in February 1712. Catherine became the tsarina of Russia and eventually became empress. A strange twist came in 1724 when Peter the Great named Catherine his co-ruler. He died the next year without having named a successor. Catherine, fearing an aristocratic takeover, arranged a coup with Menshikov. She was popularly proclaimed Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias by the Russian military.

Menshikov, Peter Tlstoy, and the Supreme Privy Council did most of the ruling during Catherine's short reign. It is unlikely Catherine planned to rule directly or for a prolonged period of time, but that she wished to act as a transitional monarch while a new monarch, one that would favor the new meritocracy, was found. What happened, though, was that Catherine established a new order in Russia. She was the first female ruler of the empire that was only found a decade earlier. Her successors, including her daughter, Elizabeth, and Catherine II would dominate Russian politics for the eighteenth century. As empress, Catherine downsized the military to cut spending. The resulting tax relief gave her a reputation of just and fair rule. Russia joined the Habsburg league in 1726 to defend her son-in-law, the Duke of Holstein, against incursions by Great Britain. She died only two years after becoming empress. The cause of her death was probably abscess of the lungs, and she was buried in St. Petersburg. She was succeeded by her step-grandson, Peter II, the son of Alexei, the eldest surviving son of Peter the Great by his first wife, Eudoxia.

Date of Death: 17 May 1727

Successor: Peter II

Other Monarch Deaths:

Sima Yan, emperor of China (290)

Go-Fushimi, emperor of Japan (1336)

Louis VI, duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg (1365)

Charles, raja of Sarawak (1917)

[February 2] Konstantin, grand prince of Vladimir

Helmet found from the Battle of Lipitsa, 1216.

True Name: Konstantin Vsevolodovich (Константи́н Все́володович)

Parents: Vsevolod, grand prince of Vovgorod, and Maria Shvarnovna
Date of Birth: 18 May 1186

Royal House: Rurik

Spouse: (Unknown), daughter of Mstislav III, duke of Smolensk

Reign: 1216 – 1218

Predecessor: Yuri II

Summary: Little is known about Konstantin as he ruled during a troublesome time in the history of the Kievan Rus'. Konstantine was a prince of Novgorod from 1206 to 1207, but in that role he served little real purpose as Novgorod was a republic that elected a prince as their figurehead, much like Venice. In 1207, he was sent to rule the small towns of Rostov and Yaroslavl, but he was an ineffective ruler. His father disinherited him from the line of succession to the grand principality of Vladimir, preferring instead his younger son, Yuri. Yuri took the throne of Vladimir and Kiev in 1212. 

At the Battle of Lipitsa in 1216, Konstantin successfully wrestled control of Vladimir away from his brother with the help of the prince of Novgorod. He remained in possession of Vladimir for two years until his death in 1218, when the principality returned to Yuri. This battle was one of the worst examples of internal strife that was destroying the Kievan Rus' in the years immediately before the Mongol invasion. Little can be said of Konstantin's short reign. He and his wife produced many children that would later rule parts of Russia during the Mongol occupation, but none of them would rule Vladimir or Kiev again.

Date of Death: 2 February 1218

Successor: Yuri II


Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Borivoj II, duke of Bohemia (1124)
• Eric XI, king of Sweden (1250)
• Louis II, duke of Bavaria (1294)
• Oljeitu Temur, khagan of the Great Khanate and emperor of China (1307)
• Clement XIII, pope of Rome (1769)

[January 5] Elizabeth, empress of Russia

Parents: Peter I, Emperor of Russia, and Catherine I, Empress of Russia
Date of birth: 29 December 1709
Royal House: Romanov
Spouse: Alexey Razumovsky

Predecessor: Ivan VI

Reign: 1741 - 1762
Summary: Elizabeth was the daughter of two former Russian monarchs who had been important in the Romanov consolidation of the empire. Following a series of monarchs who ruled after her parents, Elizabeth finally took control from her young cousin who remained imprisoned throuout her reign and never ascended to the throne. That child had the senior claim but lacked the backing of any Russian politicians.

Elizabeth led her country through the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748) and gained possessions in Germany and Austria for Russia and the Romanovs. She also entered the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763), though she died before it ended. Her wise political leadership strengthened Russia in this era and brought it in to the modern age. Childless, she chose her nephew from the House of Holstein-Gottorp to be her heir, thereby transferring leadership of Russia to the House of Oldenburg.
Date of Death: 5 January 1762
Successor: Peter III

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph of Sunni Islam (842)
• Edward the Confessor, king of England (1066)
• Peter IV, king of Aragón (1387)
• Christopher, duke of Bavaria (1448)
• Charles, duke of Burgundy (1477)