1917 Abdication of Nicholas II

100 years ago, on March 15, 1917, in the saloon car of the tsar's train at the Dno station, Emperor Nicholas II signed his abdication in favor of his brother Mikhail. He was convinced to do so by Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief General Mikhail Alekseev and Commander of the Northern Front General Nikolai Ruzsky, who believed that only in this way it would be possible to stop the unrest and continue the war with Germany.

All the commanders of the fronts and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, in their responses to Alekseev's telegram with a request to speak out about a possible abdication, asked the emperor to abdicate the throne "for the sake of the country's unity in a terrible time of war." Only the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, did not send an answer.