Nicholas II?

Question

First person to tell me the following questions in a way which is accurate and interesting by my standards wins:

1. Five interestin facts about Nicholas II
2. Five interesting facts about his assassination
3. Five ways that his assassination changed the world.

Good sites for pictures of him are a bonus!

Answer 1

1. His full name is Nikolai Romanov
2. His wife was Austrian
3. When he & his wife are separate, they would write love letters to each other in english.
4. He & his family were mudered (executed) in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg
5. They were executed for fear that the White Russians would be able to rescue them

Answer 2

1. He was nearly killed by a crazy Japanese guy while traveling in Japan, married his childhood sweetheart, had five kids, was a devoted family man, and could speak Russian, English, French, and German.

2. He and his entire family THOUGHT they were having their picture taken when they were assassinated in a cellar in a building in a town called Ekaterinberg. The assassins not only killed Nicholas but his family to make sure that there was no trace of the Romanovs left. I don't know of any other facts other than that he and his family were murdered in cold blood.

3. I'm not sure how his assassination changed the world in five ways; it has changed the world in some way that there are conspiracy theories that surround the assassination of the Romanov family. From a book that I read (and I forgot which one) could've sworn that she saw Nicholas alive and gray haired in 1920 in London, however, this is definitely false because there is proof in the DNA that he was killed. Another way his assassination made a "difference" was that it marked the very end of 300 years of the House of Romanov rule in Russia and the start of a Communist regime. So they went from one regime to another one, so to speak.

For pictures of him, you can do a Google image search or go to wikipedia. Better yet, go to http://www.alexanderpalace.org. There is a TON of stuff on the Romanovs. There are also several books on them; one of which is titled Nicholas and Alexandra by historian Robert K. Massie (a less-than-stellar film was made on it in the early 70s) and it is considered THE source for the history on the Romanovs.

UPDATE: There is another Nicholas II as the person below me has noted, however, I believe that you meant Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Answer 3

1. Nicholas became Bishop of Florence in 1046.
Nicholas was elected with the support of Hildebrand and Duke Godfrey of Lorraine-Tuscany.
Nicholas concluded an alliance with Robert Guiscard.
Nicholas presided over a Synod that prohibited simoniacal ordinations and lay investiture.
He was opposed by Benedict X

2. As far as I know, Nicholas II wasn't assassinated.

3. See above.

Of course, it is always possible that you meant some other Nicholas II.