page_title: Nicholas II of Russia
section_title: Identification
hierarchical_section_title: Nicholas II of Russia / Identification
context_page_description: Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov, known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, was the last Emperor of All Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until being forced to abdicate on 15 March 1917. During his reign, the Russian Empire enacted reforms such as the introduction of civil liberties, literacy programs, state representation, construction of modern infrastructures, industrialization and rebuilding the military after its disastrous defeat in the Russo-Japanese war. In the Soviet Union, he was reviled by historians and state propaganda as a hardhearted tyrant who oppressed his own people while callously sending countless soldiers to their deaths. More recent assessments have characterized him as a well-intentioned but feeble-minded ruler unsuited to handle the modern challenges facing his empire.
  As Emperor, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by top aides Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin, but strong aristocratic opposition prevented these from becoming fully effective. He supported modernization based on foreign loans and close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament major roles.
context_section_description: In 1979, the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsaritsa Alexandra, three of their daughters, and those of four non-family members killed with them, were discovered near Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) by amateur archaeologist Alexander Avdonin. In January 1998, the remains excavated from underneath the dirt road near Yekaterinburg were officially identified as those of Nicholas II and his family, excluding one daughter (either Maria or Anastasia) and Alexei. The identifications—including comparisons to a living relative, performed by separate Russian, British and American scientists using DNA analysis—concur and were found to be conclusive.
  In July 2007, an amateur historian discovered bones near Yekaterinburg belonging to a boy and young woman.
  Prosecutors reopened the investigation into the deaths of the imperial family, and in April 2008, DNA tests performed by an American laboratory proved that bone fragments exhumed in the Ural Mountains belonged to two children of Nicholas II, Alexei and a daughter. That same day it was announced by Russian authorities that remains from the entire family had been recovered.
  On 1 October 2008, the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that Nicholas II and his family were victims of political persecution and should be rehabilitated. In March 2009, results of the DNA testing were published, confirming that the two bodies discovered in 2007 were those of Alexei and one of his sisters.
  In late 2015, at the insistence of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian investigators exhumed the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, for additional DNA testing, which confirmed that the bones were of the couple.
caption: The Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, (later Sverdlovsk) in 1928
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