Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Who was the Czar before the Russian Revolution?
Nicholas II or Nikolai II (Russian:Николай II Алекса́ндрович, tr.Nikolai II Aleksandrovich; 18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918), known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer in the Russian Orthodox Church, was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917.[1] His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse. He was given the nickname Nicholas the Bloody or Vile Nicholas by his political adversaries due to the Khodynka Tragedy, anti-Semitic pogroms, Bloody Sunday, the violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution, the execution of political opponents, and his perceived responsibility for the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).[2][3] Soviet historians portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects.[4]
The strategy of the Czar of Russia to expand the influence of the Russian Empire led to a steady increase in the number of Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem in the second half of the 19th century. The Czar, who saw himself as defender of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, sought a foothold in the city. In October 1860, the Russian government acquired a large plot and work started on what was then the largest construction project in Jerusalem. The walled Russian Compound, as it is known until this day, comprised a church, hospital, the residence of the Russian consul and hostels for pilgrims. The bank helped realize the project through the transfer of funds and other banking services and in recognition of this, in 1888 the Czar honoured Haim Aharon Valero with the Order of St. Anna.
Blekaitis was born in Kellomäki, Finland, (which at the time was still part of the Russian Empire) while his family was on vacation. His father worked in the Russian czar's army. The Blekaitis family lived in St. Petersburg. However, the Russian Revolution erupted just months after Blekaitis's birth.
 In mid-August, when Bryant returned from France, Reed met her at the dock and told her to prepare to go to Petrograd four days later to cover the Russian Revolution. Eastman of "The Masses" had raised funds to pay Reed's travel expenses, and the Bell Syndicate assigned Bryant to report on the war "from a woman's point of view". Leaving New York on August 17, they arrived in Petrograd, which was then the capital of Russia, about six months after the forced abdication of the last Russian czar, Nicholas II. Headed by Alexander Kerensky, the provisional government that had succeeded the czar had already survived an attempted putsch by Major General Lavr Kornilov. Bryant and Reed entered the city after the Kornilov Affair and before the Bolsheviks overthrew the Kerensky government in the October Revolution.
These categories are not mutually exclusive; the Russian revolution of 1917 began with urban revolution to depose the Czar, followed by rural revolution, followed by the Bolshevik coup in November. Katz also cross-classified revolutions as follows;
Central and subordinate revolutions may support each other militarily, as for example the USSR, Cuba, Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and other Marxist regimes did in the 1970s and 1980s.
Just as in the original novel, the setting is St. Petersburg, Russia during the days when the country was ruled by Czars, but only days before the Russian Revolution. The main character, Rascalnikov, is a child from a poor family who murders an old woman who works as a loan shark. Fleeing with her valuables to support his family, Rascalnikov believes that his murdering of her was justified as she was a bad person.
Shortly before the Russian revolution of 1917, Maurice Luiset invested a significant amount of his wealth in Czar Nicholas II's regime bonds, which had lost the majority of their value, speculating that the Revolution would fail and the bonds' value would rally; as the future communist nation fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks so too did his investments. He focused his later year efforts on innovations in the detergent, perfume and other chemical products and on the study of bee-keeping and the effect of bee pollination on tree varieties.
Fuad continued to study history, modern languages, international law, and political economics with the hope of rising to a diplomatic career. His translator position led him to become a prótege of Mustafa Reşid's while he was in power for the first two years after the Edict of Gülhane from 1839 to 1841 and again from 1846 to 1852. The Edict was launched by Sultan Abdülmecid I at the recommendation of Mustafa Reşid and effectively began the Tanzimat reforms. Although Mehmed Emin Aali and Fuad were the same age, Fuad was somewhat slower in rising to position. This changed, however, in 1848 when Fuad demonstrated his skills in his negotiations with Russian officials in Bucharest and St. Petersburg regarding refugees flooding into the Empire as a result of the 1848 revolutions in Europe. Czar Nicholas I of Russia demanded the extradition of the men who had started the revolutions who were now seeking refuge in the Empire. Mustafa Reşid had previously refused the Czar's demands and the threat of war was growing. Fuad, however, traveled to St. Petersburg and, through his negotiations, the Czar relinquished his demands for extradition and settled for Fuad's promise that the revolutionaries would be kept far from the Russian borders. Fuad demonstrated this same talent for negotiations in 1852 when he worked with Muhammad Ali of Egypt's successor, Prince Abbas, in Egypt.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, "Czar" switched to service from Archangel to New York, but ran only sporadically through 1916. After the Russian Revolution, the East Asiatic Company suspended service on the Russian American Line, and transferred several ships, including "Czar", to British registry. The British shipping controller initially placed the liner under the management of John Ellerman's Wilson Line, but "Czar" was transferred to the Cunard Line management by the end of 1917.
The Imperial Russian Navy () was the navy of the Russian Empire. It was formally established in 1696 and lasted until being dissolved during the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a smaller force that had existed prior to Czar Peter the Great's founding the regular Russian Navy during the Second Azov campaign. It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century, it reached its peak strength, behind only the British and French fleets in terms of size. 
The Second Period of Russification was halted on 15 March 1917 by the February Revolution, which removed the Russian czar, Nicholas II. The collapse of Russia was caused by military defeats, war-weariness against the duration and hardships of the Great War, and the collision between the most conservative regime in Europe and a Russian people desiring modernisation. The Czar's power was transferred to the State Duma (Russian Parliament) and the right-wing Provisional Government, but this new authority was challenged by the Petrograd Soviet (city council), leading to dual power in the country.
Klas Horn (ex-"Posadnik") was the flagship and an escort ship for the Russian Czar's yacht. "Posadnik" was built in Prussia in 1892 for the Montenegrin king Nicholas I. The ship was purchased by the Russian Czar after Nicholas' money ran out. After the Russian revolution, the ship was taken over by the Finnish Navy and renamed "Klas Horn", after a 16th-century admiral. She initially served as a minelayer, but was rebuilt into a gunboat in the 1920s. "Klas Horn" ended her Finnish navy service in the 1930s and served as a mothership for sea surveying.
General Yudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories. In 1917, Russian Grand Duke Nicholas assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. However, in March 1917 (February in the pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Czar abdicated in the course of the February Revolution, and the Russian Caucasus Army began to fall apart.
In World War I the United States declaration of war on Germany (1917) came after the Czar was overthrown in the February Revolution. Because of it, The United States used this new provisional government to describe how the new democratic nations are fighting against autocratic old empires of Germany and Austria-Hungary. During the war, the American Expeditionary Forces were just starting to see battle when the October Revolution removed Russia from the war. Even before Germany surrendered, the US participated in Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the Polar Bear Expedition and the American Expeditionary Force Siberia.
After Vienna was recaptured by imperial forces, General Windischgrätz and 70,000 troops were sent to Hungary to crush the Hungarian revolution and as they advanced the Hungarian government evacuated Pest. However the Austrian army had to retreat after heavy defeats in the Spring Campaign of the Hungarian Army from March to May 1849. Instead of pursuing the Austrian army, the Hungarians stopped to retake the Fort of Buda and prepared defenses. In June 1849 Russian and Austrian troops entered Hungary heavily outnumbering the Hungarian army. Kossuth abdicated on August 11, 1849 in favour of Artúr Görgey, who he thought was the only general who was capable of saving the nation. 
However, in May 1849, Czar Nicholas I pledged to redouble his efforts against the Hungarian Government. He and Emperor Franz Joseph started to regather and rearm an army to be commanded by Anton Vogl, the Austrian lieutenant-field-marshal. The Czar was also preparing to send 30,000 Russian soldiers back over the Eastern Carpathian Mountains from Poland.
The battle was planned as an offensive by the Russians with the aim of forcing the Allied forces (French, British, Sardinian, and Ottoman) to retreat and abandon their siege of Sevastopol. Czar Alexander II had ordered his commander in chief in the Crimea, Prince Michael Gorchakov to attack the besieging forces before they were reinforced further. The Czar hoped that by gaining a victory, he could force a more favorable resolution to the conflict. Gorchakov didn’t think that an attack would be successful but believed the greatest chance of success to be near the French and Sardinian positions on the Chornaya River. The Czar ordered the hesitating Gorchakov to hold a war council to plan the attack. The attack was planned for the morning of August 16 in the hope to surprise the French and Sardinians as they had just celebrated the Feast day of the Emperor (France) and Assumption Day (Sardinians). The Russians hoped that because of these feasts the enemy would be tired and less attentive to the Russians.
However, in May 1849, Czar Nicholas I pledged to redouble his efforts against the Hungarian Government. He and Emperor Franz Joseph started to regather and rearm an army to be commanded by Anton Vogl, the Austrian lieutenant-field-marshal who had actively participated in the suppression of the national liberation movement in Galicia in 1848. But even at this stage Vogl was occupied trying to stop another revolutionary uprising in Galicia. The Czar was also preparing to send 30,000 Russian soldiers back over the Eastern Carpathian Mountains from Poland. Austria held Galicia and moved into Hungary, independent of Vogl's forces. At the same time, the able Haynau led an army of 60,000 Austrians from the West and retook the ground lost throughout the spring. On July 18, he finally captured Buda and Pest. The Russians were also successful in the east and the situation of the Hungarians became increasingly desperate.
Before leaving Russia, Poinsett met one last time with Czar Alexander, who expressed his approval of the energetic measures by the Congress of the United States to resist the maritime pretensions of Britain. The Czar declared that Russia and the United States should maintain the same policy of respect. Poinsett again met with Foreign Minister Count Romanzoff where the Russian disclosed to Poinsett that the Czar ardently desired to have a minister from the United States at the Russian Court.
The Harbin Soviet or Harbin Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies () was a "soviet" (council) of Russian workers and soldiers in Harbin at the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Harbin Soviet was founded immediately after Czar Nicholas II's abdication. The Harbin Soviet sought to seize control over the Chinese Eastern Railway and defend Russian citizens in Manchuria. Bolshevik Martemyan Ryutin was the chairman of the Harbin Soviet.
SS "Czar, or Царь in Russian, was an ocean liner for the Russian American Line before World War I. The ship was later known as Estonia for the Baltic American Line, Pułaski for the Gdynia America Line and as a British Ministry of War Transport troopship, and as Empire Penryn" after World War II. The liner was built in Glasgow for the Russian American Line in 1912 and sailed on North Atlantic routes from Libau to New York. On one eastbound voyage in October 1913, "Czar" was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning Uranium Line steamer .
Later that year, Winkfield emigrated to Russia where he was greeted as a celebrity and in the name of the Czar Nicholas II competed at racetracks all over Europe. He won the Russian Oaks five times, the Russian Derby four times, the Czar's Prize on three occasions, and the Warsaw Derby twice. The Russian Revolution caused him to leave the country in 1917 and he moved to France where he resumed racing, scoring numerous wins including the Prix du Président de la République, Grand Prix de Deauville, and the Prix Eugène Adam. He retired as a jockey at age fifty having won more than 2,500 races then began a second successful career as a horse trainer.
In 1843 Rabbi Beck traveled from Jerusalem to visit the Ruzhiner Rebbe in Sadigura. He informed him that Czar Nikolai I intended to buy a plot of land near the Western Wall with the intention of building a church and monastery there. The Ruzhiner Rebbe, who was very involved in assisting the yishuv, gave Rabbi Beck the task to thwart the Czar's attempt. Beck managed to buy the land from its Arab owners for an exorbitant sum mere days before the Czar ordered the Russian counsul in Jerusalem to make the purchase for him. The Czar was forced to buy a different plot of land for a church, which is known today as the Russian Compound. When Rabbi Friedman died in 1851, his son, Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, the first Rebbe of Sadigura, continued the task of raising the necessary funds for the project.
In 1909, the politician Per August Johansson tried to clear her name, but the process led to nothing. The later process of the 1910s was centered around the fact, that Frederica of Baden had named the Russian czar as the guardian of her children after her divorce, and because of this, Helga de la Brache was to have been entitled to economic compensation from the Russian czar. This process ended with the Russian revolution of 1917.
In 1556, Joachim sent a letter to the Russian Czar Ivan IV, asking the Orthodox monarch to provide some material assistance for the Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, which had suffered from the Turks. In 1558, the Czar sent to Egypt a delegation led by archdeacon Gennady, who, however, died in Constantinople before he could reach Egypt. From then on, the embassy was headed by a Smolensk merchant Vasily Poznyakov. Poznyakov's delegation visited Alexandria, Cairo, and Sinai, brought the patriarch a fur coat and an icon sent by the Czar, and left an interesting account of its two and half years' travels.
After the Russian Revolution, the ship came under the control of the British Shipping Controller and was managed by the Wilson Line and later, the Cunard Line. Under Cunard management in 1918 as HMT "Czar", she was employed as a troopship carrying United States troops to France as part of the United States Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force. After the end of World War I, the ship was returned to the East Asiatic Company, the parent company of the Russian American Line, who placed her on their Baltic American Line sailing in roundtrip passenger service to New York under the name "Estonia". She was sold to the Polish Gdynia America Line in 1930, and renamed SS "Pułaski" the following year for Polish passenger service to North and South America.