Your War and Mine (1)

Who is Nikolai II?

Is he a fortunate and capable ruler like Charles V, who at a young age became Emperor of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor, head of the Habsburg family, and ruler of Italy?

Or is he a great monarch whose achievements cannot be explained by bloodline alone?

Kitchener's first memory of Nikolai II was from quite a while ago.

Before the title "Bloody Tsar" emerged.

Ascending to the throne at just twenty-five.

Taking the throne and beginning heir education.

At that time, everyone mocked the man before them as a colorless Tsar.

An uneducated emperor.

An incompetent emperor.

How incompetent must he have been to create the State Duma to shift responsibility?

That was the situation in Russia that Kitchener had heard about at the time.

The Tsar then could neither do anything nor was capable of doing anything.

And four years passed.