Q. Your book, The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution, looks at the last 16 months of Nicholas II's life, from his abdication to his execution. What happened in those fateful final months?
A. In early 1917 Nicholas was at the eastern front, leading Russia's forces in the First World War, when political demonstrations broke out in Petrograd. Once the Russian capital fell into rebellion, the rest of the country joined in the revolutionary upsurge. The Duma [the Russian parliament] made it very clear that if there was to be tranquility behind the lines in order for Russia to pursue the war effort, the tsar had to step down.
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