Last Emperor of Russia (1894–1917). In 1894 he formalized the alliance with France but his Far Eastern ambitions led to disaster in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), an important cause of the Russian Revolution of 1905. He was forced to issue the October Manifesto promising a representative government and basic civil liberties. An elected Duma and an Upper Chamber were set up. Although Russia was prosperous under Stolypin (1906–11) and Nicholas II won support for the war against Germany (1914), he unwisely took personal command of the armies, leaving the government to the empress Alexandra and Rasputin. Mismanagement of the war and chaos in the government led to his abdication in February 1917 and later his imprisonment. On 16–17 July 1918 the Bolsheviks, fearing the advance of counter-revolutionary forces, murdered him and his family at Ekaterinburg.