2CatherinePalace
Tsarskoe Selo, Russia
July 1906
Tsar Nicholas II, Supreme Autocrat of Russia, sat at his desk in the formal study of Emperor Alexander I in the Catherine Palace, which served as the official residence of the Imperial family. As he arranged the papers on his desk, he knew that he was about to violate his own rule against conducting business while the family was in residence at Tsarskoe Selo. Today had to be an exception. Nicholas had summoned the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Count Sergei Witte, to meet with him that morning. The train from St. Petersburg would be arriving shortly.
Nicholas fidgeted in his chair. He was furious with Witte. He had agreed to Witte’s October Manifesto only to appease the revolutionaries. He thought about the situation as he waited.
