[The following is in regards to a meeting with Alexander Kerensky, a Russian revolutionary, and the former Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, shortly after his forced abdication and confinement at Tsarskoe Selo.]
On March 21, Kerensky appeared unexpectedly at Tsarskoe. It was his first opportunity to meet face to face the object of some of his most virulent Duma speeches. His description of the encounter, and the impression which Nicholas made on him, is of considerable interest:
[…]
I quickly went up to Nicholas II, held out my hand with a smile, and said abruptly “Kerensky,” as I usually introduce myself. He shook my hand firmly, smiled, seemingly encouraged, and led me at once to his family. His son and daughters were obviously consumed with curiosity and gazed fixedly at me. Alexandra Feodorovna, stiff, proud and haughty, extended her hand reluctantly, as if under compulsion. Nor was I particularly eager to shake hands with her, our palms barely touching. This was typical of the difference in character and temperament between the husband and wife. I felt at once that Alexandra Feodorovna, though broken and angry, was a clever woman with a strong will. In those few seconds I understood the psychology of the whole tragedy that had been going on for many years behind the palace walls.
[…]
I for one do not think he was the outcast, the inhuman monster, the deliberate murderer I used to imagine. I began to realize that there was a human side to him. It became clear to me that he had acquiesced in the whole ruthless system without being moved by any personal ill will and without even realizing that it was bad. His mentality and his circumstances kept him wholly out of touch with the people. He heard of the blood and tears of thousands upon thousands only through official documents, in which they were represented as “measures” taken by authorities “in the interest of the peace and safety of the State.” Such reports did not convey to him the pain and suffering of the victims, but only the “heroism” of the soldiers “faithful in the fulfillment of their duty to the Czar and the Fatherland.” From his youth he had been trained to believe that his welfare and the welfare of Russia were one and the same thing, so that the “disloyal” workmen, peasants and students who were shot down, executed or exiled seemed to him mere monsters and outcasts of humanity who must be destroyed for the sake of the country and the “faithful subjects” themselves…
In the case of my occasional short interviews with Nicholas II at Tsarskoe Selo, I tried to fathom his character and, I think, on the whole I succeeded. He was an extremely reserved man, who distrusted and utterly despised mankind. He was not well educated, but he had some knowledge of human nature. He did not care for anything or anyone except his son, and perhaps his daughters. This terrible indifference to all external things made him seem like some unnatural automaton.
As I studied his face, I seemed to see behind his smile and charming eyes a stiff, frozen mask of utter loneliness and desolation. I think he may have been a mystic, seeking communion with Heaven patiently and passionately, and weary of all earthly things. Perhaps everything on earth had become insignificant and distasteful to him because all his desires had been so easily gratified.
When I began to know his living mask I understood why it had been so easy to overthrow his power. He did not wish to fight for it and it simply fell from his hands.
Source:
Pipes, Richard. "The February Revolution." The Russian Revolution. New York: Knopf, 1990. 334, 335. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Kerensky, Catastrophe, 264-69.
K.A., No. 20 (1927), 140.
Further Reading:
Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский (Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky)
Ца́рское Село́ (Tsarskoye Selo: “Tsar’s Village”)
Николай II Алекса́ндрович (Nicholas II of Russia) / Nicholas the Bloody
After his dealings with Rasputin this is quite understandable
Top notch post!