10. Forced To Abdicate
Days after the 1917 revolution kicked off, on March 15, the provisional government forced Nicholas II to abdicate his throne. He named his younger brother, Mikhail as Tsar, but Mikhail refused. Nicholas stepped down to the role of Colonel. His days of riding the imperial train were over. Guards, no longer under orders from Nicholas but now the provisional government seized the family under house arrest. Adding insult to injury, his soldiers started to refer to the former Tsar as Nicholas Romanov. It was better than being dead.