From sovereign leader to citizen Romanov: the image of Emperor Nicholas II in the newspapers of Moscow (July 1914 – February 1917)

the purpose of the article is to study the image of Emperor Nicholas II, formed in the socio-political newspapers of Moscow during the First World War. The study of this issue is facilitated by the involvement of newspapers belonging to various ideological trends as sources. An important aspect of the work is both the context and the nature of the mentions in the emperor's press. Some of the newspapers we examined preferred not to focus the reader's attention on the figure and actions of the tsar, limiting themselves only to the publication of official reports. Using the example of Moscow publications, the study shows that even at the very beginning of the war, amid a patriotic upsurge, the reigning emperor was not particularly popular on the pages of non-monarchical periodicals. During the war, the media's attention to the monarch's figure weakens. Newspaper publications after the February Revolution demonstrate criticism of the autocratic system, identified with Nikolai Alexandrovich. The last emperor is criticized even by monarchists, which reveals the change that took place in 1914-1917 in the perception of the image of the tsar by the press and society. Such studies help to gain a holistic view of public opinion in Russia during the First World War and the Revolution.

World War I, Nicholas II, newspapers, periodicals, Moscow, the Russian Empire, public opinion