Tzar Nikolaj the 2nd From 1894 to 1917 Tzar Nikolaj the 2nd ruled the Russian empire. He was a weak person and not especially bright. Furthermore he was easily influenced and was poor at judging other peoples character. His largest weakness was that he tried to rule Russia as an autocrat. This ment that he didn't want to share his power with anybody. He belived thad God had chosen him to rule this way. This made him very unpopular with the people, who wanted democracy.