This day in history

The last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, is crowned on 26 May, 1894.

Nicholas was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the autocracy he sought to preserve in an era desperate for change. The disastrous outcome of the Russo-Japanese War led to the Revolution of 1905, which Nicholas diffused after signing a manifesto that promised reforms. He soon retracted these concessions, and radical groups won wide support.

In 1914, he led his country into another costly war, and discontent grew. In 1917, the army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms and Nicholas was deposed and put under house arrest. Vladimir Lenin assumed power in November, but in July 1918, the advance of counterrevolutionary forces caused the Bolsheviks to fear that the imperial family might be rescued. A death sentence was passed, and on the night of 16 July, Nicholas, his wife and children and several of their servants were killed.
 

In Italy, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of a Masonic lodge.
 

Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono stage a public “bed in” for world peace - staying in bed for a week in a hotel in Montreal.