NICHOLAS (1856-1929), Russian Grand Duke and soldier. Nikolai Nikolaievich was born on Nov. 6, 1856, the grandson of the emperor Nicholas I. and first cousin of the emperor Alexander III. Educated at the school of military engineers, he received his commission in 1872, and in the following year, at the early age of 16, entered the military academy. In the war of 1877-78, as a general staff officer for special service, he joined the staff of his father, the very popular Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich (Senr.), who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian forces. He distinguished himself at the crossing of the Danube at Zimnicea on April 15, 1877, and in the attack on the Shipka.
After the war the Grand Duke joined the Guard Hussar Regi ment, in which the emperor Nicholas afterwards served, and passed through every stage as officer till appointed commander in 1884—a position he occupied for 61 years. He then commanded in succession a brigade and a division, and in 1895 was appointed inspector-general of cavalry. He held this post for ten years, a period which is regarded as a bright epoch in the history of the Russian cavalry, for he carried through fundamental reforms in training and in the organization of the cavalry schools, of the cavalry reserves and of the remount service.
In 1905 Nicholas was appointed commander-in-chief of the St. Petersburg military district, a post he held till the outbreak of the World War in Aug. 1914. Here, as elsewhere, he gave proof of his zeal for efficiency. Setting himself the task of instilling the lessons of the Japanese war, he encouraged musketry and work in extended order, but at the same time allowed no slackness in ceremonial. To help him in nis work he called from the Far East men like Generals Ivanov, Lesh and Lechitski, who were of comparatively humble origin but had made their reputation in the field. The appointment of such men to high command in the Imperial Guard was characterized in his diary at the time by another grand duke as "revolutionary," but the men selected justified their choice in the World War.
In the same year (1905) as he was appointed commander-in chief of the St. Petersburg military district, Nikolai Nikolaievich became the first president of the newly created council of national defence, and he held this position till 1908, when the council was abolished. During this time the emperor seems to have hesitated between the final adoption of a military system analogous to that of Germany, under which the chief of the general staff, as well as the minister of war, should have the right of access and of direct report to the sovereign, and of the system in vogue in countries with a constitutional Government, under which that right was confined to the minister of war. On the council the Grand Duke worked in close co-operation with General Palitsin, who, in 1908, on the emperor's decision in favour of the latter system, gave way to General Sukhomlinov as chief of the general staff, the latter, in the following year, replacing General Rediger as minister of war.
From 1908 to 1914 Nicholas took no part in the strategical preparation for the war, the work being delegated by the emperor to General Sukhomlinov and his nominees on the general staff. At the outbreak of war the emperor first intended to take command himself, and actually appointed the grand duke Com mander-in-chief of the VI. (Reserve) Army at St. Petersburg (Leningrad). It was only on the evening of Aug. 1, the day of Germany's declaration of war, that he yielded to the entreaties of his ministers and decided to hand over the supreme command to the grand duke.