The situation in Russia continues to slowly deteriorate. The war with Japan is going badly and the Pacific fleet is lost. At the urging of his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - who refers to himself as the Admiral of the Atlantic and Nicky as the Admiral of the Pacific - Tsar Nicholas II transfers the Baltic fleet to the Pacific. After a six month voyage, it too is lost in a battle with the Japanese. Closer to home, the Interior Minister is killed by an assassins bomb and a priest, Father Gapon, is leading a strike against employers over working conditions and wages. When he leads a non-violent march of workers and their families to the Winter Palace, the military responds with bullets and sabres. The Tsarina Alexandra gives birth to a baby boy, an heir to the throne. The parents are distraught however to learn that he suffers from hemophilia.
—garykmcd