June 28, 1914. Double regicide.

Possibly, Russia is engaged in a major military build up at this point and Germany's own estimate was this would make victory impossible by 1916. Get that far and the combination of a balance of terror in the East and the end of the anglo German navy race might put off the war for good or at least a generation.

That said Germany has a ticking clock, Russia has been decapped at the start of a potential major crisis and Austria is out for Serbian blood. Lossing Nicky could make war more likely not less because the Germans may calculate that kicking them when they're down is the best option here.

But they need some excuse (it was still an era of trying to look decent ;)) and there is none. BTW, IIRC, Willy, just as Nicky, had been caught on inability to putt his feet down when the General Staff said that mobilization can not be stopped. Without the OTL sequence of actions it would not even start. This was a problem with having on the top the weaklings who wanted to look strong. I have serious doubts that anybody would dare to tell Nicky's father or great-grandfather the same thing that was told to Nicky ("mobilization is too serious thing to be stopped at will").


Possibly
To quote Mr E Blackadder "He brutally cut his head off whilst shaving," unhappy accident, nothing to see here.

Well, I still think that biting it off sounds more ...er... natural. :)
 
It seems like U.S. government got him. This is 70th time this century, I apologize on our behalf

And while you are on an apology tour, can you apologize for today's cold water on my local beach? This was extremely unpleasant interruption of my swimming schedule which did a lot of harm to my <I did not figure out what exactly but definitely something important in the terms of a self-esteem and feeling good in general> . x'D
 
And while you are on an apology tour, can you apologize for today's cold water on my local beach? This was extremely unpleasant interruption of my swimming schedule which did a lot of harm to my <I did not figure out what exactly but definitely something important in the terms of a self-esteem and feeling good in general> . x'D

That's not my jurisdiction, the amount of red tape I'd get for doing that would make me look like a Soviet
 
There is absolutely no way "that German", the Tsarina, would be named regent. Prince Mikhail would take over. If necessary Russia would invent the atomic bomb to get rid of Rasputin (or ask a favor of Hellboy). With the confusion in Russia it is possible that the guarantee to Serbia won't be explicitly given, so the Serbians may swallow their pride and accept the A-H note. This leaves A-H without a causus belli, and even Willy won't back them going to war if the Serbians give in.
 
There is absolutely no way "that German", the Tsarina, would be named regent. Prince Mikhail would take over. If necessary Russia would invent the atomic bomb to get rid of Rasputin (or ask a favor of Hellboy). With the confusion in Russia it is possible that the guarantee to Serbia won't be explicitly given, so the Serbians may swallow their pride and accept the A-H note. This leaves A-H without a causus belli, and even Willy won't back them going to war if the Serbians give in.

As I said earlier, Rasputin would suffer an "Accident" or "Heart Attack" about a week after the new boss sat down behind their fancy desk.
 
There is absolutely no way "that German", the Tsarina, would be named regent. Prince Mikhail would take over. If necessary Russia would invent the atomic bomb to get rid of Rasputin (or ask a favor of Hellboy). With the confusion in Russia it is possible that the guarantee to Serbia won't be explicitly given, so the Serbians may swallow their pride and accept the A-H note. This leaves A-H without a causus belli, and even Willy won't back them going to war if the Serbians give in.

If Micheal is a regent than an issue of Rasputin and his influence is gone: he may remain as a personal <whoever> of Alexandra but she is out of power so it does not matter. OTOH, Micheal seems to be a person who, unlike Nicholas, did not suffer from "owner of Russia" syndrome so he would probably start with delegating authority and this would make the drastic decisions less likely. Anyway, it would take some time for the dust to settle in Russia and by that time it would be too late to intervene on behalf of Serbia other than in just expressing a sympathy.
 
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