I'm no historian but I do have a gerneral intrest in these things. There were many factors that led up to his family's demise.

Alexander II, Nikolai's grandfather was assasinated by people who opposed his many reforms, which included abolishing serfdom. In those times, Russia was often viewd as less developed when compared to the rest of Europe. Not everyone was for these changes and once they were implemented, rebellions were started and people decided that the monarchhy was no longer good for Russia.

Alexander II, Nikolai's father though he would live alot longer than he did. he failed to prepare his son for the throne.

Nikolai's wife, Alexander Feordorovna, was an intorvert, because they were in love, they lived a private life and weren't seen in public for that long. Many people didn't like the Empress, she didn't speak the langauge well and kept her inner circle very tight. Plus she was a German in WWI. The people began to feel like their Emporerdidn't know them. He was a family man and when Rasputin 'healed' his son, ( I beleive he took the boy of aspirin wich was used as an all cure medicne ) both Alix and Nicky put their faith in Rasputin, but many other people saw him as a fraud.

He was poorly advised. He was advised to lead the armies when he had no experiance or extensive knowledge in the area, thus leading Russia to loose many battles and wars. When he was coronated, free memrobilia and food were given out in khodynka field, more people turned out than was expected. roumors spread that there wouldn't be enough for everyone, there was a stampede and many people died. Nikolai wanted to go into mourning and not attend a ball that afternoon with french diplomats, but his family convinced him otherwise. That was a big mistake.

The people weren't in favour of him, he was not fitted for Emporer. No one told the Imperial Family the ectenx of rebellions and protests, and when they did, it was brushed off. Poor mistakes let the rebellions to overthrow the monarchy, and assasinate the Emporer and his family.

I hope this wasn't too long and made some sort of sense.

If you have any other question, don't be afraid to ask me.