In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil tells the story of irrational numbers and the mathematicians who have tackled their challenges, from antiquity to the twenty-first century.
Nicholas realized he was powerless. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne on March 2, (according to the Russian Julian calendar; March 15 according to the western Gregorian calendar), in 1917. He signed an abdication document stepping down from the throne and nominating his brother Michael to succeed him.
Bear in mind the Russian 'defeat' played out in slow-motion, over nearly two years. The Tsar abdicated barely two months after Rasputin's murder in Dec 1916; every Allied entity was desperate to keep Imperial Russia in the war.