True Story, How Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra of Russia Met Their End By A Revolution:- Ending a 300-year Imperial Dynasty

This is true story True Story, How Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra of Russia Met Their End By A Revolution:- Ending a 300-year Imperial Dynasty.

Revolution came to Russia in February 1917, and a month later Nicholas II, emperor and autocrat of all the Russia's, abdicated his throne to become plain Nicholas Romanov. The Russian Royal Family was executed and buried in July 1918. Ending a 300-year Imperial Dynasty

Czar Nicholas II ,Czarina Alexandra with four daughters and Son Alexi

 

On a July 1918 night 100 years ago, the family's rule of Russia came to a decisive, bloody end. The imperial family fell out of favor with the Russian public long before their execution by Bolsheviks in July 1918.

 

Bolshevik forces held the Romanov family as prisoners, moving from place to place until one bloody night in July 1918. The entire family was wiped out, victims to a fate that they refused to see coming.

 

At about 1 a.m. on July 17, 1918, in a fortified mansion in the town of Ekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, the Romanovs—ex-Czar Nicholas II, ex-tsarina Alexandra, their five children, and their four remaining servants, including the loyal family doctor, Eugene Botkin—were awoken by their Bolshevik captors and told, they must dress and gather their belongings for a swift nocturnal departure.

Czar Nicholas II

Alexandra, who was sick, asked for a chair, and Nicholas asked for another one for his only son, 13-year-old Alexei. Two were brought down. They waited there until, suddenly, 11 or 12 heavily armed men filed ominously into the room.

 

What happened next—the slaughter of the family and servants—was one of the seminal events of the 20th century, a wanton massacre that shocked the world and still inspires a terrible fascination today.

 

A 300-year-old imperial dynasty, one marked by periods of glorious achievement as well as staggering hubris and ineptitude, was swiftly brought to an end.

 

Who Was Nicholas II?

Young Nicholas, known as the "tsesarevich," or heir apparent to the throne of Great Russia, was born on May 18, 1868, the first child of Czar Alexander III and Empress Marie Feodorovna.

Czar Nicholas II

 As a young man, Nicholas enjoyed several years of relative ease, during which he embarked upon world tours and attended countless parties and balls. After seeking a suitable wife, he became engaged to Princess Alix of Germany in the summer of 1894.

The coronation of Tsar Nicholas II

 

But the carefree lifestyle that Nicholas had enjoyed came to an abrupt end on November 1, 1894, when Czar Alexander III died of nephritis. Virtually overnight, Nicholas II—inexperienced and became the new czar of Russia.

Wedding of Czar Nicholas with Czarina Alexandra 

 

The period of mourning was briefly suspended on November 26, 1894, when Nicholas and Alix were married in a private ceremony.

Who was Czarina Alexandra?

Czarina Alexandra (1872-1918) was German by birth.  Grand daughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria and the daughter of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt . Alexandra possessed a more powerful and imposing character than her husband. An introverted and distant manner isolated her from the Russian people, who saw her as an outsider.

Czarina Alexandra

 

Tsarina Alexandra suffered a tragic life that ended with the murder of both her and her family at the hands of the Bolsheviks in July 1918.

Czarina Alexandra

The following year, daughter Olga was born, followed by three more daughters—Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia—over a period of five years. (The long-awaited male heir, Alexei, would be born in 1904.)

Czarina Alexandra

 

Resentment of The Czar

In a series of further mis steps, Nicholas proved himself unskilled in both foreign and domestic affairs. In a 1903 dispute with the Japanese over territory in Manchuria, Nicholas resisted any opportunity for diplomacy.

 

Frustrated by Nicholas' refusal to negotiate, the Japanese took action in February 1904, bombing Russian ships in the harbor at Port Arthur in southern Manchuria.

Czarina Alexandra at the age of 15 year

The Russo-Japanese War continued for another year and a half and ended with the czar's forced surrender in September 1905. Given a large number of Russian casualties and the humiliating defeat, the war failed to draw the support of the Russian people.

 

In protest of their abysmal living conditions, tens of thousands of protestors marched peacefully upon the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905. Without any provocation from the crowd, the czar's soldiers opened fire on the protestors, killing and wounding hundreds.

 Czar Nicholus II. Czarina Alexandra with chidren

The massacre enraged the Russian people, leading to strikes and protests throughout the country, and culminating in the 1905 Russian Revolution. No longer able to ignore his people's discontent, Nicholas II was forced to act.

 

October Manifesto

On October 30, 1905, he signed the October Manifesto, which created a constitutional monarchy as well as an elected legislature, known as the Duma. Yet the czar maintained control by limiting the powers of the Duma and maintaining veto power.

 

Birth of Alexei- Male Heir

During that time of great turmoil, the royal couple welcomed the birth of a male heir, Alexei Nikolaevich, on August 12, 1904.

Alexi-1913

Apparently healthy at birth, young Alexei was soon found to be suffering from hemophilia, an inherited condition that causes severe, sometimes fatal hemorrhaging.

Mother Czarina Alexandra with Son Alexi 

The royal couple chose to keep their son's diagnosis a secret, fearing it would create uncertainty about the future of the monarchy.

 

Distraught about her son's illness, Empress Alexandra doted upon him and isolated herself and her son from the public. She desperately searched for a cure or any kind of treatment that would keep her son out of danger.

 

Entry of Mystic Mad Monk Grigory Rasputin in Royal family

When Rasputin first met the Romanovs in 1905, the Czarina Alexandra was desperate. The 1905 revolution had almost seen the monarchy overthrown.

 

The birth of Alexei the previous year gave them the heir she had been hoping for, but his hemophilia was not only a personal tragedy but also a threat to the dynasty.

Rasputin

This situation of political crisis and maternal agony enabled Rasputin to insinuate himself into the family. In 1908 Alexei suffered a severe bleeding episode and Rasputin was able to ease the boy’s pain.

 

The mystic allegedly warned Nicholas and Alexandra that the child’s health would be linked to the strength of the dynasty. Rasputin’s ability to keep the child healthy would secure him a place in the palace and the power to influence the tsar.

Rasputin

 

Although he almost certainly was not her lover, he did have affairs with untold numbers of women at the Romanov court. Nicholas ignored the calls to remove Rasputin from court, further angering the Russian people. Keeping his wife happy and his child happy kept Nicholas from removing the threat.

 

In September 1915, during World War I, Nicholas II traveled to the front to take personal command of Russian forces.

Rasputin with his fans and admirers

The Czarina Alexandra saw to domestic affairs, and Rasputin’s influence on her became evident in her choice of incompetent ministers. Losses on the front and Rasputin’s conduct at home turned the Russian people against their Czar Nicholas and his family. The time was ripe for revolution.

 

Unaware of Alexei's medical condition, the Russian people were suspicious of the relationship between the empress and Rasputin. Beyond his role of providing comfort to Alexei, Rasputin had also become an adviser to Alexandra and even influenced her opinions on affairs of state.

 

Murder of Rasputin

Following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Russia became embroiled in the First World War, as Austria declared war on Serbia.

 

Stepping in to support Serbia, a fellow Slavic nation, Nicholas mobilized the Russian army in August 1914. The Germans soon joined the conflict, in support of Austria-Hungary.

 

Although he had initially received the support of the Russian people in waging a war, Nicholas found that support dwindling as the war dragged on. The poorly-managed and ill-equipped Russian Army—led by Nicholas himself—suffered considerable casualties. Nearly two million were killed over the duration of the war.

 

Adding to the discontent, Nicholas had left his wife in charge of affairs while he was away at war. Yet because Alexandra was German-born, many Russians distrusted her; they also remained suspicious about her alliance with Rasputin.

Dead body of Rasputin

 General dislike and mistrust of Rasputin culminated in a plot by several members of the aristocracy to murder him. They did so, with great difficulty, in December 1916. Rasputin was poisoned, shot, then bound and thrown into the river.

 

Russian Revolution and the Czar's Abdication

 All across Russia, the situation grew increasingly desperate for the working class, which struggled with low wages and rising inflation.

The four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia - the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna, circa 1915.

 

As they had done before, the people took to the streets in protest of the government's failure to provide for its citizens. On February 23, 1917, a group of nearly 90,000 women marched through the streets of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) to protest their plight.

 

These women, many of whose husbands had left to fight in the war, struggled to make enough money to feed their families.

 

The following day, several thousand more protesters joined them. People walked away from their jobs, bringing the city to a standstill. The czar's army did little to stop them; in fact, some soldiers even joined the protest.

 

Other soldiers, loyal to the czar, did fire into the crowd, but they were clearly outnumbered. The protestors soon gained control of the city during the February/March 1917 Russian Revolution.

 

End to the 304-year-Old Romanov Dynasty

With the capital city in the hands of revolutionaries, Nicholas finally had to concede that his reign was over. He signed his abdication statement on March 15, 1917, bringing an end to the 304-year-old Romanov Dynasty.

 

The royal family was allowed to stay on at the Tsarskoye Selo palace while officials decided their fate. They learned to subsist on soldiers' rations and to make do with fewer servants.

Romanovs Exiled to Siberia

For a brief time, the Romanovs had hoped they would be granted asylum in England, where the czar's cousin, King George V, was reigning monarch. But the plan—unpopular with British politicians who deemed Nicholas a tyrant—was quickly abandoned.

Nicholas II with his family in Yevpatoria, Crimea, May 1916

 

By the summer of 1917, the situation in St. Petersburg had become increasingly unstable, with Bolsheviks threatening to overrun the provisional government. The czar and his family were quietly moved to western Siberia for their own protection, first to Tobolsk, then finally to Ekaterinburg.

Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexey Nikolaevich sawing wood at Tobolsk in 1917

The home where they spent their final days was a far cry from the extravagant palaces they had been accustomed to, but they were grateful to be together.

 

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, finally gained control of the government following the second Russian Revolution.

For the Bolsheviks, once they took power in November 1917, the Romanovs simultaneously became a bargaining chip and a headache. Russia needed to negotiate its exit from World War I while also avoiding a foreign invasion.

 

The country’s enemies would be watching what happened to the former rulers, but if the Romanovs remained alive they would forever be a symbol for the monarchist movement. Some wanted them sent into exile, some wanted them put on trial for their perceived crimes, and some wanted them to disappear, for good.

 

Thus the royal family also came under the control of the Bolsheviks, with fifty men assigned to guard the house and its occupants.

 

The Romanovs adapted as best they could to their new living quarters, as they awaited what they prayed would be their liberation.

 

Nicholas faithfully made entries in his diary, the empress worked on her embroidery, and the children read books and put on plays for their parents. The four girls learned from the family cook how to bake bread.

 

The last days of the Romanovs

On the night of July 16, a telegram was sent to Moscow informing Lenin of the decision to carry out the murders. Rousing the family and the four servants from bed at 1:30 a.m.

 

While the royal family waited for a rescue that would never take place, civil war raged throughout Russia between the Communists and the White Army, which opposed Communism.

Confinement at Tsarskoye Selo

 

As the White Army gained ground and headed for Ekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks decided they must act swiftly. The Romanovs must not be rescued.

Nicholas II in custody at a palace outside Petrograd after his abdication

At 2:00 a.m. in the morning on July 17, 1918, Nicholas, his wife, and their five children, along with four servants, were awakened and told to prepare for departure.

 

The group, led by Nicholas, who carried his son, was escorted to a small room downstairs. Eleven men (later reported to have been drunk) came into the room and began firing shots. The czar and his wife were first to die.

From left to right: Grand Duchesses Maria, Olga, Anastasia and Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia in captivity at Tsarskoe Selo in the spring of 1917. One of the last known photographs of Nicholas II's daughters.

 

None of the children died outright, probably because all wore hidden jewels sewn inside their clothing, which deflected the bullets. The soldiers finished the job with bayonets and more gunfire. The grisly massacre had taken 20 minutes.

 

At the time of death, the czar was 50 years old and the empress 46. Daughter Olga was 22 years old, Tatiana was 21, Maria was 19, Anastasia was 17, and Alexei was 13 years old.

 

The Last Night-The Brutal Murders of Romanovs- July 17, 1918,

No evidence survives to suggest the Romanovs reacted with anything but docility. Carrying the tsarevitch in his arms, Nicholas led the family and the four servants—family doctor Eugene Botkin, maid Anna Demidova, chef Ivan Kharitonov, and footman Alexei Trupp—down to the cellar.

 

Gathered together in a small, bare room, they still appeared oblivious to their fate. Chairs were fetched for Alexandra and Alexei while the others stood.

 

Yurovsky approached them, with the executioners behind him in the doorway, and read from a prepared statement to the astonished prisoners: “The presidium of the Regional Soviet, fulfilling the will of the Revolution, has decreed that the former Tsar Nicholas Romanov, guilty of countless bloody crimes against the people, should be shot.”

Interior of the room in the palace at Yekaterinburg in which Nicholas II, Czar of Russia and his family were supposedly executed.

When, he finished, they began firing on the family. Accounts are conflicting, but most say that the Czar Nicholas was the main target, and that he died from several gunshots. The Czarina Alexandra died from a bullet to the head.

 

As the room filled with gun smoke, discipline among the killers vanished. The grand duchesses seemed unharmed by the bullets, which had ricocheted off their bodies (it was later discovered that diamond jewelry sewn into their clothing had acted like armor during the initial assault).

 

Finally, after a horror-filled 20 minutes, the entire family and their servants were all dead: shot, stabbed, and beaten.

The Church of All Saints, built on the spot of the Ipatiev House

 

The 11 bodies were hauled out of the house and loaded onto a truck. The disposal of the remains was chaotic. Scholars believe the bodies were first dumped in a shallow mine called Ganina Yama, which the Bolsheviks tried to collapse with grenades.

 

The corpses were then unceremoniously thrown into a Fiat truck and taken out to the Koptyaki Forest. But the supposed mine shaft that Yurovsky had selected for them to be dumped in turned out to be too shallow; local peasants would easily find the bodies and seek to preserve them as holy relics.

 

And so, within hours, the mutilated corpses of the Romanov family stripped of their clothes and the Czarina’s jewels, which had been secreted in them, were hastily dug up.

The final resting places of the Romanov family and their servants in St. Catherine's Chapel in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. 

 

There was no trial for any of the family, no due process of law, no possibility of a defense or appeal. What happened in the basement of the House of Special Purpose on Voznesenski Prospekt, Ekaterinburg, in the early hours of July 17, 1918, was nothing less than ugly, crazed and botched murder?

 

However, the “soldiers of the revolution” considered feelings of compassion and pity to be a relic of the past. On the night of July 17, none of the executioners had a hand that shook.

The End

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